Acer Extensa 5220 Recovery Cd

My wife recently bought me an Acer Extensa 5620 for Christmas. It's a great little unit with a lot of potential, but the one big flaw was the operating system: it came with Windows Vista. The fast hardware was crippled by the bloated, clumsy OS. I was therefore forced to figure out exactly how to get XP on it, so wrote up a guide to help others. It should apply to different Acer notebooks, and likely has info useful to other brands as well.

It's not as simple at it used to be. Today's laptops are 'meant' for Vista, so trying to install XP often isn't easy. In the case of my 5620, the hard drive wasn't even detected until I researched and changed Bios settings (known as the AHCI issue). I'm SO much happier after ditching Vista, though- when I first got it, a 1GHz Pentium III with XP could have run circles around it! Don't immediately wipe Vista! It's actually useful for another hour or so.

Use Acer's backup software (mine had an Acer floating toolbar with this) to do two things- First, a Full Backup of your system. Trust me, if you ever have to send your Acer in for servicing, it better have Vista on it or your warranty could be voided. Plus, someday when you sell it, uninformed people think it's a plus point;) Secondly, why bother downloading random drivers you hope are the right ones?

Nov 26, 2009  Hello!! You can do it in two ways. Using the built in recovery partition available in few models of Acer. Please try the following key combination immediately after starting the laptop (when you see the Acer logo) Alt + F10 If it has the builtin recovery partition, this should start the recovery process. It should start the Acer. May 03, 2017  This download is licensed as freeware for the Windows (32-bit and 64-bit) operating system on a laptop or desktop PC from file recovery software without restrictions.

Acer makes it easy with its Driver and Application backup CD creator. A little known fact is that these drivers appear to be both the complete Vista AND XP set. Once you're done, you'll have burned three DVD's, and be ready for some XP goodness!

If you've already wiped it, or just want the latest available, grab them from ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/ here. I did both, just in case, throwing the newest onto a 256MB USB drive. Thirdly, look in Device Manager to see what AHCI Disk Controller you have!

Write this down. On the Best Buy Acer Extensa 5620-6830, it's the 'Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI.' Other models may be slightly different. This info is important later, and it can be difficult to find out without some annoying trial and error. Once we're at the desktop, change your resolution to 800x600, then start installing drivers (some setup program buttons are cut off in the default 640x480). You probably want to start with the chipset driver, then the video drivers, sound, etc. On the Extensa 5620, even after installing the drivers you will likely have no sound at first and end up with a 'PCI Device' that is unknown; just right-click it and choose Update Driver.

Let it automatically find it (it's the HD audio), and your sound should work after the next reboot. I rebooted every time it wanted to, then installed the next driver.

This way they don't clash or get misconfigured. The webcam driver (both original and latest on the FTP) appears to install and work fine, but makes your system permanently hang when shutting down. Until we get a better driver, I just disable it to avoid having to hard crash every time. In theory, you can just enable it whenever you need to use it. Everything working OK now? No exclamation marks or unknown hardware?

Now let's conquer the AHCI issue. On the driver CD, browse (don't auto-run) to the Drivers directory. Copy the AHCI folder to your C: drive, so now it's c:AHCI.

Open the command line (Start - Run - cmd), and enter 'c:AHCIsetup.exe -a -pc:' (without the quotes). This will pop up the setup utility. Click through it- it's not actually installing, but extracting the drivers for us to use.

You'll find them afterwards in C:Driver. Now we manually install the driver into XP: Go to Device Manager, under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers you should see something like: ICH8M SATA Controller. Right-Click on that and select Update Driver. Choose No to connecting to Windows Update to search, then hit Next. Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), hit Next, then select 'Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.' Hit Next again, then select Have Disk.

Browse to your Drivers folder (C:Driver), highlight the iastor.inf file, and hit Open. Select OK, then choose your AHCI driver (what we wrote down earlier, remember?). You'll likely have to uncheck the 'show compatible hardware' option to see the AHCI options. Again, on the Extensa 5620-6830, it's the Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Storage Controller- YMMV (Your Motherboard May Vary). Click next, ignore the warning that installing the device driver is not recommended, click Yes, Finish, then Yes to restart your computer.

