3 year old Packard Bell laptop HDD died - W7 reinstall from download?

[Rikki]

Hey folks.

The better halves Packard Bell lappy just died, popped a new hard drive in and there are no backup Win 7 CDs or DVDs.

Id heard there were downloadable ISOs from MS but when to : http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

And put the product key from the bottom of the laptop in it threw up an error. Its a Windows 7 Home Premium OA sticker X16-96072

Any ideas on how to sort this out without spending £££s with Packard Bell?

Thanks

Rikki

 

[drescherjm]

http://www.howtogeek.com/186775/how-to-download-windows-7-8-and-8.1-installation-media-legally/

 

[bigdogchris]

If you don't have a product key you can use applications that have the certificate and product key built in. They look at the bios and insert the appropriate OEM key and certificate for that model computer to activate the OS.

If you have an OEM PC with Windows 8 you just have to install the disc and it activates based on what's in the bios.

 

[MrGreg62]

Sorry link didn't work.

 

[drescherjm]

Its a Windows 7 Home Premium OA sticker X16-96072

Do you have the real product key? X16-96072 is not a product key.

 

[SuperSubZero]

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

New recovery site, it will ask for your key.

 

[drescherjm]

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

New recovery site, it will ask for your key.

Rikki already tried that and the site rejected the code but it is not clear if he put the Microsoft product code or a Packard Bell code.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...a-in-the/79c56b7c-702b-429b-8282-e594d0427c22

 

[bigdogchris]

Rikki already tried that and the site rejected the code but it is not clear if he put the Microsoft product code or a Packard Bell code.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...a-in-the/79c56b7c-702b-429b-8282-e594d0427c22

That's a cool site.

The Packard Bell code will be completely generic, invalid key simply used to have something there. The certificate is what actually activates the OS.

They will have to use the key that's on the OEM sticker.

 

[B00nie]

Hey folks.

The better halves Packard Bell lappy just died, popped a new hard drive in and there are no backup Win 7 CDs or DVDs.

Id heard there were downloadable ISOs from MS but when to : http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

And put the product key from the bottom of the laptop in it threw up an error. Its a Windows 7 Home Premium OA sticker X16-96072

Any ideas on how to sort this out without spending £££s with Packard Bell?

Thanks

Rikki

Packard Bell is the cheapest and lowest crud in the bucket. I learned the hard way that 'the better half' needs to have a 1800 dollar gaming laptop if you want the lappy to survive her use. She chewed through 3 cheap laptops in 4 years, this Asus ROG has lasted for 3 years already. The only visible problems are worn out keys, she almost chewed a physical hole to the space bar and the wasd keys have no etchings left, just white pits where the letters used to be.

If you replace that laptop try to find a model that lets you create some sort of a recovery media that you can use to rescue the computer if your hdd breaks again.

 

[JayteeBates]

Packard Bell still makes systems omg!

 

[Liger88]

Packard Bell still makes systems omg!

lol that was my first thought as well. Haven't heard that name since the mid-90's back when Cyrix was a legitimate competitor to AMD/Intel.

 

[B00nie]

lol that was my first thought as well. Haven't heard that name since the mid-90's back when Cyrix was a legitimate competitor to AMD/Intel.

Packard Bell is marketed in cheap electric device chains like the norwegian ElGigant etc. in Europe.

 

[bebble]

Your sticker should have the key. Or you might try to check with Microsoft to retrieve with your key. It might takes time. My experience is you want to escalate to manager level.