Acer AN515-58 how to do a Hard factory reset.

Hi guys,

I have bought a new Acer Nitro 5 without OS, on which I installed Debian 11. I would like to delete the Linux and just install Windows. I tried this with a bootable USB with Windows, but when I get to the step where I need to choose where to install it, it shows no space available, even though the laptop has 1TB..maybe it's all occupied by Linux, I don't know, I am very new to this..

Anyway, I was wondering how to do a factory reset of this laptop with an external USB or something, or from the BIOS menu. I saw a topic regarding this but it's done through a menu under Windows, which I don't have so…

Looking forward to your help! Thank you!

Cheers,

Marta

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title and to add issue detail]

Accepted answers

JackE

The VMD controller in the Main tab ultimately corrupted your earlier Linux installation and partition. And likely the other two smaller partitions. Hopefully it didn't do anything else. Disable it.

Then boot from GPartEd again and delete the other two smaller partitions. Ideally we'd like the whole card to be unallocated. The Windows installation should be able to handle formatting a clean unallocated card if there's no physical damage.

All comments

JackE

bootable USB with Windows, but when I get to the step where I need to choose where to install it, it shows no space available

You must re-format the Linux installation from the drive using the Windows USB advanced options. So boot from the Windows USB again. Then choose the troubleshooting or advanced option. There should be an option the erase and re-format the drive so the Windows installation can proceed.. If not, go to the command prompt option. This is a black screen with a white X : > _ blinking cursor. Then type and press the enter key the following commands exactly as writtein.

Diskpart
List Disk
Then post a phone phote of result and we'll proceed from there.

SMP03

Hi, thank you for your answer, and sorry for the delay..

Well, there is no option to erase and reformat the drive within the troubleshooting windows menu.

This is the result of your suggestion:

WhatsApp Image 2023-07-06 at 17.22.08.jpeg

looks like it doesn't see my 1TB ssd..I don't know if any help, but I was reading something about how windows cannot see the ext4 linux format, and when I installed linux I used the beginner-recommended way of partitioning, which was to use the entire disk.

Waiting for further suggestions :) Thank you very much for you time!

JackE

Can you boot from the Linux installation stick and run GPartEd?

SMP03

I can't boot in Linux, it's dropping to shell and entering initramfs, because after my initial linux installation I tried to create a partition on which I have planned to install Windows as a dual-boot, but it gave me an error and after reboot it went to initramfs..

Anyway, I have another laptop with Windows, from which I have created this bootable USB with Gparted, and I boot into the problematic laptop with linux..I hope that's ok

What should I do next?

JackE

Select don't touch keymap. Click OK. Just keep going. Everything else is fairly default automatic if you downloaded from a US site. It takes a while to boot up to the GPartEd GUI from a stick.

SMP03

got it. Here are the partitions:

JackE

There's a problem with the main 952GB partition 3. It may be unreadable & not recoverable. The 0.5 GB EXT2 partition 2 looks like an old file system swap. Not sure how that got in there unless you tried installing a very old Linux version.

Select partition 3 and see what Edit & Partition tab options are available.

SMP03

well in the edit tab there are no available options, but here's a photo with the Partition.

WhatsApp Image 2023-07-07 at 00.37.54.jpeg

Maybe I could format it to a file format readable for windows?..

JackE

I was hoping the CHECK option was available. But looks like it's completely unreadable. So, OK, yes, try to set it to format to NTFS as a pending operation. Then click on the Edit tab to apply the operation and hope for the best.

SMP03

I formated to ntfs succesfully, and tried again to install windows, still can't see the drive

SMP03

After the format, the check option appeared available, it checked successfully, retried the installation, still no drive seen.

Tried then the delete option, the drive appeared now as unlocalized space, retried again the install, still no drive seen.

JackE

Boot from GPartEd live stick again. Post another phone photo like this that you did earlier. Also tap F2 on startup to enter BIOS menu. Post phone photo of opening BIOS page.

SMP03

Here they are

SMP03

and the bios menu

[Edited the content to hide sensitive information]

JackE

Looks like the 953GB partition didn't take the NTFS formatting. Try to format it to NTFS again. Also post phone photos of the BIOS Main, Advanced & Boot tabs.