Corrupt HDD - how to reinstall Vista with no discs?

[jaidee]

Old Acer Aspire 7720Z PC. Vista Home premium SP2.
HDD became corrupted and could not get past the system recovery. Following various tutorials have imaged and used some recovery programs booting with Rufus and generally played around with it but no joy on the overall operating system or Office 2007. Personal files were all backed up elsewhere so not an issue for them. HDD is currently in a USB enclosure.

Looking to potentially upgrade components on the laptop and move to Win 7 but would like to get Vista back and working first. I have the Product part no., Product ID and CD key - but no CD......

If I format the original disc can someone suggest how I could get Vista back on the machine?
Thanks

 

[wither 3]

You can get a Vista ISO from ex_brit which doesn't have any updates after SP2.

Go to this thread-

Vista ISO download

You want to return the machine to the state it was in when bought; i.e. Vista with no S/P's, or do you want me to send Vista x/SP2 included?

www.vistax64.com

In the first post by ex_brit, highlight his forum name and select Start Conversation.

Request the Vista ISO and identify if you need 32 bit or 64 bit.

You might also post your problem in the appropriate section of the forum and get some help with it.

 

[jaidee]

You might also post your problem in the appropriate section of the forum and get some help with it.

Thanks.

Could you suggest which is the appropriate section if not this?

 

[wither 3]

Crashes and Debugging. Not sure why none of the other guys are responding to this one.

 

[jaidee]

Thanks to the suggestion from wither 3 and ex_brit providing the ISO and some instructions my laptop is now back up and sort of working.......
I say sort of as I cannot get wi-fi to work but still playing around with it.
Thanks to you both

 

[wither 3]

After you installed, did you run the check for updates? There should be over 200 of them.

 

[wither 3]

?

 

[jaidee]

After you installed, did you run the check for updates? There should be over 200 of them.

Sorry been busy and only just seen your reply.
Yes and no. Left it running for about 4 hours (twice) and other than the Update Agent nothing has appeared.
How long should it take (roughly) and do you think this will solve the wi-fi issue - otherwise I think I may have a hardware problem with it.

 

[jaidee]

Also any reason why I get 5 or 6 of these pop up when I start it up -
View attachment 30657View attachment 30658

 

[jaidee]

Yes and no. Left it running for about 4 hours (twice) and other than the Update Agent nothing has appeared.

OK followed the instructions here
How to Fix Vista SP2 "Checking for Updates..." Hangs and Slow Windows Updates
and now trying again.

I would really like to get rid of those annoying pop ups at start up - any ideas?

 

[Vistaar]

I would really like to get rid of those annoying pop ups at start up - any ideas?

Uncheck "Always ask before opening this file." The instructions you found should solve the well-known Windows Update issue.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, you need to run those 4 microsoft updates.

In this order

Run these two:

KB3205638

KB4015195

Restart.

Then run these two

KB4015380

KB4012583

You can restart after each if you like, but you need to run them in that order.

 

[SIW2]

I have just successfully updated the vista installation media.
If anybody is interested, I can probably post instructions, and something to d/l and install the correct updates into the wim.

 

[jaidee]

Uncheck "Always ask before opening this file." The instructions you found should solve the well-known Windows Update issue.

Yes, you need to run those 4 microsoft updates.

In this order

Run these two:

KB3205638

KB4015195

Restart.

Then run these two

KB4015380

KB4012583

You can restart after each if you like, but you need to run them in that order.

Yes ran those plus the IE9 update. I was told to restart after at least the first 3. That solved a couple of the pop ups.

Still had no wifi plus there were 5 "Other devices" with yellow triangle so in frustration used DriverPack utility. That seems to have fixed the wifi although the original Intel Pro/Wireless 3945AB still has yellow triangle but there is now an Atheros adaptor (not mentioned at all in my original documentation).

Fixed also all but one of the others for which I needed to try another utility and that is now fixed.
Now have left the final pop up (Skyel.exe) which is part of Realtek Audio. I cannot seem to fix that. And yes have tried unchecking the box but still comes up.

 

[wither 3]

From what I can find, the the two devices still showing a problem are related to WLAN/Wi-Fi and you can download software for both of them. It could be that DriverPack didn't install everything it should. You could also try reinstalling the latest RealTek driver.

 

[Volume Z]

Then run these two

KB4015380

KB4012583

You can restart after each if you like, but you need to run them in that order.

And the reason an April 2017 update must be run before a March 2017 one is...?

 

[jaidee]

And the reason an April 2017 update must be run before a March 2017 one is...?

If it is any help I didn't. I ran them in the ascending order of the nos. except left the IE9 one to last.

 

[skeezix]

Maybe you should check your router setup? Your problem appears to be something to do with the router... just my 2 cents worth...

 

[erpster4]

Now have left the final pop up (Skyel.exe) which is part of Realtek Audio. I cannot seem to fix that. And yes have tried unchecking the box but still comes up.

you have a really old version of the Realtek high definition audio driver. uninstall it, reboot and download & install the latest version of the realtek audio driver from Realtek's web site, which is more update to date than the one provided by Acer.