Restoring factory defaults in my V3-571 on a new hard drive (using Acer purchased recovery disks)

So I have a V3-571-9808 whose hard drive went kaput recently. I have since purchased and installed a new hard drive (WD Black 750GB) and have been attempting to restore to factory specs using recovery media purchased through Acer while trying to diagnose the issues I was having with my old hard drive.

Before I ran recovery manangement on the new hard drive, I called acer and they told me I could use the disks (7 total) to do a factory restore to specs. I have since tried 4 times with marginal success, here are the issues I ran into:

- At first: the process would run fine until it would get to #5: restore progress. It would then hang at 99% while updating system. After 2 trys (wiping the hard drive with western digital's utility and then starting the process again) I came across a topic in this forum that suggested (by Ironfly) that there may be a confirmation popup in the background waiting to be clicked! Sure enought alt-tab produced a window: call err=2, szCommand = M:\D2D\Patch\Patch.bat M:\D2D X64 and I clicked ok the process continued and booted up into windows setup

- I setup windows and was attempting to do windows updates to 8.1 and realized drivers were missing (wifi etc) some Acer programs such as recovery lol etc. At this point I thought maybe the process had not completed, so I popped in the system disc and restarted and it booted back into Recovery management, stage #5 restore progress. This time a Dos prompt window came up and notified that some files (a list windows system files) were skipped (dont quite remember) and then in the same window, a 3.5 min timer counted down while it appended something? (can't remember what specifically). Once completed, it left the restore progress window open this time showing a capture progress progress bar completed to 100% and elapsed time counter. Its been like this for almost 1.5hrs now. What should I do? Should I reboot and attempt again? Have I done something wrong based on what I've mentioned ? What steps do I take to make sure everything is restored to factory specs with all drivers an acer programs? Thanks for your help.

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IronFly

Hi,

i don't think you missed something, i can suggest you to try again to start recovery process using Acer media.

just to narrow possible issue, can you try to wipe your HDD using:
http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html
download the .iso file
then use a software to burn CD/DVD or USB flash drive and burn the .iso file
once done, put the CD/DVD/USB on your PC, 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 wipe your HDD completly (it will erase also any GPT or MBR on the HDD), choosing the first option after selecting the wipe function.
then exit partition wizard, boot to BIOS, set UEFI back from Legacy (if you have UEFI BIOS) and boot from the erecovery media.

cmacs2k2

Ok I've wiped it with partition wizard and running the recovery process now (I have and always have chosen the second option - Completely restore computer to Factory defaults). I have reached the stage where it hangs at 99% while updating system. The same popup is in the background, alt-tab to bring it to the forground, what should i do now?

kmikszuta

Dear cmacs2k2,

Looks like either SCD/RCD DVD's are damaged or your HDD is not working as it should.

1. I would test your HDD with WD Diagnosis tool to see if SMART is OK.

2. There is also an option that burned DVD's are damaged/scratched.

First of all I would double check that HDD is working fine, then I would try with new recovery set.

PS. I've also seen issues like this being caused by damaged RAM, so if you have any diagnosis tool that can check it too, would be great,

Wish you luck,

Best regards,

Karol

cmacs2k2

Hello Karol,

I have done all tests including the S.M.A.R.T and have wiped the NEW hard drive with Western Digital's diagnositic tool the second time I tried to install. The memory I tested with Memtest64 when I was diagnosing the issues I had with the old HD and it came up fine.

The recovery disks I ordered from Acer do not appear to have any visible damage. I can not say with certainty that the content of these dvds is whole or even the burn process was conducted correctly. I do not have another copy as I didn't make a set when I firt purchased the unit, I'm kicking myself for it right now as you can imagine lol.

JordanB

Is your computer working?

If you just want to get your computer working again until you figure it out.......

1. Create Windows 8.1 media

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

2. Go in to BIOS and load defaults....and then save/exit.

3. Go in to BIOS and enable Boot Menu

4. Boot the media that you made in step 1

5. After you select your language, select "Repair your computer"

6. Troubleshoot>Advanced Options>Command Prompt

7. Use "diskpart clean" to wipe your HDD (diskpart clean will work on HDD or SSD)

http://forum.crucial.com/t5/The-Cru/Reset-your-SSD-to-factory-settings-Windows-DiskPart/ba-p/162503

8. Exit out of diskpart and command prompt so you can get back to main menu.

9. Navigate in menu until you find "shutdown your computer"...and shutdown your computer

10. Turn on your computer and boot the Windows 8.1 media and install windows 8.1

11. Select "custom install" and left click on your drive (unallocated space) and then left click "next". The windows installer will automatically partition and format your HDD and install windows 8.1. There's no need to enter a key. It will be retrieved from BIOS/motherboard automatically.

