Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

theog said:

crisspaulo05 said:

Hello, I don't see " Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.. " whenever I start my laptop, I've already configured the BIOS setup. What am I gonna do now ?

Edit: My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5738G.

What OS are you trying to install?

crisspaulo05 said:

My OS is Windows 7 [x64] Home Premium. Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.
Hope you can help me :)

When asked What OS are you trying to install, you replied Win7 Home Premium.

Is this the OS you already have installed which came with the Acer, or is this the OS which installer you are trying to boot to install? Please clarify this.

Whichever OS you are trying to boot CD/DVD to install, where did you get the installer? Did you burn it yourself? If so, and the steps given to boot from CD/DVD don't work, confirm the ISO integrity and burn another disk using ImgBurn at 4x speed.

Sorry for the late reply. :)

I have already reformatted my laptop, and I used the CD which I burned myself because I lost my recovery disk.

I'll try burning it again and do what gregrocker said.
Thanks for all the replies, have a nice day!

crisspaulo05 said:

Sorry for the late reply. :)

I have already reformatted my laptop, and I used the CD which I burned myself because I lost my recovery disk.

I'll try burning it again and do what gregrocker said.
Thanks for all the replies, have a nice day!

Acer Empowering Technology > Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - How can I restore my computer with the backup discs I created?

Manual how to use Acer eRecovery Management here:
ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/note...%20English.pdf

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for How to use Acer eRecovery

You can Order Acer recovery disks from here:
https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer

crisspaulo05 said:

Sorry for the late reply. :)

I have already reformatted my laptop, and I used the CD which I burned myself because I lost my recovery disk.

I'll try burning it again and do what gregrocker said.
Thanks for all the replies, have a nice day!

Ah, you should still try to do what I said, which is activating the F12 Boot through the BIOS, pressing F12 at the splash screen, and selecting the DVD drive. That should load the installer for Windows 7. If it doesn't, then that is very weird.

If DVD drive is set first to boot in BIOS setup as OP says, then failure to receive prompt "Press Any Key to Boot from DVD" would mean that the DVD isn't bootable, isn't being read, or something is wrong with the DVD drive.

That said, enabling and trying to boot using the Acer F12 key is still a good idea to know you've actually triggered the DVD drive.

gregrocker said:

If DVD drive is set first to boot in BIOS setup as OP says, then failure to receive prompt "Press Any Key to Boot from DVD" would mean that the DVD isn't bootable, isn't being read, or something is wrong with the DVD drive.

That said, enabling and trying to boot using the Acer F12 key is still a good idea to know you've actually triggered the DVD drive.

That's not the case with the Acer Aspire family. Whenever I load an installation CD/DVD, I always have to use the Acer F12 key to make the laptop load the CD/DVD. It will never automatically show the "Press Any Key to Boot from DVD" otherwise.

gregrocker said:

If DVD drive is set first to boot in BIOS setup as OP says, then failure to receive prompt "Press Any Key to Boot from DVD" would mean that the DVD isn't bootable, isn't being read, or something is wrong with the DVD drive.

That said, enabling and trying to boot using the Acer F12 key is still a good idea to know you've actually triggered the DVD drive.

+1

ShadowMario3 said:

gregrocker said:

If DVD drive is set first to boot in BIOS setup as OP says, then failure to receive prompt "Press Any Key to Boot from DVD" would mean that the DVD isn't bootable, isn't being read, or something is wrong with the DVD drive.

That said, enabling and trying to boot using the Acer F12 key is still a good idea to know you've actually triggered the DVD drive.

That's not the case with the Acer Aspire family. Whenever I load an installation CD/DVD, I always have to use the Acer F12 key to make the laptop load the CD/DVD. It will never automatically show the "Press Any Key to Boot from DVD" otherwise.

What you missed earlier in the thread is OP followed tutorial to set DVD drive first to boot in BIOS setup:

gregrocker said:

How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD

Enter BIOS setup as shown in tutorial above, set DVD drive to boot first, then HDD.

You should then get a prompt to "Press any Key' when you start with DVD in drive. If not, confirm the ISO and burn another DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed, or write ISO to flash stick using this tool with Win7 in dropdown: Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux

If no prompt to "Press any key" then try using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first boot screen.

Next check the mobo connections for data and power cables to OD, clean it and disk. Swap in another OD or try USB install method given.

to which he responded:

crisspaulo05 said:

Hello, I don't see " Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.. " whenever I start my laptop, I've already configured the BIOS setup. What am I gonna do now ?
.

gregrocker said:

What you missed earlier in the thread is OP followed tutorial to set DVD drive first to boot in BIOS setup:

gregrocker said:

How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD

Enter BIOS setup as shown in tutorial above, set DVD drive to boot first, then HDD.

You should then get a prompt to "Press any Key' when you start with DVD in drive. If not, confirm the ISO and burn another DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed, or write ISO to flash stick using this tool with Win7 in dropdown: Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux

If no prompt to "Press any key" then try using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first boot screen.

Next check the mobo connections for data and power cables to OD, clean it and disk. Swap in another OD or try USB install method given.

...to which he responded...

crisspaulo05 said:

Hello, I don't see " Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.. " whenever I start my laptop, I've already configured the BIOS setup. What am I gonna do now ?
.

I see. What he said was "I've already configured the BIOS setup.", and that could really mean anything.

With the three Acer Aspires I have worked with (one of which is mine), there was never a an option to make the DVD drive be the first boot. The only option for different ways to boot was to activate the "F12 for different boot", and from there, you'd choose the DVD drive. I don't think his laptop is too new to the ones I have worked with, but that could be possible.

Great job here.
But there are some challenges am facing here
1) The systems these days are no more with Floppy Drive 1, as you said flash cannot be used;
2) I load XP on Window 7 machine, i was able to see the Partitions and the installation was successful, but i was on able to log into win 7 again until i used Win 7 CD to repair. After this i could not log in into XP again as well because this is no WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER platform to select different OS.
Please what should i do?
And i do not what to do fresh installation of the 2 OS.
Thanks, Please it is Urgent