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TM4501 WMI Recovery failed_ why ?

post #1 of 12
1/8/06 at 4:59pm
Thread Starter 
Hi ,
i owned a Acer TM 4501 WMI with a 40GB HD.
i recentely tried to ghost back to an older disk image but failed due to currupted image file . Since the curruption error occured during the middle of ghosting , my entire ACER C:\ partition was lost.
so i thought ouch , i better use recovery disk to recovery my system. so i use partition magic to repartition my Acer C:\ back to FAT32 and use recovery disc on it .
So i proceed with the recovery system disc , and then it ask for recovery disc 1 , disc 2 , the system restarted and i reinsert system disc again . Everything seemed normal until it ask for me to eject system disc and let the laptop to run the final installation , during which the LCD screen were stuck in a black screen with HD light blinking continously for ever.
i said to my self , werid , did it install anything at all ? i plug the HD onto a desktop and find out ACER C:\ was still empty.
Later , i tried vaires way on ACER C:\ partition like setting to primary , active , and even NTFS . It was all in vain .
Here is a screen shot of my HD partition info in partition magic .
I appriciate for any suggestions .
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post #2 of 12
1/9/06 at 8:04pm

Partitioning HD

Quote:
Originally Posted by laugh7887
Hi ,
i owned a Acer TM 4501 WMI with a 40GB HD.
i recentely tried to ghost back to an older disk image but failed due to currupted image file . Since the curruption error occured during the middle of ghosting , my entire ACER C:\ partition was lost.
so i thought ouch , i better use recovery disk to recovery my system. so i use partition magic to repartition my Acer C:\ back to FAT32 and use recovery disc on it .
So i proceed with the recovery system disc , and then it ask for recovery disc 1 , disc 2 , the system restarted and i reinsert system disc again . Everything seemed normal until it ask for me to eject system disc and let the laptop to run the final installation , during which the LCD screen were stuck in a black screen with HD light blinking continously for ever.
i said to my self , werid , did it install anything at all ? i plug the HD onto a desktop and find out ACER C:\ was still empty.
Later , i tried vaires way on ACER C:\ partition like setting to primary , active , and even NTFS . It was all in vain .
Here is a screen shot of my HD partition info in partition magic .
I appriciate for any suggestions .
You do not seem to have a Primary C partition !

You need to repartition your disk using Partition Magic WITHOUT the extended partition.

Create two additional PRIMARY partitions in addition to the hiddden ACER partition (C & D). Partition D should be FAT32 if using eRecovery, you need to partition D as FAT32 to create an user image back up of the C partition to it.

Ghost should restore to the C partition what ever your ghost restore image disks contain.(NTFS FAT32) and set active. HTH
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post #3 of 12
1/9/06 at 8:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_Clan_Man
You do not seem to have a Primary C partition !

You need to repartition your disk using Partition Magic WITHOUT the extended partition.

Create two additional PRIMARY partitions in addition to the hiddden ACER partition (C & D). Partition D should be FAT32 if using eRecovery, you need to partition D as FAT32 to create an user image back up of the C partition to it.

Ghost should restore to the C partition what ever your ghost restore image disks contain.(NTFS FAT32) and set active. HTH
Thank you so much for the reply, but i have one mroe question. does any of the partition needs to be set active ?? thank you !!
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post #4 of 12
1/9/06 at 8:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_Clan_Man
Ghost should restore to the C partition what ever your ghost restore image disks contain.(NTFS FAT32) and set active. HTH
Oh , i see it , dumb me dumb me
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post #5 of 12
1/9/06 at 10:35pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you Dave Clan man , i have Good news and Bad news .

Good news is , the recovery worked !!! I set the ACER C:\ and ACERDATA D:\ to primary . and set the ACER hidden partition to active. now i can finally see some color windows on my laptop.

Bad news : the recovery made the ACER hidden partition into C:\ and install XP in there !! this doesn't look good since i know the hidden partition is there to provide future system recovery.

Do you think i should reinstall and make it hidden again ? and install XP in the ACER drive instead ?

Thank you for any assistanace !
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post #6 of 12
1/10/06 at 9:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by laugh7887
Thank you Dave Clan man , i have
Do you think i should reinstall and make it hidden again ? and install XP in the ACER drive instead ?

Thank you for any assistanace !
Yes hide the ACER partition and then your recovery disks should 'restore' to the correct partion. You current 'D' should appear as 'C' when the ACER (PQ Service Partion) is hidden and inactive.

I assume you are using eRecover rather than a regular Ghost version to restore your system ?.

eRecover is an ACER adaptation of Ghost and needs (requires) the HD to be partitioned as it left the factory (Primary partitions only and 'D' partion FAT32.

