Acer aspire 5733 laptop that was hacked and repaired won't burn iso files shows boot failure message

Acer aces have been so helpful with my unrecognized serial number I want to ask them another question. I suppose this would apply to computers at large. But I will do a dare and hope someone comes up with a suggestion. If I am posting in the wrong forum please warn me and remove it, or suggest where to put instead. I will not post laptop serial numbers or others personal details again

I have been having problems with hackers. I don’t know much about hacking. I had discovered 2 hidden administrators on this acer aspire 5733 months earlier. After a destructive system restore in October 2022, I had to add my user log in (which had to be my Microsoft Hotmail account and its password) to start using the computer. For the first time, I tried entering my phone number as user ID in place of Hotmail. To my surprise, my phone number had already been linked to someone else’s Hotmail. This guy’s Hotmail was open, (logged in) once I had entered my computer using mobile and password as login., I could see everything in his Hotmail. There was also another email/administrator having a country-specific domain email. This was the first time I across two different administrators both of whose permission I would need to gain autonomy over my Acer laptop.

While I can do nothing about my mobile number being hitched to this guy’s account, my most recent destructive system restore (means back to factory setting) brought back the hackers’ control even more.

Long-deleted files and folders were back. I did follow the windows wizard instructions to get back to factory settings. Factory reset was not cleaning the computer at all.

There was a folder all the time, bearing my name. It had a huge amount of data invisible but this data showed as zero bytes and the folder could be renamed nor deleted. Once renamed the folder bearing my name would re-appear elsewhere. So it was indestructible. There was also no way to uninstall Onedrive. You see in October 2022, the hacker’s Hotmail was open and his Onedrive was holding my desktop inside it. This had the intention that anything I typed on my desktop would be auto-backed up to his Hotmail Onedrive, But I had logged him out of his Hotmail, thus ending?? our relationship.

I have had this indestructible folder and other muck removed and a fresh installation of OS by a computer shop. so no password or UserId is needed to log in.

But during booting it splashes someone like <<<”PXE media failure. No cable detected.”>>> But it goes on to boot. Why does it do that, and can I expect another crash soon.?

I also cannot burn ISO to Dvd as it gives the following error message when trying to do so

If I right-click the ISO and then burn, it ejects the DVD and gives a message<

<<”There is no recordable disk in your disk burner. Insert a blank recordable disk and try again”>>

When I use Passfab ISO burner it does not eject the DVD however says:

<<”The current imported ISO image is not a system image, or is not supported by the program boot or compression model. Please import the correct ISO file.”>>

There appears to be no other issue with the dvd drive working correcrly. ( except I am not sure if the autoplay setting works – that is I see no auto playing happening)

Can anyone tell me what has happened to the laptop

Sorry for the bother

Accepted answers

468959

That was very helpful thanks

All comments

JackE

>>>windows wizard instructions to get back to factory settings. Factory reset was not cleaning the computer at all.>>>

What WindowsWizard are you referring to? If it's not done with an AcerApplication or by the ALT+F10 cold boot BIOS method, it won't do a true factory reset.

billsey

You have a lot of things going on, some if which might be related. If a clean Windows install setup without a Microsoft account has user accounts magically added later, you are likely looking at malware of some sort. If you are logged in using your Microsoft account then you can expect that your profile will get populated with what your account knows about, so files will be added such as your documents, music and videos. If the system has only been reset then all existing accounts will stick around, including their data, and you may not have access to their files without providing admin permissions. It sounds like those are no longer an issue though since you had the system refreshed by your technician?

The PXE media failure is normal if the boot settings have a PXE (network) boot higher in priority than the HDD boot. Your machine is old enough it doesn't support the normal UEFI boot, so the boot order in the BIOS is what is used. Just go into the BIOS and change that order so network boot is at the bottom.

Your machine is also old enough that the interior of your DVD drive might be dirty enough to fail when trying to write, or the laser that does the writing might have failed. Either create the disk on a newer machine, replace the DVD drive with a new one, or use a USB flash drive instead of a DVD.

468959

Thank you, Billsey

468959

That was very helpful thanks

468959

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1177281#Comment_1177281

Dear Jack

I used 2 methods and both methods give the same result-the laptop's old deleted files and folders emerge, including a user folder that cant be deleted

(1)Settings>updates&security>recovery>reset this pc> remove everything

(2)I also tried double-clicking the setup.exe on a windows 10 installation disk, and following the wizard

JackE

Sorry no. Neither of those two methods will result in a true factory reset via the hidden Acer OEM factory Win7 reset partition.

Simply because Win10 or Win8x were never factory-installed Acer Windows OEM versions on this old Win7 era laptop.

Only Win7 was factory installed on the 5733. And it probably still remains on the hidden OEM Win reset partition. But may no longer be accessible by the ALT+F10 cold boot bios method due to complications from subsequent Microsoft generic Win10 installations and resets.

Parosred

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1177870#Comment_1177870

@billsey This may be in wrong thread, sorry, can you explain why I can't change to xmp profile, I heard it's blocked at 2133 mhz for my PO3-630, when it says it can handle 3200mhz.