How to recover Vista Basic - no Partition or original recovery discs

S

Sc0ttr2

New Member
Hi there,
I have a PC i am trying to format and reinstall windows vista. Unfortunately my mate has lost his original recovery dvd I made him and has now got a corrupted/damaged recovery partition.
After all the searching I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do this. I want to format the hard drive and start from fresh as he has major Virus problems.
I tried searching old threads but couldnt find anything like what I needed, I hope I am not repaeting a thread already. If so please point me in right direction.
If it helps its a Acer 6252 travelmate.

All help greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance...
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    Intel Q9550 @ 4Gig / Titan Fenir
    Motherboard
    XFX 780i
    Memory
    4GB OCZ PC2-8500C5 DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gainward GTX260/216 SLI
    Sound Card
    Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell UltraSharp 2209WA 22"
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    western digital raptor 10000rpm sata
    PSU
    OCZ Modstream 700w
    Cooling
    Titan Fenir
    Keyboard
    Razer Reclusa
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 Gamer
    Internet Speed
    8mb
Have him contact Acer and order another recovery disk. It may not be free, but it's a lot cheaper than a copy of Vista (and the Acer disk will probably have all the drivers also).
 

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Thanks guys.. Have tried contacting Acer but not having much luck unfortunately.. will keep trying though.. however money is a problem so trying to do this without cost..

Archie123 - I have found the neosmart iso - however totally confuses me as to what it does. Will this enable me to format and re-install vista? as he has a virus that 1 has infected a heap of files and 2 prevents him from installing anything. This is why i dont just use a AV to get rid of the problem, I really need to format and start a fresh so to speak.

from what i could understand it will not allow a fresh formatted reinstall, it only repairs the current install. This wont work as he has viruses? is this correct?

Hope i'm making sense and thanks for the replies so far....
 

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System One

you cant reformat with it mate but you can repair the existing operating system , my second link contains instructions :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    Intel Q9550 @ 4Gig / Titan Fenir
    Motherboard
    XFX 780i
    Memory
    4GB OCZ PC2-8500C5 DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gainward GTX260/216 SLI
    Sound Card
    Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell UltraSharp 2209WA 22"
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    western digital raptor 10000rpm sata
    PSU
    OCZ Modstream 700w
    Cooling
    Titan Fenir
    Keyboard
    Razer Reclusa
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 Gamer
    Internet Speed
    8mb
The Neosmart file will let you run Startup Repair, but it doesn't contain the files needed for a reinstall.

Do you know anyone with a copy of the appropriate version of Vista that came in an OEM system? (Dell's and Gateway's come to mind).

Do you have the product key that's on the bottom of the laptop?
 

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System One

I have a Windows Vista Home Premium install disc- I could rip the ISO and give it to you, but it would be illegal, because your mate bought a copy Windows Vista Home Basic. The best I could do for you is give you these links:

Microsoft Windows Vista™ Home Basic with Service Pack 1 - Windows

Or, better yet, for the most money-saving way is to install Ubuntu Linux on your mate's machine. It's free and come with some cool apps, plus, you don't have a registry to "destroy" and it can make an old machine run 10x faster.

If you want, here's the download page (it about 700mb, I think):

http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu/ubuntu-releases/jaunty/ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso

Good luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Apple MacBook Pro 13inch
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.26GHz
    Motherboard
    ?
    Memory
    2GB DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9400M @256MB Dedicated DDR3 VRAM
    Sound Card
    Intel High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop: 32 bit Color LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800
    Hard Drives
    HITACHI HTS545025B9SA02 250GB (Internal)
    IOMEGA PRESTIGE PORTABLE 500GB (External)
    PSU
    N/A
    Case
    N/A
    Cooling
    N/A
    Keyboard
    Black Chiclet-Style Keyboard (Standard US) with Backlight
    Mouse
    No-Button Aluminum Trackpad w/ Mouse Gestures
    Internet Speed
    T1
alright thanks everyone for your advice. Unfortunately still stuck as the OS registry is totally smashed!! Virus's galore and most importantly the virus prevents anything such as a AV to be installed to remove it.. will keep searching for an ISO image of vista.....

thanks once again
 

My Computer

System One

Hi To All,
I have the same problem with my son's laptop. A Compag Presario F500.

Originally, it was installed with a vista home basic x32 bit. no recovery disks, too.
However, he installed a vista black edition sometime back.

How can i revert it back to vista home basic.

Much appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance.
(mods: pls advise if i'm in the appropriate forum. Thanks)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    compaq presario F500
The Windows Recovery CD will not be any good, since you said the recovery partition is damage. Are you sure that it is?

You have a few options:

Order a new recovery CD w/ drivers from Acer. I don't think its to expensive, should be under $20.

Find another Acer OEM recovery CD that is the same edition

A possibility might be to find any OEM recovery like from Gateway, eMachine, Dell that's the same edition that came pre-installed. This may or may NOT work but its worth a try. If you find one just reinstall and once its finished you might just have to enter the product key on that computer in the activation window.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    AMD/GIGABYTE
    CPU
    AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (2 CPUs), ~3.
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 (rev. 2.0)
    Memory
    2048MB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster T220/T220G,SyncMaster Magic T220/T220G(Digital)
    Screen Resolution
    1680 by 1050 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST310003 40AS SCSI Disk Device
    Western Digital WDC WD50 00AAJS-00YFA SCSI Disk Device
    PSU
    Thermaltake 500W
    Internet Speed
    VERY FAST>>>>!!!!
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD RW AD-7191S SCSI CdRom Device
BOBBYPAGE said:
Hi To All,
I have the same problem with my son's laptop. A Compag Presario F500.

Originally, it was installed with a vista home basic x32 bit. no recovery disks, too.
However, he installed a vista black edition sometime back.

How can i revert it back to vista home basic.

Much appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance.
(mods: pls advise if i'm in the appropriate forum. Thanks)
Click to expand...

There's no such thing as "Vista Black Edition". This is a pirated copy of Windows. :mad::mad::mad:

Most people will not helpful to you for this reason. Can you make a screen shot of your disk management window?

Hopefully your son didn't delete the recovery partition that came pre-installed from Compaq.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    AMD/GIGABYTE
    CPU
    AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (2 CPUs), ~3.
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 (rev. 2.0)
    Memory
    2048MB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster T220/T220G,SyncMaster Magic T220/T220G(Digital)
    Screen Resolution
    1680 by 1050 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST310003 40AS SCSI Disk Device
    Western Digital WDC WD50 00AAJS-00YFA SCSI Disk Device
    PSU
    Thermaltake 500W
    Internet Speed
    VERY FAST>>>>!!!!
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD RW AD-7191S SCSI CdRom Device
Hey eldinv, sorry for the off topic, i have a guestion about your mac os on pc. have the same mobo, and i cant get it to work. any help would be appreciated.
sorry for the ot guys.
 

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System One

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