Acer Laptop Factory Reset Fail

mitsumonky · 04 Mar 2011

Hi, I've been having some issues with my Acer Aspire 5739 (Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit) laptop with BSODs and malware, and eventually gave up and decided to just do a factory reset with alt f10 at the Acer splash screen. After it completed what I think is reformatting the drive, it starts up and gets to the screen where it says its setting up the computer for first use, and I get this error message:

"The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click OK to restart the computer and restart the installation".

When I hit OK it restarts the computer and the same thing continues to happen. I tried performing the reset again but it didn't help. After searching for threads with similar problems, my first thought was to try a clean install after 0ing the drive, however one of the issues I had originally is that the CD drive suddenly stopped recognizing disks a few days ago. To make matters worse, the numbers on my Windows COA sticker are all rubbed off (laptop is ~15 months old, purchased from Newegg so no Windows CDs). At this point is there anything I can do short of buying a new CD drive and a new Win 7?

theog · 05 Mar 2011

mitsumonky said:

Hi,
To make matters worse, the numbers on my Windows COA sticker are all rubbed off

As you have been using your Notebook on your lap without a Cooler, which has caused overheating, you now have damaged parts which will need replacing.

Bill2 · 05 Mar 2011

I suspect the recovery partition is corrupted and you didnt make recovery disks. If thats correct, you can still order them from Acer for a small cost. Once you have those, you can boot off an external/internal dvd drive (buy/borrow) and restore windows. I dont think other hardware is damaged because you did manage to almost complete the recovery.

Since the machine is only 15 months old, you can try checking out with Newegg/Acer whether they have any record of your sticker key. Its very unlikely but if you produce proof of purchase, original packaging etc., somebody may help you.