New Machine - No Oem Vista Dvd.

[bdenner]

A friend has just purchased a new Acer Notebook from the Acer vendor in Udon Thani’s IT complex.

Whilst I was helping him with an internet connection the OS came back looking for a BlueTooth driver, I asked him for the DVD and CD’s he replied that the sales rep said that the entire contents of them were installed on his machine and that he would not need them? The only item in the box other than the hardware was an instruction manual. 1st thing I did was turn the machine over looking for and finding the Vista Home Premium license sticker.

I find it most strange that the machine OS being licensed but no backup CD’s being supplied. Where are the backup hardware drivers for the NoteBook?

P.S. I did manage to get him connected through his BlueTooth phone but gee it was hard work this being my 1st encounter with Vista.

[RKASA]

Do the warrenty reg. with acer online then contact them and ask where is my OEM disk, if its not provided they may tell how to get one, if it is they will make sure you get it from the dealer. I just don't see how you can maintain a OS like that without the CD.

[Guest Reimar]

AScer Laptops didn't come with Windows DVD! You need to run eRevovery Managment and burn your Set of Recovery DVD's. If you want to re-install to the original system settings you need to reboot the Laptop and when the Acer Logo shows up Hit Alt F10

The whole software incl. OS is stored in an Hidden Partion on HDD when you bought the Laptop and if you didn't delete tha hidden partition the software is still there.

[cdnvic]

Of course it wouldn't be the first time Acer Thailand supplied bogus Windows with a new machine so check carefully.

[Firefoxx]

The fact that you don't get a CD/DVD (or any kind of media) with a new purchased notebook does not mean that you're not getting a genuine OS installation. These days, it's actually typical to not supply any kind of media. Your "backup" will be located in a recovery partition on your harddisk. If you want media, you can order it from the manufacturer. My friend bought a Sony notebook from a Sony dealer in the US many years ago, and NO (none, zero, zip, nada, absolutely nothing) media was given, AND THIS WAS NORMAL. The backup was in, yes, a recovery partition. To get media, he had to call Sony and order it from them (at considerable expense). As for drivers, Sony pointed him to their website.

You can verify whether you're getting a proper license by looking at the manuals and the OS sticker that should be attached to your notebook. Since you do have the sticker, then yes, it's genuine.

You can see that the "OEM" windows sold at shops does have media. But that's a "generic" install, which most manufacturers *don't* do. They install their own customized flavor of OS, with their own programs, and not having to produce a limited run of media for the particular configuration of notebook means significant cost savings.

A company like Acer sells cheap notebooks with very slim margins. To entice buyers, many notebooks are sold without an MS OS to reduce the price. Of course, the typical buyer will want something installed instead of Linux, so to appease the buyer, they (the notebook shop, not Acer themselves) sometimes install whatever bogus OS they have on hand. This of course doesn't please everyone, but hey, you're paying that much, you shouldn't expect much. It's the way things work here. With me, so far, unless I actually specifically ask for it, I have never had any notebook come pre-installed with bogus software (and I've bought several dozen).

So, to clarify: It's NOT strange to not have any media included with your notebook.

Edited September 2, 2007 by Firefoxx

[Plus]

I looked at Acer website recently and they didn't have any "Linux" machines anymore. Still the customers might ask shops to reinstall Pantip Xp over Vista.

[Abrak]

Sorry for the newbie question. I just bought a Sony Vaio SZ model for over Bt90k. It didnt come with a MS Vista disk but it did come with a sticker on the back reading MS vista business edition product key etc. So what happens if my hard disk crashes? Do I have to go to Sony and quote them my product key? This will presumably take me considerable time and possible expense? Alternatively I guess there are products that simply backup by entire hard drive - what are they?

Thanks for your help....

[RKASA]

I think it was riemar that pointed out you can make recovery DVD out of the restore partition. Would do that right away before something happen. Ask the OEM about hard drive recovery if the disk fails. should have a method for you to back up before it happens.

[tigerbeer]

a toshiba bought for 70k about 2 years plus ago came with a legitimate installation of xp but no OS cd. just came with a recovery disk specifically for toshiba.

i like my UBUNTU linux CD though that was sent to me for free .. what a delight it is to run something free for a change.

[cdnvic]

Sorry for the newbie question. I just bought a Sony Vaio SZ model for over Bt90k. It didnt come with a MS Vista disk but it did come with a sticker on the back reading MS vista business edition product key etc. So what happens if my hard disk crashes? Do I have to go to Sony and quote them my product key? This will presumably take me considerable time and possible expense? Alternatively I guess there are products that simply backup by entire hard drive - what are they?

Thanks for your help....

So long as you have that Certificate of Authenticity (COA), you can reinstall the same Windows Vista version from any disk and use the serial number from the COA. That gives you a legit copy

[bdenner]

Thanks for all this useful info guys. One never stops learning.