Last night, my sister asked me to fix her laptop, so I went ahead and attempted to do so, so I did the Alt+F10 combination to restore the computer to factory settings, everything worked fine until it the computer had to restart. Once it told me to restart, it ends up saying a file is missing and I need the recovery disk. Seeing as my sister is irresponsible and never keeps her stuff, she doesn't know where her CD is (of course), so I asked her if she wanted me to downgrade her computer to XP instead of trying to fix the Vista problem, and she said she didn't really care what she had on it. I put the XP disc in, and it's not even booting from that disk. Any ideas what I can do?

Well you probably put in an xp restore disc. So you need to get an actual xp installation disk (isohunt). Also you may just want to restart the whole process by formatting the hard drive. Does she have important files on their that havent been backed up? if she does it is prob to late to get them now. So I would suggest using something like killdisk or download a linux live cd and format the c:\ drive. Then isntall xp. If she only uses the internet then maybe you could just install ubuntu and see if she likes it. Does she use photoshop or just browse the net?

Are you sure you have the boot priority set right?

It's the actual installation disc. I've been using it forever. I restarted the process like three times and I'm getting the same error, and I don't even know why. I backed up her files before reformatting it, but now it can't do anything and she's going to be pissed so I need to get it fixed as soon as I can. When I put the XP disc in, it doesn't boot from the CD or anything, and since that didn't work I set the disc drive to boot up first in BIOS settings, but it's not doing anything. Yeah, all she does is use Photoshop and the Internet, and I really think she should get some Linux software because this thing is 502 MB of RAM, and it only has 80 gigs of memory. But I wouldn't know how to explain Linux to her, since I've personally never used it.

She won't be able to use photoshop though. Only gimp. Either way I think you should download ubuntu livecd. You dont have to install. just open it. And then format the c:\ drive. The live cd doesnt use the hard drive so it can do that. And you install disc may be broken so you may want to download a new one. But you should play with linux yourself. With that little ram she needs linux, not vista. So just try linux out and then explain it to her.

Its a piece of cake.

Well, you can't even get into Windows at all anymore because that one file is missing, and it's kind of pissing me off. I think I should do that, too, because XP is heavy on that little amount of RAM like it was when I had the 512 MB. I have three backup install discs in case the others get damaged and I tried all of them and it didn't work on the laptop. They all work on my computer though, I'm just not sure why it's working. I'm afraid it's going to do the same thing if I try putting Linux on there. My sister is a very picky person. She doesn't use anything unless everyone else does. She's that kind of person so yeah. :/

Sounds like someone i know. No sarcasm intended.
What exactly is the error you are getting? Is it saying that a file on the disc is missing or a file on the computer? If it is saying its a file on the computer then ir probably is just a disc to restore xp. Not install it. You should really try downloading a installation disc that is meant for computers with blank hard drives. Not a restore disc. And again, you should just try linux. You shouldn't get an error.

I would suggest downloading it as a torrent cause its much faster that way.
Use this one.
http://releases.ubuntu.com/9.04/ubuntu-9.0...386.iso.torrent
And then burn the iso to a disc, make sure you burn the iso not just burn the file.
And then pop it in.

It's saying a file on the computer is missing. The operating system that was on the computer was Vista. So I was going to downgrade it to XP after I got the error. It said to insert the restore disc to replace the missing file.

I also have a working flash drive that can boot XP, but that wasn't working either and I have no idea why.

Then you must be using a restore disc... where did you get those xp cd's? Did you make them or did they come with computers that you bought? If they came with computers you bought then they ARE restore discs NOT installation discs. So get an installation disc!

Just go to the store and buy it. Dont download it from:
removed
or:
removed
because that is bad.

I got them all from torrents, and I've used them millions of times before to reformat the computer I'm using right now, so I know they aren't restore discs. Computer companies are too cheap to give you an installation disk, haha.


Lol, I know where to get that stuff. Make sure you take it out so you don't get warned. :P

I just want to know why it's giving me this damn error, I'm getting pissed.

