Can't restore laptop to factory conditions, NO installation disc

[omgwtfzombies]

I have an Acer Aspire 2520-BZ873 and need to restore it to factory conditions. I have no windows installation disc and no money to purchase it. When i start the process and it restarts the laptop a black screen saying "Cant process boot selection because a device is inaccessible" What can i do to fix this ? I've looked all over but cant find anything that helps. I cant even restore it in safe mode. Im not all technical and dont understand much about laptops, obviously but can anyone help ? thanks.. :mad2:

 

[F5ing]

Not sure why you need to go back to factory conditions, but this link may help you get going:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

You only need to have your COA key and be able to download and burn to DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive.

 

[F5ing]

Actually, re-reading your error message makes me think you may have a drive issue. Can you get into the BIOS and check the status of your hard drive? After power up immediately press F2 to get into the BIOS...

 

[omgwtfzombies]

Actually, re-reading your error message makes me think you may have a drive issue. Can you get into the BIOS and check the status of your hard drive? After power up immediately press F2 to get into the BIOS...

like i said no idea what im doing dont mean to sound dumb here but is it the part that says "system bios version" and "vga bios version"?

 

[F5ing]

Power off the machine. Wait 15 seconds or so, turn power back on, and after a quick second press the F2 key. Might take a couple more keypresses, maybe half a second apart or so.

If you don't press F2 at the right time it'll continue trying to boot into Windows and you'll have to start over.

When you get into the BIOS use the arrow keys to navigate. Use the right arrow key to find the page that deal with hard disks. When you find it, use the down arrow to hilight it and press enter. You may see a way to see the status of it and maybe test it.

If you can get a camera and take a shot of the screen you can post the pic here so we can see what you've got.

 

[omgwtfzombies]

Power off the machine. Wait 15 seconds or so, turn power back on, and after a quick second press the F2 key. Might take a couple more keypresses, maybe half a second apart or so.

If you don't press F2 at the right time it'll continue trying to boot into Windows and you'll have to start over.

When you get into the BIOS use the arrow keys to navigate. Use the right arrow key to find the page that deal with hard disks. When you find it, use the down arrow to hilight it and press enter. You may see a way to see the status of it and maybe test it.

If you can get a camera and take a shot of the screen you can post the pic here so we can see what you've got.

When i press F2 the page that comes up is titled, "Insyde H20 Set Up Utility" is this right?

 

[F5ing]

Yes, that's right. I think you may have to press enter. Then find the page that shows the hard drive.

I think some Acer BIOS's allow a way to recover to factory condition. Do you see anything like that on the screens, could be associated with the F5 or F6 key.

I went to Acer's website but could not find your model. They have an Aspire 2920, could that be it? Are you sure you mentioned the correct model number in your first post?

 

[TVeblen]

Do you still have the Recovery Partition on the hard drive? Have you made and changes to the hard drive's partition structure since buying the laptop?

If you can post a screen shot of your Disk Management window we can take a look to see.

 

[BomberAF]

Not sure why you need to go back to factory conditions, but this link may help you get going:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

You only need to have your COA key and be able to download and burn to DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive.

Can you burn the image to an external hard drive that is connected via a USB cable?

 

[F5ing]

Not sure why you need to go back to factory conditions, but this link may help you get going:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

You only need to have your COA key and be able to download and burn to DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive.

Can you burn the image to an external hard drive that is connected via a USB cable?

I think there are instructions in one of the links contained in that tutorial that has instructions on creating a bootable USB with it. The same should apply to a USB hard disk.

 

[BomberAF]

Can someone confirm that this is just like doing a clean install of the OS from a DVD ROM?

 

[F5ing]

Can someone confirm that this is just like doing a clean install of the OS from a DVD ROM?

Maybe reading this link will help to confirm: Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

 

[Britton30]

Can someone confirm that this is just like doing a clean install of the OS from a DVD ROM?

Yup it sure is. Make sure you have your boot order set so the USB drive is first.

 

[BomberAF]

I know someone that is looking for one of these ISO files but for XP, are they avaliable for XP as well?

 

[F5ing]

I know someone that is looking for one of these ISO files but for XP, are they avaliable for XP as well?

I don't think so. I've never run across them.

 

[Britton30]

With a TechNet subscription you used to be able to get Windows 95 and up, not sure if that's the case now though.