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4579
cant restore inspiron 1520
My inspiron 1520 wont boot.
I tried to restore from a disk image (trueimage) but none worked.
I dont have a restore cd so I tried F8 to restore form the hidden partition. Unfortunately there were no restore points or system images.
I think this may be because the laptop was supplied with vista and I've subsequently upgraded to windows 7.
I can install windows 7 but it wont accept my licence key because its an upgrade and doesnt have a vista os to build on.
In 30 days win7 will expire.
As my hidden restore partition doesn't seem to work will Dell sell me a restore cd?
bacillus
14.4K Posts
1
March 17th, 2012 16:00
Try doing a reinstall over your present win 7 install. You should now be able to get the OS to accept your upgrade licence key.
bikeman123
6 Posts
0
March 17th, 2012 14:00
oh and CTRL + F11 doesn't do anything either...
bikeman123
6 Posts
0
March 19th, 2012 04:00
Thanks for the reply but you seem to be suggesting that I try to upgrade from an unlicenced copy of win7, I'll try but I doubt it will work.
I see that US customers can now request free restore disks but here in the Uk we cant even buy them...
bacillus
14.4K Posts
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March 19th, 2012 16:00
This method has been tried and tested by many avoiding you having to reinstall vista beforehand.
bikeman123
6 Posts
0
March 20th, 2012 04:00
Just tobe clear ar eyou saying that a pc with no os can get a win7 licence just by doing a clean install of win7 followed by a win7 upgrade? I find that hard to believe. The win7 upgrade expects to build upon a valid win (vista) licence, so I cant see how this will work. If would be such an easy way to avoid the cost of a full licence.
bikeman123
6 Posts
0
March 20th, 2012 07:00
ok i've now done the upgrade twice on a clean system and it has accepted my upgrade key. Frankly I am amazed and a bit peeved because I've just received the Vista restore disks I ordered from Dell!!!
bikeman123
6 Posts
0
March 20th, 2012 07:00
thanks for the tip.
bacillus
14.4K Posts
0
March 20th, 2012 13:00
np