Trying to reinstall Vista Home Premium 32 bit

learninmypc

Posts: 9,659   +724
My friends pc has been crashing & I know Vista is being dropped by MS so I'd like try "try" to reinstall the OS without any discs. Any help greatly appreciated, thank you :)
 
Clicking start, right clicking computer & then clicking properties it shows a link Upgrade Windows Vista it also shows its 32 bit., what happens if I click the Upgrade Windows Vista ?
 
It's more likely to be a hardware or driver problem. Reinstalling Vista will take forever all supposing it doesn't crash part way through leaving you in a real mess.
 
The owner has already given up on it, I was hoping the knowledgeable geeks in here could help me keep it alive thou :)
 
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In the process of trying to do a restore to factory settings via the control panel restore options all was going good till this happened towards the end. I did Google "code purple computer" & will post those results in a bit.
 
The link https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Deskt...d-Recovery/Code-Purple-Error-Help/td-p/359373

what I tried
With the code purple error on the screen, press shift+f10 (the shift key and the F10 key (at the top of the keyboard) at the same time) to open a little screen called a command prompt. (So, you get a little black screen with white text that says something about your Windows verison first and a little ways down you'll see "C:\>". It's all ready for you to start typing.)
Type the following line, just as you see it here...



notepad C:\hp\bin\checkdmi\checkdmi.cmd



so it will look like this



C:\>notepad C:\hp\bin\checkdmi\checkdmi.cmd



Press Enter.

You will see the text for the file listed in a window using a simple text editor.
Go to the beginning of the text. Press enter to make a space. Type this...



I STARTED to type this "goto cleanup" but the pc shut down. I did try a few times but no go. Is the pc dead or ???



So, whatever comes after, the first line looks like this...



goto cleanup



Save the file and exit notepad and restart your PC. You are good to go.

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You jumped in with both feet before anyone could advise you so you're now further away from a solution: you've gone from periodic crashes to a non working computer. It's worth spending a bit more time considering your options before starting work.
 
In control panel it gave me the option to go back to factory setting & keep necessary drivers, etc, so I read everything carefully as I went along. There was no files/videos necessary to keep because I did ask him earlier.
Yes, I guess I should of waited
 
@bazz2004 you are correct, I did jump in with both feet. This forum also encourages using google & TS search for help. I doubt I am the only one in here that decided to bite the bullet & messed up. Thank you for your patience as I continue to learnmypc .
 
At the owners request, I found out I could install W7 Home Premium on Vista Home Premium so to do such I burned W7 to a disc. Went into set up on Vista & set it to boot from the CD/DVD drive. Saved it & exited & put the dvd in & shut it down. Waited a few minutes to boot it up but all I get is the cursor constantly blinking in the upper left corner.
 
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@Cycloid Torus might you have any ideas? A better picture. How do I get it to boot from the DVD/cd first so I can try to install W7? Sorry but the owner is getting impatient, I told him I am trying
 
Select first level, press enter to get choices, pick CD - then Floppy Group should drop down. Do same in second level, but piack something else, like HDD group
 
Ok, I think this pc is a goner. I followed your instructions completely but the curser still blinks non-stop after clicking F10 to save & exit. I shut it down & restarted it but nothing. I will try a bit later, thank you
 
I gather that the F10 save&exit is not working and that the First Boot remained Floppy, yes?

Does the clock seem right?

First, I might try F5 default settings & monkeying with Boot Priority again.

Then I might try pulling and checking the battery for 'good' voltage level (this is NOT as young machine) or just replacing the battery.

Afterthought, does the CD / DVD show up as installed in BIOS?
 
I don't know if F10 works although it worked the first time but none of the timeS I've done it did it boot up & start any type of install.
On the way to the boot menu the clock was off by an hour so I set it correctly.
Will try F5
When you mention battery, I'm guessing you're talking the quarter sized/looking one? I have no way to check its voltage.
I will try getting into BIOS to check it out :)
 
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