I bought a 2nd hand laptop and have to "recover" to get it to boot up

[Horse]

I bought this; $220 ono Pickup Leithfield HP Pro Book 4515s AMD Athlon X2 64 4GB Ram ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics 200 GB Hard Drive Wifi Bluetooth SD-MS/Pro-MMG-XD VGA HDMI 4x USB Ports DVD Writer Windows 10 Professional 64 bit - Activated Microsoft Office 2016 - Activated One Note 2016 Outlook 2016 Power Point 2016 Publisher 2016 Word 2016 Access 2016 Excel 2016 One Drive for Business Skype for Business Autodata 3.38 Repair and Diagnostic Information for Car Workshops - Full version - Activated Cars from 1959-2011 ( No Holden ) Google Chrome + Ad Block Pro VLC Media Player 2.2.4 Antivirus - Advanced System Care 10 Pro - Activated Ccleaner Professional Full version - Activated Laptop has had a full disassembly and clean Fan was blocked with dust and was getting very hot Now runs smooth and alot cooler. Battery is full charged and works excellent Comes with charger + Laptop bag1-dot 3 Photos · 3 Photos

After the second time I turned it off it froze instead of booting up so I held the On/Off button down and turned it on again. Self repair says no, so did a recovery back to earliest then no software was on it (not even Chrome) so I recovered back to the next one up and had missing drivers and Office had dissappeared and start menu doesn't work neither does windows update so bought tweakbit driver update which got speakers working but everytime I turn it off now it freezes then I go through the same rigmarole. I suspect the software is not legit or something. I am a bit of a techno-infant so any advice would be greatly appreciated. The character I bought it from has now become "facebook user" so am having doubts about how legit this all is. I hope it's not stolen.A lot of the software is not now activated, has various office apps which work (Exel,PP, Word Access,Onenote etc) but not the main software. Please help even if it's the name of a good (and cheap) IT repair guy in ChCh NZ thanks for reading my book - Paul

 

[beers]

That is WAY too much for that laptop.

Sounds like the hard drive might be damaged.

 

[Horse]

Thanks! at least it wasn't too cheap therefore stolen. The HP software that you can esc to b4 windows says the hardware is ok but the "Advanced systemcare 10 performance monitor" often has the "disc" at 100% Internet works fine watching movies etc. Should I just take it into a shop? If so, what's a good one in ChCh prefer Hornby area. Thanks

 

[johnb35]

You need to wipe the system and reinstall clean. Advanced system care is garbage. You may have gotten taken. "facebook user" means they blocked you.

That is WAY too much for that laptop.

Sounds like the hard drive might be damaged.

Agree with both statements.

 

[Horse]

Thanks guys, If I wipe it will I have to buy all new software? There is a License code in the system settings, does that have any value? Also it has KMSpico which uncle google gave me some worrying opinions about. I'm gonnna turn it off soon and check out all the HP options at startup and see if it has any red flags about the harddrive. Thanks for ya input - Cheers Paul

 

[Horse]

PS I picked it up so I know where he lives....

 

[Darren]

You got severely ripped off... especially since all that software is likely pirated. KMSpico is used to activate Microsoft products and sometimes (but not always) will come with viruses/malware. I sell machines at work around those specs for $100 and a legitimate version of Windows.

 

[Horse]

Damn! wish I'd come here first victim of impulse buying, thought Win 10 and Office were worth the money alone as I'm a sole contractor (tradey) using an old fashioned invoice book and an old Acer Aspire One netbook had hoped to get into the 21st century lol. I mostly only watch movies and facebook so don't need any fancy gaming gear. Think I'll just call it a $200 lesson or should I put good money after bad?

 

[Darren]

Damn! wish I'd come here first victim of impulse buying, thought Win 10 and Office were worth the money alone as I'm a sole contractor (tradey) using an old fashioned invoice book and an old Acer Aspire One netbook had hoped to get into the 21st century lol. I mostly only watch movies and facebook so don't need any fancy gaming gear. Think I'll just call it a $200 lesson or should I put good money after bad?

Ehh if it works for you I guess that's all that matters, just be careful when buying used stuff, particularly if it's not from a store or verified reseller. You can be assured that Windows and Office aren't really worth that much since they're illegally pirated and essentially stolen.

 

[Horse]

Ok I've gone to the next curseword up from damn now, so really do you think I should buy a new harddrive and software for this or just find someone like yourself locally and get something else?

 

[Darren]

Might be worth shopping around your local computer shops and see if they've got anything worthwhile.

 

[Horse]

Thanks, Will do, will take this with me (booted up) for them to look at for best options. I know it's easier to make the call with the problem there to look at. Thanks again to all for your time esp. Darren. Cheers

 

[Horse]

Ok have Done the HP System diagnostics and the start-up test and the Hard Disc Test came up "passed" but the Run-in Test gets to 100% then starts again I did this for about an hour then esc just said aborted with no result offered, do I need to wait longer? All the physical properties seem to work ok on it. Do I write down the license code and then wipe it? If so how do I get an operating system back on it? Sorry to be a pain!

 

[johnb35]

Do I write down the license code and then wipe it? If so how do I get an operating system back on it? Sorry to be a pain!

The activation code is a 25 digit key, 5 sets of 5 digits. it won't be listed in system properties. You'll have to use a key finder to pull it from the registry. You can use magic jelly bean keyfinder. But if its windows 10 and legally activated then all you'll have to do is download the ISO and burn the image to a dvd and install 10 that way. Don't enter a key when it asks for it, just skip it and it should auto activate when it gets to the desktop.

You go here to download the ISO file.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209

 

[Darren]

Also just so you know that Run In test will just run until cancelled. If the hard drive check passed you're fine. Likely just a crappy install of Windows and need to start fresh. Could also just try the built in Reset feature in W10, not sure how that works with pirated versions though.

 

[Laquer Head]

PS I picked it up so I know where he lives....

Call the police, find out if it is stolen..send them to the guys house. If not stolen, you're probably screwed, chalk it up to a lesson learned - don't buy used shit off ebay, facebook...etc..

 

[Darren]

Call the police, find out if it is stolen..send them to the guys house. If not stolen, you're probably screwed, chalk it up to a lesson learned - don't buy used shit off ebay, facebook...etc..

Kinda jumping the gun to stolen aren't ya...?

 

[Laquer Head]

Kinda jumping the gun to stolen aren't ya...?

If someone ripped me off I'd jump every gun imaginable to make sure they got f'd.

EDIT: seriously...LMAO

 

[Horse]

Sweet as Be a double whammy if it's hot, will probably just buy a legit version of W10 It's starting up kinda ok from restart and sleep but none of the links are working on start menu so yeah. probably illegal software. There was photos of the clogged fan on the sale ad so am hoping it's a relatively worthless computer that's been "fixed". Not really a police kinda guy, rely more on karma or fists haven't decided which yet lol! Thanks heaps to all will try the reinstall first then new windows if these dont work it'll be curse level 3...

 

[Laquer Head]

Sweet as Be a double whammy if it's hot, will probably just buy a legit version of W10 It's starting up kinda ok from restart and sleep but none of the links are working on start menu so yeah. probably illegal software. There was photos of the clogged fan on the sale ad so am hoping it's a relatively worthless computer that's been "fixed". Not really a police kinda guy, rely more on karma or fists haven't decided which yet lol! Thanks heaps to all will try the reinstall first then new windows if these dont work it'll be curse level 3...

Yeah, I wasn't either until you go to use fists and they call the cops on you.. and waiting for karma just isn't a viable solution...some people just get away with everything.