acer pc help

[achexi]

hey guys. New here since it seems like a last resort so basically i have been asking other people but thought i'ld come here for even more help but this is what ive basiclaly been told:

 

on my other computer which is an acer i thought ild try to get it going again and format it. i backed up all the stuff on its recovery disks supplied with the pc and i ran their "empowering technology backup" stuff thats meant to format your pc back to factory default. Instead, what ive been told is that it completed wiped the harddrive including the operating system because what happens is:

 

It starts up and shows the acer screen allowing you to go to setup and boot menu. On the next screen it just shows a black screen with a flashing _ on it. and just waits there and doesnt load windows or anything.

 

So basically. What do i do? ive been told various things by computer expert friends of mine but ild like your opinions too. Ive been told i can put in a vista operating system disk and then put in a vista serial that came with that pc to activate it. And ive also been told that thats impossible because the acer pc relies on a vista disk from acer because it contains important things such as the empowering technology in order to run.

 

I know acer sucks (support is even worse for them $199 for an hours support) but i need to fix this so tell me is this a hard drive problem? will putting a OS disk i have from my dell laptop allow me to reinstall it? i dont know. just give me your opinions please.

[Dalo Harkin]

If you have the disks that came with the ACER (depending on how old it is disks were used as a method to be able to revert the PC back to factory settings, there should also be a drivers and utilities disk)

this is now been taken over by a seperate partition on the HDD which now has all this information on.

 

So you have disks, one will say 'recovery disk' this is the one that you need to put into CD/DVD drive and when the POST screen has displayed information it should say 'press any key to boot from CD/DVD' and then run through the process of installing windows to factory :)

[achexi]

i know disks usually should be supplied for that. But it seems acer do not do that and purely rely on their own method of restoring the pc.

 

All that came with the pc were 2 recovery disks both 4.7gb and a monitor guide disk.

[Dalo Harkin]

well you need to insert disk 1 of the recovery disks and then boot from that and when asked insert disk 2, THIS WILL WIPE ANY INFO ON YOUR SYSTEM THOUGH and restore to factory

[achexi]

um idk if this is what ur saying but these recovery disks have NOTHING on them. all u could do was put files on them their literally just blank disks. Now will putting a vista os disk and booting that allow me to reinstall windows?

[Dalo Harkin]

Oh dear...........

 

Yes if you have blank disks, you are meant to use the utility that nags you to create restore CD/DVDs to do just that.......

when you start the PC/Lappy do you get a black screen (similar to a POST screen) saying for example:-

load system then it says along the lines of recovery sector or Windows Vista with a drop down?

 

If you dont have the recovery partition or recovery disks then your in for a tussle as you need to source EVERY single 'unique' driver and on ACERs there are a few of them :eek:

 

What OS was on the PC/lappy when you got it? and give me the model of it and we can go from there

[achexi]

Ok i've talked to many people who know whats wrong. Everyone has mixed views again though, they all agree my hard drive is completely wiped not a single thing on it no drivers completely acer free. But what some are unsure on is that currently im looking into downloading a vista os torrent

 

i know you have to pay for them. But hey didnt i buy liscensing to vista when i bought the pc? im just putting it back on there using the liscense supplied with the acer computer. I've been told your able to reinstall using an os disk. But people are unsure whether or not its actually compatible with the acer pc so tell me your thoughts on this. Should i use a os downloaded from a torrent and burned to a cd? and could it work to reinstall vista? i dont care about losing all the acer programs with it, i just want the vista os.

 

And the pc is an acer inspiron m1201.

 

So overall the hard drive is empty and the only way to fix it ive been told would be to reinstall the operating system off a disk. But i dont intend on paying the huge fee that comes with purchasing a disk so im looking into downloading it.

 

EDIT:

 

The screen goes as follows:

a black screen with a _ on it as it boots itself up

then the acer logo splash screen with the options to f9 setup or f12 boot menu

Then the same as the first screen a black screen with _ except it stays on that screen permenantly.

 

This is why i have been told its a hard drive problem because it loads the hard drive first and theres nothing on it to load therefore it shows that screen

Edited June 24, 2010 by achexi

[achexi]

sorry for double post. wouldnt let me use edit button AGAIN

personally im unsure if its a hard drive error only taking information from "moderate" computer friends in real life.

 

Whilst searching upon my error again i came across this:

No boot, blank screen and blinking cursor

 

Im no computer expert so im unable to translate what all this MBR and such means so would you be able to tell me if this is the same problem?

 

the screenshot provided in his post is exactly what i have and its also on an acer inspiron but laptop version. So would this mean my error is the same as his? i assume his error was resolved though.

[RandyL]

And the pc is an acer inspiron m1201

I think you mean you have a Acer Aspire m1201. A Inspiron is a Dell PC. I think your computer came with either Vista or Windows 7 even though your profile says you have XP.

 

First of all let's talk about downloading an illegal copy of Windows via a torrent.

Not only is it illegal they are usually fraught with problems and may also contain malicious add-ons to say the least. Then there are validation and update issues. Those copies are hacked so issues abound.

 

In addition no forum or reputable computer shop or Acer will ever help you once you install it. So please don't even think about doing that.

 

I would also not consider trying to use a different set of disks. These are not the days of Windows 98 when you could do that with just a holographic sticker with the key even if you had the exact same version.

 

I believe your computer came prebundled with Vista installed. I understand your reluctance to pay for Windows again since you already had it but those versions are not the way to go.

 

If you had the opportunity to create the recovery disks and did not and you also managed to completely wipe the drive which includes wiping the recovery partition then your best option is to contact Acer to see if you can purchase the recovery disks. This would be far cheaper than buying Vista at retail pricing.

 

What I don't understand is what went wrong with the reinstall unless the drive is bad. We also don't no why you needed to reinstall.

 

Either way contacting Acer for those disks would be the best option in my opinion. If your drive was bad they should work on a new one.

 

If you are in the UK then I can't supply a link to the order form. You will have to contact Acer and have your serial number ready. I'm not a fan of Acer support especially Acer support outside of the USA. I'm afraid all I can do is try to find you the UK contact information.

 

I wish I could offer more help.

[Dalo Harkin]

Right,

 

A blinking cursor just means the BIOS is looking for something to load, which it cant.

 

you should have a sticker on your laptop somewhere with the Vista key on it (unique)

 

you can use one of your friends GENUINE Vista disk and then use your own key

 

When the BIOS says press F12 for boot order you need to do that and it should say:-

* CD/DVD rom drive

* Floppy/removable device

* HDD

 

When an OS HAS been loaded and booted up for the first time the HDD should really be placed at the top of the list (and the others DISABLED)

 

If your HDD is not at the very top of the list or labelled as 1st boot device put it there and then SAVE and EXIT the BIOS - see what happens

[achexi]

Yeah ive been heavily advised not to download all these disks by other people too. Im really just clueless here. I may have a copy coming from my friend but hes unsure whether or not he has one. But for now i do have a disk from my pc im using right now.

 

Its an alienware vista disk not sure too much about it. but i did use it for this pc to reinstall windows yet again, this computer is an alienware so i dnt know if itl work on an acer.

 

But anyhow ill be trying the disk tommorow i suppose maybe with a vista disk if given it. How do i go about loading the disk in the bios? i really have no idea about all of this the most i know how to do is insert a graphics card.

 

Oh and i really didnt fiddle with my profile too much so im not on an XP. And yes sorry it is an aspire.