Replace Win 8 with WIN7 Clean Install on Acer Aspire One 0725

trawlerphil

Tuesday I started researching swapping operating systems on the new Acer Aspire One.  The Acer website was exceptionally well crafted and I had most all of my answers in record time. I registered in the customer forum and registered my serial numbers with support.

 

Wednesday the new 500GB SATA 7200 RPM hard drive arrived with the USB DVD reader.  Here’s what I did to mothball Windows 8 and install Windows 7 Home Premium:

• First order of business was to replace the Windows 8 hard drive with the new one. I flopped over the Netbook and slid the battery lock on the right hand side to the right and removed the battery.
• I removed the single screw at the middle of the base plate and removed the base plate exposing memory, drive and pieces parts.
• On the back of the hard drive was an aluminum cover attached to the machine with two screws. I removed the screws and slid the hard drive back separating it from its connector. I lifted out the old hard drive.
• I removed the two screws holding the aluminum cover and moved it to the new hard drive.
• I slid the new hard drive into its adapter and  replaced the two hold down screws.
• I installed the base plate and reinstalled the battery.
• Next I connected the USB DVD drive to the netbook and booted hitting F2 to go into BIOS mode.  I tabbed over to boot and moved the USB DVD reader from the bottom of the list to the top.  Next I changed the “secure bios” mode to legacy.  Apparently the secure BIOS mode is just for Windows 8 and has to be changed or it won’t allow the      system to boot from a DVD.
• I re-booted and the installation of Windows 7 SP1 started without problems. 

The activation process for Windows 7 didn’t go well at all.  Neither my new Windows 7 key for my Acer Media server would work, nor my “full license” key because you can’t “upgrade” from Windows 8 to Windows 7.  I spent an hour with the tech folks at Acer telling them I simply wanted to swap operating systems between the Netbook and the Desktop, but they weren’t helpful at all so I called Microsoft and simply told them I was too old to deal with Windows 8 and I wanted my Windows 7 back.  The nice lady from the Philippines told me she would help me and within 15 minutes my Windows 7 SP1 system was activated using my old “upgrade” license.  I told her I hoped to live long enough to wait for Windows 9 and she laughed.  She said I should move to the Philippines because everyone there lives to a ripe old age. Bottom Line is Acer gets demerits for not helping a 3 computer customer out and Microsoft gets Kudos for being kind to seniors.

 

Once Windows 7 got validated and updated, the next problem was the wireless network adapter wasn’t working. The Acer chat person was useless.  All they are taught is to service what was installed on the original machine.  She finally gave me an 800 number which was a “pay for support number”, but that wasn't going to happen.  I flipped over the machine and put my magnification glasses on to read the “fine print” and discovered the Atheros wireless LAN hardware was model AR5B22 which was absent from Acer's Windows 7 downloads.  Next I Binged Windows 7 drivers for the AR5B22 and downloaded and installed the appropriate driver.  This time it found the network, but wouldn’t accept my network password.  I double checked the MAC address with a command prompt of GETMAC and found a 3rd MAC address had materialized so I put it into my router table and everything finally came up ok. I use a MAC address filter for additional security.

 

I put on Streets & Trips 2013 and found the latest Windows 7 64 Bit still has the “jumping mouse problem” where Microsoft interprets the GPS as a serial mouse.  The “fix” is a registry edit that tells the operating system to ignore serial mice.

 

Two drivers were still MIA, one of which was the USB3 driver. I solved the USB3 problem by downloading the VGA AMD software and installing it. Who would have thought anything with VGA in it would fix a USB problem, but it did. Now device manager is completely happy with the Windows 7 64 bit install. I declared success with the Operating system and moved on to installing Office 2010 and the rest of my software which I’ll resume dong Monday because I’ve already gone way over my broadband budget for downloads and my new ‘Month” starts Monday.

 

I hope this adventure helps other folks who aren't happy Microsoft sold out to the Smart-phone kiddies and Acer got pressured into leaving Windows 7 off the table.  Y'all may be too young to remember the "Bob" operating system, but many of you remember Vista.

Alan-London

It looks like you covered all bases here.
It is good to see that you weren't tempted to change your BIOS! Not only is it unnecessary but you will almost certainly not have to change yet again when Windows 9 makes an appearance. It probably won't be that long a wait either (we should hopefully both make it!)!
Oh yes, I remember 'Bob' (dear oh dear).