HP Pavilion G4 Media

[Mike McCall]

So I manage to resurrect my nieces Pavillion G4 that's been dead in my basement for the last few years. I had long ago cannibalized the HDD, memory, and such so the recovery partition is not available. Windows recovery web site won't let me down load the Win 7 iso, and HP no longer offers the media either. I currently have a copy of Linux Mint on it, but would like to be able to put Win 7 back on it. Where do I go from here?

 

[Mike McCall]

<sigh> There's a reason I never throw anything away. Turns out that several years ago I made a set of restore discs for her when she first got the machine. They were buried underneath the original plastic bag in the original box. Nevertheless, it would be good to know what my options are should I find myself in such a predicament again.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Is there a reason given by HP that they have stopped selling the recovery media for 7?.

Please don't tell me, that they have said, you need to upgrade to 8.

It's still a viable OS, therefore should be able to be purchased as a form of recovery media.

 

[Markverhyden]

HP is like many OEM's. They do not provide an OEM OS only media like Dell does. They provide recovery disks that include the appropriate drivers and bloatware they are paid to install. From my experience HP stops carrying recovery disks after 4-5 years. In the past I have seen where one can install an OEM disk from any manufacturer and it will register. Of course that is a EULA violation with the OEM disk manufacturer.

 

[NYJimbo]

I rarely get recovery discs anymore. If the machine has a COA I just install OEM, install drivers, check for special needs for that particular machine and then phone activate.

ps- you must get ALL the important OEM dvd's for Windows or you will end up in this predicament again.

 

[Mike McCall]

I rarely get recovery discs anymore. If the machine has a COA I just install OEM, install drivers, check for special needs for that particular machine and then phone activate.

ps- you must get ALL the important OEM dvd's for Windows or you will end up in this predicament again.

Fortunately I made restore discs long ago, and only found them after my first post. MS requires I input a COA to download the iso, so I still need a valid COA. Since the COA for this machine is for the HP media, MS won't let me have the iso and sends me to HP, which no longer provides it...dead end. So, how do I acquire the various iso's?

 

[Martyn]

Fortunately I made restore discs long ago, and only found them after my first post. MS requires I input a COA to download the iso, so I still need a valid COA. Since the COA for this machine is for the HP media, MS won't let me have the iso and sends me to HP, which no longer provides it...dead end. So, how do I acquire the various iso's?

If the coa is readable just use the relevant win 7 ISO and it will activate.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Easiest way round it. But as mark states, it is a eula violation. :/

 

[Mike McCall]

I didn't have an iso available at the time. Glad I made a set of restore discs.