12. Drivers are here:

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

Note: At step 10, you can substitute your Acer Recovery Discs for the microsoft media (and then skip step 11)...and give it another shot with your acer factory default recovery discs...if you want.

cmacs2k2

Hey Jordan! Sorry for the delayed response got really busy. Thanks for giving me this option I may end up going this route but I have some questions. If I do what you suggest (without the recovery disks in step 10), what would I loose that the recovery disks would install? I understand that I would have to deal with the headache of reinstalling drivers as well but what is the benefit of doing it your way?

Update: So I clicked ok on the confirmation popup window and within 2mins, the updating system progress bar went to 100% and it showed finished and rebooted into the OS setup! I was pretty stoked until I completed the setup, got into the user profile and found that drivers and programs were missing. Isn't the whole purpose of these disks to return a machine back to a preloaded, functional state? For instance under Device manager I see the Atheros wireless adapter driver missing(easy enough to fix, I know), a bunch of base system device drivers (?) and PCI simple comm controller driver missing. WTH! Another thing I notice right of the bat, was under disk management, all partitions are setup correctly (as far as I can recall) including the recovery, but there is no Acer Erecovery program to use it and it wont boot with the ALT-F10 key combo during startup.

What should these disks install exactly? Is it to be expected that I will have these issues, If I knew this was the case I would not have spent the $40 to get them because right now, it's looking like a waste of money. More importantly, how do I go about fixing it?

JordanB

I can't answer any questions of your recovery discs as I have never used any Acer recovery discs.

Try to create a USB factory default recovery drive first. Don't delete your recovery partition.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

After you create your USB factory default recovery drive, try the shift restart method to "Reset your PC".......and maybe it will put your computer back to factory condition.

http://www.howtogeek.com/126016/three-ways-to-access-the-windows-8-boot-options-menu/

Edit: Yes, those 12 steps I gave you in previous post will wipe your entire drive and only give you the Windows 8.1 operating system. So you should probably not use them as it seems like you're making progress with Acer recovery discs.

cmacs2k2

Thanks Jordon. It looks like I may have to do that, Im gonna start getting everything together to do it. In the meantime, does anyone else have any answers to my questions?

JordanB

Getting everything together to do what?

All you need is a USB flash thumb drive of either 16 or 32 GB. That's it. Some computers require a 16 USB flash drive and some require 32 GB flash drive. The program will tell you when you try to run it. Be patient. Smiley Happy

Try to create a USB factory default recovery drive. Ignore those 12 steps that I gave you.

JordanB

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

cmacs2k2

Hey Jordon is it ok to use this as the OS currently installed is 8 and the recovery media you want me to use is 8.1?

JordanB

Please read the following sentences very carefully. Ignore those 12 steps that I gave you in previous post. Don't use them.

Create a factory default recovery drive.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

cmacs2k2

Sorry Jordon, so I get to step 3 and it asks to "make sure the Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive check box is selected". I can't select it, the option is grayed out!?

Edit: I checked Disk management again and I see a 400mb and a 20gb recovery partition...

JordanB

Ok. Skip the USB recovery drive. Now you can follow those 12 steps. When you get to step 10, insert your recovery discs....and try again. If it doesn't work, I would call Acer and tell them your recovery discs are no good.

cmacs2k2

Ok, I'll let you know how it goes, thanks for your help thus far.

cmacs2k2

Hey Jordon, Just to be premptive, I called Acer and told them I was having issues with the recovery and requested a new set. They in turn, told me based on the information I provided they say these recovery disks are only to be used when you're recovering a system that ALREADY has an OS with the recovery partition installed and not to setup an brand new unallocated hard drive. I can see the logic, if there was only one option to restore but in fact there are two with these disks.

Restore operating system to Factory defaults (wipes C Smiley Happy or Completely restore computer to factory defaults (data in hidden & system partitions are restored, All data on disk has to be wiped first. The second option requires that the HD is completely void of data and will not proceed until it is blank. EDIT: So in fact it is entirely possible to do the recovery without an OS because otherwise it would not be an option. They are trying to get out of having to send out new disks. This has been so frustrating. Do you know what I can do to get another set? Don't worry, I am still doing the steps you outlined. The Windows media creation tool just finished setting up the USB, so I am making progress from that front.

cmacs2k2

Hey guys, sorry for being M.I.A. but the job has been keeping me pretty busy. After giving Acer the bidness about these recovery disks they sent me a second set free of charge. I tried your suggestions with the new disks, nothing has been able to restore the HD to factory spec so I have given up on that now (unless you know of something else you can try). At the end of the day all I really need is the missing drivers (some of which don't seem to be on the Acer site) and restoring functionality to the FN keys. What can you recommend?

Side question: I'm curious if it is possible to figure out which partition stores Acer recovery image and if possible, create a back up image of it and restore it to the new HD? You think that may work?