Acer eRecovery Fails when upgrading from XP to 7

Hoib
Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User
in 2013 Archives

Hi - I have an Acer Veriton M265 which came with XP as a pre-load and with Win 7 upgrade rights.  

 

I wanted to toss XP and load Win 7 so attempted to use the "Recovery" button on the front of the machine.  I could not get Recovery to appear.  I did have my own set of Recovery CDs (2 disks) and I launched Recovery from CD.  CDs I created when the system was born.  The install goes through and looks like it will be successful.

 

But, after a restart (prompted by the eRecovery software) Windows starts, shows the colored animation, the orbs join at mid-screen, the screen says "Windows is Starting" then nothing.  If you watch the 4-colored Windows 7 "flag" it continues to pulsate but nothing else happens.  I left it this way for over a half hour.  I've attemted reinstalling from the CD at leat 4 times.

 

But --- I can do this:  Tap Alt/F10 at the POST and I do get a menu to Edit Boot Options with a Path statement, Partition: 1, Hark Disk:  and then a remark: [/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN]   If I hit Enter to proceed, Windows 7 boots normally.  Iget my desktop, icons and it all looks normal.  If I do not detour with Alt/F10, then I'm back at the same stuck on Windows is Starting.

 

Is this something simple like an edit to boot.ini that I am missing?  I can get no warrantee help from Acer itself.  But I'm hoping someone here knows the correct procedure to get the boot sequence to complete.

 

Thanks and I'll be standing by.

 

Hoib

Best Answer

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder
    Answer ✓
    If your advanced menu does not have a "Repair your computer" option, you will need a Windows 7 repair disk. You will need a working Windows 7 computer to make one, if you don't have one.

    The repair disk also has the "Startup Repair" option.

    Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Answers

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder

    Hi Hoib

     

    Try a "Startup Repair".

     

    1.Continually press F8 as soon as you see the Acer logo to bring up the Advanced Boot Menu. Select "Repair your computer", then select "Startup Repair"              OR

     

    2. See here, on how to make a Windows 7 Repair Disk.

     

    Once Startup Repair has finished, your computer should now boot as normal.

  • Hoib
    Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User

    OK finlux - thanks for helping.

     

    I did press F8.  What I get is the normal Windows menu selection that includes Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Netowrking, Last Known Good, Low Video, etc.

     

    Am I not pressing the right button at the right time?  I'll try it again, but I've done F8 numerous times looking for, just as you said, "StartUp Repair".  But I never achieve that, always getting Windows Safe Mode menu structure.

     

    Would you care to commend on my pressing of Alt/F10?  I was looking for the Recovery console that Acer provides.  I must've wiped out the Recovery Console somehow.  Again, as I said, once I press Alt/F10 and get that Edit Windows Boot Options menu up and hit enter, Win 7 launches perfectly.  I don't know but I was figuring there must be some file like boot.ini or startup.ini that I can edit to load that and launch it.

     

    Will post back tomorrow - I'm not at the site today.  Wish Answers by Acer was more helpful.  I think at this point, I'd pay for the help but I can't see throwing good money away.  That program is awful!

     

    Thanks again and will be back with results.

     

    Hoib

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder
    Answer ✓
    If your advanced menu does not have a "Repair your computer" option, you will need a Windows 7 repair disk. You will need a working Windows 7 computer to make one, if you don't have one.

    The repair disk also has the "Startup Repair" option.

    Good luck and let us know how you get on!
  • Hoib
    Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User

    OK, I can make that happen.

     

    Do I use Acer's repair disk using their eRecovery module?  Or do I do a native Windows 7 repair disk creation?

     

    H

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder
    Do the native Windows 7 repair disk...
  • Hoib
    Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User

    Good!  I'll make that happen!  Can it be from any Win 7 system or does it have to be off an Acer with similar hardware?  Do I have to be concerned about what "bit-level" (32 vs 64) I'm doing?

     

    H

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder
    Any Windows 7 PC will do, but it must be the same architecture 32bit for 32 bit ETC
  • Hoib
    Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User

    @finlux - there's been a delay getting back to the site.  Family medical issue.

     

    Something just occured to me so let me ask...

