You are really a despicable lump of shite Chris Wren!

Yes, myself and Alex don't exactly see eye to eye on a number of things, but one thing I will most certainly NOT do, is kick a guy when he's down!

 

I could say the same about you.

 

Seriously, if the guy can't give the site the attention it deserves, for whatever reason, then perhaps someone else should take over, even just for the short term

I'm fully aware of his situation thank you very much, and I sympathize with it.

Like hell you do!!!!

I just hope for your dam sake you never have to have the sort of help Alex needs right now.

you absolutely f*****g disgust me.

We tried that for a while, and all it did was cause a load of morons to post complete sh**e or question repeatedly when they could download.

Can confirm when I was on staff, this was exactly what happened, along with two other sites I was involved in..... they tried the same rule, got the exact same issue as Alex describes.

Check your PM's bud..... FB contact sent.

Heh, still doing yah balls in the real world, like on DOND - Next Level..... still the same old choppers

Me, Southern Comfort in one hand, carving knife in the other, stood in kitchen, in nothing than a pair of boxers and an apron, willing on the Turkey to cook faster.

Just stuck my balls in the oven..... stuffing that is.

Good luck with those, as they are like rocking horse shit.

May find better luck over at MPU Mecca, or stick a post up at Mr P's forum.

http://www.fruitemu.co.uk/ib/ (MPU Mecca)

http://reelfruits.cr...m.com/index.php (Classic Reels / Mr P's)

better than concept kits ?!?!

You don't have to try hard to beat the crap Concept push out anyway

Quad-Colour lamp arrangements, and quite a few of em to do too, so got your work cut out on this one.

Heh, I had this machine in my keeping for awhile (Most reliable epoch machine I have ever owned too), before passing it over to one of the mecca members, but not before I got the rom's dumped, so be nice to see this again, and give it an absolute thrashing

hirens boot cd

Indeed, and run Victoria, but make sure you start the comp in either safe mode, or use the mini XP function on Hirens.

If the drive is failing, Victoria should pick it up.

Also worth noting down the drive manu and model number reported by Victoria, as some of the manu tools for some drives (Which are normaly free), are very handy at backing stuff up, and fixing errors like on file tables, but obviousaly can not fix hardware faults.

Just as a note..... anything before win 8, has separate Retail and OEM versions of the software, so you need to have the correct ISO to match the key you have.

You was able to about 18 months back, use a rather crafty java trick on the Microsoft store, to download whatever OS iso you needed, and that included OEM versions, but unfortunately that trick no longer works..... fortunately I grabbed all the ISO's it listed before the java trick was blocked, so I at least have all the current ISO's for the respective OS's..... all you need, is a legit key in which to use them.

You can still download win10 direct from the MS store with any legit install key, however with earlier OS's like win7, if you tried to use an OEM key, MS will reject it, and refer you to your OEM, like HP, Dell, ASUS etc.

Lastly, a warning for windows 7 users doing a new install..... due to a quite nasty memory leak, which locks up and freezes windows update, you need to run a patch after performing a new install, but before you use windows update.

Files are a bit on the large side, so for a short while, will open up the storage on my OneDrive so you can grab em.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!...GSqGnIprm6QKrR_

 

15 years on and Stan's still recommending Belarc and rightly so.

 

+1 for getting hold of an OEM version of Win 7 via a torrent or Stan - if you've got a legit OEM licence key, then an illegal iso isn't an issue. 

I tend to use Aida64 now as it's more in depth and I have a zero install copy so is portable (Also useful as an aid to ID stuff for drivers), however certainly for most needs and especially install keys, Belarc Advisor will get the job done with the min of fuss.

Oh a tip for anyone who wants to use a USB Flash Drive as method for installing any OS (Includes some linux distro's too, as well as stuff like Hiren's Boot CD..... check the site for the full list)..... though you can use the windows7 to USB tool from MS (Works on win8 and 10 too), you may find using Rufus better, as I think you can add extra stuff like drivers too (Especially so with the Renasas / NEC USB3 drivers on win7).

https://rufus.akeo.ie

*EDIT* Looks like it's a no on the drivers, although I am sure you can use BartPE to get around that.

Long as you have the licence key, I have the needed ISO's here, to do a virgin install, including generic OEM versions.

If however you can not read your key from the sticker or it's missing, then easy way to find it, is install Belarc Advisor, which is a system audit tool, that shows what is installed etc, and will display licence codes for many bit's of software, including for your operating system..... same tool can tell you if your system is 32 or 64 bit.

(From the help file in the win update loop fix pack)
 

Windows Update Loop Fix
Version 1.2

Description: This wizard is designed specifically to fix the “Checking for Updates” loop that occurs on Windows 7 systems.

Instructions: To run the wizard, you must extract the zip folder first. Then you can double-click the wizard_64.bat file (Or wizard_32.bat for the 32 bit version).

Additional Information: There are three stages in the fix process:

·         Stage 1 – Resets all Windows Update components

·         Stage 2 – Installs the latest Windows Update Agent (version 7.6)

·         Stage 3 – Installs KB3020369, 3172605, and 3102810

Compatibility: This fix will only work on Windows 7 SP1 systems. Even if you are running Windows 7, you must have SP1 to apply this fix.

