No Asus O/S backup - what to do?

[blackrain]

After some back and forth issues with a laptop, it looks like the HD was on its way out for my Asus U47A-BGR4. Hard drive is clicking,etc.

I tried doing recovery backups and software but it never worked. So I have no backup media.

It looks like the original O/S on the laptop was windows 7 64 bit. I have the OEM key for the laptop. How do I get a 64 bit OS installed on here? preferably for free?

 

[UsandThem]

You should be able to download it here with your key:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

 

[blackrain]

You should be able to download it here with your key:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

I tried that. It says "The product key you entered appears to be for software pre-installed by the device manufacturer. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options"

I assume that Asus would be worthless for this

 

[crashtech]

When you buy most OE laptops, they expect you to create your own recovery media. If you didn't, you might be hosed. But if you search a bit, you may find some angel who has hosted recovery discs for your model. If not, well, just buy a Windows license and get on with your day.

 

[UsandThem]

I tried that. It says "The product key you entered appears to be for software pre-installed by the device manufacturer. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options"

I assume that Asus would be worthless for this

I know in the past they would sell OEM disks to users, but Asus isn't widely known as having great customer service.

I did find this link from Microsoft where they list the contact information for the various manufacturers:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...indows-7/528163c1-0b2e-4ad2-a26d-7112851d1dc2

Towards the middle of the page, it states this:

• Asus - http://estore.asus.com/shop
  1-888-678-3688 or 1-510-739-3777

The link doesn't seem to work, but maybe the phone number will. Probably the easiest and quickest way is if someone has an old Windows 7 disc that is the version on your OEM key.

It's too bad Asus doesn't have an ISO image you could download. That's the one thing I like about Dell. All I have to do is enter my service tag number, and I can download the factory image right from their site.

 

[C1]

Piece of cake (sort of) - lucky you have Asus as they make their proprietary software & drivers easily available via download from Asus.

Start by downloading the Win 7 ISO & install, then install the downloaded drivers from Asus.

https://pcriver.com/operating-systems/windows-7-all-in-one-iso-download.html

Oh ya, all kinds of people on here will start to warn you that the ISO has spyware or malware or is illegitimate or has unwanted things, etc.

Dont believe it.

Ive done this a bunch of times with different brand machines. It is some work to groom the machine, but an advantage is that you can improve some of the problematic facets of Windows 7 (eg, search fnction plus add your own unique utilities).

Be sure then to make an image backup.

 

[blackrain]

Piece of cake (sort of) - lucky you have Asus as they make their proprietary software & drivers easily available via download from Asus.

Start by downloading the Win 7 ISO & install, then install the downloaded drivers from Asus.

https://pcriver.com/operating-systems/windows-7-all-in-one-iso-download.html

Oh ya, all kinds of people on here will start to warn you that the ISO has spyware or malware or is illegitimate or has unwanted things, etc.

Dont believe it.

Ive done this a bunch of times with different brand machines. It is some work to groom the machine, but an advantage is that you can improve some of the problematic facets of Windows 7 (eg, search fnction plus add your own unique utilities).

Be sure then to make an image backup.

Thanks! The only issue I am having is that Asus only has a driver download page for U47A (not U47A-BGR4). It looks like there are multiple driver options for different versions of the U47A line. How am I supposed to know which drivers belong to the BGR4? Trial and error? This is a horrible way to set up drivers.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks! The only issue I am having is that Asus only has a driver download page for U47A (not U47A-BGR4). It looks like there are multiple driver options for different versions of the U47A line. How am I supposed to know which drivers belong to the BGR4? Trial and error? This is a horrible way to set up drivers.

The driver download page will usually say something like, "This is the nic driver for intel wifi cards. This is the nic driver for broadcom wifi cards. This is the nic driver for realtek ethernet ports." and so on and so forth. You just have to download the drivers for the parts you have.

You can usually root around in the BIOS for most of that info. You can look at unknown devices in the windows device manager to find a vendor string, or use something like SiSoft Sandra to get more info on your hardware.

Or you can just download/install all of the drivers on the page.

 

[Ketchup]

You could just use the free download of Windows 10, using the Windows 7 key to activate it.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

 

[Puffnstuff]

After some back and forth issues with a laptop, it looks like the HD was on its way out for my Asus U47A-BGR4. Hard drive is clicking,etc.

I tried doing recovery backups and software but it never worked. So I have no backup media.

It looks like the original O/S on the laptop was windows 7 64 bit. I have the OEM key for the laptop. How do I get a 64 bit OS installed on here? preferably for free?

I've downloaded the installers from MS that don't require the product key after which I used the OEM key's to perform a clean install.

 

[PliotronX]

Its far easier to get 10 on there at no cost using that key, the edition just has to match (home premium -> home) but if you want to stick with 7, you can use a retail disc (use Heidoc downloader for official downloads from microsoft) and you need the matching OEM certificate to the certificate embedded in the BIOS to activate because your key is likely a widely used Asus key which is the reason why the MS download site doesnt like it. Once you have the certificate in place, there are just a couple of commands to run to activate it. I have done this many times with prebuilts with dead hard drives but my collection of certificates is only for Dell and HP. I have a hard time recommending exploration of seedy parts of the internet but you can find these files. It would be for example Asus home edition.xrm-ms. Note, this is not a crack because the certificate in the BIOS is needed to perform activation.