In a bit of a pickle. I’ve taken possession of my Mum’s old 2007 Toshiba Equium laptop with Windows Vista OS. Basically it had ground to a halt, taking an age to start up and do stuff, she’s bought a new laptop.
My intention was/is to use it as a base to learn a bit more, maybe another OS ie Mint, Utunbu or maybe just install an older Windows OS ie XP. I’m probably only ever going to use it for web browsing and trying stuff (like this) that I daren’t on my main laptop.
Basically, I’ve fallen at the first hurdle. as it was so slow, I decided to start with a Vista refresh to work from and ran the Toshiba recovery disc. It crashed about 1/4 way thru, one of the files is reported corrupt (the disc has a scratch on it?).
Now I’ve only got the screen below and Bios Menu. 3 options given aren’t options any more afaics.

Where do I go from here? I’m presuming a boot-able USB stick with a free OS on it? not sure how to go about it tho.
Cheers in advance, Paul
just going to Currys now to buy a USB flash drive.

You could run puppy Linux from a flash drive. If you just google puppy Linux it’ll give you sites where you can download a distro as an ISO file, stick it on the drive and it’s pretty much plug “n” play from there. It should just boot from the drive.

Boot and Run Linux from a USB flash memory stick

Actually,

If you mash F8 on boot, do you get a recovery menu? There might be a recovery partition on there you could use to restore Vista.

One way or another..

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

If you just want a utility boot loader – search Hirens , that will also uncover some alternatives.

You’ll need another computer to download an OS,I’ve used Ubuntu from a flash with no problems.You can get an XP iso from here http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=25129 and use the Microsoft usb tool to mount it to a stick,but I think you’ll need a product code for it.

I sure as hell wouldn’t be putting XP anywhere near, well, anything these days. Better off with Linux or Vista.

if it ran vista it will likely run 7 quite happily.

Win 7 iso here
http://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-7-ultimate-free-download-iso-32-64-bit/
but you’ll need a valid key.

i’ve used a program called rufus to make bootable USB. it’s free.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

Actually,

If you mash F8 on boot, do you get a recovery menu? There might be a recovery partition on there you could use to restore Vista.

The user manual suggests this, so it presumably was an option, but it doesn’t work now (or I can’t access it), just keeps going to the above screen. it says in the user guide there is a 1.5gb hidden partition on the hdd for system recovery.

I also have a HDD with Win XP on I took out of an old dead laptop, to access the music files. I’ve tried booting from that, but to no avail. it comes up with the Win XP start up screen, looks as tho things are going to happen, but then blobs out back to the above screen. I’ve no idea whether that would normally be expected to work anyway tbh?.

Even tho I own the Win Vista that came with it, there’s no obvious product key in all the bumf.

doesn’t work now (or I can’t access it), just keeps going to the above screen. it says in the user guide there is a 1.5gb hidden partition on the hdd for system recovery.

F8 should still give you a menu, even if the recovery partition is trashed. Try tapping it faster, or holding it down even. If the Vista scroll bar appears, you’ve missed the opportunity and need to reboot.

I also have a HDD with Win XP on I took out of an old dead laptop

Transplanting system drives onto disparate hardware like that is a bit of a lottery (especially if they’re different CPU architectures). It’s no surprise that it didn’t work.

Even tho I own the Win Vista that came with it, there’s no obvious product key in all the bumf.

If it was preinstalled there should be a sticker (called a CoA) with the key on the laptop somewhere. Maybe under the battery?

Ah, sticker on the back with the vista product key, check!. I’ll persevere a bit longer with the F8 key then.