Computer Dilemma

[Hawkmoon]

Whaddawe do now, Coach?

Toshiba Satellite notebook, running Windows 7 Home Premium. Something went wonky and it wouldn't boot -- went into an endless cycle of telling me Windows was "fixing" itself -- but the fixes didn't work, so it kept on trying.

I finally gave up on that and ran Toshiba's system reset utility. This is supposed to set everything back to the way it came from the factory. It appears to have succeeded, except ...

... now Windows is telling me that it's not genuine, that the product key I entered is not valid. But ... I didn't enter a product key. There was no prompt to do so at any time during the reset process. There is a Microsoft sticker on the bottom of the computer with the Windows product key -- but the computer has been handled and used enough that three of the five sets of characters can't be read.

Any suggestions? I think it'll run like this, but I won't be able to get Windows (or Office) updates.

[lupinus]

Take it to the local church and dunk it in the tub of holy water, sounds likes its possessed by cyber demons.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hawkmoon]

The thing seems to run, but ... it doesn't know what display or display adapter it has. The display is set for "Plug-n-Play VGA" and the graphics driver is "Generic VGA." The result is that the screen resolution is set at 1024x768 and that's the max these settings will allow. Kind of grainy, and (of course), everything is squashed a bit because the aspect ratio is incorrect.

Does anyone have a dead notebook (or desktop) with a retired product key for Windows 7 Home Premium?

[Ben]

The thing seems to run, but ... it doesn't know what display or display adapter it has. The display is set for "Plug-n-Play VGA" and the graphics driver is "Generic VGA." The result is that the screen resolution is set at 1024x768 and that's the max these settings will allow. Kind of grainy, and (of course), everything is squashed a bit because the aspect ratio is incorrect.

Does anyone have a dead notebook (or desktop) with a retired product key for Windows 7 Home Premium?

Run belarc advisor and find out what graphics card you have, then download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer. Some, like NVIDIA, have "universal" driver installers. Download the package and it will pick the right drivers to install.

[Hawkmoon]

Already ran Belarc. It tells me it has an Intel graphics adapter. I downloaded the driver, but I can't get it to install -- probably () because the computer doesn't know what kind of display it really has.

This is the third Toshiba a friend has mucked up and then turned over to me to fix. I gotta find some new friends ...

[lee n. field]

Whaddawe do now, Coach?

Toshiba Satellite notebook, running Windows 7 Home Premium. Something went wonky and it wouldn't boot -- went into an endless cycle of telling me Windows was "fixing" itself -- but the fixes didn't work, so it kept on trying.

Too late now, but some things that can be done to fix this from the Windows Recovery Environment would be, from command prompt run "chkdsk c: /x" until it runs clean (drive letter might be different than c: in recovery env.), run "sfc /scannow" from command prompt, or use system restore to go back to a prior setpoint.

Also, very much worth running a hard disk diagnostic on that hard drive.

I finally gave up on that and ran Toshiba's system reset utility. This is supposed to set everything back to the way it came from the factory. It appears to have succeeded, except ...

... now Windows is telling me that it's not genuine, that the product key I entered is not valid. But ... I didn't enter a product key. There was no prompt to do so at any time during the reset process. There is a Microsoft sticker on the bottom of the computer with the Windows product key -- but the computer has been handled and used enough that three of the five sets of characters can't be read.

Any suggestions? I think it'll run like this, but I won't be able to get Windows (or Office) updates.

That's typically not the way a factory restore works.  Did it get interrupted?  At this point would it hurt to try running the factory restore again?

Already ran Belarc. It tells me it has an Intel graphics adapter. I downloaded the driver, but I can't get it to install -- probably (Huh?) because the computer doesn't know what kind of display it really has.

It's not that the computer doesn't know.  I'm guessing it's the wrong video driver.  My recollection is that Toshiba's support site isn't the easiest for getting drivers from.

[TommyGunn]

Good grief....at this point doesn't everyone here know that every problem a computer causes can be solved with

DETCORD!

[Hawkmoon]

After spending half an hour on the phone with Microsoft yesterday and another hour this evening, the end result was that Microsoft won't give (or even sell) me a replacement product key because I don't have the original sales receipt for the computer. The MS rep suggested I just buy a new copy of Windows 7 from Best Buy -- he said they have it for $19.99. I just checked their web site -- they do have Windows 7, but only the Professional version -- for $135. It's just not worth that kind of money to try to resuscitate a five year old (estimated) computer.

So back to my plaintive entreaty: Does anyone have a old, broken or retired computer that was running Windows 7 (Home Premium, preferably, but I might be able to make Professional work) that they could get the product key from and send it to me?

