So I think I need to reload Win XP on my Acer One....

Sniper X · 11-30-2010, 09:06 AM

BUT since it has no friggin CD drive, I need to do it from a thumb drive. I see I can force it to do that but where can I download a start up or recovery disc to my thumb drive from my work computer? And which version should I use since my Acer won't fully start up, I have no way to check what version is on it. It is just the standard Windows Xp that came with it. BTW since it has no cD drive, it came with no recovery disc or any disc for that matter!

dwayne · 11-30-2010, 09:10 AM

I just went and bought an external CD drive for loading stuff. Kind of a pain I know.

Ceri JC · 11-30-2010, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwayne

I just went and bought an external CD drive for loading stuff. Kind of a pain I know.

+1. I am a proper geek, but the hours spent vs £30 for an external USB CD drive makes it just not worth doing. I spent close to 15 hours on rebuilding a netbook without a CD drive. I nearly ended up breaking the thing over my knee, before I caved and asked to borrow a mate's one.

Sniper X · 11-30-2010, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwayne

I just went and bought an external CD drive for loading stuff. Kind of a pain I know.

that is fine but it'll never be recognised without windows loading first.....and when I tried that and changed the bios to boot off of the CD rom it didn't work, neither did it work when I tried to boot off of a USB device...it gets to the windows start up screen, then looks like it is going to start up but when normally the desktop comes up it burps and goes back thru the ehtire proceedure...whats up with this thing?

MikeinEugene · 11-30-2010, 09:42 AM

One of these:
http://www.cyberguys.com/product-det...CH#page=page-1

Works for data recovery/transfer on 2.5", 3.5" IDE & SATA drives. You can plug any CD/DVD drive into it as well (well, not a laptop specific one I suppose).

Handy little sumbitches

MikeinEugene · 11-30-2010, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper X

that is fine but it'll never be recognised without windows loading first.....and when I tried that and changed the bios to boot off of the CD rom it didn't work, neither did it work when I tried to boot off of a USB device...it gets to the windows start up screen, then looks like it is going to start up but when normally the desktop comes up it burps and goes back thru the ehtire proceedure...whats up with this thing?

Well that changes things....

The XP CD you're using must not have the correct drivers for the USB ports. You can probably put your motherboard drivers on a thumb drive or floppy (does this machine have a floppy?) & do the old F6 to load a driver at boot time I guess.

Sniper X · 11-30-2010, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeinEugene

Well that changes things....

The XP CD you're using must not have the correct drivers for the USB ports. You can probably put your motherboard drivers on a thumb drive or floppy (does this machine have a floppy?) & do the old F6 to load a driver at boot time I guess.

it has nothing but a few USB drives....

Sniper X · 11-30-2010, 10:11 AM

TW the warranty ran out last month....actually a month and a week ago.

dwayne · 11-30-2010, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper X

that is fine but it'll never be recognised without windows loading first.....and when I tried that and changed the bios to boot off of the CD rom it didn't work, neither did it work when I tried to boot off of a USB device...it gets to the windows start up screen, then looks like it is going to start up but when normally the desktop comes up it burps and goes back thru the ehtire proceedure...whats up with this thing?

I had to do the same on my Acer, and it wound up working. Damned if I can remember how I did it though.

I thought Acer had some sort default compressed windows embedded into the BIOS start up (I'm kinda talking out of my ass here, it's been a while since I had to do it).

Sorry, I wish I could help more.

Here's a cut & paste from one of those open tech forums (for what it's worth)

"After you enter the BIOS by pressing F2 during boot up scroll over to the BOOT menu and press enter . Scroll down to the last option USB CD Rom and then use the F5 key to move it to the top of the boot list order. Then press escape and then F10 and enter. Then use your DVD /cd burner to load XP."

another post from the same forum

"acer's e-recovery "ghost drive" is set up to boot with the command ALT+f10. so while the computer is booting up, hit alt+f10. then from the recovery window, you can either completely wipe everything and start with a fresh xp, or just try to repair. if u try to just repair, then any documents and settings and such that the user had will be saved under C: Backup. or C: Backup 1 or so on depending on if you have done multiple repairs. :) good luck!"

SilkMoneyLove · 11-30-2010, 10:23 AM

Why not load Ubuntu?

It is free. It works with most of the stuff that I use. Rather than spending $40 on a new cd-rom or any other gadget, which may or may not fix your system, run Ubuntu until you are sick of it and then buy a new laptop or netbook for $250.

You do have to make the thumbdrive on another system first.

