76 replies to this topic

[Lee]

No. 1 is the correct option and if it didn't work, something I think is corrupted in the MBR (master boot record). GRUB possibly has something to do with it or maybe there was a Malware problem from the past that effected it.

[Ztruker]

I'd try the Recovery again, picking #1 and see what happens. Make a note of everything you click on and post that info here if it fails again. Making the recovery partition the only Active partition won't help as it will take you to the same screen of choices. If #1 - Restore to Factory Settings doesn't work then try setting the Windows 7 partition as Active and see if it boot. I suspect GRUB is going to get in the way though and the only real way to get this working is to do a Clean Install using the downloaded iso image from the link I provided. Create a bootable flash drive as described and do a Clean Install, deleting ALL partitions so you get rid of GRUB and everything else that is currently there. But, you must have a valid Windows 7 key or this will not work.

[Adasha]

Whoa.... Wait a minute... Look what came up!!!!

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[Adasha]

I picked no. 2.... How can I ever thank you guys enough?!?!?!

[Lee]

Well done Adasha Windows Vista. Vista has improved to a fairly decent OS since it was first introduced. Need to do a Windows update and I'm sure you will get some advice about removing GRUB and all other pesky partitions except the 10GB eRecovery partition. RAM must have been upgraded in that netbook model at some time to 2GB, which is good news.

Edited by Lee, 18 March 2013 - 01:59 PM.

[Adasha]

It's on 65 of 82 updates now....

[Adasha]

What can I put on that jump drive in case this happens again?

[Lee]

What can I put on that jump drive in case this happens again?

Create a bootable rescue USB.

The thing top do is to create a clone image ISO of your Vista OS (about 10GB in size) and place it in the 111.89GB Extended partition using Macrium Reflect free imaging software. The ISO will include all your updates, personal data and settings. Then instead of the Macrium Reflect rescue disk usually used to restore that ISO photo image, you create a bootable rescue USB that will do the same thing.

It is a lot easier than it sounds and we can tell you how to do that.

1

As to the other small Linux partitions and GRUB, I'm sure Terry can advise on how to get rid of them.

[terry1966]

I've been following this thread and have a suggestion. Since the recovery (PQSEVICE) partition is still there, why not try making it the only active partition.

step 5 in earlier post.

I don't know how you make a partition Active and make any others inactive using Linux. Also not sure if GRUB will get in the way, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Sounds like a good plan if Terry knows how to do that in Linux, but GRUB could be a problem (?)

grub is not a problem, and we'd just of used fdisk to change the active partition.

Well done Adasha woot.gif clap.gif woot.gif clap.gif

+1

What can I put on that jump drive in case this happens again?

you don't need anything on the jump drive for now, you can format it in windows now and use it for transferring files etc.

the problem should never occur again unless you install an os that overwrites the mbr,

please can you clarify a few things for me adasha before you go.

1:- after you first tried to do the restore and got into problems did the alt+f10 just give you the grub error you mentioned (like i thought) or has it always brought up the recovery options?
2:- after you'd installed suse and when first booting the netbook did it bring up a menu screen at all, before going to the desktop?

also i'd really like to have a look at your partition table again if you don't mind, there may still be some partitions left on there that could be removed.
the easiest way i know to do this is to boot the jump drive one last time into the suse live os, DON'T INSTALL ANYTHING, just run the live os.

when at the desktop.
1: click on the green icon bottom left corner
2: click on terminal
3: in the black box that opens type

fdisk -l

4: post screen shot please.

same thing you did earlier in post 29.



excellent advice from lee, but i'd also make an image of the restore partition in case the hard drive ever failed and store it in at least 2 separate places NOT on the hard drive in the netbook.

As to the other small Linux partitions and GRUB, I'm sure Terry can advise on how to get rid of them.

no idea what partitions are there or not now lee, they won't look anything like what's in that pic tho that's for sure and why i want to check them.

Edited by terry1966, 18 March 2013 - 11:23 PM.

[terry1966]

I'd try the Recovery again, picking #1 and see what happens. Make a note of everything you click on and post that info here if it fails again.

Making the recovery partition the only Active partition won't help as it will take you to the same screen of choices. If #1 - Restore to Factory Settings doesn't work then try setting the Windows 7 partition as Active and see if it boot.

I suspect GRUB is going to get in the way though and the only real way to get this working is to do a Clean Install using the downloaded iso image from the link I provided. Create a bootable flash drive as described and do a Clean Install, deleting ALL partitions so you get rid of GRUB and everything else that is currently there.

But, you must have a valid Windows 7 key or this will not work.

there are a number of reasons why a recovery will fail the main one i've come across is because the image needed 2 partitions of a certain size to be on the hard drive before it will work. and until we installed suse there were only the 110gb windows partition and a 2gb swap partition on there. so maybe the 2gb partition wasn't large enough for the image to work when adasha tried doing a restore the first time and got the problems.

i'd never recommend anyone delete a recovery partition, the data to fix any/all problems is there.

if someone has put grub on the mbr during an install(which they shouldn't) the mbr file is on the recovery partition and can be accessed and written back to the mbr so everything will work correctly again, not always easy but if i can do it anyone can.

when linux is installed usually grub/grub2 is placed on the root partition and that partition made the boot(active) partition and why it shouldn't affect any restore options like alt+f10 (wasn't always this way).

to both lee and ztruker
in adashas screenshot there's a windows anytime upgrade option, i guess that's how win7 was on there and i guess it is a free upgrade, so do you think it's worth using it after we've checked the partition tables and corrected everything?


to adasha
beside the first screenshot i've asked to see in my above post can you also take another of yasts partitioner.
here's those instructions again for that.