Help: For development history, see the included changelog.txt file. For questions or feedback, please contact the developer. 

If you have another system that you can mount the drive into you could use JellyBean to scan it:

 

https://www.magicalj....com/keyfinder/

Now I have a PSU sorted (Managed to find my multi-tap one), be able to see what is what.

Problem is, that it's got UEFI enabled, and taking that off in the BIOS, just shows a blank drive.

However, one idea I am considering, is a Linux Live Disk that is compatible with UEFI, hope it shows the recovery partition, go grab the recovery ISO that should be there, and do a complete re-install from that.

I was hoping to do something like this using Hirens Boot CD, but this bag of nails will not play ball..... just waiting to hear back from my IT mate in Queensland to give me a few ideas how I can get at this recovery partition.

Belarc advisor will give you the currently installed key if you need to find it.

It will for sure..... if you can get the OS to boot in the first place mind.

*** Update ***

Managed to boot it with a copy of Arch Linux (It allows full booting in UEFI mode, in either Live CD or full install mode), which unfortunately shows me that all the file tables etc are gone, as in like the drive has been wiped..... BOLLOCKS!

Resorting to an old data recovery trick I have used in cases like this before (It don't write to the drive, which is important), and fingers crossed I can grab the recovery ISO from the rescue partition that way.... Failing that, will be time to hand over £40 to Toshiba..... fortunate that the lappy is not mine, but still not good news.

You could, of course, just install Windows 8.1 from a standard install disk/key. The issue is that a lot of Win8.x boxes have their license key encoded onto the system so you can't get the key to license it. The manufacturer installed recovery / install media is able to access the key from the board.

 

All is not lost however. If you download RW (portable) from:

 

http://rweverything.com/download/

 

You can then go to ACPI Tables and then MSDM and the key is displayed there.

 

You then enter that in activation and you're all set.

 

Of course you'd still have to add all the drivers and other bits but it saves spending out on the disk from the manufacturer.

 

You'd not have the recovery partition, but you could (and I often do) simply use Redo Backup to make an image of the drive once it's ready and then just restore that image if you needed to wipe the box for any reason (or revert a Win10 update).

Many thanks for that bud...... think I am at the point of either somehow using something portable that will work with UEFI so I can see this dam hidden partition so I can nab the ISO off it and from that do a re-install, or at the very least have something that can give me the installed CD key, so I can use it to run a re-install using an ISO I can get from MS themselves.

Got a similar issue of sorts, but involves windows v8.1 on a Toshiba that a neighbour has asked me to sort.

Needs a factory reset, tried to go through the normal steps, looks like the HD has been totally wiped and can not even get Hirens Boot CD to work on it, so I am a bit stuffed on this.

Also I have a hunch UFEI is enabled too, which makes the job all the more harder

Oh, I can order recovery media for it, but Tosh wants £40 for it LMAO.

Well, I use Siri and dictation on my iPhone, they work fine. I also use voice search on Google by saying "OK, Google" It's great! So can I have the link to the free upgrade to Windows 10? or do I have to take my laptop into PC world and they'll do it for me? This Toshiba came with 7 pre-installed. However, my CD drive has a registry code 19 error. Thanks Stardust, I saw the news story and I was wondering how to get it.

There is no link as such, you just reserve the upgrade via windows 10.

However my network associate at Social Blade, has found a link where you can force this upgrade of sorts, via a download tool, which also allows you to make boot media for the OS..... however be warned that you need to do the upgrade first BEFORE you do a clean install (If that is what you wish)

What I would recommend you do FIRST before you do the upgrade, is make a clone of your boot drive / partition with something like Drive Snapshot, Acronis, Norton Ghost etc (Drive Snapshot is about the best one, and will work on ANY OS, as well as being found on the Hirens Boot CD).....

http://www.microsoft...nload/windows10 (Download)

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-activate-the-latest-windows-10-build/33f31475-93b3-4d1c-812f-4b21fbd807a7 (Activation info)

Also some screenshots from my lappy that did have w7 Home 64 bit installed

Strange question this but before downloading/installing windows 10 do I have to back up all my files, music etc into an external drive or can I install without fear of losing anything?

You should be fine if they are on another drive or partition for stuff like audio files etc, but make sure you have backup's for your progs just in case.....

However on my win10 lappy, I went the upgrade route (Though I did a clean-install later), and basicaly found all my progs still working afterwards.

The reason I went with the clean install later, was unfortunaly as part of the upgrade process, found over 15 gig worth of junk files, and no easy way to work out what to keep etc.

Just a heads up for those who have gone via the iso download route, then suddenly discover they need to make a USB boot stick..... rather than run the download tool again and waste bandwith etc, transpires you can actually use the win7 ISO to USB tool to do this, or a better alternative would be to use Rufus, which can do several ISO to USB conversions directly, like with Hirens Boot CD etc.

http://www.intowindo...-of-windows-10/