How to get Vista Home Basic media, given I have a license

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timmmay

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#93109 14-Nov-2011 18:18

I'm fixing an old laptop for my Mum, which had windows vista home basic on it. I wiped it and put Ubuntu on it, but because of a weird bug with the firmware the fan won't spin up. Under vista it's controlled with software. So I have to find Vista again.

The hard drive has been wiped, taking the recovery partition. Acer have said they're not allowed to provide me with a recovery disk, but will be happy to charge me to re image it.

Given I have a valid license, all I need is the media. Does anyone know where I can get it from?

CYaBro

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#545317 14-Nov-2011 19:24

Can you get hold of any Vista OEM media?
They are all on the one DVD and it just installs the correct version depending on what key you put in during installation.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

xpd

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#545321 14-Nov-2011 19:45

Im in the same boat now with my mothers Compaq... recovery partition is long gone and dont think there was any CDs supplied.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Ragnor

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#545324 14-Nov-2011 19:49

Before Windows 7 came out there used to be an official Microsoft website for "Windows Vista Alternative Media" where you could download the legit ISO, helped out alot with the 32bit to 64bit transition as only 32bit media shipped originally.

However this appears to be gone now.

To be honest this is one time where I would just find a reliable looking torrent and download it.
http://www.mydigitallife.info/windows-vista-with-sp2-rtm-slipstreamedintegrated-dvd-iso-image-bt-download/

gzt

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#545327 14-Nov-2011 19:55

There is documentation for Ubuntu and fan control around - eg;
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_control_fan_speed (IBM/Lenovo)
Search for your brand for best results...

[Edit: Search the standard package library first before trying that sort of thing..]

Wade

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#545338 14-Nov-2011 20:15

I was in a similar situation, my dell laptop had win7 OEM installed and i could not get the recovery partition to play ball so only option was reload off disc, i DL'd the correct version from My digital life site and used my OEM product key to activate it with no issues

FWIW i bought Office 2010 through the HUP and after paying the fee it provides you a product key and a download link which is the same link as per the My digital life site link so you can have an element of confidence in the site

timmmay

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#545340 14-Nov-2011 20:16

It's an Acer Aspire 5315. I found a script that was meant to do the fan thing, but it didn't work.

http://www.fugaz.net/2010/01/23/acer-aspire-fan-issue-solved/

It says

:209: Illegal number

209 is the last line in the script, and there are no numbers - just a "don"e statement. So I gave up and I figure i'll install Vista again, unless someone else has another idea?

I can get a torrent, I was hoping there was a legal was to get something we already own.

gzt

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#545344 14-Nov-2011 20:31

There are some comments around saying it works fine after a bios update, script not required (?).

http://support.acer.com/us/en/product/default.aspx?modelId=50 (click bios) (v1.45)

This guy has a script for 11.0.4 and later: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1748521.

Perseverance may be required, but one way or another it looks possible.

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gzt

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#545349 14-Nov-2011 20:45

If those fail, investigate acerhdf:

This one seems a very simple fix if it holds true:

http://www.xappsoftware.com/wordpress/2011/01/24/aspire-one-fan-control-with-ubuntu-linux/

But full details if not:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne/Ubuntu10.04

btw, which ubuntu version are you running?

timmmay

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#545368 14-Nov-2011 21:19

You need windows to do a bios update. I ran a windows boot disk and did the update, it says I have 1.45 now, but it was so fast I don't actually trust it. I think i'll install vista and see if it works, then try ubuntu again.

The problem is the fan never spins. It does on startup, when the bios is control, but never when ubuntu is in control. I'm just a bit sick of trying to make it work.

timmmay

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#545369 14-Nov-2011 21:19

Oh and thanks for the suggestions gzt, I am following them up too :)

gzt

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#545372 14-Nov-2011 21:29

Most likely it is already running 1.45.

Any of those might work. The main thing about the xapp link is it indicates acer power support may already be present in the kernel and gives a couple of short commandlines to test it.

timmmay

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#545381 14-Nov-2011 21:50

Success! Adding that line seemed to turn the fan on and keep it going. Thanks gzt now I don't have to subject my Mum to Vista :)

gzt

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#545388 14-Nov-2011 22:11

Sweet! Later you might need to optimise the fanon/fanoff temps.

Ask the user to tell you if it ever does a self shut down - that would be a dead giveaway. On the other side, if the fan goes 24/7 in a well cooled room consider increasing fanon/fanoff. Summer can be hell on laptop cooling so make an exception for that.

timmmay

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#545490 15-Nov-2011 09:40

The fan actually turns on now, at a low speed, so instead of idle being 50 degrees it was more like 30 degrees. I played 6 youtube videos at once and the temp stayed pretty stable, so I think it's ok now :)

On the weekend I had the case off, with a house fan underneath it pointing upward keeping things cool :)