please don't laugh...

[gregrocker]

From Windows is the only safe way. But if we could find your BIOS updates (Acer took them down) then its possible you could flash from CD. It would be better to try installing or imaging WIn7 onto your HD first so you can do it more safely.

Is there any chance you are still within the first year of purchase to get Acer Tech support, who apparently need to supervise their BIOS updates on this model?

Did you check your SATA controller setting? I know you have an IDE drive but it still needs to be checked in BIOS setup where the HD's register (not boot order).

Dave will help you possibly swap the external into your laptop.

 

[Dave76]

Wait, my external hard drive with where my computer from a few months ago is saved? It's a Hitachi Simpledrive.... something or another

How would I update my BIOS?

Can you look at this website and find your model?

http://www.simpletech.com/


Does your Laptop and the external hard drive have an eSATA cable?

SATA Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

Look about half way down the page, you can see the eSATA cables.

 

[gregrocker]

Work with Dave on getting your HD swapped as that is the most promising route now.

But there is one thing to deal with when you get around to it. I just re-read thread and see this:

The factory default has Network Boot enabled and F12 Boot Menu disabled. And SATA mode has been in AHCI

I think your SATA controller should be in IDE mode. Change it to IDE to try install.

And make sure network boot is disabled.

 

[mypcbroke]

My external HD is:
SimpleDRIVE Mini - Red Wine - USB 2.0 250GB 2.5 in Portable External Hard Drive

I don't find eSATA thing... not sure, but this website has pics of my pc with side views...
Acer Aspire 4810TZ-414G32MN - Notebookcheck.net External Reviews

Also, I rebooted with SATA in IDE and Network disabled.
I received this error right after the Acer loadup screen:
BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

 

[DocBrown]

I worked on a Science Experiment Today

I built a mini desktop computer.

AMD x64 240 CPU
Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2 Motherboard
2 x 1gb G.Skill DDR2 800 memory
1.5 Seagate HD (Brand new, not formatted)

Installed Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit from TechNet subscription download
.iso burned with ImgBurn at 4x speed to DVD

Install took about 25 minutes, No Errors at all.
Connected to internet with Cat5 cable the whole time, it picked up updates.

Looks like Home Prem took 9.10gb of HD space, & the 100mb reserved partition.



So now I am perplexed at "mypcbroke's" install problem

 

[mypcbroke]

I worked on a Science Experiment Today

I built a mini desktop computer.

AMD x64 240 CPU
Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2 Motherboard
2 x 1gb G.Skill DDR2 800 memory
1.5 Seagate HD (Brand new, not formatted)

Installed Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit from TechNet subscription download
.iso burned with ImgBurn at 4x speed to DVD

Install took about 25 minutes, No Errors at all.
Connected to internet with Cat5 cable the whole time, it picked up updates.

Looks like Home Prem took 9.10gb of HD space, & the 100mb reserved partition.

View attachment 107112

So now I am perplexed at "mypcbroke's" install problem

You're tellin me, I'm perplexed by what you just said....

 

[DocBrown]

I'm thinking we need to go back to the WD DataLife Tools Boot CD.

We need to write Zeros to the HD TWICE in a row to clear a re-occuring corrupted boot sector from being written to correctly.

Then we should have almost a bare virgin HD to try without any formatting for an install.

rb:

1. You can now boot the computer to the diagnostics CD. Make sure your boot order in your BIOS is set to boot to the CD-ROM drive first.

1. You will see the following options:
2. SELECT DRIVE - Always choose this option first, as it determines which drive you will be working on.

