oxford_fan
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« on: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 22:33:58 » |
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Help please!
I'm going to sell my HP62 laptop on eBay, and I want to format it before I send it off. It's running Windows 7 and no CD was provided with the machine. On my last laptop, there was a built-in utility to format the disk and return it to its factory condition, but on this one all I can find is a system restore thing and the earliest time I set a resore point was this month.
How can I format it? I've got an external HDD if that helps.
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Samdy Gray
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« Reply #1 on: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 22:37:16 » |
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If you don't have a CD, is there a recovery partition?
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jonny72
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« Reply #2 on: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 23:08:16 » |
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Power it off then on, during startup keep pressing the F11 key.
This should start up the HP Recovery Manager which allows a complete factory restore or the creation of recovery disks.
If that doesn't work you'll need to get a set of recovery disks, you can get them from HP or possibly eBay.
Don't waste your time trying to re-install with a set of disks borrowed from a mate, as they need to be HP specific.
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« Last Edit: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 23:10:37 by jonny72 »
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oxford_fan
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« Reply #3 on: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 23:37:51 » |
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If you don't have a CD, is there a recovery partition?
What is a recovery partition? The drive is split into a C: for program files and stuff, and an E drive or something for Data - its empty. Thanks johnny will try the F11 tomorrow, factory restore is what I'm after. |
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Samdy Gray
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« Reply #4 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 08:44:31 » |
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What is a recovery partition? Basically what jonny said. Instead of going you a CD, most manufacturers put all the recovery tools on the HD. You can't see the partition through Windows. |
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Barry Scott
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« Reply #5 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 09:38:33 » |
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On a related note, my sister has a new Samsung with a "Samsung Recovery Disk" that reinstalls Windows 7. The only problem is it reinstalls Windows with NO drivers, FUCKING NONE!
It requires no serial, no inputting of options, it's completely unattended and Samsung branded, yet you have to go to their website and get the drivers. (It doesn't even install the pissing network card, so you can't even cable up to the router, you've got to use another computer...)
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Peter Venkman
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« Reply #6 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 09:49:44 » |
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On a related note, my sister has a new Samsung with a "Samsung Recovery Disk" that reinstalls Windows 7. The only problem is it reinstalls Windows with NO drivers, FUCKING NONE!
It requires no serial, no inputting of options, it's completely unattended and Samsung branded, yet you have to go to their website and get the drivers. (It doesn't even install the pissing network card, so you can't even cable up to the router, you've got to use another computer...)
Very frustrating but becoming more popular with recovery disks, defeats the point of a recovery CD to a certain extent. had this several times in the last year or so. I tend to make a driver CD myself and give to people in case of emergency/recovery and tell them to keep it with the laptop/pc. |
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Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
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stfcinbmth
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« Reply #7 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 10:30:14 » |
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On a related note, my sister has a new Samsung with a "Samsung Recovery Disk" that reinstalls Windows 7. The only problem is it reinstalls Windows with NO drivers, FUCKING NONE!
It requires no serial, no inputting of options, it's completely unattended and Samsung branded, yet you have to go to their website and get the drivers. (It doesn't even install the pissing network card, so you can't even cable up to the router, you've got to use another computer...)
Hate these recovery partitions. I want a friggin OS install disc you cheapskate robbing manufacturers! (It doesn't even install the pissing network card, so you can't even cable up to the router, you've got to use another computer...) That is exceptionally cheap and nasty |
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« Last Edit: Friday, November 11, 2011, 14:36:33 by stfcinbmth »
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Bosey
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« Reply #8 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 10:35:22 » |
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You could always install Windows 7 over the top using a USB rather than a disc and then use a torrented copy of driver genius to install / update any drivers that are missing
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jonny72
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« Reply #9 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 11:28:35 » |
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Hate these recovery partitions. I want a friggin OS install disc you cheapskate robbing manufacturers!
I like the new recovery system on Macs - just plug in a ethernet cable to connect to the internet and it does the rest. |
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Batch
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« Reply #10 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 12:09:43 » |
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I like the new recovery system on Macs - just plug in a ethernet cable to connect to the internet and it does the rest.
Apple are stealing your thought, man... |
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Barry Scott
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« Reply #11 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 15:15:04 » |
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Very frustrating but becoming more popular with recovery disks, defeats the point of a recovery CD to a certain extent. had this several times in the last year or so.
Really? I thought it must've been a mistake! Jesus... I was so angry to find that "repairing" the new laptop removed all the drivers and gave it a clean OS - at least it was free of shitware. I like the new recovery system on Macs - just plug in a ethernet cable to connect to the internet and it does the rest.
I hadn't heard of that, is that on Lion Apple's "Vista"? I love the Migration Assistant and Time Machine so much, I don't know how I ever formatted a computer, bought a new computer or even owned a computer, without it. |
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Peter Venkman
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« Reply #12 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 15:38:52 » |
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Really? I thought it must've been a mistake! Jesus... I was so angry to find that "repairing" the new laptop removed all the drivers and gave it a clean OS - at least it was free of shitware.
Yeap had it on HP, Samsung and Fujitsu. The only ones lately that let you do the whole installation including drivers seem to be Dell and Toshiba and they load the inventory full of bloatware and shit that you will never use in a million years and its all on fucking startup and hogs memory, wankers. |
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Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
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jonny72
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« Reply #13 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 16:02:59 » |
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I hadn't heard of that, is that on Lion Apple's "Vista"? I love the Migration Assistant and Time Machine so much, I don't know how I ever formatted a computer, bought a new computer or even owned a computer, without it.
The internet recovery is new with Lion. Initially it only worked on new Mac's but they've definitely added it to the Macbook Pro's that were launched at the beginning of 2011. Not sure about other older Mac's. There is still a hidden recovery partition that it will restore from but if that's fucked (or you've installed a new blank hard drive) then it falls back to recovering via the internet. |
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Samdy Gray
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« Reply #14 on: Friday, November 11, 2011, 16:10:50 » |
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With Vista and Windows 7, you can use an OEM key with a retail version of Windows if you activate by phone. Or if you don't want to activate by phone, you can try this: http://directedge.us/content/abr-activation-backup-and-restoreNo bloatware and default drivers pre-installed  |
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