Nice avatar/title, Tarun! A fellow Doctor Who fan, I see. ^^
Tarun, on Mar 11 2008, 04:33 PM, said:
I believe you can install just Vista with the Vista restore DVD from Gateway, though it will still have a few junk files installed.
If I'm correct, Gateway has an OS Recovery cd/dvd and the Applications and Drivers cd/dvd. What I did was use the OS cd only when I had to reinstall.
Well, my computer came with an OS disc, but since I originally used it to format the HDD, including the D: partition they wanted me to restore from, I lost all my drivers, including those for the network and graphics cards (which was quite annoying, I assure you). I think it was a completely clean Vista Home Premium OS, can't remember. But quite a pain with the drivers; went to the official Gateway support/download site, got everything that was relevant to my computer, and still was missing something according to the Device Manager, not to mention the fact my lowest graphics card rating (for Windows Aero) dropped from 5.0 (or 5.1?) to 4.8. So I called Gateway, mad that the disc that came with the computer I bought didn't have the drivers/etc. it requires. They told me I'd have to PAY TWENTY BUCKS to get the restore DVDs with all the relevant drivers that go to this specific computer model and it's hardware/setup. So I got a manager on the phone, had 'em send the discs to me for free. Got 'em, formatted the HDD and reinstalled Vista again, but everything was already there from the get-go. Including the Gateway crapware, of course. My Windows Experience Index 4.8 rating (Desktop performance for Windows Aero) never did go back to 5.0+, however. Still haven't figured that out. Perhaps some additional GPU tweaks that were factory preinstalled on the D: partition?
Annoyingly, they're all dragged down by that one rating . . .
5.9 - Processor: Calculations per second
5.5 - Memory (RAM): Memory operations per second
4.8 - Graphics: Desktop performance for Windows Aero
5.2 - Gaming graphics: 3D business and gaming graphics performance
5.9 - Primary hard disk: Disk data transfer rate
Anyway, in other words, whether the 4.8 down from 5.0+ can be fixed somehow or not (which would be lovely
, I want to use these Restore DVDs they sent me in the mail, since they have all my computer's stuff, pre-loaded. I'm quite familiar with Windows, though I'm by no means a tech whiz, and besides, this is way too much work just to get things running properly. Perhaps one day things will be made properly. . . when I get a Human Factor Psychology degree, maybe I can help influence the major companies to do things right the first time. =]
Tarun, on Mar 11 2008, 04:33 PM, said:
You could always get your Product ID to determine what version you have. Most likely it'll be Windows Vista Home Premium Royalty OEM.
Well, I know it's Vista Home Premium, but I have no clue how to find my Product ID, much less use it to figure that out. But probably, since "royalty" sounds like "money-schemed-crapware" to me. . . xP
On second thought, the sticker on the back with my Product Key for installing/activation says
Windows Vista Home Premium OEMAct on the top, so that must be it, then. *shrug*
jrf2027, on Mar 11 2008, 08:46 PM, said:
Hmm. . . Well, first of all, there is no Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD, unless it's part of the software and you're supposed to burn it, in which case it probably got wiped along with the D: partition and everything else on the drive the first time I used the "Gateway Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium32-Bit" OS disc that came with the computer. It's a GT5628, btw. Um. . . I'd love a clean Vista install, but. . . it's much more painful for me to try to hunt down and install drivers. So, choosing between what I've got, I'd rather the Restore DVDs with all the crapware, but all my drivers too, instead of a completely clean Vista OS that needs the drivers installed.
I suppose I should mention that I started this thread in relation to vLite (*attempts to edit original post's subject to include vLite*); I came to this forum from the forum link on the official vLite site, but it looks like a general Microsoft forum, apparently. So the original problem was trying to load my Gateway Restore DVDs in vLite. . . it just can't find the files it wants.
According to your second link:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228 said:
Recovery Disc These disc(s) contain an image of your computer as of when you got it. They can be used to restore your system to the EXACT state as when you first opened the box and turned it on for the first time. Vista is on these discs, but so is all the bloatware. The images are encrypted, and cannot be modified to be used for a clean install. It's best to burn these for yourself using the included recovery disc creation tools, but you can also usually buy them.
The "cannot be modified" part . . . I suppose that means vLite can't read Recovery DVDs whatsoever. Yet, would it not be possible to use those Recovery DVDs, format my HDD and reinstall the OS, install all the programs & updates I want, then use vLite (or any other program, I don't care as long as it works =P) to make a bootable ISO (possibly multi-DVD ISO, if needed) that would do the same as the Recovery DVDs do, and install all my current programs/drivers/updates with the OS?
. . . THAT is what I'm trying to do here. =]
Frontpage
Forums
Tutorials
Members
Calendar
Subscription
Donate
Links
Contact 
Help
Back to top
