"old" computer/new vista install

[hdbg62]

Acquired an hp pavilion lap top at a garage sale, real cheap. Did have Vista Home Premium but it's shot; "bootmgr missing", no factory install disk for Vista, no recovery disk, no restore points etc.. Did get a nib Vista Home Premium with it, though. Hard drive tests passed and memory tests passed, just does not boot. Since I got the nib Vista I'd rather go with a brand new "clean install" rather than get a replacement disk from hp, it might still not work, and god only knows what might be on that drive; all the needed drivers for the machine can still be downloaded from the hp website. Now, the last install of Windows I did was back in 98 and I'd be a novice when it comes to installing Vista. Any suggestions and comments would be appreciated.

 

[Brink]

Hi Jerry,

I'm not sure what you mean by nib Vista. Could you please explain what you meant? It can make a difference on how you will need to do a clean install of Vista.

 

[hdbg62]

"new in box"

 

[Killacore]

Since it seems so long since you installed an operating system, did you check the bios to set first boot device to "CD"? and if so it's much easier to install vista then 98, just have the disk in the drive when you turn on the laptop and press enter when it says "Press any key to boot from cd" then it pretty much takes off from there.

*Sorry if i under estimated your computer knowledge, I figured i should just try to cover it all.

 

[hdbg62]

Since it seems so long since you installed an operating system, did you check the bios to set first boot device to "CD"? and if so it's much easier to install vista then 98, just have the disk in the drive when you turn on the laptop and press enter when it says "Press any key to boot from cd" then it pretty much takes off from there.

*Sorry if i under estimated your computer knowledge, I figured i should just try to cover it all.

That's o.k.. Will Vista create the recovery drive (D)? Must I have all required drivers downloaded and ready on CD or DVD at the time of installing or can I bypass that and install later? Thank you for taking the time.

 

[hdbg62]

While I got some replies here; I noticed that this laptop does not hold it's battery to well, quite heavy, all across the back. Seems to fall out rather easily at times; is this normal? Sorry guys, a laptop is a whole new experience for me; this one even has a web cam, tv tuner and a few other goodies. Just to think, a few months back I just came "OUT OF THE STONE AGE!"

 

[Killacore]

Well the battery issue sounds like the latch is either stuck or broke on the bottom of the laptop, I'd just take a closer look at it and see what the lock mechanism is doing. A microsoft retail or oem copy of windows (one that didn't come from hp, dell, ect...) will not make a recovery partition/disc, and you do not need the drivers to install the operating system, but you will need them after becuase most likely vista won't pick up your devices in a laptop like that.

 

[Brink]

"new in box"

Oh, DOH!

In addition to the above posts, this tutorial can help show you how to do a clean install with Vista.

A retail Vista will not create a recovery partition like on a OEM computer.

You can wait until later if you like to download and install the drivers, but it would be best to have them ready in case you may not have a internet connected after installing.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[hdbg62]

How do I go about creating such a recovery partition. Any links, you cou could provide?

 

[Killacore]

Personally i use the DOS version of Norton ghost to make an image of my operating system and compress it into a large file on my hard drive which is later burned to DVD. Though you'll have to go out and purchase Norton ghost because I'm pretty sure i'm not exactly allowed to hand out the links to where I get my "Special" software.

 

[hdbg62]

Sorry to be so "slow" tonight, got a bad case of the flu. Is this recovery partition actually needed?

 

[hdbg62]

Personally i use the DOS version of Norton ghost to make an image of my operating system and compress it into a large file on my hard drive which is later burned to DVD. Though you'll have to go out and purchase Norton ghost because I'm pretty sure i'm not exactly allowed to hand out the links to where I get my "Special" software.

I understand, but still wish I had some of those links myself!

 

[Brink]

Sorry to be so "slow" tonight, got a bad case of the flu. Is this recovery partition actually needed?

No problem, I have my moments as well.

A recovery partition is usually only used by a OEM as a method for the owner to reinstall Vista with instead of the OEM giving the owner a Vista installation disc. Since you have a Vista installation disc, you will not need it.

 

[Killacore]

A recovery partition is not really needed but I would just keep a backup of the drivers on CD just in case but thats pretty much it.

 

[hdbg62]

Sorry, I double posted here; this flu's killing me. Thanks for the help guys, especially you, Brink, you helped me "OUT OF THE STONE AGE."

 

[Brink]

Lol, no problem Jerry. You're welcome.

Shawn

 

[hdbg62]

Have not installed anything on my laptop yet; decided to wait, go a step higher and buy a Full 32 bit Ultimate version which should be here in a few days along with a free second copy which I want to use to as an Upgrade on my Dell PC which has Home Premium pre-installed.

In the meantime I went to the HP website and downloaded all the driver packages available on a CD but am not quite sure how to proceed from there. Once I have Ultimate installed, do I just install these packages within Ultimate and then go into Device Manager and update the drivers?

As far as the PC goes, can I just upgrade from the Full version? Don't want to change or lose anything I have now with Home Premium with SP1 Update.

Don't know if that's important but both Ultimate DVD's are supposed to be the Full version with SP1 and include the Windows Anytime Upgrade. The "supposed to be" is because I got them e-bay, if you know what I mean.

 

[hdbg62]

Finally installed Vista Ultimate 32 on the laptop. Actually was not very hard but I did spend a night and a half digging for drivers on the web for the infamous Ethernet Controller, its sub folders and a Quick Button driver, all of which were in Device Manager with yellow exclamation marks and not shown in their proper location at HP under driver support. For an "old man" with limited experience, I think I didn't do so bad. All is well now and running o.k. but there is one small problem, my C drive on which I installed Vista shows to be only the size I allocated for the installation - 45GB, not its actual size. WHUT HUPPENED?

 

[Brink]

Hi Jerry,

I'm happy to hear that you got it up and running.

All that happened is that is all the space you allocated for that partition. The rest of your hard drive space is most likely still there as unallocated space. These tutorials below can help you if you wanted to extend C: back into the rest of the drive to have one large drive, or create another partition with the unallocated space.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95418-disk-management-delete-extend.html

and

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95398-disk-management-shrink-partition.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[hdbg62]

Thanks Shawn! Worked like a charm, all's now on one drive. Now let's see if I can remember all that fine tuning from your tutorial which really helped with my PC a few months back. Two more questions, I got a second dvd with seperate key for my pc. I'm assuming I can use it just as an upgrade but do I do this from outside of Windows or must I launch it from within Windows; also both came with Windows Live DVD's, is it worth messing with those or is it just a hype?