I have an ACER Aspire One Netbook (under warranty) which I just received back from ACER technicians with a new harddrive. I need to burn a Factory Default Recovery disc as those don’t come with the netbook. My external optical harddrive does not work but ACER said that I could burn the disc using my Dell PC DVD burner (NEC DVD+ -RW ND-6650A) via a USB-to-USB cable connection.
I didn’t have the correct cable so rushed to Radio Shack and purchased a Gigaware USB Transfer Cable which comes with built-in “EasySuite” software.
I connected one end of the cable into my PC. My computer signaled (down in the taskbar) that it had found a new driver and then after a few moments said it was ready to use. A few seconds later the BSOD appeared. I tried plugging it in several different times (using either end of the cable) and each time received the BSOD.
I’ve left a voice mail with the manufacturer but have yet to receive a call back. I’m getting ready for a trip and would really like to burn the recovery disc before installing additional software to the ACER.
The BSOD screen had a bunch of text on it, but I only jotted down this portion:
I pulled the cable out and then rebooted the PC. Towards the end of the reboot the Microsoft window appeared informing me a critical error occurred and did I want to send the error message to MS. Here is info from that:
The system has recovered from a serious error. A log of this error has been created.
Microsoft error signature:
BCCode : 100000d0 BCP1 : 00002859 BCP2: 00000002 BCP3: 00000001
BCP4 : 80548169 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 3_0 Product : 256_1
To view technical information about the error report, click here.
Error Report Contents
The following files will be included in this error report:
C:\DOCUME~1\ROSALY~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1e7d.dir00\Mini020111-03.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\ROSALY~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1e7d.dir00\sysdata.xml
My PC info:
Dell XPS 200
Windows XP Media Center Edition SP3
DXC051 Intel ®
Pentium ® D CPU 2.80GHz
2.79 GHz
1GB RAM
Physical Address Extension
Harddrive 54.9GB used; 14.8 GB free (69.7 GB capacity)
Would appreciate any help you might be able to provide in getting this cleared up.
Ok. Lets break this down into its components as there are several issues here to discuss.
First, it doesn't matter what software you install on your Acer. The software that creates the recovery media is using an image that is saved on the computer to the best of my knowledge. It isn't taking the state of the computer as it is NOW. Its the original installation as it came from the manufacturer regardless of what you install on it prior to making the discs.
Next, the software is designed to burn directly to a CD/DVD drive. I have NO IDEA why Acer would even suggest that you could do this via a usb-to-usb cable. They might have something up their sleeves but this sounds like one of the most ridiculous things i've heard in a while. If it could be done it would require advanced technical knowledge and specialized software and there's no way an Acer technician has a clue about that. This type of cable is for transferring files from computer to computer. All the built in recovery software I have seen wants direct access to a CD/DVD drive to burn discs. You're not going to get that through a USB to USB cable. The thing that would work is an external CD/DVD drive plugged in via USB. And that very well might be what they were referring to, while only half understanding what they were reading themselves (becasue we know that they aren't real technicians). Here's some information I found that applies to you: http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1154693
Last, it does appear you are having some driver issues with the cable. But because I don't see any possible way that it is going to work, you don't need to worry about it. Take the cable back to Radio shack. Replace it with an external CD/DVD burner. And, if that is too expensive, buy it, use it, then take it back. Otherwise, contact Acer and find out why they didn't have the foresight to provide you with a valid means of making recovery media on a computer that doesn't have a DVD burner, and then suggest that they send you the recovery discs through the mail instead, for FREE, which should be included anyways, if they thought about it for even 2 seconds.
The final thing I want to say is that the recovery media is really only needed if the built in recovery partition gets corrupted, or the hard drive goes bad. If this happens you are probably going to require more advanced technical support to change the hard drive, and if that is the case, any repair shop that does that job for you can recover the laptop WITHOUT your recovery media. For all other purposes, you can just initiate the built in recovery procedure using the built in recovery partition and no discs are needed.
Hi Ken,
Thanks for setting me straight about this…I feel a little stupid for actually believing the guy
Will take back the cable and purchase a new external CD/DVD burner as I will need a CD drive anyway to load other software programs onto the ACER as those programs are on CDs. It annoys me that the ACER external harddrive that I purchased at the same time as the ACER over a year and a half ago no longer works (no longer under warranty either). Shouldn't external drives last longer than that??
