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Hello,

Bought 3 computers/laptops within the last year or so and Iv noticed they do not come with the CD to re-install Vista (or what ever OP they have), is this usual? Im planning to delete everything off the hard drive and reinstall but Im unsure where Id get the Vista program from.

Excuse my lack of knowlege.

Thanks

Yes this is normal for a manufacturer supplied Microsoft OS.

You should be able to create a restore/recovery CD within Windows, the programme will require a DVD Writer and a DVD. However, there are "some" manufacturers who don't offer this, and your only option is to do it via the manufacturers recovery console.

My advice is to always get the system running as you like it, and then a week or so after install, make an image of it on an external HDD, so you have a clean, customized system to restore to within a few minutes, should you ever need to.

Is there any particular reason you are looking to re-install Vista?

Well, the computer will reconise other wireless networks and will connect to mine - Great.

But Windows Updates will begin but not long after will fail, and the browser (IE and FF) wont display any webpages. I can ping websites and that works fine.

Doing my head in, oh and my CD driver is corrupt so I cant pop a CD in it. :@

Both of them problems should be fixable to be honest - it is very rare that a problem can't be fixed. Having said that though, I had murder trying to upgrade to SP2, it turns out to be an issue that Microsoft have been aware of for quite some time, and have little intention of doing anything to resolve (its all about Windows 6.1 now isnt it [aka Windows 7]). So I gave up in the end and am just sticking with SP1, until I get my new HDD.

Sometimes it can be quicker (and a lot less hassle) to just re-install afresh though. I am using an install of XP right now, that has been working since 2002, but during that time, it hasnt given me much in the way of problems and still runs like a dream (on a Pentium III lol).

What is the manufacturer of your PC?

Do you mean use a restore point from waaaayyyyyyy back?

If you are using system restore (I dont personally as it has too many shortcomings and wastes resources imho) then it could be worth trying a restore point from before the problems happened; or an even earlier one. It may help, but this is dependent on the depth of the problem - system restore only helps with the basics.

What is the manufacturer of the PC, ill see if I can find any info on the recovery CD status. Also, model number as well.

Just to help you understand abit better, I THINK this is the same problem as I am having:

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-netwo...-connect-internet-but-im-client-can.html