1:- click on the green icon(kickoff application launcher) in corner bottom left.
2:- mouse over to Computer at the bottom in the popup window.
3:- mouse up to YaST (Control Centre) at the top of the window and click on it.
4:- in the new window that opened click on System (on the left)
5:- click on Partitioner (on the right)
6:- a new window will open with a warning box in front of it, just click Yes for the warning.
7:- after a second or so the window will fill with info, just maximise the new window and post a picture of it, please.

change nothing here at the moment just close all the open windows.

so that's 2 screenshots i'd like to see now,
one like in post 44 and one like in post 29 please.

[Lee]

to both lee and ztruker
in adashas screenshot there's a windows anytime upgrade option, i guess that's how win7 was on there and i guess it is a free upgrade, so do you think it's worth using it after we've checked the partition tables and corrected everything?

No, not a good idea

For starters it is not free and ...

Vista's Anytime Upgrade Is An Every-Time Hassle

Upgrading to Windows 7: Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7

Windows Vista Anytime Upgrade – How to Upgrade Edition Guide and Price

[terry1966]

i thought it might have been one of those free upgrades you sometimes got if you bought a machine during a certain period before/just after the next os came out.

[Adasha]

I just did 44 updates over two days. I'm good with just vista and all works, but it's very slow. Could that be why the other things need to be removed? I'm scared to boot it with anything else or even breathe wrong on it. I definitely want to have a bootable windows recovery. And I don't understand 45% of what y'all talk about, so step by step of what I need to do and why is awesome!

[terry1966]

it's probably just slow because it's running vista on hardware that is just up to the job, and why someone put linux on there in the first place, linux generally runs better on lower spec'd hardware, i doubt anything else we do will speed things up much for you. the reason i want to see the partition table is because there was 20GB of unused hard drive space before the extended partition. i also want to see what if any linux partitions it deleted or used when it did the factory restore, worst case scenario is it only used the 20GB partition for user data so there is also at least another 110GB of unused/unallocated hard drive space. nothing i've ask for will stop the windows recovery Alt+F10 from working now. booting the live usb you made doesn't touch the hard drive, unless you make a mistake and tell it to install or change something (and even then you usually get a chance to stop it before any changes are made to the hard drive.) it runs only in memory, so doesn't change anything about how the netbook works when the jump drive is not plugged in and booted. (great for security and some online banks like you to use live usbs because the passwords are not saved anywhere on a hard drive and are gone as soon as you power off the pc.) the things i'm interested in can be changed at a later date if you find your running out of hard drive space by some windows software without using any live usb like suse kde. so it's completely up to you, if your happy with the way things stand then that's totally fine. just post a screen shot of your "my computer" screen showing the hard drives please. for now that will do just fine and give me some idea what the restore did and a rough idea of what if any unused space may still be on there.. happy computing. you could probably speed things up a little by stopping any un-needed startup items, i'd think there are quite a few acer programs running at the moment that are un-needed and maybe 1 or 2 windows services but i'll let the windows experts like lee and ztruker advise you on those things.

Edited by terry1966, 20 March 2013 - 04:57 PM.

[Lee]

I'm good with just vista and all works, but it's very slow.

The simple way to speed up the netbook is to start by doing a bit of Vista housekeeping. Removing some of the junk programs that inevitably the netbook came with and that are eating up your computer's limited resources making the whole experience rather slow.

You could start by removing the main offenders, McAfee Internet Security Suite (you don't need or want it and a simple, free anti-virus can be installed later) and Microsoft Office (if still in trial mode) unless you intend to buy it. Both programs are resource hogs your system cannot afford to support.

I'm sure there is plenty of other garbage on the PC too that can be either removed from the PC or at least disabled from the startup menu, especially any program with the name "Acer" in it. All computer manufacturers load up their PCs with what is known as junkware or bloatware that eat up resources, which is the last thing you should tolerate unless it's something you really want or the PC needs.

1. Most programs can be removed by using Vista's "add and remove programs" but I wouldn't try it with McAfee.
Just download this small program to desktop: McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool
Double-click the download to run it and do or touch nothing until it displays The machine must reboot to complete the un-installation. Reboot now? [y.n]
· Press Y on the keyboard.

All of McAfee will now be gone and the above uninstall program can now be deleted.

2. To remove Microsoft Office, type into the Start menu search pane add and remove programs. Scroll down to Office and click on "uninstall".

3. Type into the Start menu search pane Disk Cleanup so you can free-up disk space and delete unnecessary files.

4. Download and install Avira Free Anti-virus.

5. The next thing to do to speed and tidy up Vista is to defrag. your C: partition. Go to start / type in Disk defragmenter
and defrag. with the program that opens after clicking on it.

After doing the 5 steps above, we can then move on to sorting out your startup menu, so that only programs that need to boot at start-up, do so. This is a simple process and along with what I have already advised, will free up PC resources and speed up your PC experience a lot.

PS edit to add additional info.

Edited by Lee, 21 March 2013 - 11:12 PM.