HP VISTA Recovery DVDs

larryw_m · 24. Sep 2010, 11:04 PM

Running Vista Home Premium. HP pavilion Laptop with 3gb ram and 250 gb harddrive. Dual boot with Ubuntu 10.04. Removed a partition and couldn't reboot. Decided to do a complete reinstall.

I had backed up my recovery onto 10 CDs. Installed first CD and error msg came up telling me it wouldn't accept the CD. Phoned HP and was told that I shouldn't backup onto CDs???. Ordered a set of Recovery DVDs.

Received the DVDs and did a complete install of Ubuntu to totally wipe out Vista. Installed Vista with DVDs. When finished I had a max partition of 30gb. Tried Easus, Gparted and Vista partition manager and could not extend this partition. Could shrink it if I wanted to.

I had a 3 month old Macrium image of my system and reinstalled it successfully. Tried to reinstall Vista again with DVDs. Same result. 30gb.

Tried one more time to reinstall Vista from DVDs. Same result 30gb. Couldn't extend with partition programs.

Took my laptop to computer tech. He erased the harddrive completely with a military grade program. He installed Vista from my DVDs and same result. 30gb.

He then installed XP pro. Tried to reinstall Vista over the XP and same result. 30gb.

He finally installed Vista from his own copy and my information. Works fine now but sometimes get Windows warning telling me that my computer
might be infected with Validation Exploit.

Called HP for advice but they wanted to be paid. I already paid for the DVDs and don't feel like paying for advice now.

Still would like to be able to use these DVDs in the future to reinstall Vista if necessary. Any suggestions.

Jojoyee · 25. Sep 2010, 04:00 AM

1. Harddisk space

If I understand it correctly, you would not be able to expand a partition of 30 GB unless there's unallocated space in your hard disk. It might be a solution to try to shrink other partitions to create unallocated space for it.

2. Dual boot

Not sure if you have removed a partition where a system is residing or it's removed correctly without affecting other partitions. Rightfully Vista and Ubuntu can be installed in each own partition for a dual boot. Ubuntu can also be installed from within Windows if needs be.

See also:
Easy Way to Install Ubuntu - from within Windows
The Definitive Dual Booting Guide

3. Validation Exploit

Reinstalling Windows will normally require a validation of the system. You should be able to get free support from Microsoft for validating the system with your Windows license.

Hope this helps.

eyeb · 25. Sep 2010, 08:43 AM

I'm wondering if the DVDs you have aren't just DVD of the recovery partition that comes with computer. I know Dell stopped sending actual disks and just ship computers with a recovery partition. If the DVDs were replacement for such a partition, it might not be a Vista installation disk but disks of partition image? I'm not sure if this would limit the partition size to what image was made from though

Or it might be possible you got wrong Vista disks? I think I read somewhere that 32-bit OS has an upper drive size that they recognize and the rest is left as unused space.

tushR · 25. Sep 2010, 09:47 AM

HP always sends drive image (it's not vanila vista)...I guess they have sent you a wrong dvd's...call them and get confirmation.

also what do you see in disc management?

24. Sep 2010, 11:04 PM	#1 (permalink)
larryw_m Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1	HP VISTA Recovery DVDs Running Vista Home Premium. HP pavilion Laptop with 3gb ram and 250 gb harddrive. Dual boot with Ubuntu 10.04. Removed a partition and couldn't reboot. Decided to do a complete reinstall. I had backed up my recovery onto 10 CDs. Installed first CD and error msg came up telling me it wouldn't accept the CD. Phoned HP and was told that I shouldn't backup onto CDs???. Ordered a set of Recovery DVDs. Received the DVDs and did a complete install of Ubuntu to totally wipe out Vista. Installed Vista with DVDs. When finished I had a max partition of 30gb. Tried Easus, Gparted and Vista partition manager and could not extend this partition. Could shrink it if I wanted to. I had a 3 month old Macrium image of my system and reinstalled it successfully. Tried to reinstall Vista again with DVDs. Same result. 30gb. Tried one more time to reinstall Vista from DVDs. Same result 30gb. Couldn't extend with partition programs. Took my laptop to computer tech. He erased the harddrive completely with a military grade program. He installed Vista from my DVDs and same result. 30gb. He then installed XP pro. Tried to reinstall Vista over the XP and same result. 30gb. He finally installed Vista from his own copy and my information. Works fine now but sometimes get Windows warning telling me that my computer might be infected with Validation Exploit. Called HP for advice but they wanted to be paid. I already paid for the DVDs and don't feel like paying for advice now. Still would like to be able to use these DVDs in the future to reinstall Vista if necessary. Any suggestions.

25. Sep 2010, 04:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
Jojoyee Maestro di Search Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 4,295	1. Harddisk space If I understand it correctly, you would not be able to expand a partition of 30 GB unless there's unallocated space in your hard disk. It might be a solution to try to shrink other partitions to create unallocated space for it. 2. Dual boot Not sure if you have removed a partition where a system is residing or it's removed correctly without affecting other partitions. Rightfully Vista and Ubuntu can be installed in each own partition for a dual boot. Ubuntu can also be installed from within Windows if needs be. See also: Easy Way to Install Ubuntu - from within Windows The Definitive Dual Booting Guide 3. Validation Exploit Reinstalling Windows will normally require a validation of the system. You should be able to get free support from Microsoft for validating the system with your Windows license. Hope this helps. __________________ Keep It Short and Sweet Last edited by Jojoyee; 25. Sep 2010 at 04:13 AM.

25. Sep 2010, 09:47 AM	#4 (permalink)
tushR Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 187	HP always sends drive image (it's not vanila vista)...I guess they have sent you a wrong dvd's...call them and get confirmation. also what do you see in disc management? __________________ Relativity applies to physics, not ethics...

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25. Sep 2010, 08:43 AM	#3 (permalink)
eyeb Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Planet X Posts: 487	I'm wondering if the DVDs you have aren't just DVD of the recovery partition that comes with computer. I know Dell stopped sending actual disks and just ship computers with a recovery partition. If the DVDs were replacement for such a partition, it might not be a Vista installation disk but disks of partition image? I'm not sure if this would limit the partition size to what image was made from though Or it might be possible you got wrong Vista disks? I think I read somewhere that 32-bit OS has an upper drive size that they recognize and the rest is left as unused space.