• QUICK TEST - This option tests your drive quickly for any major physical problems. (Please note: Although this option is safe and does not alter the data on your hard drive, Western Digital recommends that you have a current backup of your data).
• EXTENDED TEST - This option checks your drive thoroughly and it can repair any correctable errors. (Please note: Although this option is safe and does not alter the data on your hard drive, some data loss may occur, depending on the errors found and the errors corrected. Western Digital recommends that you have a current backup of your data).
• WRITE ZEROS TO DRIVE - The Write Zeros option, wipes any and all data off your drive. This option used when your data is no longer usable or recoverable. If you no longer need any data from your drive and would like to start over, run this option to set your drive to an as new condition. NOTE: Please make sure that you have selected the correct drive to perform this function on as once ran, no data will be recoverable.
• VIEW TEST RESULTS - You can see the results of the test you just performed

 

[mypcbroke]

WRITE ZEROS TO DRIVE - The Write Zeros option, wipes any and all data off your drive. This option used when your data is no longer usable or recoverable. If you no longer need any data from your drive and would like to start over, run this option to set your drive to an as new condition. NOTE: Please make sure that you have selected the correct drive to perform this function on as once ran, no data will be recoverable.

I received an ICRC error when I tried to write zeros....

 

[DocBrown]

Should we try the extended test

EXTENDED TEST - This option checks your drive thoroughly and it can repair any correctable errors. (Please note: Although this option is safe and does not alter the data on your hard drive, some data loss may occur, depending on the errors found and the errors corrected. Western Digital recommends that you have a current backup of your data).

 

[gregrocker]

Using the Diskpart Clean All procedure from tutorial does the same thing if GWScan CD won't zero. I'm wondering if it even completed the first time around - it takes about an hour or more on 320gb HD. Sometimes Users get tired of waiting and cancel it which would leave the HD in an already-corrupted state if that's the case.

But running the Extended Test is a good idea anyway since I dont' think any of us are confident in that HD. So many of the google results I've read for each of the many errors she's gotten point to bad HD.

I like your thinking, Doc. These errors all seem to have in common possible boot sector corruption which may require more than one set of zeroes to overwrite.

 

[DocBrown]

But running the Extended Test is a good idea, anyway, since I dont' think any of us are confident in the HD. So many of the google results I've read for all of her errors point to bad HD.

I like your thinking, Doc. These errors all seem to have in common possible boot sector corruption which may require more than one set of zeroes to overwrite.

[/QUOTE]


No Greg, that is why I built a new Home Prem desktop from scratch today to see the size of the Home Prem 32 bit install. It was 9.10gb.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Partition Wizard has many different wipe options.

click to enlarge

​

 

[gregrocker]

The Dept of Defense (DOD) standard for a HD being wiped good enough to avoid data recovery is 3 sets of zeroes, which is listed above on the PW options Ted posted.

I'd set aside 3-4 hours to do that and then you'll know if boot sector corruption is the cause which is highly likely. In fact the Startup Repair result you got "Missing OS loader" points directly to it, which is why I had you run the commands to rebuild BCD last night.

 

[mypcbroke]

Ok good, because I haven't checked back since my last post (went out to grab food) and I had left PW writing zeros. It looks like its not going to be done for a while, but it's moving along

 

[DocBrown]

I'm glad you have been patient with us. I once made an image of a 80gb HD that took 12 hours, it was on a slow CPU computer. But when I restored the image to a new HD it worked!

 

[gregrocker]

While that's running: do you have another computer with Win7 or which you could install Win7 temporarily onto a partition on the HD?

There is a way to get Win7 onto your problem HD (if it's tested out to be good) without having to install it. I do this sometimes on problem installs which are taking too much time.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

doc,
I like the new avatar. One of these days I'll have to learn how to do those fancy things. Recognize that mine is from the Arizona Haunted House?

Karl,
How's this for starters....


Want something else? Let me know!

 

[mypcbroke]

While that's running: do you have another computer with Win7 or which you could install Win7 temporarily onto a partition on the HD?

There is a way to get Win7 onto your problem HD (if it's tested out to be good) without having to install it. I do this sometimes on problem installs which are taking too much time.

What would I do with another Windows 7 pc? Because there is someone I could bribe... the pc i've been using the past few days is an xp...

 

[gregrocker]

By installing WIn7 to a partition on the other computer, creating a backup image of it saved to external, you can restore image to laptop HD.

Before booting up, use Paragon Adaptive Restore CD to remove all of the drivers so new ones are installed fresh for the new hardware.

 

[mypcbroke]

O_O

?????????

PW is at 62% DoD 3 passes... I'll take it one step at a time from there