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Re-installing Vista HP on new HP

post #1 of 13
9/21/07 at 5:27am
Thread Starter 
Just received my new HP DV9543CL (DV9500 series). T7300, 2GB, 320GB).

With my other lappies I found that the OEM XP CDs just couldn't do what I wanted them to do, including repartition the disk to my liking. They also re-installed all the bloatware, adware and crapware. So I downloaded, using bittorrent, a copy of XP and used my legal license to activate it (involved calling a drone at Microsoft and getting a special number, lots of bullshit).

So I could burn a DVD or CD off the "secret" partition on this machine and try it, but I'm worried I'll be wasting my time again.

Has anyone managed to do a clean Vista install with downloaded retail disks and then get it activated using their legit license?

Thanks
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post #2 of 13
9/21/07 at 8:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark-AM View Post
...

Has anyone managed to do a clean Vista install with downloaded retail disks and then get it activated using their legit license? ....
m$ offers online retail version download with no issue, i do not know about download from other un-official sources

it is a new laptop - so can u shoot hp a mail and pay them token $$$ to get the disk?

or u can just backup the recovery partition to cd/dvd - & no, u will not be wasting ur time if the recovery partition is still intact

cheers ...
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post #3 of 13
9/21/07 at 8:46am
Thread Starter 
Burned the recovery DVDs and booted from Disk 1. The stupid "recovery manager" gives you a list of options, including "system recovery" and "factory reset". There is no explanation or help as to the difference between these options, not even at the HP website. WTF! I just knew I was going to love getting a new pc.
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post #4 of 13
9/21/07 at 8:48am
Thread Starter 
Anyhoo, chose factory reset and now it is reformatting my entire zillion GB drive and then it will "reinstall original content" without giving me any options or choices. Why is everything so ferking dumbed down nowadays?
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post #5 of 13
9/21/07 at 8:54am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
m$ offers online retail version download with no issue, i do not know about download from other un-official sources
It's at the M$ site for a PRICE, not a free or trial download. Since I've already bought it, I won't be buying it again. I don't have cvnt written on my forehead.
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post #6 of 13
9/21/07 at 9:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark-AM View Post
It's at the M$ site for a PRICE, not a free or trial download. Since I've already bought it, I won't be buying it again. I don't have cvnt written on my forehead.
agreed, i always thought that they would allow buyers to type in the legit code and be able to download again - but then again, that is too much of customer service

but hp must/should be able to give a copy at minimum damage to ur pocket :-)

cheers ...
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post #7 of 13
9/21/07 at 9:06am
Thread Starter 
No, they'll give me exactly the same shite as I've just burned as "recovery disks". Looks like I'm back to where I was with XP on my other pcs: have to d/load a ISO torrented version and try to make it legal once installed. Great.
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post #8 of 13
9/21/07 at 9:09am
Thread Starter 
Lol, just now trying a "system recovery" instead of a "factory reset", and it's doing EXACTLY the same thing! Gotta love the HP "Total Care"!!
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post #9 of 13
9/23/07 at 11:13am
Thread Starter 
Just FYI, I torrented a DVD (2.5gb) that had all versions of Windows on it, and used the method described here in this post to painlessly reactivate.

With drivers, I just downloaded my new DV9500 series lappy's drivers from the HP site on another PC and put them on a jumpdrive and transferred them across, no problem.
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post #10 of 13
9/24/07 at 7:39pm
I've found that just by simply 'uninstalling' the bloatware, everything works fine...6mo and all is still going well.
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post #11 of 13
9/27/07 at 4:12am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, Juan, and what about the hidden partition? And Norton, did you manage to get rid of that?
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post #12 of 13
9/28/07 at 12:03pm
I just press F11 right after POST, go into the recovery console, and you can delete the partition if you wish--I left it b/c I found it far faster to do a re-install via CD/DVD.

I just uninstalled Norton via Add/Remove Programs and it came off just fine. I'm using CA right now (via Verizon DSL) and it's rather lightweight, esp. when compared to Norton or McAfee.
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post #13 of 13
9/29/07 at 12:07am
Thread Starter 
That may be, but I found with XP oem disks that I could not partition to my liking. Read the saga here:
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=102328

That's why I always reinstall clean.
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