Aspire 5742 recovery discs issue

bakstop25
bakstop25 Member Posts: 5

Tinkerer

This is a long post.  I've been through many steps already.  I'm no tech expert but I read directions well (most of the time) and my knowledge comes from working through the problems as they come up.  I'm using a newer laptop to make the various discs and drives.

 

I have an 08 Acer Aspire 5742 running windows 7 hp. I had some deep rooted malware and decided to do a system restore. The system restore worked and the first thing I did was windows update. There were 192 updates and it took a couple of hours for them to download and install. After the restart when it was down to the last 5 updates to be installed, a message appeared on the screen stating that the updates failed and the entire group of updates would be rolled back. Eight hours later nothing had changed. The screen looked exactly the same. I don't know if I did the wrong thing but I assumed the rollback was in an endless loop and made a decision to do the recovery with my OEM Acer discs.

There is one system disc and three recovery disks with the Acer set. I don't know if all recovery discs work exactly the same but in case they don't I'll include the information that came up onscreen. After the system disc is inserted and windows loads files the Acer Recovery Management box options are -

Restore OS to factory defaults - Restore OS to factory default status. All data on C: drive will be deleted. (This was the option I've been attempting to use)
Restore OS and retain user data -Restore only the OS of your PC to the factory defaults. Files from your user accts will be transferred to C:\backup. This option will not remove malware. (When I tried this: No user data has been found on your computer)
Completely restore computer to factory defaults - Restore your computer to factory default status. All data in the hidden partition and on the system partition will be restored. Before restoring, please delete any data on the hard disk (When I tried this: Please remove all files from your hard disk before starting. This function will not work if there are any files on the hard disk.)

So clicking on option 1 there is the notice box of what occurs. The box changes to "Restore Destination"
Hard Drive Name: ST500LM000-1EJ162 ATA device
Partition Label: Acer
Partition Size 8.0 GB
Copying files from disc.
Please insert recovery disc 1.
Copying files from disc
Insert Disc 2.
Copying files from disc
Insert Disc 3 (It's at 80% progress)
Copying files from disc.

Shortly after the disc starts running a message box comes up stating "There is insufficient space on the disc for the temporary files required for this operation"

Press Ok. Please wait a moment. Acer boot screen then the dos "BOOTMGR is missing. Press Control + Alt + Delete"
Pressing C + A + D loops back to the Acer boot screen and back to "BOOTMGR etc."
 
The original drive crapped out and I replaced it with a 500gb hybrid drive.  I partitioned the hard drive for the windows 8 upgrade that was offered when I bought the laptop.  I rarely used it and it stayed a 20 gb partition.  Thinking the   partition might be the problem I downloaded mini partition wizard tool into my new laptop and copied the files onto a CD, a DVD and a flash drive.  All had errors. The CD failed.  I tried another, it sounded like it was going to boot up then went back to the BOOTMGR screen.  I got out a blank dvd, copied the .iso partition file to it. The message onscreen: Virtual hard disk files can't be mounted from image files or from removable media that isn't formatted with NTFS files.


I dug around and finally found my flash drives. The flash drive had a default FAT32 and I changed it to NTFS (based on the message above) and formatted it. I copied the partition file.  The message onscreen: An OS wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an OS.  In all the above attempts I made sure I changed the boot order in the bios.  

 

I tried another flash drive and kept the FAT32 default.  It would sound like it was trying to boot up then:
PX-E61 Media test failure. Check cable
PXE MOF Exiting broadcom

 

What am I doing wrong?  What can I do to fix this drive so that it's cleaned?  

Best Answer

  • bakstop25
    bakstop25 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    Answer ✓

    I forgot that I had an external case for a hard drive so I took out the hard drive from the Acer and slaved it to my new laptop. I bought it when the original Acer hard drive became corrupt to try to look at the files. Here I am trying to figure it out the hard way and a less complicated (for me) solution was within reach.  Sure enough there were 4 partitions with only 8 gb for the Acer.  Don't know how that happened.  I'm considering wiping the drive completely and using the Acer discs to start all over again.  

