How can I recreate the "ACER" recovery partition for the Aspire 5742-6846?

robman501a
robman501a Member Posts: 49 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

So, the hard drive failed awhile back and I replaced it with an SSD and then I restored the system with the recovery disks. How can I put the recovery partition back on the soild state drive so I can restore the laptop to it's factory state from the BIOS?

The SSD had Windows 7 installed, then I formatted it and went to Windows 10, then I tried Ubuntu, and now I'm back at Windows 7.

Answers

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,182 Trailblazer
    edited March 2023

    Hi @robman501a

    I sent my a515-54G laptop recently back to Acer Services and they installed all the OEM apps, drivers and recovery partition for me for free after the warranty was already expired, they may balk and charge you $25 service fee since you replaced the original mechanical HDD for a SATA 2.5" SSD (not so sure if that will work). You really don't need “Acer Recovery” as WindowsRE on your USB recovery drive and on your internal drive will do the same job, and you can load the drivers from Acer Support. Why don't you try Windows8.1 (almost the same as W10) Acer has all those drivers on their Support site, W7 is no longer supported by Microsoft😑.

  • robman501a
    robman501a Member Posts: 49 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    Well, I've tried to upgrade to Windows 8.1 but got as far as the “enter product key” screen. Then, I've entered the product key that is on the sticker for Windows 7 which is located on the bottom of the laptop. The setup wouldn't accept the product key

    Also, I'm not a fan of the 5400 RPM 2.5" drives, they're too slow! Yeah, I'm spoiled by the SSD. 😂

    Maybe…. could I create an 16GB partition on the beginning of the drive (before the OS) and copy all the data from the DVD's to it, then hide the drive letter?

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,182 Trailblazer

    Sorry I don't know. A DVD with Windows8.1 costs $120 you may get a discount if you show them your W7 license.

  • robman501a
    robman501a Member Posts: 49 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    edited March 2023

    I got the ISO image but it's my product key. I always thought the Windows 7 keys can be used for installing Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and 11. 🤷‍♂️

    Only thing that I can think of is the ISO isn't compatible with the OEM_SLP channel of this version of Windows 7.

    Unless, I change the product key from the one used by the recovery media to the key on my Acer Upgrade Disk that came with my old Aspire m7720. That was a free upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista and works well for a fresh installation.

  • robman501a
    robman501a Member Posts: 49 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    edited March 2023

    I got the drivers but it's still rejecting the product key. I'm going to back up the system and try a clean installation of Windows 8. Man, this is the stupidest thing I've ever encountered. While I'm at it, might try making that Acer parition.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,182 Trailblazer

    Microsoft stopped support for Windows8.1 last January. Does your laptop have a Core i3 1st Gen CPU? According to my list the i3 1st and 2nd generation CPU's are not W10 compatible. I recommend that you get a new laptop with Windows11 as the one you have now is >13 years out of date, you may use it for Windows storage/offline work or try to load Linux on it.

  • robman501a
    robman501a Member Posts: 49 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    Yeah, it's a first gen CPU. The system is going to be used offline.