[HeroHog]

Lemme look

[lee n. field]

After spending half an hour on the phone with Microsoft yesterday and another hour this evening, the end result was that Microsoft won't give (or even sell) me a replacement product key because I don't have the original sales receipt for the computer. The MS rep suggested I just buy a new copy of Windows 7 from Best Buy -- he said they have it for $19.99. I just checked their web site -- they do have Windows 7, but only the Professional version -- for $135. It's just not worth that kind of money to try to resuscitate a five year old (estimated) computer.

So back to my plaintive entreaty: Does anyone have a old, broken or retired computer that was running Windows 7 (Home Premium, preferably, but I might be able to make Professional work) that they could get the product key from and send it to me?

do you have a win 7 pro install disk?   

[41magsnub]

After spending half an hour on the phone with Microsoft yesterday and another hour this evening, the end result was that Microsoft won't give (or even sell) me a replacement product key because I don't have the original sales receipt for the computer. The MS rep suggested I just buy a new copy of Windows 7 from Best Buy -- he said they have it for $19.99. I just checked their web site -- they do have Windows 7, but only the Professional version -- for $135. It's just not worth that kind of money to try to resuscitate a five year old (estimated) computer.

So back to my plaintive entreaty: Does anyone have a old, broken or retired computer that was running Windows 7 (Home Premium, preferably, but I might be able to make Professional work) that they could get the product key from and send it to me?

Buy one off Amazon!  There is a very small chance you would even get a legitimate old stock copy of Windows instead of a counterfeit!

[Hawkmoon]

Buy one off Amazon!  There is a very small chance you would even get a legitimate old stock copy of Windows instead of a counterfeit!

Found one and ordered it. I wonder if there's even a remote chance it might be genuine ... There were no copies of Home Premium out there, but lots of vendors selling Professional. That's okay -- Professional would give me XP Mode, whci supposedly would allow me to kep using a couple of "legacy" printers (if I knew how to use XP Mode, of course ... which I don't).

[Ben]

Found one and ordered it. I wonder if there's even a remote chance it might be genuine ... There were no copies of Home Premium out there, but lots of vendors selling Professional. That's okay -- Professional would give me XP Mode, whci supposedly would allow me to kep using a couple of "legacy" printers (if I knew how to use XP Mode, of course ... which I don't).

Not to get you riled up, but did you thoroughly read the descriptions (if you ordered one of those twenty buck ones)?

I had not heard of that price before so went to the Amazon link thinking I might buy myself an extra copy for that. Reading the description on one of them, it said that it's "for people who need media but have a product code". I don't know how accurate that is, but you can't read your current product code, no?

[lee n. field]

Found one and ordered it. I wonder if there's even a remote chance it might be genuine ... There were no copies of Home Premium out there, but lots of vendors selling Professional. That's okay -- Professional would give me XP Mode, whci supposedly would allow me to kep using a couple of "legacy" printers (if I knew how to use XP Mode, of course ... which I don't).

A Pro version is going to stick around a whole lot longer than the Home version.

I'm not sure XP Mode is going to help you with those printers.  XP Mode is a virtual machine.

I could probably give you the Win7 Home key off my son's laptop.  It's retired.  And I've got a small pile of (legit, off stickers) Win7 Pro keys that should be good.

[Hawkmoon]

Not to get you riled up, but did you thoroughly read the descriptions (if you ordered one of those twenty buck ones)?

I had not heard of that price before so went to the Amazon link thinking I might buy myself an extra copy for that. Reading the description on one of them, it said that it's "for people who need media but have a product code". I don't know how accurate that is, but you can't read your current product code, no?

Correct, I can't read the OEM product key. And the new version I m ordered is Win 7 Professional, not Home Premium, and the keys are product specific. No, the one I ordered didn't say I have to have a product key -- although I did see some of those, too.

[Hawkmoon]

I'm not sure XP Mode is going to help you with those printers.  XP Mode is a virtual machine.

I know it's a virtual machine. I've seen articles claiming it allows users to keep using older printers -- but they never explain how ...

I could probably give you the Win7 Home key off my son's laptop.  It's retired.  And I've got a small pile of (legit, off stickers) Win7 Pro keys that should be good.

I'm interested.

[GigaBuist]

Correct, I can't read the OEM product key. And the new version I m ordered is Win 7 Professional, not Home Premium, and the keys are product specific. No, the one I ordered didn't say I have to have a product key -- although I did see some of those, too.

If you have a valid Win 7 Pro key you can do their "Windows anytime upgrade" and it'll flip it from Home to Pro easy peasy.  It's been a few years but literally just hit the windows key and type in "anytime upgrade" and you should find the app to start the process.

[Fitz]

Don't ever say I didn't do nuthin for ya.

Check PMs

[Hawkmoon]

Have I ever said that?