Acer SATA driver error

I've been fighting this battle for a couple days straight now.

Client has an ACER Aspire 5100 notebook running Vista. :crap

A recent Windows update for "ATI 4xxx SATA ... " trashed the system's driver somehow. Now whenever I reboot it goes straight to windows automatic repair, which asks me do a system restore, which sometimes (not always) works, but I invariably end up going there when I reboot again. As expected I'm getting no help from Acer support - I tried to warn my client, but they didn't listen. If I were to bill the time spent on trying to fix this they could pay for 3 more laptops. Lucky for him it's become a challenge :boxing, so I'm only charging him my "fixed price" fixit fee.

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QUESTION: Is there a way for me to boot the system with a rescue CD (ie: any linux liveCD) and manually crowbar the right driver back into the right place? I HAVE the right driver, but Vista won't let me install the damn thing.
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Just some background to justify my question:

What I've done is too long to write out here. If you find a solution with google or several other search engines, I've probably tried it.

For instance, I tried this which I found on a seemingly reliable website, and it looked like it really should do the trick:

I have followed the following instructions found on a website:
* This is the solution of Acer Aspire 5100.
* Go to http://www.siliconimage.com/support/index.aspx?pid=0&cid=0&
* Select SiI3112 - PCI to 2 Port SATA150
* Then select Driver (NOT BIOS)
* Select Windows Vista
* Click Go
* Select * SiI3x12 32-bit Windows BASE Driver for Vista
* Unzip into new folder
* Then go to update device (Control Panel)
* Go to Storage Controllers
* Right Click on ATI 4379 Serial ATA Controller and click Properties
* Go to Driver and then click Update Driver
* Click Browse My Computer for Driver Software
* Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on My Computer
* Then click Have Disk
* Browse the folder you just downloaded.
* Install

But this did not work, resulting in the error message:
"The name is already in use as either a service name or a service display name." :***

The Storage driver for the ATI no longer shows up - it's listed as "unknown" now. There is no service name or display name with the driver name that I can find. Yet it gives the above error.

This isn't the only error, just one of dozens. Usually it just fails quietly. But always it forces me back

I'm about to wipe this system with the Acer eRecovery factory default CD and start over, but figured I'd give it one more chance. :major

 

Thanks. Unfortunately, could roll back the driver as the client didn't call me right away. Ended up managing to get in for long enough to create a restore CD, then wiped and restored to factory default, then reinstalled the apps.

Now looking to get rid of Vista completely for this client. ALL of his Vista systems are having various types of problems, but the WinXP_SP3 machines seem to be ticking along just fine for now.

 

Yeah, I guess so. I've never really managed to get Windows machines (from Windows 3.0 to Vista) to be all that reliable compared to other operating systems. But one works with what one has.

The vendor offers down(up?)grade to WinXP when you purchase it, so it's certainly possible, and I have a copy of all the WinXP drivers for the systems. However, I an seriously considering putting Linux on that and other systems, then creating a virtual machine running WinXP for the one application they MUST have available and which only runs under Windows. Then if something happens I have a copy of the virtual machine and it's trivial to recover, and I'm not fighting users who keep installing new stuff and trashing their setup. Reliability first.

Done that now. Client had it on auto-install before I showed up, which is where several of his problems come from.

Now back to planning his upgrade.

 

Ah, thanks for that link, should be useful later.

 

When it comes to unix/linux, I am "knowledgeable folk" these days. I used to be "high expert", but need to catch up again. As for the corporate area, what I've seen is that Vista also imposed a high learning curve in addition to being broken and annoying to use (none of the people who are calling me like it), so it was an ideal opportunity to wean them off the Windows lock-in. Most business users I know just want to use certain applications and don't want or care about which operating system they're using. They just want it to work - and Linux/BSD/Unix derivatives are much better at "just working" once they're correctly set up.

As for the client, most of them just want the business management software to "just work" and doesn't much use the rest of the system.One of them is a "power user" and wannabe geek, and will probably love to learn to play with Linux - where I can give him his own account and he won't keep trashing the system.

I unfortunately agree with you about Windows being "easier" to install on your own. Linux still has a few rough edges, although those are being worked on remarkably quickly. The device driver issue is a major one, but I think more manufacturers are realizing which way the wind is blowing and starting to provide them. However, "easier" is rarely "better" in my book. For a business that needs reliability and robustness and is willing to delegate sysadmin duties to an appropriately trained person (ie: people like me and you?) I'll argue at length that just about anything Unix-like (Unix/Linux/BSD/MacOSX - which is basically BSD with a shell) is more reliable, more robust, and more appropriate than Windows.

But then we get into advocacy and we're in the wrong forum for that...