I certainly did not mean to make you "feel stupid." I really meant to say that the Acer technician is probably stupid, rather than right.
You are relying on them to give you accurate information.
Purchasing an external DVD burner will resolve your issues, and as you have found out, a CD/DVD drive is quite a necessity. Netbooks, to be frank, are really only meant for getting on the internet.
It annoys me that the ACER external harddrive that I purchased at the same time as the ACER over a year and a half ago no longer works (no longer under warranty either). Shouldn't external drives last longer than that??
Yes if it has had "normal use" then 18 months life span is not good….. irrespective of warranty its worth going back to Acer and asking for the situation to be reviewed at senior level…they might just agree to help but please dont get your hopes up!
Just some extra thoughts for you….
1 Have you tested the External CD/DVD drive in different machines?
2 Do other USB devices work in your USB ports, ( try different ports, and disconnect anything else connected via USB and never plug in a CD/DVD drive via an unpowered hub.
3 Have you tried switching to an known good working USB cable? (only applicable if the cable is NOT hardwired into the DVD drive)
4 External CD/DVD drives are now very inexpensive but before buying a new one (around GBP£19 or say USD $28 try and borrow one from a chum and if you can borrow one with its own power supply (AC adapter or power brick) that might be helpful….as sometimes the USB ports on Netbooks do not deliver the power required to run some CD/DVD drives that do not have an external power supply.
I maintain a number of Acer Netbooks for various firms and charities, and as well as making the Recovery Discs for them I always take disc images of the current hard drives Including their recovery partitions….. this disc image is done when all required software has been loaded, configurations correctly set up and running fast and smoothly, updated, virus free, junk files deleted and defragged,
but before ithere has been time to mess it up!
These disc images are then kept on external hard drives with a bootable CD and with an extra copy kept safely off site.
Acronis V10 and earlier is good for this also Paragon but for a free one Macrrium also can do the job…. Dont forget that an unverified disc image is taking a great risk always verify them….
Hope this helps
Regards
paws
It annoys me that the ACER external harddrive that I purchased at the same time as the ACER over a year and a half ago no longer works (no longer under warranty either). Shouldn't external drives last longer than that??
Yes if it has had "normal use" then 18 months life span is not good….. irrespective of warranty its worth going back to Acer and asking for the situation to be reviewed at senior level…they might just agree to help but please dont get your hopes up!
Just some extra thoughts for you….
1 Have you tested the External CD/DVD drive in different machines?
2 Do other USB devices work in your USB ports, ( try different ports, and disconnect anything else connected via USB and never plug in a CD/DVD drive via an unpowered hub.
3 Have you tried switching to an known good working USB cable? (only applicable if the cable is NOT hardwired into the DVD drive)
4 External CD/DVD drives are now very inexpensive but before buying a new one (around GBP£19 or say USD $28 try and borrow one from a chum and if you can borrow one with its own power supply (AC adapter or power brick) that might be helpful….as sometimes the USB ports on Netbooks do not deliver the power required to run some CD/DVD drives that do not have an external power supply.
I maintain a number of Acer Netbooks for various firms and charities, and as well as making the Recovery Discs for them I always take disc images of the current hard drives Including their recovery partitions….. this disc image is done when all required software has been loaded, configurations correctly set up and running fast and smoothly, updated, virus free, junk files deleted and defragged,
but before ithere has been time to mess it up!
These disc images are then kept on external hard drives with a bootable CD and with an extra copy kept safely off site.
Acronis V10 and earlier is good for this also Paragon but for a free one Macrrium also can do the job…. Dont forget that an unverified disc image is taking a great risk always verify them….
Hope this helps
Regards
paws
It annoys me that the ACER external harddrive that I purchased at the same time as the ACER over a year and a half ago no longer works (no longer under warranty either). Shouldn't external drives last longer than that??
Yes if it has had "normal use" then 18 months life span is not good….. irrespective of warranty its worth going back to Acer and asking for the situation to be reviewed at senior level…they might just agree to help but please dont get your hopes up!
