IT Help, Please

[steve9872]

Can anyone help with this please?

My computer crashed and I can no longer boot or recover Windows Vista. We've got the "product key" but have not got the original Vista Setup DVD. Any suggestions/help would be much appreciated.

You need the install disc. It also has to be the correct type for what's already installed (32 or 64 bit) because its bound to need a lot of files replacing after the disc scan and repair. You might want to take the opportunity to install win 7 or 8 as they're better than Vista - actually XP is better than Vista.

[Betty Botter]

Thanks appreciate that. We've already got a copy of XP on our "main" computer but I guess we couldn't also install on the "poorly" computer because it's a OEM disk. Can we download a copy of Vista to go with the Vista product key we have?

[Diane65]

Thanks appreciate that. We've already got a copy of XP on our "main" computer but I guess we couldn't also install on the "poorly" computer because it's a OEM disk. Can we download a copy of Vista to go with the Vista product key we have?

Is it by any chance a Toshiba PC as I have a windows vista installation DVD but don't know if its compatible with all pc s as rubbish at IT.

[steve9872]

If you know where to download an install disc from then go ahead, just make sure its the correct version. It'll be on the product key label, and the key will work with your new disc although you may not need it for a repair.

[Diane65]

If you know where to download an install disc from then go ahead, just make sure its the correct version. It'll be on the product key label, and the key will work with your new disc although you may not need it for a repair.

Its a product recovery disc that I have so not sure if its safe to use. It does have Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
I will bring it to the cinema on Thursday.

[steve9872]

The trouble with product recovery discs is that they're designed to overwrite the entire disc of a specific make AND model of computer and leave it with a factory installation. You lose everything already on the computer. They're great if you need to replace the drive or you're selling on the computer, but completely useless for recovery of an existing installation - despite the name. This is because they don't have install files on them but an image of the full disc instead.
You could try taking out the drive any seeing if it can be read on another computer as a usb drive (with appropriate adapter). You can recover your my documents folder and save a directory listing of program files (so you know what was installed). That way you can almost get back to where you were before the crash, if recovery fails and you have to completely reinstall everything. Unless of course if the drive is toast.

[Betty Botter]

We have already removed the drive and read its contents in another computer. We found that using the recovery disc (that we already had) it had wiped the disc and attempted a re-install, so that all that was on it when we read it in the other computer was Windows Vista files (presumeably incomplete in some way as it would not boot). So now we have drive with Windows files on which just takes us to the point where it offers the opportunity to boot in safe mode but when we select that option we just get a message which says it cannot load safe mode. Whatever we select it will not boot or repair we just keep going round in circles, which is why we think we need an installation disk, and if we can't repair the installation we have then we would do a complete re-install as all our data has gone anyway.

[steve9872]

I wouldn't try to repair the installation now, it sounds like your way past the point of no return. I'd go back to the recovery disc and just let it do whatever it wants to do, including scan the drive and wipe all contents.

[Betty Botter]

We've let the recovery disk do whatever it wants to, including scan the drive and wipe all contents but then still won't boot. Not sure if the recovery disk is lacking something or is faulty so was thinking we need to try and somehow reinstall Vista from an installation disk or a download.

[steve9872]

It is the right disc for that machine, isn't it? If not you will need a proper install disc to fix this.