Hi, not really a new member, but am having difficulty with system recovery.

I have an Acer Aspire 7741Z, I know it's older. It has windows 7 Home premium on it. I am guessing the hard drive went bad because I replaced it and it seemed to be working. I put the system recovery disks in that I purchased from Acer last week and it goes up to the copying files from disc display and looks like it is loading the images file. But then it stops and gives me an error message that says "Fail to copy file to HDD. File G:\Images\WOP000400OENSC121103.SWM. I am not worried about saving any data at this point, just trying to get the computer to work. I don't know if I was sent a "bad" disc or what. Any suggestions would be great.

Alexa

Accepted answers

JackE

Good for you! I guess insufficient disk space could also explain why the installation stopped at the same spot.

Try tapping F2 when you first see the Acer bios screen to get back into the bios menu. Check that your new hard drive is first in the boot order. F10 to exit and save settings.

Jack E/NJ

All comments

JackE

Does it give you the option of skipping the copy failure? If so, skip it and try to continue.

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

It gives two options OK and Cancel. If I click OK than it doesn't do anything, like its frozen. If I hit cancel it takes me back to the opening screen to start it all over again.

I am wondering if the discs that they sent me were bad?

JackE

Could be. I'd first try to clean the disk with windex and a soft cloth. Then open the DVD door and blow gently into it to clear any dust bunnies that may be interfering with the read beam. Then try the recovery again.

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

Jack, I tried that, and nope it didn't fix it. I am out of ideas.

JackE

Do you have access to another machine to check the disk for read errors?

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

OK. sorry that I have to ask, but what do you mean to check it for read errors? The only other computer I have access to is the one that I am using right now to correspond with you and it has windows XP on it. Don't laugh I needed something to do my school work on.

Would I have to download the disks onto this computer?

JackE

>>>I am guessing the hard drive went bad because I replaced it and it seemed to be working.>>>

Before proceeding on checking the disk for errors, we need to re-visit your earlier statement here. What led you to guess the old hard drive went bad? And what led you to guess the new hard drive seemed to be working? Are the two hard drives the same model? Did you replace the drive yourself?

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

OK, I will try not to make this a longer story than it has to be....

About two weeks ago, I turned my computer on and a black screen came up and something to the effect that "Operating system not found". I went online on my old computer (the one I am talking to you on now) and looked up possible solutinos to what could cause this and how to fix it. The first post was to hit Alt and F10 which I did about a hundred times, it did nothing. Then I hit F2 on teh start and got the BIOS MENU, it was pretty sparse and nothing was in the HDD slot. So I removed the back, jiggled it a little to make sure that it hadn't come loose or something stupid like that and put it back together. Again same black screen with the writing that said "Operating system not found". I then grabbed the recovery disks I made for the computer back when I first bought it and ran them after changing the BIOS to read the CD/DVD. (Oh, while in F2, I also went to restore defaults in case I changed something unintentionally.) I could hear the computer working, but it took me to the Acer recovery screen, and usually when the partition comes up there is something there, this one was blank. And I got the message Fail to create partition at disk 0, or something like that. When I hit ok, it went back to the main screen, this time though nothing came up no cusor no nothing. I hit the escape key and I got the cursor and again "operating System not found". I thought maybe I had damaged my recovery disks or had not copied them correctly, so I went to Acer eRecovery and ordered the ones specific for my computer. I just got them 2 dayws ago, put them into the system and again to the partition screen on the Acer recovery and again fail to create partition at disk 0). I have a laptop that I was given with windows 7 on it (if it makes a difference and pulled the hard drive out and switched them to see if I would get any different results. This time the computer showed the partition and when I hit next to "clear the partition and return it to factory settings" it looked like the disks were working and sounded like it too. But after only installing about 3% of the image file, it gave me the error message stated in my first response, which was something like can't copy the G:/image file to the HD. I was given two options ok and cancel. when I hit OK, that box closed but the status of the recovery stayed up and looked as if it was frozen on the screen. Then I ran it all over again only this time I hit cancel and it took me to the black screen with nothing,. I had to push escape to bring the words up again, this time it said BOOTMGR is missing or something like that. I ran it a second time and noted that it is stopping at the same image file and not going any further. I did as you had suggested and used special "canned air" the one with no liquid and blew out the drive, and wiped off all the cd's with Windex and a computer cloth. And this is where I am now.....

