How do I completely wipe clean my Vista pre-loaded laptop clean and reinstall Vista?

Question

I have an Acer Aspire 5100 laptop that was pre-loaded with Vista. I have had it for only a few months. I am having some problems with it -- like it says that my modem isn't installed -- its almost like it has deleted necessary files that my devices need to run. I am thinking that if I wipe it clean it will be okay. I don't have anything completely important on there so...Can anyone tell me how to wipe it clean (reformat) it and reinstall Vista? It didn't have any discs that came with it except for some kind of anytime upgrade for Vista.

Also, I have tried to use the Acer Empowering Technology eRecovery Manager to restore it back to factory defaults, and I have tried system restore -- neither of those do anything to change it.

Answer 1

Do you have a Vista disc? If so, load the disc into the DVD tray and boot from it. The disc will walk you through reformatting and reinstallation. If you don't have the Vista disc, then I'd contact Acer since it is still under warranty.

Answer 2

Not familiar with how Vista works, but usually you can format the computer and still do a complete install off of a upgrade disk. Put in the upgrade disk and see what it tells you. If it will let you reinstall windows fresh, then do it. If it only lets you repair a previous windows installation, then do that. Like I said, I dont have vista to know what the disk will do. ADVICE:

When buying a computer, ALWAYS make sure that it comes

with a windows OS disk, NOT a recovery or setup disk. These

are useless for the purpose of doing a TRUE format and reinstall that is bound to be needed. I have to do it a couple of times each year for purposes of cleaning the junk and/or virus's off my computer. Recovery/Setup disks usually means you have a PC with proprioritory software also built into to the computer. I always have problems with upgrades and hardware with these kind of computers. That's why I got into this field, so I can build and upgrade my own computers and save more money doing it this way. If it is still under warranty, then let acer fix it. Good Luck

Answer 3

So you have a Vista Operating system and you loaded it in the computer and did a new install. You formatted and partitioned the hard drive. Then Vista load on the machine. Now where are you drivers? You got your drivers for your motherboard, the video card, the Ethernet card, the sound card? Is your internet working on the computer. Go to the Microsoft website and request updates. That will surely do it. But if the Vista disk is a counterfeit for it, no updates.

Answer 4

Your only option is to perform a clean install with windows XP and in order for you to do that you must change the boot order in the BIOS by pressing f1 and selecting it to boot to the CD then once it boots to the CD you it will ask if you wish to keep existing format at that point you choose no and reformat and that will erase vista and allow you to install XP

Good Luck

Answer 5

personally i would say screw vista and get a xp disk but if not and you have done a restore and that still doesn't help not to much is going to because all of the drivers still won't be there. first go online to see if there are updated drivers and try those many vista computers were shipped with faulty drivers thanks to microsoft being in such a rush. if that doesn't work try to contact acer or the company you bought it at(walmart and sams club will be no use to you because they don't have tech guys for that) but best buy and circuit city should be able to help you however warning they most likely will only help you if you were smart enough to purchase the service option on you computer or you are willing to pay for the service. I would personally go back to xp if you can

Answer 6

i think this program would do it



http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive-start-over.php