Windows Vista problem

NiftyDigits

Another thread that is just painful to read...

OP has already made up his mind and (hopefully not) of the person whom he is supposed to be helping.

Such a simple job. £10 for a 2GB module and a clean install of the OS.
RAM would take a minute(actually) to fit.
Clean install takes as long as it takes. Certainly not the best machine in the world, but if it is still functioning and the friend is happy to use it if it can work properly, fix it. It is simple.

It's an 160GB HDD, not 180GB.

I certainly don't want to waste my time writing out a guide for it to be ignored anyway.

But if the OP asks nicely, I will help. Depends on whether his 'friend' or his ego is more important.
You certainly don't need to be an IT Tech to fix it. You just need to be able to follow simple instructions.
Many non IT folk on here do it.

50Twuncle

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Another thread that is just painful to read....

Well - nobody is forcing you to read it ...

Here we go again - WE DO NOT HAVE THE OS SOFTWARE (the restore partition has been deleted and no software was supplied) so cannot do a clean-install
The laptop was a free gift from a 3rd party and had been well used in the 6+ years of life - the battery will also not hold a charge !!


What more can I do ?

50Twuncle

waddler_8 wrote: »

You don't need an uninstaller for AVG. Boot to safe mode, delete load points from registry using regedit (run key, services key etc) and then delete %programfiles% and %appdata% and drivers' files/folders.

In any case, have you tried this? http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/products2009/avg8.zip

I tried safe mode - but the laptop took a good ten minutes to boot up and just hung when in safe mode !!
I also tried installing ccleaner - it downloaded the exe file OK - But refused to install it.

NiftyDigits

50Twuncle wrote: »

Well - nobody is forcing you to read it ...

Here we go again - WE DO NOT HAVE THE OS SOFTWARE (the restore partition has been deleted and no software was supplied) so cannot do a clean-install
The laptop was a free gift from a 3rd party and had been well used in the 6+ years of life - the battery will also not hold a charge !!


What more can I do ?

Is that you asking nicely?

cajef

50Twuncle wrote: »

the battery will also not hold a charge !!
What more can I do ?

Buy a new battery?

Johnmcl7

50Twuncle wrote: »

Well - nobody is forcing you to read it ...

Here we go again - WE DO NOT HAVE THE OS SOFTWARE (the restore partition has been deleted and no software was supplied) so cannot do a clean-install
The laptop was a free gift from a 3rd party and had been well used in the 6+ years of life - the battery will also not hold a charge !!


What more can I do ?

In answer to your initial query, yes you can use another Vista Home Premium DVD although you may have to do a little work cleaning up the install if you use a different OEM one or customise the DVD yourself beforehand. I think it's worth going down this route as it's likely to be a lot of work cleaning up the machine and even then may not work that well. Before doing so though, make sure you back up the activation status with this handy little tool:

http://directedge.us/content/abr-activation-backup-and-restore

This stores the product key and the certificate required for activation, on the clean build you then re-run the tool in restore mode to activate the new install to avoid any issues with differing media and product keys. The product key the tool extracts will likely be different to the one on the CoA attached to the machine as the machine will likely have been installed with the OEM's key.

John

NiftyDigits

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

In answer to your initial query, yes you can use another Vista Home Premium DVD although you may have to do a little work cleaning up the install if you use a different OEM one or customise the DVD yourself beforehand. I think it's worth going down this route as it's likely to be a lot of work cleaning up the machine and even then may not work that well. Before doing so though, make sure you back up the activation status with this handy little tool:

http://directedge.us/content/abr-activation-backup-and-restore

This stores the product key and the certificate required for activation, on the clean build you then re-run the tool in restore mode to activate the new install to avoid any issues with differing media and product keys. The product key the tool extracts will likely be different to the one on the CoA attached to the machine as the machine will likely have been installed with the OEM's key.

John

Have already posted a much better version. Didn't help.
Perhaps this time.... or I can simplify it further.

50Twuncle

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Have already posted a much better version. Didn't help.
Perhaps this time.... or I can simplify it further.

I am not with the laptop at this point in time - but going from past experience - I doubt very much whether the laptop has the ability to even run this utility (it is unbelievably slow - it is almost stationary)

NiftyDigits

If nothing to be saved, you can begin with a format and clean install.

If it's the MX3416, the Drivers are here

If it isn't the above, find the correct model number underneath.

If all goes well with the install, you can order the RAM from here.
Perhaps two of these will work, though with these older machines I can't guarantee it.
Current configuration is probably 2 x 512MB.

spud17

IIRC any 32bit Vista disk contains the various versions (perhaps not Business).
Entering the key early in the process selects the correct version.

I'm surprised an IT technician doesn't have a copy of Vista kicking around.

I work in construction and have only dabble with pcs but have made sure I have all the os disks from Win 95 to Win 8.