I really like this Acer, it has a big screen and I am almost finished school. I really hate to put a whole bunch of money into it or buy a new one at this stage in the game until I am working. Any guidance you could provide would be great, because I am at a total loss.

Thanks for your help so far.

Alexa

JackE

>>> I thought maybe I had damaged my recovery disks >>>

OK. I'm gonna *guess* the Acer eRecovery disk at least wiped the new drive clean even though it may have a read error. I'm also gonna guess that you didn't damage your original home-made recovery disks. Have you tried to use these old recovery disks with the new drive? Also make sure that the bios (tapping F2 key on boot) detects and correctly identifies the new hard drive.

>>>I have a laptop that I was given with windows 7 on it (if it makes a difference and pulled the hard drive out and switched them to see if I would get any different results. >>>

That particular copy of Win7 should be registered by Microsoft for the serial number of the machine that you took the hard drive from. Not your Acer's serial number. While you may get Win7 up and running with these disks, it may eventually be automatically disabled due to this serial number discrepancy. So, your safest bet, is either with your old recovery disks or the Acer eRecovery disks if they aren't damaged.

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

Yes, I looked at the BIOS screen when I installed the "new" harddrive and the system is picking it up. I tried to run my homemade disks and the ones I purchased from Acer and it stops at the same spot.

JackE

>>>"Fail to copy file to HDD. File G:\Images\WOP000400OENSC121103.SWM.>>>

I assume you mean that it fails at the same spot as shown above. This likely rules out a read error with either your old recovery disks OR the Acer eRecovery disks.

Accordingly, I suggest that you follow the instructions on this link to make a Win7 installation USB drive from the product key on the Win7 installation disks that you got from the other machine. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7 While the product key might be accepted and the USB installation created, I'm still not sure if the installation will be permanent due to the serial number conflict. But it's probably worth a try since both recovery options haven't worked so far.

BTW, the erecovery option failed on one of my own Acer systems. I wound up having to download a Win7 DVD installation image that I used to create a USB installation drive. The installation succeeded but about a week later I got a message to call a Microsoft 800 number to register the Win7 installation or it would be disabled. My heart sank. But I made the call. All that was required was the serial number id on the bottom of the laptop. And the installation was officially registered!

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

Thank you Jack for all of your help, I am getting over it. Thinking I might have to spend the rest of my time in school at the library. BTW-The link that you listed above to download microsoft 7 is no longer valid.

JackE

Sorry, try this link instead. Having some problems with cut/paste function.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download

Either the Windows product key on the Win7 DVD and/or the product key on the bottom of your laptop might work. Report back when you can.

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

LOL I am thinking the computer was ready to be put to rest. I don't have MS 7 installation disks, the version was installed by Acer. So I got an error message that it won't work and I should contact the manufacturer (Acer).

JackE

Sorry, I mistakenly thought you had the Win7 installation disks from the Win7 computer that was given to you.

Since your old recovery disk and the Acer erecovery disk both fail at the same spot, I'm now gonna guess the read error issue is somehow due to your CD/DVD drive.

So, do you have access to another Win7 or more recent Windows computer with a CD/DVD drive that we can check that both disks are OK or not? This is relatively easy to do from windows file Explorer by right clicking on the drive, choose properties. and then tools to check out the drive. I'm not sure your WinXP system is capable of doing this but you can try.

If the disks check out OK, we can then try to copy them to a USB installation drive that won't require these installation disks.

Jack E/NJ

Imaladybug

OK Jack,

I figured out what it was. I ordered another hard drive for the computer. It is 1TB. I started the recovery disks, the ones that I made in the beginning and they worked. I think the HD that I replaced wasn't big enough to run the intallation. Thank you for all of your suggestions and helping me think through how to get this thing up and running. The only issue I am having now is that when I turn the computer on I see the "Acer" screen and then it goes black. I have to hit the escape key for Microsoft Windows to actually load. Any suggestions?

Alexa

JackE

Good for you! I guess insufficient disk space could also explain why the installation stopped at the same spot.

Try tapping F2 when you first see the Acer bios screen to get back into the bios menu. Check that your new hard drive is first in the boot order. F10 to exit and save settings.

Jack E/NJ

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