I Need Help Restoring Acer Recovery Partition (AS1410 & AS5050)

[Ghetto_Child]

So I bought my Acer AS1410 yesterday (netbook so no optical drive). Turning it on in the store it loaded the initial Vista setup for the first time. I noticed it was in french but I was under the impression that running the recovery partition from the hard drive will allow me to chose english for Vista. Anyway when I restart the laptop I don't get any prompts to launch the system recovery. My unit was open box but when I turned it on I still had to chose language/regional/local settings before setup would start so I was under the impression it was never used.

(Somewhat Solved) Any advice how to get access to the hidden recovery partition and launch the Acer restore? I have a similar problem with an Acer Aspire AS5050 when I repartitioned the drive (I left the hidden recovery partition untouched of course). The prompt to run the Acer HDD recovery disappeared and I'd like to know how to get it back on the Aspire AS5050 and if the Acer Aspire/Timeline AS1410 is supposed to have the prompt I'd like to know how to get that back too. Would also like some help learning how to re-enable the OS language selection that you get the very first time you turn on a PC/laptop; the manufacturer recovery that sets up the unit for the first time and lets you chose what language you want the OS to be in. Just for future reference in case I run into anyone else with the same problem.

I have an Acer Spire 5050 and I access the recovery partition by tapping ALT + F10 at start up. I find I sometimes have to do it several times before I get the recovery screen.

Next I'd like to know how to resize the user partitions without damaging/losing the recovery partition prompt at boot up for future reference. When I did it myself I lost access to the recovery partition but the data and partition is still intact in Disk Management. I'm looking to dual or maybe triple boot this and other laptops. I want to alter the number of partitions and sizes but preserve the recovery partition and the option to recover Vista from the recovery partition (maintain that recovery prompt at startup). Any advice on how to do this? My last attempt on an unrelated laptop (Acer Aspire AS5050-5278) using just the Windows 7 RC install DVD allowed me to alter the partitions while leaving the recovery partition alone. It removed the recovery prompt at startup so I no longer have access to the recovery partition but it's still in tact/untouched.


(In Progress) I'd like some instructions for installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive. The AS1410 being a netbook doesn't have an optical drive and I've never transfered an OS CD/DVD to a usb flash drive/memory card before. I don't know how to go about doing this and I don't know how to manually make a usb flash drive bootable. I'm just beginning to learn about changing partition geometry and drive type on usb flash drives. How did you guys make your usb flash drive bootable everywhere?

^ Windows 7 boot able ISO instruction in in first page of the post I believe.

(SOLVED) Finally I'd like a detailed listing of what the included manuals/accessories/etc in a sealed box Acer Aspire/Timeline AS1410 as I bought mine open box and nothing looked used but not sure if anything is missing so I'd like to compare please.
EDIT Oct. 21 2:40AM ET: Turns out the open box unit I returned had all the original documentation. Nothing was missing from it, that's good.

[Ghetto_Child]

found this thread not sure if it can help me http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=11476

[BobSagget]

An AWESOME program to put Windows 7 on a flash drive is called WinToFlash, it's free and located here:
http://wintoflash.com/home/en/

It's very easy and straight forward.


Install it and than insert the Windows 7 dvd (or mount the image if it's located on your netbook's hard drive) and than open WinToFlash.exe
Go to "task" tab and select:
Task type: transfer Windows Vista/2008/Seven set up to flash and click on "Create"
Next screen select the dvd drive where Windows 7 is inserted/mounted and than select the drive of your flash drive you wish to put it on.

If you are running WinToFlash off of Windows 7 it will have a pop up saying it has not been tested on this operating system blah blah but don't worry about it, it works fine. Also there is also a "wizard" mode which will take you through the steps 1 by 1 simplifying the process. It's located under the "service" menu at the top.

[Kanus]

I have an Acer Spire 5050 and I access the recovery partition by tapping ALT + F10 at start up. I find I sometimes have to do it several times before I get the recovery screen.

[Ghetto_Child]

I have an Acer Spire 5050 and I access the recovery partition by tapping ALT + F10 at start up. I find I sometimes have to do it several times before I get the recovery screen.

I'm betting you still see the prompt to press Alt + F10 to start the recovery right? Because on my AS1410 I don't see any prompt and on the AS5050 there used to be a prompt but there's none anymore.

EDIT 5:22PM:
Alt+F10 worked on the AS1410, now I just need to find a way to get the OS in english. It's stupid, I get an english text at the bottom saying "Windows is loading files" and the first screen of the Acer recovery gives me english info text but the layout and descriptions of the steps are all french. The buttons are french, 3rd party software is all english, the BIOS is english, it's an annoying mix match of french & english. I guess this is professional Franglais lol.

[contact_markm]

I had a similar problem fixing a friend's netbook. When she installed the os initially she selected french. Now the restore partition was in french. I called up acer, no help. At the end of the day I was able to mirror a similar netbook hd to restore.

Good luck.

[Ghetto_Child]

did you call Acer during warranty or after warranty expired? They should do something for me I just bought it yesterday.

EDIT 9:24PM:
Called Acer, they told me they have a recovery disc that can restore the recovery partition and change the language to english. Once I register they can start the process to send me the disc(s). 2wks lookup time and 3-5days shipping if I heard the ETA correctly. This tells me there should be a way to change the language using other software. Maybe a settings file located in the recovery partition.

[EPcjay]

The restore discs are useless.

I killed both partitions, and loaded linux.
Didn't like it, so I decided to use the restore discs. It's a poorly designed restore disk because it does not know how to repartition the drive. I got it manually partitioned and the disc started to work. After formating the drive, and loading all the files, it was time for a reboot. Rebooted, Grub was still there. Killed the MBR, re partitioned my drives, and the system still wouldn't boot.
Found my Windows Vista CD, and needed to run bootrec on the Vista CD. Why on earth did Microsoft change this from fixmbr to bootrec?

Anyhow, now my notebook is back to stock after all that.

[Ghetto_Child]

I don't have a clue what you're saying but Acer recovery discs are not the same as Vista/Win7 retail discs. Microsoft changed the boot listing to something called BCD (Boot Configuration Device) BootRec is one tool and BCDEdit is another tool. I've never used fixmbr before but this youtube video taught me something useful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMwfWP2ahyw and it led me to these results thus far at the uploader's forum http://www.briteccomputers.co.uk/for...y/msg1373/#new