Help with Reformatting

basilmarket.com forums : Tech Talk | 4 posts archived

thread starter Chaseroonie Jul 05 2010 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I would like to reformat my computer, but I have a few problems. I have an Acer Aspire, and it came with Vista, which I cannot stand. So I got rid of Vista and I now have a copy of XP that my brother's friend put on my computer for me. I don't have any CDs for XP, and my computer didn't come with discs for Vista. Is there any way I can reformat? My friend said I could make an XP disc with a torrent or something, but I'm not really sure what all I need and I want someone's help so I don't screw up my computer. I was also told that my computer might have a hidden partition that would have system recovery stuff on it, but how can I find it, where would it be? I'm just really confused and I have too much crap on my computer and it's starting to run slow so I'd like to just start over, I guess. Any help would be awesome! Thanks, Chaseroonie EDIT: I have an Acer Aspire M1100 if that helps. >.>

My Characters: PirateChase - 57 Bera Brawler

BobR + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

IF your brother's friend didn't delete the "hidden partition" with your recovery stuff on your hard drive you should still be able to recover Vista from it. Best thing is to look in the computer's user manual that came with the computer, or look on the Acer web site for instructions on how to do that. Usually you have to hold down a certain combination of keys when you turn the computer on and it will automatically start the recovery process- but you have to know the "magic keys" to press for your specific computer.

My Characters: MikeDaNewGuy - 53 Windia Blaze Wizard

qwan456 07/06/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

It's likely going to Alt+F10 during boot up. In your BIOS, you would also need to make sure the D2D Recovery is enable. If that still doesn't work, it's either your friend deleted the hidden PQService partition, or he messed up the Acer MBR like my sister did when she attempted to downgrade to XP on her laptop, in which I did this to help me fix it a while back.

My Characters: Melodie890 - 36 Khaini Cleric

Chaseroonie 07/08/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Yeah, the Alt+F10 thing didn't work, so I'll try following that link you gave me. Thanks for the help

My Characters: PirateChase - 57 Bera Brawler