How to get a dead Dell back to life?

[CrippsCorner]

Missus laptop died a while back and I want to bring it back to life. I have a spare HDD but she doesn't have any installation discs etc. so how can I get Windows on it? You can download an ISO from Microsoft but there's no product key on the laptop itself, only Dell reference numbers.

 

[Typhoon]

Stick Linux on it!

 

[Paprika123]

Acquire a key off another computer using jellybean key finder? You could also have a rake about eBay as noobs sometimes advertise computers/licences and post a photo of the COA lol.

 

[Typhoon]

Acquire a key off another computer using jellybean key finder? You could also have a rake about eBay as noobs sometimes advertise computers/licences and post a photo of the COA lol.

Haha, I used to do that years back. It's a bit stupid. Ie; second picture has a windows 7 key:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=111663218775

 

[CrippsCorner]

Not enough characters in that key!

Downloaded Jellybean, thanks. I'll try and slave it tomorrow but not sure if I have the right connections for a laptop drive... thing is it was never a standalone version of Windows 7 so still not sure if it's going to help! Dell's website is useless for anything like this.

 

[Paprika123]

😂

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=111663032798

 

[Paprika123]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=151670397506

 

[Gareth]

Lol, amazing.

 

[DrR]

Ohhh never thought of doing that! Cheer for that. Another good place to look is computers at work, standalone ones you know will never go on the Internet.

 

[CrippsCorner]

People are dumb but still, it doesn't work...

The product key you entered appears to be for software that was pre-installed on a device. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options.

My brother says he has an old laptop drive with Windows 7 on it so might try that as my next option!

 

[Brand86]

Before trying anything else, have you tried a new power supply? The Dell power supplies are notoriously prone to breaking. I was about to throw my media PC to the silicone gods by our office IT guy gave me a new power supply to try and that solved it

 

[Paprika123]

People are dumb but still, it doesn't work...

The product key you entered appears to be for software that was pre-installed on a device. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options.

My brother says he has an old laptop drive with Windows 7 on it so might try that as my next option!

Download an ISO elsewhere. The product key will work that way.

 

[Carlv8415]

Go into PC world and copy down a key from the side of a computer in there. Use to run a portable version of JellyBean on a USB drive. Plug it into computers with decent software on them, extract the code. Download the trial off the net and enter the code. Boom job done. That was back in my youth though, haven't got that sort of brass anymore [emoji23]

 

[CrippsCorner]

The ISOs from questionable places are bigger than my USB sticks lol, I'll have to get another.

Thanks @Brand86 but it does power up, just states the HDD is dead, and it also isn't found when plugged in externally to another computer.