Acer Aspire 5633 WLMi Recovery Problem

Hi Folks

Any Help or advice would be appreciated

I have the above mentioned laptop which recently would not boot properly. I was getting a missing Hal.dll warning and a problem with the boot.ini file.
In trying to get the system up and running I have inadvertently messed up the hard drive. I have managed to connect it to my main PC via a usb IDE lead and only see two partitions. I understand there is a protected partition with some protected files held within.

After numerous hours I have managed to get to the stage when I can insert and run my recovery disc (disc 1) which I made when first getting the laptop. However as it start to reinstall I get the message "Cannot Find Preload Tab for Boot.ini" and then everything stops. I feel that I may still have a problem with the boot.ini file but can't find it..I am hoping that If I can get over this hurdle my system will reboot and reinstall.

XP Media Edition

 

I know its no consolation I have had the exact same problem, but my 5633 is 3 months out of warantee. Having tried acer technical support(rubbish) I scrapped the machine and replaced it with a Sony . All I can say is you get what you pay for. Yes the acer was cheap but it hasn't turned out to be a bargain.

Did your machine go into hibernate? If it did then it would seem that this may be a common fault, I have heard of two other cases of this problem locally.

Having done some research at work We suspect that the problem is a corrupt bios.
If we come up with a solution I'll let you know.

 

sorry digger499 my reply was to another thread, it seems to have got c..ked up somewhere along the line