     

    Please accept my sincerest thanks for taking the time to help me out.  I learn something new each and every time I have to correct a problem and without the help of message boards I'd be screwed.

Answers

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    once downloaded the iso from partition tool wizard, you need to burn it on a CD or USB flash drive.

    if you use USB flash drive, please do it using Rufus loading the iso file you downloaded:

    http://rufus.akeo.ie/?locale=en_US

     

    once done, put the CD/DVD on your desktop, boot from CD/USB (maybe you need to boot under Legacy if you have UEFI BIOS)

    press F12 at boot and choose CD or USB
    at the desktop
    select your HDD
    right click on your HDD icon and choose delete all patitions and click on yes and then apply
    http://www.partitionwizard.com/help/delete-all-partitions.html#howto

    then exit partition wizard, boot to BIOS, set UEFI back from Legacy (if you have UEFI BIOS) and boot from the erecovery media

     

    the PXE message you are facing, is just the BIOS telling you that it can't find any boot sector or operating system.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • bakstop25
    bakstop25 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

     

     

    Thank you for your help.  Sorry I didn't respond sooner, bad cold kept my head and focus clogged for a week.  I've got to catch up on a bunch of stuff and I'll try this out in the next couple of days and report back.  

     

    Again. much appreciated that you took the time to read and assist.

     

    BTW, sorry to hear you're not working.  Hope that turns around soon for you...

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    You welcome. 

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • bakstop25
    bakstop25 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    I got a bootable CD disk from my son who EaseUS partition maker.  I put the CD in and it booted to a Windows icon and stayed there for about 30 minutes.  I inadvertantly hit the side of the laptop which opened the CD player and a message came up verifying the cd/dvd player had been opened while in recovery.  I closed it and it restarted back to the windows icon and eventually to a screen that currently says:

     

    Startup Settings:

    Press a number to choose from the options below.

    Use number keys or function keys F1-F9

     

    1 Enable debugging

    2 Enable boot logging

    3 Enable low resolution video

    4 Enable safe mode

    5 Enable safe mode with networking

    6 Enable safe mode with command prompt

    7 Disable driver signature

    8 Disable early launch anti-malware protection

    9 Disable automatic restart after failure

     

    Press enter to return to your operating system

     

    I didn't know what to do so I pressed enter thinking it would take me to the description you gave.  It went back to a command prompt with the bootmgr missing message as it did before.  I went through the process again and got back to the startup settings screen and I haven't touched it since.

     

    I thought, based on the description of how this partition software is supposed to work, that it would give me the partition screen as it does when I open the program on this current laptop I'm using.  I don't know what I do with this.  Your ideas?

  • bakstop25
    bakstop25 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    I forgot that I had an external case for a hard drive so I took out the hard drive from the Acer and slaved it to my new laptop. I bought it when the original Acer hard drive became corrupt to try to look at the files. Here I'm try to figure it out the hard way and an easier solution was within reach.  Sure enough there were 4 partitions with only 8 gb for the Acer.  Don't know how that happened.  I'm considering wiping the drive completely and using the Acer discs to start all over again.  

     

    Please accept my sincerest thanks for taking the time to help me out.  I learn something new each and every time I have to correct a problem and without the help of message boards I'd be screwed.

  • bakstop25
    bakstop25 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    Answer ✓

    I forgot that I had an external case for a hard drive so I took out the hard drive from the Acer and slaved it to my new laptop. I bought it when the original Acer hard drive became corrupt to try to look at the files. Here I am trying to figure it out the hard way and a less complicated (for me) solution was within reach.  Sure enough there were 4 partitions with only 8 gb for the Acer.  Don't know how that happened.  I'm considering wiping the drive completely and using the Acer discs to start all over again.  

     

    Please accept my sincerest thanks for taking the time to help me out.  I learn something new each and every time I have to correct a problem and without the help of message boards I'd be screwed.