Aspire 5742 - won't boot after using restore disks!

Acer Aspire 5742z-4685 - Major problems caused by using restore disks.

I have an Acer Aspire 5742 laptop that runs Windows 7. When I got it I made the back-up disk immediately (like it suggest) so that I could restore it to the original settings in case I had a problem or it slowed down. It had finally slowed down lately so much so that I decided to use the disks to get it back to how it was when I got it. The 1st of the 3 disks went find, however part way threw the 2nd I got a message saying there was an error & it could not be completed.

I exited out of the message & it brought up a black screen that says “Windows Boot Manger” at the top.

Then it is followed by:

“Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click “Next.”
3. Click “Repair your computer”.

If you do not have this disk, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance

Status: OxcOOOOOOf (note: these many be zero’s, not sure)

Info: the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

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I’ve tried everything I can think of but can’t get it to boot up. When I press Esc & then F2 I get to the SetUp Utility but can’t do anything from there to get it to boot up. I don’t know that much about using this utility so there maybe something that someone can suggest. When I exit this utility it brings me right back to the Windows Boot Manager. This laptop did not come with any disks at all.

Does anyone know of anything I can do to get my laptop to boot up again? Does Acer sell the system restore disks?

Thanks for any help or advice,
Kit

 

Go into your bios and see if you have something called D2D or Disk 2 Disk. If you do make sure it is enabled then try booting using Alt+F10. This may restore your computer to factory setup. I don't know if your hdd has a PQSERVICE partition. This partition is for restoring your computer. If you have gone to Acer.com and looked up your computer in their support section and could not find any thing to help you restore your computer then the only option I can see is to install a new OS. If you don't have the money for Windows I recommend Linux Mint as it is very easy to use and quite similar to Windows.

 

Yes it is there & is enabled. When I try to boot using the Alt + F10 it takes me back to the Windows Boot Manager. I do remember seeing PQSERVICE I believe. I'm having a very hard time getting back to the screen you mentioned. I was able to get there once late last night but when I went threw it, it failed part way threw.

 

My first suggestion: Bad hard drive or dirty/faulty memory. If there was an error during recovery, chances are it was caused by data corruption on the way to the hard drive. To test the RAM you can boot either a Linux Live CD and run a memory test, or boot from a Windows 7 CD and run the memory diagnostic. You can also boot the Windows 7 DVD, choose the repair option, open a command prompt, type in "chkdsk c /f /x /r" to chek the hard drive for faults.

Otherwise, a quick search through the Microsoft site suggests that the 0x0F error (yes they are zero's not O's) is related to the BIOS and how works with Windows Activation. Unless you've modified / upgraded / downgraded the BIOS there shouldn't be an issue, the fault would still be coming from a failed recovery.

If you check your RAM and HDD and both are clean, try running the reovery again.

 

I called Acer & they said the only way was to buy a new recovery disk from them. It's only costing $20 so giving it a try. If it doesn't work then I have 7 days to get my money back. But I really think the problem is the recovery disk that the laptop made when I got it. So hopefully this will solve the problem.

Thanks,
Kit