Any reliable way to boot from USB or DVD at all? W510

NoName
NoName Member Posts: 4 New User

So I got a W510 64GB here. I also got that keyboard with its abomination of a touchpad because it appeared to be required to boot from anything at all (good thing it's so very very cheap considering the amazing build quality!).

 

I want to install a clean windows. Got the DVD right here. I also made a bootable flash drive.

But none of it freaking works.
 I set a password, disabled secure boot and done all the other UEFI related settings.

 

I connect the falsh drive, turn the tablet on, hammer F12... oh great. It went straight to windows. So let's start again.

I turn the tablet on, hammer F12 and all the boot menu offers me is "Windows Boot Manager". Every single time (except it goes straight to windows yet again).

No matter where I connect the drive. Every other PC here boots from it just fine.

 

I read that only drives up to 4 GB work. Well, what am I supposed to do with 4 GB? My windows install wont fit on there. I don't even have such a small drive anymore.

 

So let's try the DVD instead. Booting from DVD even has it's own support article after all:

http://acer-au.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28492/~/using-the-recovery-dvds-on-the-iconia-w510

 

I'm going to ignore the "External USB DVD drive with AC Adapter." part. I'll plug the power cable in an active USB hub instead as I won't invest even more money into a simple windows reinstall by buying an adapter, cable or maybe even an all new external drive. No thanks.

Why does it even need it? My drive works flawlessly with just the USB cable. Not sure why it even has a DC In.

 

Let's go to step 5. First problem here. The tablet refuses to start as long as the drive is connected (or as long as the drive is connected to a power source).

So from now on I'll instantly connect the drive it after I turned the tablet on. That also means it doesn't need to spin up anymore which I though could work in my favor.

 

But no. The drive appears to read but I still can only select Windows Boot Manager.

 

So how do I get this thing to boot from anything?

 

I've been trying since yesterday and I'm fed up right now. The F12 button will probably break soon too as you need to mindlessly mash it all the time as there is not way to tell whether or not the tablet already noticed it.

 

I'd prefer to boot from USB. How hard can it be? That stupid tablet is the only device here refusing to boot from it.

Answers

  • vins87
    vins87 Member Posts: 1 New User

    I have the same problem.
    I've upgraded the bios to the latest version (1.92) and i can't boot from usb or dvd or ethernet..
    Can someone help us???

  • padgett
    padgett ACE Posts: 4,532 Pathfinder

    Well to start create a recovery flash drive using your tab (many threads) See if it will boot from that. If so then the problem is most likely that the BIOS is in UEFI mode and your flash drive is Legacy (many threads again).

     

    The easiest answer is to obtain a powered (needs to be self powered or use a powered hub because the W510 USB does not provide much) USB DVD reader and boot/install from that.

     

    Otherwise to create a bootable flash drive you will first need to convert the image DVD to an .ISO and then use the Microsoft tool to create a bootable flash drive.

     

    Once you have the ISO the instructions are found at http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

     

    ps I have booted my W510 and W3 from many different media.

    bootdev.jpg

     

  • NoName
    NoName Member Posts: 4 New User

    I finally got it to work.

     

    Things that didn't work at all:

    Any CD/DVD

    32 GB Transcend Extreme-Speed JetFlash 780 NTFS

    32 GB Transcend Extreme-Speed JetFlash 780 FAT32

    8 GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro NTFS

     

    And the only thing that worked:

    8 GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro FAT32

     

    http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/create-bootable-usb-key-thumb-drive-windows-vista7-command-l...

    Then just copy all the files from the DVD/ISO over. Don't use the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool as it formats the drive to NTFS.

     

    And if you happen to have a fancy custom Windows7/8 all in one DVD you'll have to split the install.wim because FAT32 can't handle anything larger than 4GB.

     

    What a freaking pain.

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