Hello I am new.......Name is Philip - Please help.

I am at my wits end here and need assistance.

I have a lap HP dv6700 Vista Home (w/Windows 7 as an upgrade) That is, I had upgraded to Win 7 last year but went back to Vista.



I noticed that I had lost much of my hard drive space - I suspected a virus (conficker?) so I did a clean install -back to Vista Home/

The virus became really noticeable after the Clean Install.

Sometime during the Windows Up-Dating process I noticed the Control Panel was empty/then missing - Then after a few clicks all I get now is a "Flash" on the screen - as though its attempting to load.

I also Lost Windows Update function and along w/Control Panel and "personalization" of the desktop. (so far)

I have tried everything - and there are things missing from the list below.

IMPORTANTLY
When I tried to install my free ComCast Norton 360 it was a No Go - it said I needed at least Service Pack 1 - so I tried to install it. No Go -

It said I needed .NET Framework 3.5 sp1 - it was No Go

When I try to use a Microsoft "FixIt" it does not load (it worked at first)- always an error message -

Did chkdsk and Scanow.......(several times)
Installed and ran SuperAntiSpyware, and MalwareBytes.
I did the SL UI Notification as well.

I used the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista (KB947821) [May 2012] to no avail.

Used cleanupkit net frame 3.5 ???

Power Shell will NOT load when I try "microsoft hotfix" - power shell won't download"

Tried the Microsoft "Deploy software" No Go

It sounds very much to me as if you need to do a complete system wipe and reinstall - not just a standard reformat.
Do you have your Vista on manufacturer's Recovery disks, or is it on a hidden partition?
What type of Upgrade to Win7 did you have (one of the 'free upgrade' disks, a normal Upgrade pack, or what?)
- do you want to go back to Windows 7?

Have you backed up all your data to external storage?

Hi Phillip, sorry for the extremely late responses.

Your posts await moderation only once you're new, after you post one or two more times the moderation will go away.


If you haven't found a solution yet, I can try to help you with your issues.

At first, when you said that after the clean installs you still had space remaining, that might of been from a windows.old file which you can get rid of by going into windows button > accessories > system tools > disk cleanup. Although formatting the disk should clean it even further.

Also, one of our admin's has created a thread just for this issue.

Try this.

Why SP1 may not be available for you and how to get it

'download from their site' - whose site? MS Downloads do not expire.
Please fill in your system specs so that we can see what sort of machine we're talking about.
I take it that the three-disk install is from HP - is one described as being th eoperating system disk, and the others Applications and drivers, or do you have to use all three?

Did the HP's bundled software include an Anti-virus? - that should be uninstalled, and the AV manufacturer's removal/cleanup utility should be run to remove interferences to any replacement you install.

Note that many current AV's will cause problems with Vista RTM - including a non-genuine response from WGA - and it's worth downloading the standalone installers for both SP1 and SP2 on another machine, and installing them while offline.


The fact that the Restore disks took 6 hours is worrying - it almost certainly means that either
1) you still have malware/virus problems
or
2) your disk is failing.

You can check the disk by using the HD manufacturer's test utility - it will probably also have a 'low level format' option which , assuming the drive passes testing, you should consider using, as it will return the drive to a totally clear state.

Try to disable "Floppy Disk" in your BIOS, if the restore disk still takes 6 hours, then it seriously looks like you need a new hard drive.

Glad you found your issue and fixed it.

Cheers.