BIOS recovery drive Aspire xc-605

Warthunderfan637
Warthunderfan637 Member Posts: 19

Tinkerer

Hi, anyone knows how to set up a recovery drive for Acer desktops? Can't seem to find any helpful information online. 

Best Answer

  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    Answer ✓
    @Warthunderfan637

    I was in your same situation before I did the BIOS update, worrying messing up the BIOS, and wanted to have some backup by posting a thread here. I believe it is against Acer Community guidelines for advising people for changing BIOS ( probably other than BIOS update). So, I got no good answer to do it.

    Yes, BIOS update can be dangerous if power outage occur during the update. This chance is very slim, because the real update process itself took less than one minute. If you are outdating it for a laptop, this risk just doesn't exist. Some modern motherboards have BIOS backup built-in.

    Don't worry, go ahead and do it. If there is a method to do it in Windows, use that method. It took just a few clicks to finish the process. Other methods may take a few more steps. 

    AGAIN, IT IS IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY !

Answers

  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @Warthunderfan637
        Depending on your model of desktop, some newer models have the Recovery Partition built in. When bootup, you hold down ALT ( or ALT and Fn keys for some Acer  keyboards) and hit F10 until you see the Recovery Menu.

     This can also be achieved by creating a Repair Disc at Backup and Recovery (Windows 7) under Control Panel of Win 10 (at  the left pane), and boot up from this Repair Disc.
  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @Warthunderfan637

    If you are after recovery of the BIOS, that's more complicated and hopefully some other people can help you with that.
  • Warthunderfan637
    Warthunderfan637 Member Posts: 19

    Tinkerer

    It's an Acer Aspire xc-605, a pretty old desktop, so I wouldn't expect it to have a Bios recovery thing built into it. So what do I need to download on my backup USB when I'm updating my BIOS?   Do I need to new version of BIOS or the old one( the old one is not even on Acer's website anymore) on the USB drive? Just basically what I need to put on that USB for it to work when I pulled into a brick computer if it ever does happen. 
  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @Warthunderfan637

    If I understand you correctly, you are after the latest BIOS, so your xc-605 will be working properly, right?
    I thought you are trying to do BIOS backup so you can downgrade or roll it back in case needed.

    The ALT+F10 that I mentioned is for Windows recovery, not BIOS. XC-605 may have a DVD drive, it may be a good idea to burn a Repair Disc from Win 10 in case needed to recover Windows without the ALT+F10 type of recovery.

    The latest BIOS for your PC is P11-B4L , dated 2016/4/27. If you have that, then there is no need to change BIOS. If your PC is now working fine there is no urgent need to update BIOS too.

    On this web page at the right side pane and under "Assistance by Acer", click Drivers & Manual.
    Enter your PC model number, select BIOS/Firmware .
    Have an USB flash drive ready ( for newer PCs, you don't need a flash drive for BIOS update).
    Download the P11-B4L version if you want.

    There may be an Appendix Folder with instructions.
    Be sure to follow the instructions carefully when updating your BIOS.

  • Warthunderfan637
    Warthunderfan637 Member Posts: 19

    Tinkerer

    Ok, thanks! I have one more thing tho, Im updating because the computer after I installed a new drive( HDD to SSD) and a new CPU, the computer when it restarts, the monitor goes blank but the system is still running, could that because of bad bios I need to upgrade or something else? 
  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @Warthunderfan637
    How did you install Win 10 with your new SSD? Is this problem related to why you want "BIOS recovery drive"?

  • Warthunderfan637
    Warthunderfan637 Member Posts: 19

    Tinkerer

    No, I just migrated everything from my old drive to the new one. I'm not sure if it's related, I wanted a recovery drive because I was thinking of updating my bios, I looked up online how dangerous it is if I messed it up. So I want a recovery drive just in case. 
  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    Answer ✓
    @Warthunderfan637

    I was in your same situation before I did the BIOS update, worrying messing up the BIOS, and wanted to have some backup by posting a thread here. I believe it is against Acer Community guidelines for advising people for changing BIOS ( probably other than BIOS update). So, I got no good answer to do it.

    Yes, BIOS update can be dangerous if power outage occur during the update. This chance is very slim, because the real update process itself took less than one minute. If you are outdating it for a laptop, this risk just doesn't exist. Some modern motherboards have BIOS backup built-in.

    Don't worry, go ahead and do it. If there is a method to do it in Windows, use that method. It took just a few clicks to finish the process. Other methods may take a few more steps. 

    AGAIN, IT IS IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY !
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