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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: Focault's Pendulum

my BIL was “being nice” and took it to Geek Squad. Now I wish I have tried some of this stuff first.


61 posted on 09/05/2012 10:00:09 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Focault's Pendulum

I wish I would have thought of this before my BIL took it to Geek Squad


62 posted on 09/05/2012 10:00:39 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

I lost my hard drive recently too...I called the company who made the hard drive and even though it was past warranty, tney know their product was a dud and sent my hard drive to be recovered at their expense. Also, they sent me a new HD so my laptop was functional again. Then...they told me I had already paid for the OS and to call the company who made your computer and give them the express service code on the bottom of the computer, telling them the computer didn’t come with a reinstall disc...they said if the company tries to sell you a reinstall disc to tell them “I’ve already paid for the OS when I purchased the computer. I need the disc so I can reinstall after a HD failure.” The reason they don’t give you a disc is because the recovery is “partitioned” on the HD...but that doesn’t help if it’s the HD that fails.

I did that and they express mailed it to me...I had the discs for the reinstall of the OS and the drivers and utilities in 2 days


63 posted on 09/05/2012 10:03:27 AM PDT by trussell (I carry because...When seconds count between life and death, the police are only minutes away)
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To: GeronL

If your laptop ran vista, it will run windows 7, only better. Check to see if your laptop processor has a 64 bit instruction set, if it does, you can run windows 7 64 bit and increase your RAM memory to 4 gigs. 32 bit will only address 3 gigs of memory total, though it can use rediboost and swap page file virtual memory back and forth via a thumb
drive.


64 posted on 09/05/2012 10:09:44 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (Not left wing! Not right wing! But....CHRIST WING!)
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To: GeronL

Linux.

You can even download OpenOffice for free. It looks anx feels like like Office from 98.


65 posted on 09/05/2012 10:11:01 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: oh8eleven
You can't tell the difference

Except it doesn't have an interactive calendar. :(

66 posted on 09/05/2012 10:15:00 AM PDT by trussell (I carry because...When seconds count between life and death, the police are only minutes away)
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To: GeronL
I wish I would have thought of this before my BIL took it to Geek Squad

Get it back if you can.

Here's one experience I had with them.

Laptop screen fizzled out. It was under warranty with one month to go, so no charge. They sent it to HP and I waited four weeks to get it back.

Two months later the screen cracked but now out of warranty. I argued the point that since it was a new screen a different warranty applied to the screen. No dice. They wanted to charge me over $400 to fix. They even strongly suggested I buy a new laptop.

Took it to a guy up the road from me. Cost me $107 total with sales tax. NJ Sales tax is %7. Guy told me the reason the screen cracked was because the two adjusting screws in the upper left was over tightened. Took a week.

The a$$hole Geeks usually deal only in software issues, not hardware.

67 posted on 09/05/2012 10:20:11 AM PDT by Focault's Pendulum
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To: GeronL
Don't give up on getting your own stuff back. When you finish putting in your new hd and system, get a usb adapter for your old drive,(the kind the PassPorts use) and you can probably get your old stuff off. That what I did, used the adapter from a portable drive to save the contents of my crashed system.
68 posted on 09/05/2012 10:21:15 AM PDT by Excellence (9/11 was an act of faith.)
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To: throwback

>>>The cheapest thing I’ve always found was an OEM copy of the OS from NEWEGG.<<<<

I second that. NEWEGG is topshelf, great prices and super fast delivery.


69 posted on 09/05/2012 10:21:25 AM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: GeronL

My computer was 2 years out of warranty and the company still recovered...who is the maker of your HD?


70 posted on 09/05/2012 10:27:45 AM PDT by trussell (I carry because...When seconds count between life and death, the police are only minutes away)
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To: GeronL
1)You bought the OS with the laptop, the COA is glued to the bottom of the case.

2)Toshiba will send you the reinstall disk, or you might find them on craigslist for a few bucks.

3)If your machine can run XP or Vista, it can run 7.

4)You would be surprised how many people don't run their disk utillities on a laptop because they are scheduled to do so automatically....BUT THE LAPTOP MUST BE ON AT THE SCHEDULED TIME!!

Chances are you could use a bootable floppy, a USB cable, or an adapter to a desktop, then run chkdsk and then defrag and get your drive to boot again.

5)Ditch the Geek Squad. Didn't you see the big bust a few months ago?(Major theft ring using them to case houses.)Plus, their advice isn't very good.

71 posted on 09/05/2012 10:28:13 AM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou (De Oppresso Liber! (50 million and counting in Afghanistan and Iraq))
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To: Excellence

good idea.

I’ll have to borrow one of those USB harddrive enclosure things


72 posted on 09/05/2012 10:28:49 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: trussell

I have no idea what brand the HD is, it is from a Toshiba Satellite is all I can say


73 posted on 09/05/2012 10:31:18 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Vendome

I will definitely use Open Office. Too bad I didn’t keep the box, came with a 2 user license and all.


74 posted on 09/05/2012 10:32:48 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

If the hard drive is still good then there are ways to “extract” keys from the drive. You would get a “utility” cd like “Hiren” or maybe others that are popular with techs.

Here is an example of using Hiren to retrieve a Windows key:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL93-jk5VqE

Your laptop would have to power on and the drive would have to be good for this to work. Otherwise if the laptop motherboard or power supply is dead and it wont power on at all then you could remove the drive and plug it into another computer and boot off the Hiren cd to retrieve your keys.

One of the other things i’ve had to do that you may is visit a bittorrent site to get a hold of an OS cd to use and then if the cd image you get embeds a key in its installer you just change the key to yours later as needed using a key changer utility. All this stuff can be learned by good web searches and reading.


75 posted on 09/05/2012 10:33:14 AM PDT by brandon24
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To: GeronL

If the logo is WD, let me know...I will give you some extra info that could help you with your data or at least with a replacement HD...find out if the lable is blue and white...with the WD logo..that will make a difference!


76 posted on 09/05/2012 10:35:36 AM PDT by trussell (I carry because...When seconds count between life and death, the police are only minutes away)
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To: PeaceBeWithYou

If I can get the OEM key, that’s pretty much it, right? All I’d need is any kind of copy of the OS after that right?


77 posted on 09/05/2012 10:36:31 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

This is the first time I’ve ever heard someone expressing a desire for Vista.


78 posted on 09/05/2012 10:36:35 AM PDT by Sloth (If a tax break counts as "spending" then every time I don't rob a bank should be a "deposit.")
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To: GeronL
Use OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Office 2007. You don't have your original disks?
79 posted on 09/05/2012 10:37:26 AM PDT by McGruff (Support your local Republican candidates. They are our last line of defense.)
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To: oh8eleven

+1 on Ubuntu Linux. I have been running it flawlessly on a (very) old Dell C400 laptop for years. In fact, I just upgraded to their latest LTS (long-term support) release 12.04.1 over the weekend.

You can also use Firefox with it, as well as the LibreOffice suite(new version of OpenOffice - Microsoft Office equivalent).


80 posted on 09/05/2012 10:42:01 AM PDT by Be Free (Liberalism is a disease.)
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