Acer Aspire 5634wlmi - Vista has disappeared

I have an Acer Aspire 5634wmli laptop.

A few months ago, I tried installing inappropriate hardware [an XP wbcam]. The system shut down and eventually would not boot up. The message on the opening screen is that the computer has no operating system.

I have no restore disc; Acer did not send one.

I have a restore disc which I made when I bought the Aspire - but this is a restore disc for Windows XP Media Centre version. I bought the Aspire as a Vista-ready machine - just ahead of the Vista update release. I was sent and installed the Vista upgrade, but I did not make a Vista restore disc.

The laptop will not accept the XP restore disc [presumably because the hidden partition contains Vista].

How do I get my machine to work again?

Should I install Windows 7? I have a full version of Windows 7 on order.

In the meantime, how can I get Vista to re-appear?

What do I do?

Please help, dear people, if you can.

 

Have you tried to hit FN F11 at startup? It should start the recovery from the hidden partition.

By the way: You should be looking forward to Windows 7 - It's awesome! I have the Pro-version already, and I gained 10 more FPS in games! Freaking awesome.

Good luck.