The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Any cheap way to replace bad OS discs?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by diver110, May 8, 2011.

  1. diver110

    diver110 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    399
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    The whole story: I have an Apple Macbook Pro. Trying to save a few bucks, I bought Windows 7 Ultimate from a highly rated Ebay seller, did the Bootcamp thing, and loaded Windows 7. No problem. Ran for a number of months problem free, though I was not all that crazy about the way Ultimate copies wordprocessing files. Out of the blue, Windows starts telling me that my OS is not valid. I check. Apparently this is not that unusual on a Mac. One has to undo the Bootcamp thing, then redo it and reload the software. A pain, but not that big of a deal. Go to do this. The computer won't play the 32 bit disc. Tried in on a different computer, did not work there either. Something is wrong with the disc. Tried the 64 bit disc, it says a driver is missing, but gives me no way to load and fix the problem. In fact, the disc got stuck in the drive, and I had to go to an Apple Store to get it out. They confirmed the DVD drive is fine.

    I have no idea how I could have damaged both discs. They spent some time in my car (in the case they came in) when I traveled from the west coast to the east coast in my car in January, but I would not have thought overnighting in the cold would do damage. Both discs are somewhat warped.

    I assume I have to buy new OS, but I thought it would be at least worth checking if there is some kind of OS swap available in this circumstance.

    Thanks.
     
    diver110, May 8, 2011
    #1
  2. Full-English

    Full-English Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    1,227
    Messages:
    1,512
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Full-English, May 8, 2011
    #2
  3. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    801
    Messages:
    3,881
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    no matter where you get OS load/boot discs you are still going to need legit license keys.
     
    newsposter, May 8, 2011
    #3
  4. wave

    wave Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    813
    Messages:
    2,563
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I agree. They key is the problem and not the OS installation. I don't think reinstalling will help you.

    If you have a valid key enter it System (found in the control panel) and reactivate.

    This is not a common problem on macs... at least not more common than with PCs.
     
    wave, May 9, 2011
    #4
  5. KLF

    KLF NBR Super Modernator Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    2,844
    Messages:
    2,736
    Likes Received:
    896
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Did you receive physical media with that purchase, especially the key?

    I've seen pictures of decent fake Ultimate discs when Win7 first came out. Keys included were normal MSDN keys that were banned later when discovered by MS.
     
    KLF, May 9, 2011
    #5