Tips for a successful reinstall of XP.

Having just had a horrible week, screwing up my software the first time I opened my AA1 and then having nothing work when I tried to reinstall, I’d like to thank everyone in this forum who tried to help me. I have finally achieved a system recovery, and gone from hating my AA1 to loving it! And, as a way of returning the favor, I’d like to write out a few things, in case any one else has the same problems. (I know one person on this forum was having the same issues I was, and who eventually just returned his. I’m too stubborn for that!)

1. If your AA1 comes with an SSD drive and recovery CD, it does not have eRecovery, no matter what the manual says. You won’t find it in the start menu, you won’t get it by hitting Alt-F10 at start up. Also doesn’t have the K power save program, so don’t look for that one, either! (Ironically, instead of an insert saying that it didn't have these programs, there was an insert saying "please use Acer eRecovery to recover your computer system, should you ever need to do so. Refer to your user's guide for details.)

2. You can not use the WinsetupfromUSB program to install the two recovery disks with a thumb drive – it is different than installing XP with a program disc on a system that had Linus. (If anyone has installed the recovery disks with this program, please correct me, and say step by step how you did it – the threads regarding this were all over the place.)

3. I went out and got an external CD drive, plugged it in, turned it on, turned my AA1 on and hit F12. The CD drive was NOT on the list of bootable options – just the SSD drive and the extra SD card. I tried this many times, with the same result, even though plugging a thumb drive in and hitting F12 showed the thumb drive in the menu. But, if you hit F2 on start up, go over to the boot order section, the CD drive shows. But...why is there always a but?... I couldn’t get the CD drive to move to the top of the list. However, I was able to move all the other choices down until the CD drive by default was on top, saved and closed, and – hallelujah – it booted to the CD drive.

So far I’ve uninstalled some bloatware, added some other programs, and it seems to be running great. So, don't give up if you are having problems -- the AA1 really is a great product for the money. That being said, I don't know if I would buy another Acer product, weighing the amount of time wasted against saving $60 on a comparable HP. If Acer could get it's act together, I think they would have a lot more repeat customers.

Heidi
Eugene, Oregon

 

To be fair to Acer, I think any laptop/netbook with out an optical drive will be problematic with out an Optical drive.

As I posted in your "need help" thread, you can get the USB to IDE adapter for $10 from newegg.com and use it to boot to. You can use any CD/DVD Rom from a desktop PC. You can also boot to external Hard Drive. And once in Windows you can use the drive of your choice to install programs or do backup. In fact, I took a spare hard drive from a desktop PC and made a mirror image of my AA1's hard drive.

Awesome little item. I have two of them and will have to take a pic with an external Hard Drive and also a CD Rom hooked up at the same time AA1, possibly the worlds smallest desktop lol

 

The AAO is a fine product. And is so so cheap for the performance/usability it gives the user. The problem here is due to it's cheap price, many beginners to PC's laptops are the target market. Thus, many will blame the product. If Acer provided more documentations, software, backup DVDs etc etc... It would have driven up the price. I've had mine since Sept 2008 and have installed uninstalled Linpus, Windows XP, Windows 7, Mandriva Linux countless of times without any issue(yeah I like experimenting on different OS'es hehe).... this is coz I know my way around computers and have worked with alot of laptops. Cheers.

 

First of all, I’m not a beginner to either laptops or to computers in general, having started working in DOS way back when. Secondly, the problem wasn’t due to cost savings supporting the cheap price, it was Acer’s carelessness in providing blatantly incorrect information with the product. For the exact same cost of the insert instructing the user to use the non-existent eRecovery program, they could have included an insert stating that the manual was wrong, and you should use the supplied discs. I don’t know how more “experience” would have helped in this situation. I stand by my assessment,that the AA1 is a great product for the money, but that Acer needs to get its act together.

Heidi

 

Here is a few pics of my AA1 as the worlds smallest desktop