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Help me with a clusterfuck, OS style.
ApexMirage
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Some backstory
I have a vista laptop with a recovery partition that I don't know how to access. The startup screen with the F# options is set to display for 0 seconds and every reboot to try and get another look at it is driving me crazy. I saw F11 being system recovery, but pressing that did nothing at all. The traditional F8 I'm looking for doesn't work either, and I doubt there's an 'install oem vista from recovery partition' option in the BIOS anyway.
Is there a way to boot up the recovery partition from within XP? What can I do here?
So my mom bought a new laptop, and immediately put it to use at a presentation.
It came with Vista preloaded, which I'd cleaned the crapware from quite thoroughly.
As it was new machine, the OS needed to be updated, and informed it's user that it simply needed to be restarted.
Now any reasonable person would just hit yes, and sit back for a minute - But Instead, a conversation occured that i imaging went something like this:
-some fucking dickwad: "Hey, I have an insanely shitty build of XP that doesn't come with drivers for your system, or any of the utilities that control your built in hardware! Your machine totally isn't built to support being used with XP! I'm a tool!"
-my mom: "sounds great! =D!!!!!!"
-me: /killself
The Problem:It came with Vista preloaded, which I'd cleaned the crapware from quite thoroughly.
As it was new machine, the OS needed to be updated, and informed it's user that it simply needed to be restarted.
Now any reasonable person would just hit yes, and sit back for a minute - But Instead, a conversation occured that i imaging went something like this:
-some fucking dickwad: "Hey, I have an insanely shitty build of XP that doesn't come with drivers for your system, or any of the utilities that control your built in hardware! Your machine totally isn't built to support being used with XP! I'm a tool!"
-my mom: "sounds great! =D!!!!!!"
-me: /killself
I have a vista laptop with a recovery partition that I don't know how to access. The startup screen with the F# options is set to display for 0 seconds and every reboot to try and get another look at it is driving me crazy. I saw F11 being system recovery, but pressing that did nothing at all. The traditional F8 I'm looking for doesn't work either, and I doubt there's an 'install oem vista from recovery partition' option in the BIOS anyway.
Is there a way to boot up the recovery partition from within XP? What can I do here?
I'd love to be the one disappoint you when I don't fall down
ApexMirage on
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Also, try Alt-F10, Alt-F11, Ctrl-F11, Ctrl-F12 as hotkeys during boot to get into the recovery partition. Spam them.
Of course if Fucking Dickwad blew away the recovery partition during the XP install you're hosed.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Edit: No dice on alt/ctrl/shift+F#.
It usually says in the manual as well, just search the model number at hp.com.
This is hilariously accurate.
Well, laptops are actually built to sense impatience and frustration, so the faster and harder you press the F11 key the more likely the laptop is to recognize that it is, in fact, being pressed.
Go to "Disk Management" and flag the Recovery Partition (drive D) as "Active." Reboot, and press F11 as it starts up, and you should be in.
And once you're recovered, make the backup DVDs. Three copies - one for your mother, one for your mother's safekeeping, and one for you. :P
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
But since you came here, I bet this is not the case. For next time (and anyone else reading this) I'd definitely recommend burning the recovery DVDs soon after getting the laptop. Even if you intend on wiping the OS and using something else, the recovery discs are good to have in the case that you want to sell the laptop, etc.
As a side note, you should actually consider giving HP Support a try. One of my buddies called them yesterday about a problem with a DVD burner in his laptop. Their Support is back in the States (no furriners) and he spent about 20 minutes on the phone and had a new DVD drive at his house this morning.
Edit: I forgot to mention that this was with his standard warranty.
As soon as it turns on, start tapping F11 and see if that gets you in.
I have been. The other F# options work no problemo
XP, right click on My Computer and choose "Manage", then in the tree on the left near the bottom is "Disk Management"
It's in XP. Right-click on My Computer and select Manage. Then select Disk Management in the new window.
I'm there but I'm not finding a way to flag it as active?
edit: scratch that - I see it but it's grayed out.
D=
You should be able to right-click the partition, and the third option down is "Mark Partition as Active"
[edit] Then it may already be active, have you tried spamming F11 during POST?
Yeah, it was one of the first things I tried. This thing is running slower than a 233 =(
It's possible to install retail Vista and then use an OEM key to activate it (the OEM key and the serial printed on the sticker on the laptop are different, and the latter may not be able to activate Vista), but that involves extra steps.
It is likely that installing XP screwed with the boot record, yes. I'm surprised HP didn't provide you with discs along with the laptop to begin with.
Most consumer HP laptops don't ship with discs anymore, they provide a utility that burns a set of recovery discs for you. And I don't know if you'll be able to access the recovery partition with a fresh Vista install. The F11 recovery partition thing is a non-standard part of the boot record, regular (retail/non-hp image) installs of XP or Vista would probably disable it.
Huh. That sucks.
IANAL, but it's certainly technically possible to "acquire" an appropriate version of Vista (Home/Business/etc.), install it, and activate it using the HP key. The argument here is that you own a Vista license already, so you may be entitled to acquire a copy; I'm not sure how the fine print works here. I'm aware it's legal to obtain an exact copy of some software you already have a license to, but these wouldn't be exact copies, but nearly-the-same product. Hmm.
I daresay someone more familiar with the Vista license terms and the relevant law may be able to make a judgment.
When you buy Vista you're buying the key/license. The media is just a bonus. You actually used to be able to buy media kits from Microsoft, which was just a copy of the software without a license specifically for people who lost or scratched their discs. Pretty much the only way to illegally use a Microsoft OS these days is if you manage to crack it or activate it with somebody else's key. Or I guess if you wound up with a stolen retail copy, that would also be illegal (criminally, I don't know if it would actually violate the Microsoft TOS).