     

    This sick Win 7 system; just suppose I got Win 7 up and running - which I can reliably do by going through what I call "the detour".  Once Win 7 is running, could I create the recovery disk from the copy of Win 7?  Even though it's running on a sick system, I still have what appears to be a fully functioning computer.

     

    Or would you be thinking, it's a sick system and the recovery disk is liable to be sick as well.  I have a little time invested in this so I don't mind tinkering with it.  I know that using the recovery set I made at birth isn't working, probably because somewhere on the drive the boot manager/sector or MBR is damaged.

     

    H

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder
    Yes, it should work...
  • Hoib
    Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User

    Well, no luck.  I found I had a Windows Repair disk from another Acer of the same spec.  I'd forgotten about it.  Anyway, this Windows StartUp repair runs through, automatically chooses startup repair as it detects there is a startup problem, but reports that it cannot automatically repair the start up.  Ran it twice just to make sure.  What I'm doing now is checking the disk with Falcon4, a startup/recovery disk I often use to attempt drive and system diagnostics.

     

    Currently, after using StartUp Repair, Windows 7 refuses to boot past the animation.  I no longer have the "detour".  Keyboard is locked out.

     

    In my reading on this, I find references to Windows 7 BootManager.  It seems to me that that BootManager may be damaged preventing anything from booting.  Question:  Does the Windows BootManager persist when you are using the Acer eRcovery?  Is it possible that if I got rid of the BootManager (complete wipe of the HDD), would I have better luck?

     

    If the disk checks out solid, the only thing I can think of doing next is order a Windows 7 install disk from Acer that goes with this machine, format the drive back to zero, and completely replace everything.  Question:  Will Acer sell me the Windows 7 install disk or am I stuck with eRecovery per:  http://store.acer.com/store/aceramer/en_US/eRecovery

     

    Does any of this sound reasonable?

     

    Hoib

  • Hoib
    Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User

    Hey - I just noticed something very strange.  The Falcon4 BCD gives me Windows Explorer.  When I explore C:\ I find that the old Win XP file structure is still intact!!!  I have run eRecovery over it at least a half dozen times.  eRecovery is not erasing everything as it states when you run it.  All my folders/files are still there as though nothing has happened from the XP install.  I would have expected that by using the Factory image, that all files would have been erased.  They are still present.  This is more than just "vestiges"- the entire Win XP folder/file structure is still addressable.

    I just can't boot this thing.  Is any of the above a clue as to what's wrong?  Does it appear likely that this Windows 7 BootMgr program or file is the culprit?

    Any advice appreciated.

    Hoib

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder

    That's because when you installed Windows 7, you didn't format your hard disk. There is an option to do this before installing Windows on the partition.

     

    You can also use the Repair disk to repair the boot sector from the command prompt option. See here on how to do that.

     

     

  • Hoib
    Hoib Member Posts: 18 New User

    OK, there's no prompt using Acer's own eRecovery disks that offers one the opportunity to re-format the drive.  If that were a reqirement, it's then logical to say that Acer's script would lead you through that re-format requirement.  And, it does not.  Simply starts the eRecovery process without any prep like re-format.  And, perhaps, it is doing that behind the scenes - can't say because there's no outward evidence of it doing so.

     

    But here's the good news.  I went back and used my own prepared Windows XP eRecovery set, created at birth.  I wanted to see if XP would reload from the factory image.  It almost did but failed at the end with the initial Acer install splash screen.  It was begging me to hit "Next" but both the keyboard and mouse were locked out.  I felt at this point that perhaps enough of XP had been installed and it just wasn't able to complete finalization.  Given that I was able to boot this far, I gave the Win 7 eRecovery set one more try.  And this time - nirvana!

     

    Looks like I'm back in business.  First order of business is to chkdsk /all.  Runs through.  SFC /scannow - perfect.  140 updates are pending - run those.  Reboot - several times, with software installs and uninstalls between.  Always comes back fine.

     

    Crisis averted - victory declared?  We shall see.   But thanks to all who hung in here with me during this adventure.

     

    Merry Christmas!

     

    Hoib

  • finlux
    finlux ACE Posts: 1,834 Pathfinder

    Success!

     

    Glad you managed to fix it - and Merry Christmas to you too!

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