Do you have the Factory Default image restore disk ?
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post #7 of 12
1/10/06 at 9:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by laugh7887
Thank you Dave Clan man , i have Good news and Bad news .

Good news is , the recovery worked !!! I set the ACER C:\ and ACERDATA D:\ to primary . and set the ACER hidden partition to active. now i can finally see some color windows on my laptop.

Bad news : the recovery made the ACER hidden partition into C:\ and install XP in there !! this doesn't look good since i know the hidden partition is there to provide future system recovery.


Do you think i should reinstall and make it hidden again ? and install XP in the ACER drive instead ?

Thank you for any assistanace !
To clarify my last posting when I refer to the ACER partition I mean the small (should be /was) FIRST, FAT32 partition on your hard drive. HTH
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post #8 of 12
1/10/06 at 4:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_Clan_Man
Yes hide the ACER partition and then your recovery disks should 'restore' to the correct partion. You current 'D' should appear as 'C' when the ACER (PQ Service Partion) is hidden and inactive.

I assume you are using eRecover rather than a regular Ghost version to restore your system ?.

eRecover is an ACER adaptation of Ghost and needs (requires) the HD to be partitioned as it left the factory (Primary partitions only and 'D' partion FAT32.

Do you have the Factory Default image restore disk ?
I decided to go along with the exposed Acer recovery partition, which means i wont be able to use Acer REcovery discs in the future . On the safe side , i made an Acronis image of my C:\ ( the exposed partition ) , so in the future. i will use it for recovery.

Do you think that will be ok for future recovery ?
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post #9 of 12
1/10/06 at 5:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by laugh7887
I decided to go along with the exposed Acer recovery partition, which means i wont be able to use Acer REcovery discs in the future . On the safe side , i made an Acronis image of my C:\ ( the exposed partition ) , so in the future. i will use it for recovery.

Do you think that will be ok for future recovery ?

I guess if you used the ACER recovery disks on your protected partition it 'zapped' the original content so unless you have a full drive backup on an external drive it is gone forever. Wih out the factory restore disk backup you are 'up the creek'.

I use GHOST as my drive / partition backup software. However other applications may well be as good (or better)
just make sure you can recover after the HD has been trashed 'bigtime'. Can you load Partition Magic under DOS ?. At least you need to 'secure' the disks you used to load the XP OS. Else you may be 'in the market' for a new Windows XP disc.
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post #10 of 12
1/10/06 at 6:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_Clan_Man
I guess if you used the ACER recovery disks on your protected partition it 'zapped' the original content so unless you have a full drive backup on an external drive it is gone forever. Wih out the factory restore disk backup you are 'up the creek'.

I use GHOST as my drive / partition backup software. However other applications may well be as good (or better)
just make sure you can recover after the HD has been trashed 'bigtime'. Can you load Partition Magic under DOS ?. At least you need to 'secure' the disks you used to load the XP OS. Else you may be 'in the market' for a new Windows XP disc.
I suppose what you mean by "loading partition magic under DOS" is the recovery proccess of a stand alone system .

I believe i have 'secure' my C:\ drive through making an image back up with Acronis True Image.

I donno if this works for my laptop, but i normally recovery a disc by pluging the 'trashed' HD on to a desktop. Repartition / format / set the the driver to primary with Paritition magic. Load the original disc image and restore using Acronis true image ( Norton Ghost counter part ).
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post #11 of 12
1/10/06 at 7:18pm
>>I donno if this works for my laptop, but i normally recovery a disc by pluging the 'trashed' HD on to a desktop. Repartition / format / set the the driver to primary with Paritition magic. Load the original disc image and restore using Acronis true image ( Norton Ghost counter part ). <<

Not a 'field activity' with a laptop ! (no desktop PC). It seems it would need major surgery. I guess with a laptop the target is to carry your restore disks in the form of DVD's I carry a bootable DVD with the DOS versions of Partition Magic and Ghost (my laptop does not have a floppy). A 'pocket' usb hard drive also serves as a drive security. As an ex support engineer it's 'belt & braces ! (suspenders if you are in North America).
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post #12 of 12
1/10/06 at 8:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_Clan_Man
>>I donno if this works for my laptop, but i normally recovery a disc by pluging the 'trashed' HD on to a desktop. Repartition / format / set the the driver to primary with Paritition magic. Load the original disc image and restore using Acronis true image ( Norton Ghost counter part ). <<

Not a 'field activity' with a laptop ! (no desktop PC). It seems it would need major surgery. I guess with a laptop the target is to carry your restore disks in the form of DVD's I carry a bootable DVD with the DOS versions of Partition Magic and Ghost (my laptop does not have a floppy). A 'pocket' usb hard drive also serves as a drive security. As an ex support engineer it's 'belt & braces ! (suspenders if you are in North America).
Ok , i will try to creat a rescue disc then. thanx for the advice
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