Purchasing Restore Disks

BlindSwimmer

I volunteered, and I now wish I hadn't, to upgrade a relative's Windows 8 machine - an Aspire One 725 - to 8.1. Either that process, or a later update, has made the machine virtually unusable, so I now want to restore to factory settings. It turned out that the upgrade process had wiped the recovery partition. Accepting that I should have made recovery disks first, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase them from Acer.

 

Having taken the money from my account, they have emailed me a form which asks for the product keys on the COA label. They had previously told me that they didn't need the first, 25-digit, key but they did need the second, 14-digit, one. However there is no COA label on the machine. I emailed the Amazon Marketplace seller and was told that it might be in the box or the BIOS. Nothing came with the machine and further research suggests that Windows 8 machines aren't shipped with COA labels anyway, so that leaves the BIOS.

 

I know keyfinder programs are available but there seems to be some doubt that they will find a valid key, rather than a mass-installation one. If Acer create disks with an invalid key I don't expect I'll get my money back, and I'll be no nearer to solving the problem. Also I'm not really clear what this 14-digit key is as I don't remember inputting it when installing Windows in the past.

 

If anyone can help me get the required key I'd really appreciate it.

sathya0403

Hi,

Was this computer Originally Shipped with Win8?, if yes, then the Recovery media does not require a COA or Product key, But if the unit was shipped with Win7 & upgraded to Win8 then you may have received a Mail from MS, when the Upgrade option was on(2013). May I know where are you from?

BlindSwimmer

I am from the UK. The computer was sold by an Amazon Marketplace seller, also in the UK, and listed as 'Refurbished', so I can't tell what condition it left Acer themselves in. But it arrived with a Windows 8 sticker on the base.

BlindSwimmer

So I'm not really clear where to go here. It sounds as if, because the machine had Windows 8 on from the beginning, that it shouldn't have a COA sticker on the bottom. But why then are Acer asking me for one? Can they make recovery disks without a product key? I'm not clear what I should say to them.

sathya0403

Hi,

If I'm not wrong the unit was not shipped with Win8, that could be the reason, Acer is asking for a COA, Did you try to reach Tech support & what was their response?

BlindSwimmer

Thanks for getting back to me. I haven't been back to technical support because I'm not sure of my ground. I just had an idea and googled the exact model number 725-C7Xbb. All the machines that come up seem to have Windows 8 pre-installed.

 

So if it's true that those machines don't come with a sticker, this means either Acer are wrong in asking me for a key or I have to get it out of the BIOS somehow. Can they actually make the recovery disks if they don't have a key?