I have tried everything I could think of and anyone else could think of, to resolve my Windows Media Center problem, and nothing has worked. I would like to restore my computer to it's original state like when it was new, so I have several questions.
Does this look like good instructions to follow? http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00814731&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=3803604#c00814731_vista
If not, what do I need and where can I find it?
The most important question of all...
If anyone has done this before, do you know if I will have everything back to where it was when it was new? In other words, will my Windows Media Center software be there and will "The Green Button" still work? Will my ATI TV Wonder work? Will my HP Media Center features work? Will my Blu-Ray drive still read and write? If not, will I have to find drivers or operating software for everything that came with the computer, such as the R/RW drives, the TV Tuner, etc.?
Any answers to any of these questions would be appreciated. This is what I have to work with right now:
HP Pavilion Media Center PC d5100t; Windows Vista Home Premium 64; 2 - 750 GB hard drives, C: drive partitioned with a D: drive containing one file named "recovery" and E: being the second HD; and 3 DVD+R data disks that I made when the computer was brand new, that are "Recovery Disks" that HP instructs new owners to make. I do not have anything from HP or Windows that has my original operating system on it.
Anyone who has done this, or who can point me in the right direction, and can give me some advice / answers, I'd appreciate it.
Here's my original problem in case anyone is interested: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/84588.aspx
Thanks
OK, well I'm going to answer my own questions, which is a little weird, but maybe someone will learn something from it.
The best instructions to be found to reinstall the computer's operating system to it's original state can be found on the manufacturer's web site. Make sure you put in the computer's full model number and any other information they ask for. They'll give you the proper instructions to do this. Mine looks like this:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00814731&tmp_task=solveCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3803604
What will you lose if you do this? So far, I lost the ability to replay EVERYTHING that I had recorded before I reinstalled the operating system...3/4 of a terrabyte of stuff. Even though I recorded all this great stuff that I hadn't seen yet, Windows Media Center won't let me watch any of it because it thinks it's from another computer even though it never left my second internal hard drive, so it gives me the "Copying Prohibited" message.
I fixed my original problem, which was, my TV tuner just quit working and no more Live TV or able to record. I fixed it by reinstalling my Vista operating system to it's original state. See my other postings in this forum for more information.