I have been trying different things on my Gateway M1617 (HDMI) laptop to restore/reinstall Vista. About 3 weeks ago, my laptop gave me an error message that my machine was no longer protected. I got this for a couple of days and then when I went to get on it one day, It said that it had performed a Windows Update. I tried to download and run some movies from Netflix Watch Instantly (working fine previousely) and their player gave me an error and wouldn't run. I rebooted and tried Netflix again and it erroed again saying it could not run. I checked the Windows Update and Restore history and the there was no restore point prior to the windows update that seemd to cause the problem. I called Net flix and they got on my PC remotely and ran a diagnostic and found that the MF.dll was corrupt. windows Media Player would not even run independantly.
Net-net, I have been trying to research the issue with no luck and have tried to restore Vista from the restore partition as well as a restore CD with help from Gateway support. In both cases, I get an error after it starts the install that says the system is 'unrecoverable'. As a last resort, I reformatted the C: (not the restore partition) and am trying to install Vista from a DVD. I have a licence sticker on the bottom of the laptop with the license key but it is all scratched up and I cannot make out a couple of the characters. I have tried all the combinations I can and the license still won't get accepted. Here are my questions:
1. Is the windows update I saw legit or a virus and why no restore point?
2. Can I reinstall Vista from a downloded ISO DVD and use the key from the bottom of the machine (if I could read it)?
3. Can I use ANY key with a Vista Install (and do you have one)?
What if any options have I overlooked?
I bought the laptop at Best Buy last Oct with a service contract for 1 year but they are saying that they charge for rebuilding the OS. Oh, and I tried and successfully installed Windows XP but the drivers for the HDMI, ATI Sound Card and wireless for that machine are not available for XP.
Thanks for reading and any assistance you can provide me.
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