Just some anger

Claymore

Rear Admiral
Well I recently bought a new computer from Gateway and paid extra for Windows XP Professional. Got it the other day. When I looked through everything I couldn't find the Windows disk. Called customer support and they said that I didn't need a windows disk and was supposed to make a backup copy with the 6 disks they included. They were like that's what we included the 6 disks for. And to get a windows disk they expected me to pay 200 bucks. I have a windows xp pro product code on the back of my machine. What gives? Why didnt they include a disk. I didn't check to see what the 'backup' disk was. Heck it might be windows...prolly not right. I just got really angry. I just wanted to know if this was normal practice for computer companys these days or what. Anybody know anything about this? By the way I got a 7200X and feel quite taken. I feel like an ass writing this too. Sorry for not creating a positive forum.
 
There is a good chance that one of the disks IS a install disk in disguise. If not I would probably return the PC out of anger personally unless it was extremely cheap.

What I like even more is when that default install you got on the PC is broken from the start AND you don't have disks... Been there, done that. And had some fun with the tech support that was going along the line "but you are not supposed to install another OS" Well if yours would work Dumbo....
 
My laptop (from Acer) also doesn't include a Windows install disk as such... however, it has a 'recovery CD' set, which basically restores your machine to original out-of-factory status, and one of those disks is basically a self-installing version of XP.

Chances are, it's the same here. Gateway is a respectable company, and there's no way they'd screw their clients like that. So yes, you've got Windows on one of those disks.
 
The computer I bought a few years ago from HP also didn't come with a Windows disk, it merely had a serial number written on the case of the machine. However, what the company that sold me the PC did, was partition the HD into two sections, one designated to be the 'backup' or 'recovery' drive, which I could use to reload the machine to factory defaults. I believe it was pretty much a windows disk on the HD itself. Not sure if yours is the same, but its worth a look.
 
I too have a couple of Acer laptops with the usual recovery disk etc.
I'd always thought that the reason they don't give you the actual Windows XP install disk was because they include the install on the recovery disk they give you and also, its configured up to install certain drivers (video,audio,network etc) by default.
That way, if you have to recover your laptop - you don't need to worry about the specifics of what make your graphics card is, etc - just bung their recovery disk in and it sorts it all out.

I think its a way for the companies to reduce the number of crap calls they get about "I've reinstalled Windows, what graphics card do I have? - I need to install the drivers"
If its all automated from their own customised recovery disk then they'd be confident that if the user does call up, its not going to be about installing drivers, because the correct ones will have been installed automatically.

On the downside of that - if you're reasonably techno-savvy, then you have to put up with this 'idiot-proof-ish' way that sellers operate.


Its not too bad, not having the actual Windows XP disk - it just means that you can't freely go and install it on another machine without possibly having to watch out for driver conflicts etc.

I've used my recovery disk in the past - its not that bad and from a workload point of view, it does make life easier.
Also, I had an option of formatting the drive first before the recovery disk does its business - so its near enough taking the laptop into the state it was when it first came out of the box.
 
Tempest said:
The computer I bought a few years ago from HP also didn't come with a Windows disk, it merely had a serial number written on the case of the machine. However, what the company that sold me the PC did, was partition the HD into two sections, one designated to be the 'backup' or 'recovery' drive, which I could use to reload the machine to factory defaults. I believe it was pretty much a windows disk on the HD itself.

Thanks for responding to my post. Not only is a light form of windows on the backup disk. I got a recovery partition setup as well. I don't even need them because I can use system restore and restore the thing to the way it was out of the box. I just thought you needed a windows disk when you were installing new hardware and stuff. I just wanted to know if this was normal. And apparently it is normal not to get a disk...so yes I feel very dumb and will hide in a hole for awhile.
 
I believe the SOP now days is to not give a disk, their back up cds still have all that junk spyware on them that big companies like to put on your computer. Now days I'd rather just build a computer (its not hard at all and most everything is color coded or only fits in one place) and buy a copy of XP OEM version or just get a stable copy of a version aka Windows XP Pro 64bit (I wasn't impressed with it) or a Longhorn version.
 
Yes, Microsoft does not allow OEMs like Dell to sell their computers with anything but a "recovery CD" or "recovery partition". White-box makers, however, are allowed to sell original OEM WIndows CDs only with hardware. Of course, they pay way more for the OEM CDs than Dell, etc. pay.
 
When i purchased my Dell Laptop last year, i received a "reinstallation CD" containing Windows XP home edition and service pack 1a. I then bought XP Pro and Office Pro for $20 total through my university.
 
Yeah.. this is fairly normal. It's a bit of a hassle, but I've been building them from scratch instead. Would never get a Gateway at this point.
 
One of those disks absolutely has to be a copy of the operating system...as Quarto has mentioned it may be in the guise of a "recovery" disk or such but they absolutely cannot sell you a computer without a disk for the operating system. It's illegal in a majority if not all of the United States to not include the operating system disks. (Unless, of course, you purchased it without the operating system installed).
 
If you go to a university, you can usually get OS software via the Computer/Networking department for a lot cheaper than you can in stores. And leagally, at that.
 
Maj.Striker said:
One of those disks absolutely has to be a copy of the operating system...as Quarto has mentioned it may be in the guise of a "recovery" disk or such but they absolutely cannot sell you a computer without a disk for the operating system. It's illegal in a majority if not all of the United States to not include the operating system disks. (Unless, of course, you purchased it without the operating system installed).

Actually, it's just a "recovery" disk. And it's perfectly legal, actually. It's illegal to not include a *license* of the operating system, but that does not have to mean a physical CD of the operating system. It could just mean that little shrinkwrapped piece of cardboard with the CD key representing the license. Now, they usually include a way to recover the drive back to factory installs to save on tech support (instead of having to solve problems, they can say "Press F2 and proceed to recover back to factory install, then tell me if it happens again" - note the lack of "you'll lose all your data"), which can be CD, a BIOS "feature" or some other method. Now, Gateway and Dell I believe will sell you a recovery CD if you corrupt the recovery partition.

Microsoft does not allow OEM providers to include recovery CDs anymore because they end up on eBay and sold without licenses and all that stuff. Whitebox providers, who pay a bit more for their OEM licenses, are only allowed to sell CDs with hardware.

All the providers can give you is a "recovery" CD that basically reformats the hard drive and reinstalls the operating system. And oftentimes, it limits itself to the exact hardware combination that the computer was sold - change the video card, and you often can't "recover" your computer.

And technically, Microsoft requires people who reformat the computer and install their version of Windows to have a license for that copy of Windows. So you can't use the OEM-provided license with the Windows you just reformatted the computer with (!!!). So if you Ghost on a new image (like all good IT departments), that Windows license has to be purchased separately).

So, find a real copy of Windows somewhere. We won't tell on you.
 
Back
Top