Acer eRecovery and Linux promblem

Just noticed there is own area for Acer, I know this is on wrong place right now,could someone move this?:l

Hi,

I have Windows Vista on my Acer Aspire 5520G. I installed Linux Mint to my computer because my friend said it's good and I wanted to try it.

Well, now my Vista is not longer working, and I would like to reinstall it. I burned recovery CD:s when I bought this computer but now I can't find them. I know it should be possible to recover with recovery partition on my hard drive, and I can access that recovery program, however it's only giving error and it can't reinstall Windows.


Before opening recovery program it says:

Cannot find file: Z:\D2D\Images\*.WSI
when try to determine UI language.

After I click option to get computer back to factory settings it says:

Restore failed - reason 0xa0000001.
Click OK to restart computer

Is that because I installed Linux, or why? I can see that PQSERVICE partition, it have like 9GB in it, so it's still there. Is it possible to fix somehow?

I found this but because Vista is not working, I can't install that needed program to do that. Is there similar program for linux that with it could be possible? My Linux is working without any problems, I'm writing this message with it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/244655-creating-recovery-dvds-without-using-erecovery.html

I don't know too much about computers, and I would be very happy if someone can solve my problem,
Thanks

 

1. The first lesson here is to avoid a persistant install if you're not an experienced user. I advocate using a USB tool such as UNetbootin to run a distro like Mint or Ubuntu as a Live Disc. Or you can burn a physical DVD or CD. Or try a virtualization. You can run an OS in VirtualBox or VMware, risk free. You can even dual boot Windows and Linux, a setup that typically works best with Windows installed first, if I recollect from the last dual boot setup I did.

2. Reinstalling Vista is a temporary solution, since mainstream support ends on April 10, 2012. It also would be excruciating to do a reinstall due to the hundreds of updates, and two service packs, since 2007. Reinstalling Windows is never fun, even for Windows 7. When reimaging, you also have to install drivers in the correct order. Not fun.

3. While you can legally download Windows 7 images, that hasn't been true of Vista in quite a while. It's actually quite easy to install Window 7 from a USB thumbdrive, athough not as a non-persistant live disk. That's supposed to be coming with Windows 8.

4. As far as your immediate problem, it looks as if a German had a similar issue in 2009 and other Notebookreview members back in 2010:

Google Translate

http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/137664-help-recovery-issue-my-new-aspire-5920g-2.html

I think the problem has something to do with the Grub boot loader and that the recovery partition is intact. You might have to delete Grub and get into BIOS to boot from the recovery partition, and you might have to make sure BIOS is looking for the right partition. My guts tells me that the factory recovery partition is normally d: or e: rather than z, but I'm not an Acer user.

Personally, I'm not a great fan of recovery partitions. When I reinstall, it's from a generic Windows .iso using the Microsoft .usb utility and I have the latest drivers on a separate thumdrive in sequential order. I'm not longer a fan of physical recover disks.

But if you're stuck with Vista, and want to stay with Vista despite the looming end of support, keep on exploring the recovery partition issue.

I am curious about what you didn't like about Linux? I've found that Mint is a little more buggy that Ubuntu, with Mint 12 having major issues with sleep mode while Ubuntu 11.10 was flawless on my hardware.

 

If not told otherwise Grub is installed into the MBR of your HDD. This is where Windows installs its boot manager too (cannot be changed afaik). Since the recovery menu is loaded from Windows' boot manager it's overwritten by a default Grub installation. This is why you can't access the recovery program anymore.

I have faint memory of a program called EasyBCD which could restore Windows boot loaders but afair you need a working Windows to use it.

The other option would be to find out why Windows isn't in your Grub menu. To do that please post the contents of your file:

Code:

/boot/grub/grub.conf

and the output of the following command:

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

 

Thanks for reply

Sorry, my post was a bit confusing.

