Notebooks & Netbooks

[JackE]

Good, Dave. That means your ethernet controller seems to be working ok. Check device mgr again, it should be there by clicking under network adapters. If it wasn't working there'd be a red or yellow checkmark. In fact, do you see any red or yellow checkmarks for other devices?

Jack E/NJ

[JackE]

Dave, another question. Maybe you answered this before. Why are we trying to install the original operating system, Win7? In other words, what non-original operating system did your friend try to put on the AO722?

Jack E/NJ 

[PilotDave]

Jack, the only device error condition I see is for this thing labeled Network Controller. When I click on properties for this device, the response says that the drivers for this device are not installed; manufacturer is Unknown; and it's located on PCI bus 7. The last point raises a question as to whether this device is the same as the Fast Ethernet Controller since the FEC is located on a different PCI bus.

I did a restore on this machine because it seemed badly infected with viruses. It was running Win 7 before and still is.

Dave

[Acer-Cory]

PilotDave,

I've never seen this menu before. I would suggest going OOBE and Reboot. I'm hoping this brings you back into the OS and continues or lets you use the OS.

[PilotDave]

I did a search on it. It's a MS utility of some sort that is intended to run when installing a an OS.....There are ways of making it go away. It doesn't get in the way of running the OS.

I'll try letting it run and see what happens.

[JackE]

Dave.

Your ping test suggests the fast ethernet adapter is OK. And I'm guessing your wireless network adapter is OK too. I also feel that the correct drivers for the AO722 are by Atheros. If you can install those, I think that those network problems will be resolved. I'm not sure what remains on this guy's hard drive, but these drivers may still exist  in a subdirectory of the OEM directory on the C. See if you can find the C:\OEM directory. If so, we can probably find the correct drivers and just run their setup programs. 

Jack E/NJ

[PilotDave]

Thanks, Jack. I'll give that a try. But I have a new issue: every time I reboot the Acer the Software Install pops up, hung at the same Installing Office 2010 point. I had closed it before rebooting, but it still came right back. The implication is that this Install has to finish itself - which it can't seem to do - so that it goes away and the usual user accounts appear on the desktop. So now what do I do???? Do a pure Win 7 install followed by downloading and installing the drivers?? I don't know. Your thoughts?

Thanks

Dave

[JackE]

Sorry Dave. My thoughts go back to those I originally made on page 2 of this thread which was the only way I could get this particular AO722 back into working order that, frankly, I'm quite satisfied with.  The generic Win7 install.

But I will add this. Most of the generic Win7 install suits me just fine. The little that doesn't, I took care of by manually installing  the optimal Acer-specific drivers & programs(graphics was one of them) --- their setup programs were, and still are, residing in my Preload subdirectory of C:\OEM directory. Obviously, I chose not to manually install the useless Office 2010 sampler (or is it 2014 by now?) setup.  I'm still quite happy with the obsolete Office Pro 97. The webcam driver was another I chose not to install. You know why? Because I don't want my stinking webcam to work!  There are some other things I didn't bother to install but I forget what they were. If you insist, I probably could look in my Preload autorun directory and I'd recognize them.

But your friend might be a bit more picky than I am and want everything back to perfection --- for only the cost of saying "Thank you Dave" or maybe buying you an IPA or three. Well then, in that case, you've got quite a job ahead of you. 

And those are my thoughts.

Jack E/NJ   

[PilotDave]

Jack, thanks very much. There's one part of the "generic approach" that I'm fuzzy about: how to install the drivers on the computer. If I load Win 7 as you've described, and if I have all the latest Acer driver files on a DVD sitting in the DVD drive, will the computer go get the ones it needs or do I have to tell it to go get a specific driver file? If the latter, then I would need to know which of several similar driver files to use, correct? I ask this because there are 2 options for Bluetooth, 2 for Touchpad and 3 for Wireless LAN.

If this all would just work, it'll be time for an IPA or three!

Dave

[Acer-Cory]

Dave,

The software engineer confirmed that he does not see any issue with the softload. They have a copy ordered from our replication center less than 6 months old that tested fine. That along with the the number of piece of software that have been sent out to customers without issue tells us that there isn't a systemic problem.

At this point, I'm at a bit of a loss. It sounds like you're doing what you need to do, the system should boot off the media and reload and with 30 minutes to an hour and half it should be booted back into Windows with minimal interaction (a couple click yes to restart type menus). Hopefully a fresh load of Win 7 installs easier for you.

Cory