Some Hard Disk Advice.

[Tpepper]

Hi. I'm needing to replace my existing Hard Drive on my HP Pavillion Computer due to impending disk failure. I feel fairly comfortable with the actual physical replacement of the drive, and my only concerns are with getting the computer operating again(IE: Reinstalling Windows, Anything else that needs Reinstalling after replacing your hard drive.) So:

A) My HP didnt come with an installation disk for windows as the OS came preinstalled. How do I go about reinstalling windows on my PC once the hard drive is replaced.

B) What else do I need to reinstall on my computer to get it running again? Do I need to worry about all the components still working together after I replce the hard drive(IE: Drivers)

The Issue might beslightly complicated by the fact that the computer for which the hard drive im replacing is infected with a virus, so I'm not sure how that will effect my best course of action?


Thanks for all your help.

 

[Bloodstalker999]

I would contact the Company that sold you the computer and ask for the OS disk, a lot of the time now a days companies will put a recovery partition on the HD, but this case is obviously useless because the whole HD is bad in your opinion. If everything worked together before then when you reinstall everything should work just fine. As long as you completely delete and reformat the drive with the virus on it then it shouldn't be any thing to worry about. Hope this helped.

 

[alex_boothby]

Yeh, im some parts theyve made it illegal to not give the customer THERE OS disc. i mean theyve paid for it so GIVE IT TO THEM!!! lol

id ring them and ask nicely for it, then if not SHOUT!! and threaten to take to court, as some companies have been sued for it!

let us know how it goes.

 

[mammikoura]

after reinstalling windows u will need some drivers. Usually just the vid card and mobo drivers (sound, network etc included in this). Windows will also recognize a lot of devices but it's best to get their own drivers since they work better than the windows ones.

 

[-Paul-]

u can get the drivers off the net hopefully, if not from the official site, somewhere like driverguide.com

 

[joxley1990]

He could just get all his motherboard drivers from thr HP site of course, or he may have a driver disc.

 

[mammikoura]

better to get them from the internet since there are definitely new versions out. But just get the network drivers and burn them on a disc or something before u do anything else, since u can't download them from the internet if the network card isn't working.

 

[Tpepper]

OK, I contacted HP last Night and they're going to send me the installation disks for $20.

Now for the drivers. On the HP Site they have the Original Drivers that the computer came with, as well as the new ones. Do I need the originals installing first and then update later, or can I just install the new ones straight away?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=326411&lang=en&os=228

Should I jusy download all the drivers from there and burn them onto a CD or what? Do they need to be on seperate disks?

Also I changed my original Nvidia card for a 9800 pro a couple of years ago, besides obviously needing an ATI driver, is this going to create any other problems?

 

[mammikoura]

Yeah just download all the drivers that u need and burn them to a disc. Or then just download the network drivers and then u can download the rest of them when u have ur new hdd. And u can put all the drivers on one disc.

And no, the new vid card won't cause any problems. For ati drivers go to atis website and download the newest ones.

 

[huynh]

Hi all,
My problem is a bit different. My friend has a Sony Vaio PCV-RS510 that gave him a blank screen when he turned it on (it said, "No signals"). People from www.allexperts.com suggested to clear the CMOS memory. But, he could not wait; he bought a new computer and gave me the Sony without the hard drive.
Now that I have given all original softwares from Sony (emailed and asked), can I just buy a new hard drive, put it in and install the softwares?
What else should I do, please help.
Thanks a lot.