When your computer reboots, hit F2 again to enter the BIOS. I changed my boot order back to HD first (shaves a whole 2-3 seconds off bootup time), but that's up to you. Change from IDE mode back to AHCI, save changes and exit. Once you boot to Windows, your computer will find and finish installing the 'new' hardware, then likely ask to restart again. No more Vista! Troubleshooting: If you still get a blue screen upon booting up, you may not have selected the correct AHCI driver. Reverting the Bios setting to IDE should get you back into XP to try again.

If not, use F8 to go into Safe Mode and reinstall the controller driver there. Tips: I ran into an issue where my favorite OpenGL screensavers won't run over 1fps on the 5620. After finding out that is why (Intel disables OGL hardware acceleration on screensavers), I then found a workaround: rename screensavers to.sCr instead of all lowercase. You may have to reboot, but then they should all work smooth again. This affects all X3100 users, or anyone with Intel GPU's.

Congratulations, you now have a decent operating system on your spiffy new hardware! And it runs so much better.

Remember, if you don't actually have Bluetooth on your laptop (Acer puts in a switch, but sells it lacking the module) then DON'T install the driver! It can cause issues. The screenshot below is my Acer's desktop now. The next Instructable I post will explain how I got it to look like Vista, and some other tweaks you can do to speed up this or any other computer. Hope you found this helpful:).

Ah, this is a really old article(?), so perhaps it doesn't matter now. I've got an Acer Extensa 5420, and I found out the hard way, by simply cloning to a larger hard drive, that it's very easy to break access to the PQSERVICE partition to restore my laptop to factory default settings. Obviously changes or corrupting the C: or PQSERVICE partition will break access via Alt+F10 or eRcovery, but so can hiding or reformatting the D: DATA partition, since eRecovery establishes a 'relationship' with D: during initial setup, which it seems can only be modified manually afterward, perhaps requiring both the registry and BCDEdit. It's possible to suggest that I'm wrong, but I've spent many, many days using the original hard drive and two cloned drives trying to determine why the clones lose access to the recovery partition.

Also, I did indeed make recovery DVD's using eRecovery, and tried to restore access to PQSERVICE by using them, but they failed every time. The DVD's restored the C: partition, but not access to the recovery partition. Considering the recovery partition utilizes a 'switch' or 'input code' (Alt+F10) for access, and the partition is hidden using the partition ID=27, it's possible that eRecovery discs will not include the recovery partition. So far cloning using the 2009 Seagate or WD version of Acronis True Image both somehow managed to break access to the recovery partition.

EaseUS ToDo Backup Free also failed to restore after performing file or sector by sector backups, but that was because it somehow misinterpreted the allocated space of all the partitions to slightly larger than the factory hard drive. The problem might be the utility Acer used to create the partitions, how they were accessed at the time, and/or the BIOS in conjunction with the physical specifications. EaseUS Drive Clone/Copy cannot technically clone from large to small hard drives, and it has an 'unwritten' strict technical methodology which must be followed, but it better revealed the problem with restoration. If you decrease the size of partition D: DATA, you can clone from large to small, or create backups which will be more successful at restoring. This suggests that slightly 'shrinking' volume D: DATA, before using a third-party drive imaging/backup solution will significantly improve chances for successful recovery later. In both Vista, Windows 7, and it would seem Windows 8, you can expand volume D: DATA after a successful restore using disk management. All of this is simply to suggest that while eRecovery should restore volume C: ACER, it won't necessarily restore PQSERVICE or volume D: DATA.

In testing I placed files in both volumes C and D, and after restoring using the discs, the files I placed in volume D were still present, and I could not access the 'built-in' recovery. So, considering warranty and factory installed hard drive size, it might be better to simply replace the originally installed hard drive with a larger or faster hard drive, keeping the older drive in case of needed factory repair. Otherwise, I recommend that before you 'wipe' the hard drive of all partitions, or install any OS which can break Acer's MBR offset for recovery, test your backup discs using a different borrowed or bought hard drive. If the test drive is smaller, but more than half the size of the original, like a 120GB to a 160GB or a 60GB to an 80GB, simply 'shrink' volume D: DATA before creating the backup. You won't need to create another set of recovery disks if successful because you can always 'expand' volume D: DATA after completing the recovery. Then again, maybe my laptop just doesn't like me and is making my life difficult, which makes my comment a moot point.

VERY useful 'ibble. To me Vista is an OS upgrade, performace downgrade and XP is an OS downgrade, performance upgrade.