Just some extra thoughts for you….
1 Have you tested the External CD/DVD drive in different machines?
2 Do other USB devices work in your USB ports, ( try different ports, and disconnect anything else connected via USB and never plug in a CD/DVD drive via an unpowered hub.
3 Have you tried switching to an known good working USB cable? (only applicable if the cable is NOT hardwired into the DVD drive)
4 External CD/DVD drives are now very inexpensive but before buying a new one (around GBP£19 or say USD $28 try and borrow one from a chum and if you can borrow one with its own power supply (AC adapter or power brick) that might be helpful….as sometimes the USB ports on Netbooks do not deliver the power required to run some CD/DVD drives that do not have an external power supply.
I maintain a number of Acer Netbooks for various firms and charities, and as well as making the Recovery Discs for them I always take disc images of the current hard drives Including their recovery partitions….. this disc image is done when all required software has been loaded, configurations correctly set up and running fast and smoothly, updated, virus free, junk files deleted and defragged,
but before ithere has been time to mess it up!
These disc images are then kept on external hard drives with a bootable CD and with an extra copy kept safely off site.
Acronis V10 and earlier is good for this also Paragon but for a free one Macrrium also can do the job…. Dont forget that an unverified disc image is taking a great risk always verify them….
Hope this helps
Regards
paws
Hello Paws
I purchased my first computer, an IBM PC-1 in 1985. I moved my data as I upgraded my computers, each time making backups. In 2000, my current hard drive crashed. I had 5 NTI backups, all stated that that backup was verified. Not one backup worked. All was lost. 4 years later, the second one crashed and the same result, 4 more years lost.
I was intrigued by your last statement in the above message and have a question. How does one verify a backup or image?
Thank you for your time and trouble and I await your answer with bated breath.
Nailhead56
I purchased my first computer, an IBM PC-1 in 1985. I moved my data as I upgraded my computers, each time making backups. In 2000, my current hard drive crashed. I had 5 NTI backups, all stated that that backup was verified. Not one backup worked. All was lost. 4 years later, the second one crashed and the same result, 4 more years lost.
I was intrigued by your last statement in the above message and have a question. How does one verify a backup or image?
Thank you for your time and trouble and I await your answer with bated breath.
Paws has been a strong advocate of .iso backup for quite a long time.
Here's what I do for verification.
I keep spare Hard Drives for use as needed to produce the System Restoration.
Having an ".iso backup" and not knowing whether or not it will actually restore the system, is too much "blind faith" for me.
While it may take an hour on newer machines, and a few hours on older machines to configure and save the .iso backup, it generally takes only 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes to actually restore it.
Having been a volunteer fixer-upper in my local community for several years, I've accumulated the expected stack of extra hardware, including hard drives, so I usually have the necessary ide/ATA or SATA (both 3.5 and 2.5 form factor) hard drive that I can quickly pop into a machine and run the bootable rescue disk to access the saved .iso image and "restore" from my recently created .iso file.
Seeing it actually "work" is a great encouragement, and sufficient "verification" for me.
Off topic, once restored, I replace the original HD back into the machine, and wipe the spare using D-ban and then reformat, so that my spares are always available.
Also off-topic, I don't have, nor do I expect to immediately invest in an assortment of SSD hard drives. and I haven't yet tackled a situation where the C:\ drive was on SSD.
Actually, I have my first such machine today. Should be a fine adventure.
PS edit: I'll have to learn to type two-handed as you beat me to it Doug, but with a much fuller answer.
Hello Paws
I was intrigued by your last statement in the above message and have a question. How does one verify a backup or image?
Thank you for your time and trouble and I await your answer with bated breath.
Nailhead56
I'm sure Paws won't mind if I answer this one.
All imaging software has a "verify image" feature. But I guess your next question will be "how does one verify a verified image"?
Try it out and see if it works. You can breath again now
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Will take back the cable and purchase a new external CD/DVD burner as I will need a CD drive anyway to load other software programs onto the ACER as those programs are on CDs. It annoys me that the ACER external harddrive that I purchased at the same time as the ACER over a year and a half ago no longer works (no longer under warranty either). Shouldn't external drives last longer than that??
