Pavilion dm4t-2100 Entertainment PC lost HD partition and recovery DVDs not installing OS

[YJK]

It failed while making a USB recovery media (with OS upgrade - which I regret) and  for some reason I couldn't boot to the OS ever since.  So, I used the recovery DVDs to install the OS (W7 Pro) again (with HD format), but failed. 

Given no other way, I borrowed a generic Windows 7 Ultimate installer DVD and was able to install it.  Howver, what I got is a 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate (but it's a 64-bit PC).

The real problem is I couldn't connect to the internet since the ethernet driver is not working, nor updated (using drivers downloaded from another computer). And, I couldn't install the drivers for wireless, either.  It's probably because those drivers are for 64-bit OS.

I tried a few things and ended up with deleting all the partitions that were there intially.  So, I obviously made the situation worse. 

In any case, I'm stuck and have no way to use it. All I need is any version of Windows that works and updates.  (It's not my main PC, but I plan to use it for multimedia connection.)

Any help is greatly appreciated! 

[IT_WinSec]

Hello @YJK

Welcome to the HP Support forum.

I checked online for original HP recovery media for your PC model but failed to find one. I am afraid this model is an old one and it's hard to find recovery media.

Just any version of Windows won't work that easily.

In order to activate your Windows, and in order to have no issues with drivers,  you need the exact same version as your PC has been designed for - like x64, OEM, Home/Pro, etc...

Do you have the Windows COA sticker attached to your PC ? Is it in readable condition ?

Can you confirm your Windows 7 edition from the COA sticker ? Home / Pro ?

Windows 10 is also some sort of an option. Microsoft offers free 90 day trial versions of Windows 10 Enterprise and Enterprise LTSB editions which you can test on your PC for about 3 months. If Windows 10 works, you will need to buy a Windows 10 Home or Pro version and reinstall it eventually. No guarantee Windows 10 will work on this, but if you want, I will provide instructions and you can try.

Looking forward to your reply.

[YJK]

Hi, thank you for your prompt response! I am impressed.

Yes, I have a clear COA sticker:

Windows7 Pro OA

HP (bar code) 584048-001

with a genuine product key of course.

I don't want to try the trial version of Windows 10. I have other PCs with Windows 10 for my main work.

Thank you for your help.

young

p.s. I found this website from HP Forum to download Windows 7 SP1 ISO images, but it's linked to a wrong site:

https://www.mydigitallife.net/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

[IT_WinSec]

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@YJKwrote:

p.s. I found this website from HP Forum to download Windows 7 SP1 ISO images, but it's linked to a wrong site:

https://www.mydigitallife.net/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

---

Hi, the URLs are outdated. They are not available for many years.

Heidoc is the new options but it is not available for Windows 7 since December 2017 because Microsoft blocked it. Basically Windows 7 is hard to download for OEM versions.

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@YJKwrote:

Hi, thank you for your prompt response! I am impressed.

Yes, I have a clear COA sticker:

Windows7 Pro OA

HP (bar code) 584048-001

with a genuine product key of course.

I don't want to try the trial version of Windows 10. I have other PCs with Windows 10 for my main work.

Thank you for your help.

---

You are very welcome ! My pleasure.

Please, be patient. I will search within fellows if I/they can provide you with some URL to download Windows 7.

Will post again when I have some news.

[IT_WinSec]

If or When the ISO link is found/provided,

use an empty/blank USB pen drive (min 4 GB capacity(

use Rufus >> https://rufus.akeo.ie/

to download/write the ISO to the USB drive

Boot from this USB drive (F9)

[YJK]

I tried both F9 and Boot Order change in BIOS, but not booting from the USB.  Should I change the settings when I run Rufus? I just used the default settings. 

[CherylG]

You can get the ISO here:

https://mirror.corenoc.de/digitalrivercontent.net/

[IT_WinSec]

Thanks @CherylG  for posting this URL.

Hi @YJK

@CherylG  provided you a URL to download the ISO images - they are not from the official website of MS, but this is how it is, Microsoft are doing their best to hide Windows 7.

Open the URL,  choose the one with name X17-24281

en_windows_7_professional_with_sp1_x64_dvd_621750.iso

Download it and save it on your Desktop, for example. You will need a torrent download software (for example Qbittorrent) to complete the download.

With regards to your question about Rufus:

Open it and use these settings:

Select proper USB device

Partition scheme: MBR (scheme for BIOS or UEFI computers)
File system : FAT 32

Cluster: 4096

Do not check the device for bad sectors

Quick format

Create a bootable image using:  ISO  (and select the ISO)

Standard Windows installation

Let me know how it goes.

[YJK]

Hi,

I was able to download the ISO image and install it as a 64-bit Windows 7 Pro (thanks!).  Regarding Rufus, one thing that is different from the instruction was, I had to set it to NTFS instead of FAT32.

However, the Ethernet and wireless didn't work.  So, like I did earlier to a 32-bit OS, I downloaded network drivers for 64-bit Windows 7 (sp54121.exe, sp53382.exe, sp53680.exe, sp55086.exe, sp57965.exe) from HP using another computer and installed them, but it didn't work.  One error message I saw while I install the LAN driver (sp54121.exe) was driver inf file not found, or something like that.

So, at least I now have a 64-bit Windows, but I cannot use it since it's not connected to the internet....

Further help is greatly appreicated.

[IT_WinSec]

Could you go to Device Manager and provide me with the Hardware ID of the devices you miss drivers for - here is how to find this information >> https://www.wikihow.com/Find-Hardware-ID

Did you use the HP drivers taken from here >> https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-dm4-2100-entertainment-notebook-pc-seri...

Let me know, please.