Travelmate 8215 - upgraded to vista, how can i restore to factory settings?

Hello everyone,

I have an Acer TravelMate 8215WLMi which came preinstalled with Windows XP and did not include a Windows XP disk. I made some backup disks when I first got the laptop but am not sure how these work.

I then purchased the Acer Vista Upgrade DVDs and installed Vista on my laptop, again making backup disks as advised in the process. Following a number of annoyances with Windows Vista, I would like to revert to using Windows XP. How can I do this using the disks that I have? (I do not want to have to purchase a copy of Windows XP as I already have a license key).

Would it be easier to revert to factory settings? Am I correct in thinking that this will restore my laptop to the exact state it was in when I bought the machine? I have read about Alt + F10 but cannot find information to explain what this will do and if it will help.

Can anyone tell me how to do this? Many thanks.

 

can anyone help?

 

The Alt+F10 function might still work but its unlikely that it'll work seeing as you've installed your own version of windows. You need to turn the computer on and press alt and f10 together several times at the screen where is says Acer... i usually keep pressing it until the unit starts beeping.

If you removed the hidden partition then this definately wont work.

If you cant get disk to disk recovery to work you need to boot from the first recovery disk you made, it should then start the recovery process automatically and prompt you to insert the nect disk when required.