how do i reinstall windows xp in my acer travelmate 2420

hi...
I got an acer travelmate 2420 notebook, and 2 days ago i got a video activex virus in my laptop. it installed an antivirus software and kept prompting me to buy it. i tried to uninstall the software and also used my own antivirus to delete it, but nothing worked. next my laptop also got frozen so i couldnt even use the epowering technology to restore my laptop to go back to factory state. i didnot get a recovery cd along with my laptop so i tried a pirated reinstalling windows xp. but my computer doesnt stay on long enough to finish the installation. it keeps switching off on its own. i took my laptop to a computer shop where they used a genuine windows xp installation cd but it also didnt work. i was told that i need to contact acer and ask them to send me a acer recovery/installation cd (not sure) which will reinatall the windows xp as well as the drivers and that a normal windows xp installation cd will not work on acer laptops. my laptop now only works on DOS interface. could you please tell me what can i do reinstall windows on my laptop and get it working again. thanx...

 

Welcome to NBR

You sure it's not overheating? Do you hear the fans running?
When the notebook shuts off does it display some error?

 

before the laptop got the virus, the fan used to be on all the time. but i dont think it used to get very hot. also after shutting down automatically, when we used to swith it on, it gave an error "NTLR is missing". we skipped that one and used our own (not acer) windows xp cd to reinstall it. I think it needs some kind of acer cd to reinstall xp and the drivers but i dont know what it is and how to do it. can you please help me with this. thnx....

 

Hmm..do you still have the recovery partition or the recovery cds? If you don't have non of those you can always buy recovery cds from acer..
Do you ever open it up and clean the fans and the heatsink? It really sounds like overheating..

 

I might be wrong, but I don't think this is true. The software shouldn't have anything to do with it. I'm sure many of us don't use the OS that shipped with our system.

I use my own barebones Windows XP SP2 rather than the stock stuff the laptop came with. Whenever I want to format and do away with everything I've got, I just stick in the XP disc, go to the BIOS, tell it to read from the CD-drive first, and then let it start the process. The Windows XP disc is detected, and it does its thing. It usually takes an hour or two to do the complete reinstall.

You don't need any CDs from Acer because you can find the drivers on their site. For your notebook: http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/tm_2420.html

The installation of Windows doesn't need anything to go forward.


Did you try unplugging the battery when you did the install? I've had experience with a bad battery that would cause the installation to hang up. Try the install again without the battery in there.

 

Hi there

Just found this forum as I am having the same trouble as Chungin - exactly the same.

I tried the suggestion of taking the battery out but still had the same result - the installation has got to 57% (at most) and then it just switches itself off!!

The laptop is clean of dust etc and in a well ventilated area, so I dont think that over heating is the problem (although it seems to have all those characteristics!).

My question is: Did anyone find a solution to this (other than requesting a recovery CD)?

I'd be really grateful for any advice on this as - at the moment - my laptop is dead dead dead

Thanks in advance

 

try setting a small fan behind the laptop while doing the install.... (or set it near an airconditioner vent)... the only reason i can see it failing to install (at random times) would be due to over-heating...

it's worth a try anyway...

 

and you have all tried Alt+F10 ?
with no luck.still sounds like over-heating