I have both Windows and Linux on my computer and I can go both OS with grub. Actually I can go to eRecovery program with grub too. It worked well like that over a year. Now like three months ago Windows stopped working, I guess something happened with it files. I can go to desktop but it says something like it can't start Windows service. I can't run programs or use internet. It's maybe possible to fix Windows, but I would like to do new install with that partition.

I don't care too much about support on that Windows. Linux is working good and nowadays I use it only on my studies. That Windows would be only for games and other things that doesn't work on Linux. Also I think that partition have drivers inside it but I'm not sure about that.

I can access all my files with Linux and I have copied my files to external hard drive.

I do like Linux but I want to get both OS working


If not told otherwise Grub is installed into the MBR of your HDD. This is where Windows installs its boot manager too (cannot be changed As far as I know). Since the recovery menu is loaded from Windows' boot manager it's overwritten by a default Grub installation. This is why you can't access the recovery program anymore.

I have faint memory of a program called EasyBCD which could restore Windows boot loaders but afair you need a working Windows to use it.

The other option would be to find out why Windows isn't in your Grub menu. To do that please post the contents of your file:

As I said earlier Windows and eRecovery are shown on grub. Sorry my post was confusing.

/boot/grub/grub.conf :

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=fi
insmod gettext
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c
insmod png
if background_image /boot/grub/linuxmint.png ; then
set color_normal=white/black
set color_highlight=white/light-gray
else
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Linux Mint 9, 2.6.32-21-generic (/dev/sda5)" --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
menuentry "Linux Mint 9, 2.6.32-21-generic (/dev/sda5) -- recovery mode" --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c
echo 'Ladataan Linux 2.6.32-21-generic -käyttöjärjestelmäydintä...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c ro single
echo 'Ladataan alustavaa ram-levyä...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###
### END /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 39ec6eb9-d895-4b55-b9b1-3e95b7b3bc5c
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows Vista (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 88f0142de49bed2a
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows Recovery Environment (loader) (on /dev/sda2)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set fea48a0aa489c61d
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

sudo fdisk -l :

Levy /dev/sda: 250.1 Gt, 250059350016 tavua
255 päätä, 63 sektoria/ura, 30401 sylinteriä
Yksiköt = 16065 * 512 = 8225280 -tavuiset sylinterit
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Levyn tunniste: 0xefe36ebe

Laite Käynn Alku Loppu Lohkot Id Järjestelmä
/dev/sda1 1 1274 10233373+ 12 Compaq-diagnostiikka
/dev/sda2 * 1275 15855 117116928 6 FAT16
/dev/sda3 15855 23086 58085792 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 23086 30402 58761217 5 Laajennettu
/dev/sda5 23086 30097 56315904 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 30097 30402 2444288 82 Linux-sivutus / Solaris


Oh one more thing. In grub that recovery environment starts windows normally, and windows vista goes to eRecovery. I noticed it after installing Linux but because everything else was right I forgot whole thing.

By the way I have no rush with this due to I can use Linux.

Thanks for helping.

 

Ok. In that case we don't need to bother with grub...

...but fdisk might still be useful. Do you see the asterisk (*) at /dev/sda2? This means that this partition has the msdos boot flag enabled. I'm not sure but I think I remember something special about recovery partitions in connection with boot flags. Can you please turn on the boot flag for /dev/sda1 and turn it off for /dev/sda2 and try to boot the recovery partition again?
You can toggle the boot flag either in fdisk with the option "a" or more conveniently in cfdisk or gparted. Linux won't be affected by that and I think Windows won't be either.

btw: In future please use

Code:

 tags for file and command outputs!

 

Changed flags with KDE Partition Manager and recovery mode didn't give the error anymore,
I'm almost sure about that my problem is solved.

Now if I let it get Windows to factory settings, is it going to right partition, or should I delete
Linux or do something else before starting eRecovery?

Thanks a lot

Edit:
I went to recover mode again and the same error popped out.
I came back to Linux and partition manager shows that the flags have changed back like they were before I changed them.
It looks like it changes them back after restart. Is there any way to make it to be permanent?