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(Vanity) My laptop died, need cheap OS
geronl

Posted on 09/05/2012 9:02:46 AM PDT by GeronL

My Toshiba Satellite L305 has crapped out. It did not come with the reinstallation disk. I can get a new hard drive but I need an O/S. It is too old to run Windows 7, which I can't really afford.

Does anyone know where I can buy a Windows Vista Home Premium (or sumtin') disk or product key for a good price?


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: computerhelp; geeksquad; linux
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To: RebelTex; texas booster; ShadowAce

So Geek Squad is a bunch of retards or something?

I bet they won’t even switch out the HDD for free. This is insane.


141 posted on 09/06/2012 3:10:29 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: RebelTex

*mumbles* snagafragi..gdgshsgdhsjakshdghdyehdhdyelsn

142 posted on 09/06/2012 3:35:58 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

Geek Squad is a bunch of retards in my opinion. However, I can’t complain because they generate much income for me - when I go fix their screwups on my (new) clients’ machines.


143 posted on 09/06/2012 4:12:12 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: RebelTex

Neither 5400 or 7200 will come close to saturating a SATA 1 bus, not in a laptop drive. An SSD can, but not rotating media.


144 posted on 09/06/2012 4:13:45 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

if they switch it out for the 250gb/5400rpm then it should work right?


145 posted on 09/06/2012 4:15:44 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

Possibly, possibly not. Did you get your recovery disks from Toshiba already? I have one here we can test it with if you want just to see if it will work.


146 posted on 09/06/2012 4:17:50 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

I am still trying to figure out HOW to ask for the recovery disks and I ain’t paying $50 for it if I can help it. Maybe there is a way around that?


147 posted on 09/06/2012 4:20:57 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

You can call Toshiba support and ask for the disks, but they will be charging you for it.

However, if your original isn’t boned totally, the original drives has a recovery partition on it. If that’s intact I can clone it to the new drive and you’ll be back up and running in short order.


148 posted on 09/06/2012 4:28:22 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

That sounds pretty cool. Let me think about it for a day. :p


149 posted on 09/06/2012 4:43:13 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Spktyr

I didn’t realize my laptop was so old, ancient in technology terms. lol. Less than 3 years.


150 posted on 09/06/2012 4:46:31 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Spktyr

Yes, I just went through the ordering form as if I were buying the recovery discs (apparently the L-300’s are all pretty similar) and its something like $29.95 (probably not including S/H)


151 posted on 09/06/2012 4:53:29 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL
So Geek Squad is a bunch of retards or something?

Ah, hell naw! They can download and catalog any pr0n on your puter and install crapware you don't want and then charge you for it, all in like 15 minutes! (No this is not from personal experience -- I wouldn't let one of those virus-infested fools within 50 feet of my computer.

152 posted on 09/06/2012 9:09:49 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: GeronL
So Geek Squad is a bunch of retards or something?

The National Association of Retards called and they're going to sue you unless you retract that!

153 posted on 09/06/2012 9:11:05 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: RebelTex
It also is 7200 RPM. I think that your system is limited to 5400 RPM.

Wait, how is the system going to know and why would it care what rpm the HDD is?

154 posted on 09/06/2012 9:13:16 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: GeronL
Geek Squad is not meant to provide technical support, even though that's what they advertise.

They're meant to provide technical excuses to sell you new computers. As a result, they do not know what they are doing most of the time.

I wouldn't let a GS anywhere near my machines.

155 posted on 09/07/2012 3:06:04 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce; RebelTex; texas booster

So, how do I format the clean HDD with a live disc? Should I let someone else do it?

Should I just install Puppy Linux until I get something better? I have Ubuntu on a USB but I guess I don’t know how to make it bootable.


156 posted on 09/07/2012 6:52:51 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Still Thinking

“Wait, how is the system going to know and why would it care what rpm the HDD is?”

That’s actually 2 questions, general & specific.

The user installing the correct RPM HD is important so that files are read correctly. Street signs meant for reading at 35 mph are much harder or impossible to read at 95 mph, LOL.

The Bios has to have the device specs in order operate the device correctly and to pass info to the OS, so those specs are either auto detected on boot (from info passed by the device) or the specs are manually entered (old style, lol) into the bios by the user when a new device is installed. The Bios needs # of sectors and cylinders of the HD in order to determine its size. It may or may not get RPM speed, but the MB can’t manage the HD correctly if the HD spins too fast for the chipset &/or bus to handle.

If the HD RPM is too fast, then the bios can not auto-detect correctly and no user entered specs would be correct.

This problem occurred on older MBs having ATA/IDE buses for drives instead of SATA. SATA has ability to run either 5400 or 7200 RPM drives. The difference is the bus change from parallel to serial and vast improvement in data transfer speed.


157 posted on 09/07/2012 10:48:07 AM PDT by RebelTex
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To: GeronL

Check the bios for a choice to enable USB keyboard detection and turn it on.

The bios does not activate or assign interupts to USB ports on boot and leaves management of these to the OS. However, when USB keyboards were introduced, then a choice to turn on USB was provided in the bios.

Turning that on should allow your USB drive to be recognized. Then, you need to have a bootable USB drive with an OS to boot the system.


158 posted on 09/07/2012 10:57:48 AM PDT by RebelTex
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To: RebelTex

If I have the ISO on a USB, how do I make it bootable? Do I have to rename it BOOT or something?

lol


159 posted on 09/07/2012 11:51:40 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

Is that an external HD connected to USB port or is it a USB flash drive?


160 posted on 09/07/2012 12:16:12 PM PDT by RebelTex
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