Travelmate 7750G-6494 Why does Acer recovery disk get same error code 0x241new SSD on original HDD?

Travelmate7750G

On my Travelmate 7750G-6494, I replaced the original 500GB HDD with a new Crucial MX500 SSD, then used the Acer disk set (P/N: RD.NGAA7.022) that Acer sent me back in 2012 in case I would ever need it. I selected the third restore option which says: "Restore your computer to factory default status. All data in the hidden partition and on the system partition will be restored. Before restoring, please delete any data on the hard disk." There was no data to delete, since it was a new SSD that I received this weekend. I was not prompted to enter the Product Key on the bottom of the computer, so I assumed it got the product key off the motherboard.

Per the instructions, the first disc used was the System disc. When it finished, the disc drawer opened and I was prompted to insert Recovery Disc 1 of 3. After Recovery Disc 1 finished, I was prompted to insert Recovery Disc 2 of 3. After Recovery Disc 3 of 3 finished, it did what the instruction said it would do: "the system will reboot." Windows 7 started but got the same error code 0x241 as in:

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/692945

"Restore failed - Error code = 0x241 WIMApplyImage cannot apply image: Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be [top of next line visible but unreadable since there is no scroll bar]." And so on.

This time, it's clear that the recent software change was running the Acer recovery disk set on a new SSD that had no files on it. Is this a bug in Acer recovery disk set P/N: RD.NGAA7.022? If so, I'll install Windows 10 on the Travelmate instead. If it's a hardware problem, what hardware problem would cause that error message after the Acer disk set loads all the files onto a new SSD?

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/697413/travelmate-7750g-why-does-acer-recovery-disk-set-get-same-error-code-0x241new-ssd-on-original-hdd

Best to upgrade to Win-10 Home but to activate W10 with your W7 product key may not work anymore, read this:

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/695805/how-to-replace-hard-drive-on-travelmate-7750g-with-a-ssd-drive

billsey

Unless there is some valid reason for running Windows 7 on the laptop, you are much better off to simply clone the original HDD to the new SSD. No need to go back to that old OS…

Travelmate7750G

My questions were: "Is this a bug in Acer recovery disk set P/N: RD.NGAA7.022? If so, I'll install Windows 10 on the Travelmate instead. If it's a hardware problem, what hardware problem would cause that error message after the Acer disk set loads all the files onto a new SSD?"

Cloning the HDD is not an option per the above mentioned discussion:

community.acer.com/en/discussion/692945

Why did I get the same error message on the HDD after using the disk set on option 1, and on the SSD after using the disk set on option 3? As I said, if it was caused on both drives by a fault in the disk set, then I'll install Windows 10 on the Travelmate. But if it was caused by a hardware problem on the Travelmate, installing Windows 10 won't work. So I need to know whether the problem was caused on both drives by a bug in the disk set, or if there's some kind of hardware problem on the Thinkpad that caused that error message after running the disk set on the HDD and again after running the disk set on the new SSD.

Travelmate7750G

Correction, I meant Travelmate, not "Thinkpad"; it should have read, "So I need to know whether the problem was caused on both drives by a bug in the disk set, or if there's some kind of hardware problem on the Travelmate that caused that error message after running the disk set on the HDD and again after running the disk set on the new SSD."

billsey

There is little to no chance there is a bug on the disc set, unless caused by data corruption due to the age of the discs. You might have gotten a bad set from the factory, but I'd expect it to perform the same on either drive, yet it sounds like the failure happened at different places during the installation. There is really no good reason to install the factory image on that laptop. You can no longer do a Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade for free, so a clean install of Windows 10 is likely to be the best chance to resurrect this old machine. The specific error code is likely one of the more generic errors, that doesn't give much usable information.

Travelmate7750G

Re "it sounds like the failure happened at different places during the installation" — Do you mean that when running the disc set on the HDD I selected option 1, to change only the C drive back to the way it was when it left the factory, but when I ran it on the SSD I selected option 3, which sets both the C drive and the XP Virtual Machine back to the way they were when they left the factory?

Re "but I'd expect it to perform the same on either drive" — In both cases, running the disk set on the HDD or SSD resulted in the same "Error code = 0x241" saying, "A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be" [I Googled that sentence a short while ago and found, on forums.virtualbox.org, that what follows "or that might be" is "malicious software from an unknown source."]

There was no hardware change before running the Acer disk set on the HDD, and the only hardware change before running it on the SSD was replacing the HDD with the new SSD. On both the HDD and the SSD, the "recent software change" was running the Acer recovery disk set. Acer shipped that disk set to me in 2012, so you may be right that it could be "data corruption due to the age of the discs." If the error code was caused by a problem with the disk set, such as corruption due to age, I'll buy Windows 10 and pay a technician $110 plus sales tax to remove the hidden partition from the SSD, reformat the C drive (to remove all the Windows 7 and Acer files installed by the disk set), install Windows 10, and get Windows 10 working correctly on the Travelmate. Before incurring the purchase price and installation expense, can we rule out any possibility that the reason for the error code was a hardware problem in the Travelmate that will cause an error code as well after installation of Windows 10?

billsey

I have no way of knowing for sure what the error code actually means, so I can't say whether it's actually hardware related. I think that paying a technician $110 is way, way more than the computer is worth at it's age.

Travelmate7750G

The Travelmate screen is 17¼ inches, and I work on it with an external monitor as well. The next computer I buy will be much smaller, lighter, and truly portable, and will be Windows 11. So if the Windows 11 computer were to replace that Travelmate, instead of being in addition to it, the screen will be much smaller, and I would therefore buy a second external monitor. And buy a numeric keypad too if the Windows 11 computer, to be as small and light as I would like, doesn't have one. Also, I'm confident that my software will run well on Windows 10 in compatibility mode, but don't know if all will run well on Windows 11. It's worth the $110 plus the purchase cost of Windows 10 to me, to keep the Travelmate, even if I buy another computer. Unless the problem was hardware related, such that installing Windows 10 too would cause that error code. Since that error code occurred only after running that Acer disk set on the HDD and also on the new SSD, it wasn't due to a defect in the drive.

Hence the question. Is there any hardware in the Travelmate 7750G, other than an HDD or SSD, that could cause "Error code = 0x241…A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged" from installing a version of Windows?

billsey

There is no way of knowing what that error code means. Try doing a vanilla Windows install of Windows 10 to see if that works. If so, purchase a license and activate it. If it fails then you have a better idea of what's going on.

Travelmate7750G

Is that possible, to install it to see if that works before purchasing it? How would I get it before purchasing it?

billsey

You can download the Windows install and flash it. You can then install it and test for some time before you have to activate it. You don't need to have purchased it until activation.