Assistance requested for Extensa 4220-2555

swb2328

Hi all,
I have an Extensa 4220-2555, very old, which had been upgraded to WIndows 10 from XP SP3. This did not work well at all on an old machine and I was asked to assist. There were no restore disks and whoever upgraded it evidently deleted the eRecovery stuff. Is there anywhere I can get a set of disks to restore it to factory settings? The alt-F10 combo does not work, obviously.

There is no help from Acer due to the age of the machine.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sharanji

swb2328

XP doesn't qualify for a free upgrade. You will have a hard time finding recovery disc for windows xp. Microsoft has stopped support for windows xp. You should completely clean install windows 10. I suggest reformatting your C: drive prior to installing Windows 10. Your applications as installed under Windows XP will not work under Windows 10 and will have to be reinstalled after you update the operating system. The application data will differ from the simpler way it was in XP, so this may prove to be a laborious process.

If you are unable to install windows 10 and restore windows xp, there are alternatives. You could, as others do, try Linux. Installation is very easy, even easier than Windows in some cases but do make sure your Windows backup is good and secure before you start. Linux is free and there are equivalent (but not identical) applications that are also free and as good or better than the Windows versions. If you want to try it, download a live copy from the distribution site and boot it up without changing anything on your machine.

If you want to stay with Windows, now might be a good time to pick up a "back to school" PC with Windows 10 at a good price  but you'll also probably need to buy some newer versions of your applications.

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wis

Because the laptop is having difficulties with Windows 10 installed, there are probably hardware incompatibilities.  It is possible to download an .iso from Microsoft & reinstall,  if there is product key;  however reinstall will not resolve any hardware problems.

Linux Mint is the easiest Linux distribution for a user unfamiliar with Linux.  Ubuntu is not user-friendly & aesthetically unpleasant, unless purple & orange are favorite colors.  Upgrades are far easier with Linux Mint, so the owner will never have to pay for an operating system again.  The only disadvantage is that installing Linux printer drivers takes quite a bit of work (can't just pop the CD in & sit back), if the printer is not on Ubuntu's list of supported devices.

If the owner is willing to give Linux Mint a try, I would suggest the following:
1) Create a Macrium system image for Windows 10.
2) Download the .iso.  I would suggest 18.1 (very stable) & the Mate edition (light).  It would be faster to download on a new machine.
3) Verify the .iso.
4) This burner works well.
5) Because this will not be a dual boot, it is not necessary to shrink partitions; therefore no need for a partition wizard such as MiniTool.
6) Reboot with the newly minted USB drive & an Ethernet connection.
7) This is a good guide for what to expect during the installation.
8) The first 10 things to do after installation 18.1 guide is no longer available. This webpage is the next best thing.  Apply updates, turn on firewall & install wireless drivers for now.