I've been asked by so many people to replace vista with XP on their laptops its rediculous. For anyone saying Vista is better than XP this is my experience: Vista. Had to reinstall Vista on 19 occasions after automatic updates screwed it up. Took 4 hours and 30mins to backup 80GB to another hardrive. Can't install any software updates for my phone. Slow to boot. Around 5mins from boot to desktop.

Takes ages to detect and connect to my other 2 XP and 1 Win 2000 PCs on my home network. Stupid file search. It can't find files i know exist.

After XP Upgrade. Only reinstalled XP once (power failure during update).

Took 2 hours 10mins to backup 120GB. Installed all updates on my phone.and even upgraded its OS. Boots faster. 2mins from boot to desktop. VERY BIG increase in speed.

Connects to my home network and other PCs in seconds 7. More reliable drivers. All my hardware works as it should and not when the OS says so. I can actually find files using Windows Explorer's search bar. So if you want to go vista to xp i highly recommend it. This i just my opinion.

Hi CharredPC. First of all.

Thank you very much for your upgrade to XP from Vista instructions. Very helpful for my extensa 5620. I have since 'upgraded' to Windows 7 on extensa 5620 but unfortunately ran into the 'replace battery' issue so now get 10 minutes on battery vs 2+ hours when used xp.

Been trying to find solution but all options that I have tried so far disable acpi, drain battery in bios screen, etc. have not worked. When check under device manager I do have yellow exclamation point for something labelled ACPI. Is there a driver for ACPI for Windows 7 that you used and if yes, from where?

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Can not find on acer us or euro site. Got similar problem on another acer after upgraded to windows 7 but had battery replaced under warranty and switched back to xp. Appreciate any help.

That in itself is my complaint. There is simply no reason to require over 2 GB of RAM and a CPU made within the last 12 months just to have your system run smoothly. It's ridiculous. Stop the consumer sheep mentality. Look at it this way: If I told you that when you bought a new car it would have a V8 engine instead a of a four-cylinder, a 25 gallon gas tank instead of 12, twice the amperage from the alternator and upgraded all-season radials.

You'd be pleased, right? Okay, now let's say you buy it and have all that, but the new car performs exactly the same as your last one- or worse. When you go complain to the dealership, they shrug and say you should've bought the twelve-cylinder model to see any improvement.

Does that make sense to you? Because that's the position you're defending here; that's what you're defiantly calling an upgrade.

Both cars in my example get you from point A to point B, just like XP and Vista accomplish the exact same tasks. If you want to nitpick about feature differences- fine.

Can't live without the eye candy? I've posted explains how to make XP virtually a clone of Vista.

Like the new search feature, 'bread crumb' explorer link, sidebar and widgets? Same guide, all free.

Everything runs smooth even on this outdated old work computer I'm on with 'only' 1GB of RAM. Look at that, I just saved $500+! This may surprise you, but some people would rather tinker for an hour or so instead of pointlessly dropping half a grand to reduce performance. Lastly, to each their own. You're as much of a Vista zealot as we are XP advocates. I posted this Acer guide knowing many people think the way I do, and could use some guidance.

Some people throw money and hardware at a software problem- other people just solve the software problem, which is what we're doing here. If you love Vista and are happy with it, that's great.

Honestly, I'm glad it worked for you. I guess some people can accept driving a new BMW that runs like a Honda Civic. We'll just be over here, turning or new machines into Ferrari's;).

H Guys,I have the same problem, my vista is crashed on the the laptop Acer extensa 5620, I tried to check the MBR and the partitions on the hard disk. I found I have PQservice, a Vista corrupted partition.I used chkdsk to fix this partition and it fix the indexes and the bad sector but the window still doesnt work.so I decide to install Xp instead, I can boot from the CD and proceed in the installation process but it didn't detect the Hard disk.I still Have PQService bout I lost the other partitions. Is any one can help me to recover the vista from PQservices. I don't have Recovery CD, and ALT+F10 doesn't work it gives blank screen. @NeoThks for your reply. I was just checking EASEUS website and they offer two free softwares one is Disk Copy(29.5mb size) and other one is Parition Master(home edition size 8.9mb).

On their website under Disk Copy features, they have mentioned that if you want to move parition or resize format etc then use, advanced version that is Partition Master(because Disk Copy wont do that). What I dont understand if it is advance version which has more features then why it is smaller in size then Disk copy?! Which one did you use?