PQSERVICE Partition...

Hello

I really don't know if this would go into Installation & Setup but i didn't know where else to put this.

I Realize This Is Rather Long But I Am In Need Of Assistance, Thank You For Any Help That You Give.

Last night i decided to delete some files and make a few new partitions in my HDD, but when i created a new partition in Disc Management the whole disc changed to "Dynamic" instead of the original "Basic".

After this i then looked up for some possible fixes for changing the disc from "Dynamic" back to "Basic" and i could only find one solution which was delete all the partition on the drive, i then dug out an old HDD and used some software to find my Windows 7 Product Key and have wrote that down.

I Downloaded a Windows 7 32 Bit.ISO and proceeded to install that onto a new drive. once the installation was finished i deleted all the partition except "PQSERVICE" which i realised i could not delete. I found a program called Easeus Partition Master which made it able to switch the drive back to "Basic" but i had already deleted all my partition except "PQSERVICE".

Since then i have done a few things including installed Windows 7 on the drive with "PQSERVICE" on, now i have came here for help which i realize i should have don hours ago.

Right now My "PQSERVICE" Is No Longer Hiddin because when i switched it back to basic it has changed the "MBR" Code (Thats What I Have Gathered Anyway)

So To Some Up:
Original OS - WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM 64bit
Current OS - WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE 32bit 30 DAY TRIAL
Problem - PQSERVICE MBR Code Changed?

I want to be able to use my "PQSERVICE again but if that is not possible is it legal to download WINDOWS 7 Home Premium 64bit and use my product key that i backed up? i really don't want to do anything illigal.

Thank you for your help and apoligies for being so long if you pictures or any more information just ask.

1) The PQservice partition is the acer hidden partition that contains the factory image- it can restore the computer to factory condition. It can be launched either from the e-recovery software (part of e-empowering suite) inside windows or a key combo (ALT+F10 or such like) at boot. Since you have clean installed windows, the boot option would be lost. You can try downloading e-empowering/e-recovery from the acer support page, then try make recovery disks (unless you have already made them). The recovery disks also contain the factory image and are bootable.

If all this doesnt help, you can order recovery disks from Acer for your model for a nominal charge.

I've also read accounts of how people have restored the default mbr using partedit32. I dont advise that you do it, because its a bit involved and not guaranteed to succeed. But you can take a look here.

Acer Aspire » The Acer eRecovery D2D 101

2) The product key you backed up is the OEM SLP key which is useless for online activation. You can download home premium, install it, then activate with key on the STICKER on the computer. That key usually activates online, failing that you can use phone activation.

Activate Windows 7 Online

Activate Windows 7 by Phone

Really get a drive wiping program, actually you can do that in a command prompt during the install with the Clean All command, and WIPE that drive.

There is nothing on it now anyway.
Since you have Easeus Partitioning software delete that partition, format it and start fresh.

Too bad you didn't check with us first as we could have linked you to Partition Wizard v. 4.2 which will convert your disk from Dynamic back to Basic: partition wizard 4.2 free.zip - Windows Live

You could also have run factory Recovery from the PQService partition, but since you have the preferred clean reinstall now you can delete the partition and recover its space using Partition Wizard - unless you want to try booting it to see if it will run, to make a decision to keep it just in case you need it to restore to factory condition to use your Win7 elsewhere.

I just wanted to add that I have had success in restoring laptops & PCs to original factory condition, without the use of the proper RE-IMAGE CD(s). There are several ways to boot your laptop/PC to some version of DOS and then run a utility called XFDISK. This utility is easy to find on the Internet. For my boot CD I used 'The Ultimate Boot Disc' also easy to find in ISO form on the Internet.

Once you run the XFDISK utility, set the PQSERVICE partition (or whatever partition contains the image) to be the ACTIVE partition. Then just remove the CD and reboot. When the image partition boots, it will typically walk you through the re-installation process.

Jonathon

You can mark PQService active using Win7 DVD or REpair CD as well: Mark Partition Active.

If Factory Recovery won't boot on it's own or using hotkey then I would get the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

So, (dumb question from a novice) you have to include pqservice in the img file in order to properly mount it later on?