Sniper X · 11-30-2010, 10:46 AM

I am now beginning to think this is not a boot problem, but a hardware problem. It gets thru the normal boot cycle, and hits the spot where the usual desktop tries to come up, but the second it tries to open the desktop, i hear a little click and it goes back to step one where the Acer screen comes up to allow me to enter bios, then it just tries to restart windows again then repeats. When I try the start in normal or safe mode same same....I wonder if one of my kids didn't drop it or something whilst it was on and it croaked from something coming loose...guess it is time to take it into the computer doctor on the corner.

BillsR100 · 12-01-2010, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeinEugene

One of these:
http://www.cyberguys.com/product-det...CH#page=page-1

Works for data recovery/transfer on 2.5", 3.5" IDE & SATA drives. You can plug any CD/DVD drive into it as well (well, not a laptop specific one I suppose).

One of the most valuable computer tools I've ever bought, so much so, I have two of them.

Sounds like your hard drive may have gone bad. The boot sector is fine but something in the windows system files got corrupted.
If your not needing lots of hard drive space, you can pick up a hard drive pretty cheap, less than $60 and install it yourself. Doing this you just might be able to save all your files off the old drive. (using the tool that MikeinEugene linked to)

a1fa · 12-01-2010, 07:59 PM

Or you can load CD image on USB and boot of that...

11-30-2010, 09:06 AM	#1
Sniper X ^OP De Oppresso Liber Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Central New Mexico, 7420ft above sea level Oddometer: 30,423	So I think I need to reload Win XP on my Acer One.... BUT since it has no friggin CD drive, I need to do it from a thumb drive. I see I can force it to do that but where can I download a start up or recovery disc to my thumb drive from my work computer? And which version should I use since my Acer won't fully start up, I have no way to check what version is on it. It is just the standard Windows Xp that came with it. BTW since it has no cD drive, it came with no recovery disc or any disc for that matter! __________________ "I claim to be frightened of horses but do so only to get out of attending parades. It's peculiar but ...it works. The Horses get it. RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE. IT'S VOLTAGE DIVIDED BY CURRENT

11-30-2010, 09:10 AM	#2
dwayne Silly Adventurer Joined: Feb 2006 Location: wheelie in purgatory, Calgary Oddometer: 2,759	I just went and bought an external CD drive for loading stuff. Kind of a pain I know. __________________ Rum Runners Yukon, NWT & Alaska Roads and Ruins Scotland Kinbasket Lake Golden B.C. A "Day" of Dirt Biking Rockies East Slopes High and Dry Colorado and Utah "When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail"

11-30-2010, 10:11 AM	#8
Sniper X ^OP De Oppresso Liber Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Central New Mexico, 7420ft above sea level Oddometer: 30,423	TW the warranty ran out last month....actually a month and a week ago. __________________ "I claim to be frightened of horses but do so only to get out of attending parades. It's peculiar but ...it works. The Horses get it. RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE. IT'S VOLTAGE DIVIDED BY CURRENT

11-30-2010, 10:23 AM	#10
SilkMoneyLove Studly Adventurer Joined: Nov 2007 Location: Minneapolis Oddometer: 854	Out of warranty huh? Why not load Ubuntu? It is free. It works with most of the stuff that I use. Rather than spending $40 on a new cd-rom or any other gadget, which may or may not fix your system, run Ubuntu until you are sick of it and then buy a new laptop or netbook for $250. You do have to make the thumbdrive on another system first.

11-30-2010, 10:46 AM	#11
Sniper X ^OP De Oppresso Liber Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Central New Mexico, 7420ft above sea level Oddometer: 30,423	I am now beginning to think this is not a boot problem, but a hardware problem. It gets thru the normal boot cycle, and hits the spot where the usual desktop tries to come up, but the second it tries to open the desktop, i hear a little click and it goes back to step one where the Acer screen comes up to allow me to enter bios, then it just tries to restart windows again then repeats. When I try the start in normal or safe mode same same....I wonder if one of my kids didn't drop it or something whilst it was on and it croaked from something coming loose...guess it is time to take it into the computer doctor on the corner. __________________ "I claim to be frightened of horses but do so only to get out of attending parades. It's peculiar but ...it works. The Horses get it. RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE. IT'S VOLTAGE DIVIDED BY CURRENT

11-30-2010, 09:42 AM	#5
MikeinEugene Beastly Adventurer Joined: Jul 2010 Location: Eugene OR Oddometer: 1,863	One of these: http://www.cyberguys.com/product-det...CH#page=page-1 Works for data recovery/transfer on 2.5", 3.5" IDE & SATA drives. You can plug any CD/DVD drive into it as well (well, not a laptop specific one I suppose). Handy little sumbitches

12-01-2010, 07:59 PM	#13
a1fa Riding Nomad™ Joined: Nov 2006 Location: Arkansas Oddometer: 12,725	Or you can load CD image on USB and boot of that...

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