Acer Laptop Question

OK. I really did it this time with some bad advice. I have a relatively new Acer Laptop 5730z that came with Windows Vista Home Premium. After two weeks of fighting Vista, I was told that I could install XP Pro on the other partition. The 120 Gig hard drive was split into C and D drives. Vista was on C. The D drive was empty. XP Pro was then installed on the D drive and that was the end of everything. I had what I thought was the recovery disc, but found out too late that the CD was something else.
Vista is completely gone. All recovery files cannot be found. Acer's Empowering Technology is gone. Alt F10 does nothing.
How can I get this thing back the way it was when I bought it without sending it to the factory?
Wow. You can sure get into trouble following bad advice.
Help please!!
Thanks.

 

Did you wipe the recovery partition put on the HD by Acer? If you did, and you haven't burnt the recovery DVD, then you really have lost Vista.
Try running diskmgmt.msc and see what it shows you. If the recovery partition is still there, it may be labelled Acer, you will need to go into the BIOS to enable D2D ( disk to disk) recovery. You can download all the Acer utilities, such as the Empowering system from their support system.

Roger

 

F2 is the normal access route for the recovery partiton on most Acer laptops, however, you will lose all data on this machine if you follow this route and are able to access the recovery partition (assuming you haven't wiped it inadvertently).

 

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I have lost everything. Apparently when XP installed on the D drive, it changed the MBR and nothing will work but XP stuff. So far, I can find no recovery files on the system. It doesn't recognize "diskmgmt.msc."

I am trying to find someone who has an identical laptop to see if I can burn a disc from that system and get it to install on mine. I am not even sure that will work.

Sorry that it took so long to reply, but I had to be away from home for a few days. I'll let you know how this ends up.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

Re: Acer Laptp Question

I managed to get my Laptop up and running again by copying the info from an identical system. However, when the system boots up it runs the Acer Launch program. When it finishes, the program will not close. It just sits there saying "Please wait." I have waited several hours with no results. I have to go to the Task Manager to end the program. I think I have all of the updates and everything works after I get past this program. Is there an updated file that I need? If so, where will I find it? I'm guessing the file is corrupt or it would finish and close.
Does anyone have a solution to this one?
Thanks for all you do on this site.

 

Re: Acer Laptp Question

Thanks, PeteC.
I have tried to find the download on the Acer website. It's a terrible place to manipulate and I was not able to find what I needed.
I tried the link you sent and didn't have any luck there either. I am running the Acer Aspire 5710z with Windows Home Premium. All I can find are downloads for Windows XP and they do not work on Vista.
Thanks.

 

Hi Wayne,

All the Vista drivers for the 5710 are HERE

On the Acer Europe site.

Roger

 

Re: Acer Laptop Help

I'm about ready to concede that I am not smart enough to fix this machine. I went to the Acer website and just cannot find what I am looking for. This is a 32 bit system and the only thing I found was for a 64 bit or for XP. I tried several downloads and they willl not work on this machine, or at least that was the message that came up.
I have been all over the Acer web site and can't get what I think I need. I am trying to find the Launch Manager program or something with all of the necessary programs to make this machine work properly.
I appreciate all the advice, but after working on this for about 7 hours, I am still at a loss. My fingers are starting to get sore from typing in all of the info on their web site and coming up with nothing. Is there any hope or should I just give up and spend the money to have someone else fix it?

 

You are missing something Wayne! The Launch Manager for 32 bit Vista is on the page I linked above.
Under: Windows Vista> Empowering Technology>09 Launch Manager Dritek V2.00 for Vista x86.

Have you tried that?

Roger

 

Things are looking up. I discovered that I typed in the wrong model number for my laptop. It is a 5610z instead of a 5710z. However, r.leale was right. I was overlooking something. I did find the "Launch Manager" program for my system and now have that problem solved!!!
I knew I could count on this board if I just get you the right information. Sometimes I just don't have it all together.

The problem that I still have to solve is how to make the recovery disks. The eRecovery progam is missing. I was never asked to make the disks when I first started using he computer. As usual, I have tried the Acer web site with no luck. I found the eRecovery file, but when I try to install it I get the message "old NAPP file - cannot be installed." Needless to say I don't know what a "NAPP file" is. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks again for this board and all of the members on it. You provide a great service.