Desktops & All-In-Ones

[acollins]

I Recently purchased an ACER AX3475-EF328 WINDOWS 8 COMPUTER.  I found i was not comfortable with Windows 8 so i tried downgrading the unit to Windows 7.  So i grabbed my old Windows 7 DVD popped it into the drive and tried booting to the CD.  But it didn't work.  What's going on??  After several attempts of checking the BIOS i found the BIOS simply would not recognize the OPTIC Drive.  So i called Acer technical support.  What i learned is that Acer has done something within the BIOS to disable it from reading the optic drive.  So the owner cannot load any other operating system on the unit.  Acer Tech support and they said and i quote 

"In order to downgrade to windows 7 or any other os we (Acer) need to make changes to the unit, and that is billable $99.00"

What Acer is implying is that Acer is renaming its brand to AT&T and now locking its computers similar to cell phone carriers and the only way to install a different Operating System OS is by paying Acer to unlock the unit!

SHAME ON YOU ACER!  BUYERS BEWARE!!!

You can delete this post from this forum but I will be posting this on many more forums until you act responsibly and return to selling computers free for all to use with any operating systems!!

[Acer-Tommy]

I am not aware of any response that Acer Technical Support would be giving for this system regarding a downgrade to Windows 7.  This particular system shipped with Windows 8.  We do not offer downgrades of the shipping operating system.

It is also possible that the technician that you spoke to misunderstood what you were attempting to do, or the issue with the system.  If you have particular details of your conversation, please send them to me in a Private Message.

We also have previously published several articles discussing UEFI and how to make changes in the BIOS to enable booting from other media, including optical media.  This is not an Acer specific change, but a computer industry change.

Published Articles:

Windows 8 does not recognize bootable media

Accessing the UEFI (BIOS) setup on a Windows 8 system

Changing BIOS mode from UEFI to Legacy

We do not restrict our customers ability to use any operating system of their choice.  Please feel free to install whatever OS you would like on your system.  However, please understand that we will only be able to support the operating system that we shipped with the system.

Please consult this article before installing another OS:

Installing a different Operating System

I'm sorry that you have become frustrated with what should have been a quick and easy technical support question.