Why dont you just do what it says then. Us e a restore disc then use one of your discs.

Because my sister never keeps her shit and "doesn't know" where her CD is.

Also, the file it's missing is \Windows\system32\config\system

Which pretty much means I'm screwed right?

If you download this iso and burn it to disc and run it, it can completely wipe the hard drive like it is brand new. I would suggest doing it and then trying again.

KillDisk

Sorry, I missed that reply earlier. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have it right. I've done it on my computer before and didn't have problems.


And Joseph, I have a question about that. Will that affect my CD/DVD drive on the computer? Cause I don't want the install thing to go away and not have the drive work, if you get what I mean.

No. It just wipes the hard drive. So if you used it on a desktop, it would be just like it was when you first made it. And then you can just install whatever os you want fresh.

What exactly was wrong with her laptop in the first place? O and you and her need a macs... haha

My sister put so much shit on the computer and only had like 40 megabytes of space left on the hard drive and she crashed a lot of her programs and the laptop went extremely slow. It took like 20 minutes for startup, so I told her about the reformat thing, tried it and it's supposed to work, but it didn't.

You should have modded the software.
Honestly even with those specs I could make that baby fly.

Joseph I tried the Killdisk thing and it won't boot that up either.

Are you serious? That is very strange.
Try booting ubuntu.

It's not booting that either.

Holy deuce bro. You are screwed.

Greatttt

So what happens when you try and boot ubuntu? Where does it stop?

It doesn't even start. The cd drive flashes and it goes to the same f*cking screen again. I'm getting really aggravated, I'm tired of trying to work with Acer computers. The Alt F10 thing works everytime it just keeps missing that file, and I'm getting really f*cking annoyed with it.

Its cause they install crap even into the deepest places. Well what happens when you just turn it on? Did you reformat it or does it turn on like normal? If it does I would just leave it now. But turn off as many services as possible and as many startup items as possible and go to control panel>system and set it to adjust for best performance. You know the drill. Just do that stuff that will boost performance.

It doesn't even start the operating system because it says the file is missing.

maybe the hd is f*cked up

I'm not so sure, because it was working just fine like ten minutes before I did the reformat.

was it noisy during reformat?

Not at all. I ran just as it did any other time.

I hate their laptops... but their monitors aren't all that bad. Pushing dual 24" :D

I'm starting to hate them, too. I can never do anything on them without it spazzing out on me.

Well the thing is, their are almost no pc brands that don't use cheap materials to build their products and load it up with tons of crap.

Your boot priority isn't set properly.

What can I do to fix that then?

Also, I asked around and someone said to take the hard drive out of the computer and get an external case to put it in and plug it in my computer to reformat it. Would that work, or did they just not know their shit because I don't want to mess this up anymore.

Well that would be the easiest way to format if you can't put it any disc. But I was aware that you could put laptop hard drives into external cases. Desktop ones I knew you could.

HD Enclosures

You have to go into BIOS, which is probably locked.

Turn the computer on and press the delete key really fast a bunch of times. If that doesn't work, reboot and try F2. If that doesn't work, reboot and try Esc. If that doesn't work, reboot and try F12. If that doesn't work, BIOS is completely locked.

I can get into BIOS by pressing F2, but it doesn't do anything when I try to move the CD drive up first to boot. It beeps when I try to move it up. It says use the plus sign to move it up and it's not working.

Try disabling other boot devices.

Still not getting anything. :/

throw it on the floor and see if it will work

haha jk,

Wow, you can't change the boot priority... rough... can you select a boot device on start-up? :P

NOpe, it lets me view everything on BIOS but it wont let me select or move anything to boot

I find that really hard to believe, but I'll take your word for it I guess.

Whenever I press a button on it, it just beeps. That's all it does.

I hate acer too!!!!!

O really! Thats a whole different story! A beep could indicate broken or fried hardware. Not software.

Or a beep could indicate POST.

Which means it's a hardware problem.