Acer Recovery Successful, but still get "No bootable device found" message!

Hello again, so I recently bought a OCZ Vertex 4 SSD (as recommended in this thread: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=266629) for my Acer Aspire 5742Z series laptop.

It said in the manual that it is not pre-formatted, and I can format if I want. I wasn't sure, so I didn't format it, just installed it.

The HD was not recognized when I botted from Hiren's Boot CD and accessed Mini Windows XP. Just showed my CD drive and that's it. But when I booted from my Ubuntu Live CD, it showed up as "OCZ Vertex 4, 128GB (119 free), and status is "Healthy" with Partition set to "Master Boot Record."

So I used the Acer Recovery CD's to reinstall Windows 7. It said "Installation Successful, computer will reboot now," but when it rebooted I got the following message:

"Broadcom UNDI PXE-2.1 v12.2.0
Copyright (C) 2000-2009 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
All rights reserved.
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM.
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key."

I have already tried checked the order in the BIOS, my HD is first in line (I even reset to default just to be sure). I have also disabled Network Booting and Enabled F12 Boot Menu. When I reboot and press F12, I choose my HD and get the following:

"No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

Seems like it's still trying to boot from the network. Is this because I had Ubuntu installed on my old HD?

Is it a problem with the new HD?

Or could it be a problem with the format? Do I need to re-format to something other than MBR?

Hope someone can help me with this, thanks!

 

You need to format the drive before you install anything, or clone any data. If you tried to use an image recorded from a different drive, that can give you problems too. Most likely the Recovery discs formatted it anyway.

If the new drive is smaller than the original, that can cause a problem sometimes too. Also, Acer may have pulled the "proprietary stunt", and those discs you made may not be a copy of W7 per se, but a recovery option you can only use with the hardware it was imaged from (douchebags).

Your best bet is to clone your old drive to the new one. Easus lets you use their software for free for 30 days.

These are two of my favorite tools:

http://www.apricorn.com/products/notebook-hard-drive-upgrade-kits/sata-wire.html

http://www.apricorn.com/products/no...ivewire-ide-pata-sata-to-usb-hdd-adapter.html

 

The vertext needs to be partitioned and formatted, just like any blank drive.

 

See, this is exactly why I was wary about buying a laptop without a W7 Installation Disc. It's so lame that Acer's only safety net is their Recovery Partition (which I've learned is useless if the HD fails.

And yes, this drive is smaller than the old one. I didn't know that would make a difference. The old one was a "normal" hard drive (with platters) and 500GB. The new one is a SSD, 128GB.

So here's the thing, I couldn't clone the old drive. I used a Ubuntu Live CD and managed to get MOST of my data off of it, but there were too many errors to do a true clone. I just copied the data from my home/user folder to an external drive (and I even had lots of errors during that process, cuz the HD had multiple bad sectors).

I am just trying to do a fresh install of Windows 7, and then move my data from the User folder on the external drive to the new drive.

Ok, I read a bit about formatting and creating partitions, but what file system do I need to do it in (i.e. NTFS, Fat32, etc). How many partitions do I need to make, and how do you know what size to make them?

Should I use the Ubuntu Live CD and Disk Utility to format/partition the drive, or should I do it through gparted or something like that?

Also, if I do a fresh install with a Win7 downloaded ISO (and then put in my key on the bottom of the laptop), do I still need to format/partition first? I thought the installation disc would do this automatically?

Sorry for the mutliple questions (I'm super confused here!)

Thank you!

 

Partition the hard drive into a single partition using the full disc for the partition.
Format the partition you just created using the NTFS file system.
Use gparted. I don't think you can prepare a windows disc using Ubuntu.

"Also, if I do a fresh install with a Win7 downloaded ISO (and then put in my key on the bottom of the laptop), do I still need to format/partition first? I thought the installation disc would do this automatically?"
If you use a DL'd bootable Windows 7 ISO you can do an "Advanced" install and partition and format the drive as part of the Windows Installation process.

 

Ok, I am about ready to pull my hair out here.

I don't have a DVD burner, so I had to put the ISO on a thumb drive and make it bootable. I followed these instructions:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1031/4/

I went into the BIOS, changed it to boot from the USB drive, I put it in, reboot and what do I get?

The same message:

"No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

WHAT. THE. HELL?

 

Ok so I thought maybe I should partition first like was suggested.

I used gparted to create a new partition (I had to create a new ms-dos partition table first), so I made one partition out of the whole thing, then I formatted that partition to NTFS.

Now when I boot to the bootable Win7 USB, I just get a black screen with a blinking cursor.

I can't type anything or move the mouse, it just sits there.

:confused

 

Try the instructions here. Maybe it'll make a difference:
http://***********.com/business/2009/12/the-usb-flash-drive/

Edit: Are you by chance trying to do this in a USB 3 slot? It won't work, you need to use a USB 2 slot.

 

link updated: MG doesn't like the link for some reason. It's on ars technica

Try the instructions here. Maybe it'll make a difference:

Code:

[URL]http://***********.com/business/2009/12/the-usb-flash-drive/[/URL]

Edit: Are you by chance trying to do this in a USB 3 slot? It won't work, you need to use a USB 2 slot.[/QUOTE]

 

Probably the best bet at this point is to water recovery discs from Acer.

 

Computers haven't come with installations disks for years.
You should have made recovery disks.

That's the first thing I burn!

I have an Acer netbook (no optical drive) running 64 bit Win 7 Home Premium. I clicked Start, All Programs, Acer, Acer eRecovery Management then chose Create Factory Default Backup. I had my portble DVD burner hooked up and burned my disks.
There is also Create Drivers and Applications Backup. I burned that too.

 

Welp... I went to my friend's house, used his DVD burner to burn the Windows 7 ISO, came home and installed Windows 7... SUCCESSFULLY!

haha... My computer is finally working. I guess it just didn't like installing from the USB for whatever reason. Anyway, thank you all for your help!

No, no, I did make the recovery CD's back when I first bought the computer. But they didn't work when I tried to use them. They said "Windows 7 was installed, rebooting now" and when it rebooted I got that error I mentioned in the OP.

Maybe I should have partitioned it before using the Recovery Disks.

Oh well, it's installed now. Now just have to install the Acer drivers and I'm all set!

Thanks again

 

Ripped the OS, from the recovery discs?

Somebody's pretty good...

 

:-D

Edit:

Sorry I missed the no USB boot...

 

Haha... no I'm not that good!

I dl'ed the ISO from that Digital River site. But I downloaded the "Windows 7 ISO Verifier Tool" and when I ran it, it told me that it is not a genuine ISO of Windows 7!

I entered my key (from the bottom of my laptop) and it worked and everything, so I thought I was all good. But now I'm afraid I'm running a compromised copy of the OS.

I got the hash tags from the ISO, but I'm not sure what to check them against?

Is it safe to download thes ISO's?

 

Actually, I just tried to "Activate Windows" and now it says my passkey is invalid, and asks me to activate by phone.

Damn... Is this a fraudulent ISO?