Laptop troubles

[Elrohir]

OK, so as anyone who read in my previous thread knows, my laptop won't read CD's - the driver is screwed up, or something, and I can't fix it. (I tried everything) So I figured I'd just copy all of my files onto my external hard drive and return the laptop to the factory settings. (By the way I have an Acer Aspire 3680, about two months old)

But there's a problem - the eRecovery program needs a password which I don't remember, and wasn't one of my normal ones. I can't figure out any way to get around this. I tried the steps outlined here, but I couldn't get past step 1 - the program they suggested doesn't work! (I signed up and downloaded it, but I get a message saying "Error 5 starting the PowerQuest Engine") OK, so I figured I'd download another partition program, but that needed a Windows service pack update, so I downloaded that and....yep - that didn't work either!

So after about three solid hours of working on this just tonight, I'm about ready to chuck the computer out the window. Is it that much to ask that I get a laptop that can actually run CD's? Or will at least cooperate when I'm trying to get rid of the problem? (And I burned the index and middle fingers on my left hand, so all this typing really sucks) Anyway, any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Is there a way to return the computer to factory settings without the password? (Without literally tossing the hard drive?) There's no mention of how to get the password or get a new one in the manual. (And yes, I know I'm an idiot for not making it "111111" or something and writing it down) Is there a way to go around it, with a partition manager or editor of some kind that actually works?

As I said, any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Go to the control panel, and click on "Printers and Other Hardware." Whether you see this or not, click on "Add Hardware." In the pop-up that appears click "Next." Once it stops scanning, click cancel, and that should do the trick. This has happened to me before, it must be some dumb windows quirk or something.

 

[Jamesds]

Go to the control panel, and click on "Printers and Other Hardware." Whether you see this or not, click on "Add Hardware." In the pop-up that appears click "Next." Once it stops scanning, click cancel, and that should do the trick. This has happened to me before, it must be some dumb windows quirk or something.

I think we should ignore the CD drive problem - his laptop is acting so weirdly, it needs a total annihilation (I mean the OS, not the laptop itself )! The windows restore should fix it, if it doesn't, the laptop better go back from whence it came - or maybe a total annihilation might be in order...

Right, you want a partition manager?
Quick search reveals one here: Easeus..., though they aren't easy to find. This one isn't "free", it is a demo but it will happily do what you need it to do.

You'll want to install it, then when open, find the menu Partitions > Advanced > Unhide, then unhide the PQSERVICE partition. If you need any help regarding this, or the other following steps on retrieving the password, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Elrohir]

Go to the control panel, and click on "Printers and Other Hardware." Whether you see this or not, click on "Add Hardware." In the pop-up that appears click "Next." Once it stops scanning, click cancel, and that should do the trick. This has happened to me before, it must be some dumb windows quirk or something.

I tried that. Didn't work.

I think we should ignore the CD drive problem - his laptop is acting so weirdly, it needs a total annihilation (I mean the OS, not the laptop itself )! The windows restore should fix it, if it doesn't, the laptop better go back from whence it came - or maybe a total annihilation might be in order...

Right, you want a partition manager?
Quick search reveals one here: Easeus..., though they aren't easy to find. This one isn't "free", it is a demo but it will happily do what you need it to do.

You'll want to install it, then when open, find the menu Partitions > Advanced > Unhide, then unhide the PQSERVICE partition. If you need any help regarding this, or the other following steps on retrieving the password, don't hesitate to ask.

That program doesn't work in Vista. I tried a couple of other programs from that site that work with Vista, but none of them seem to let me mess with the options of a current partition - make it visible, mess with the PQSERVICE part, or anything like that. (From that site, I now have the Paragon Hard Disk Manager and R-studio programs) I can delete and create new partitions, though. Would it be a good idea to just delete this partition and then make a new one? I'm afraid I might screw it up, though, and end up with a completely dead laptop without an OS at all.

Thanks for the help so far, any suggestions on what to do now?

 

[laptop support]

hi guys I'm victor_p from laptop support, I read that you encounter problem with partedit32, it's easy to fix just right click on the partedit icon go to property, then click on the compatibility tab set compatilbility to winXP or win98(it's an old software but so powerfull) and set run as an administrator. Apply et voila.
Let me know bye.

 

[Elrohir]

hi guys I'm victor_p from laptop support, I read that you encoter problem with partedit32, it's easy to fix just right click on the partedit icon go to property, then click on the compatibility tab set compatilbility to winXP or win98(it's an old software but so powerfull) and set run as an administrator. Apply et voila.
Let me know bye.

OK, I reinstalled it and I've got it open to the "Partition Table Editor" but what do I do now? All that shows is a field of boxes with numbers in them. I've got the program running, but there isn't a way to select a particular partition or mess with partition's files.

Thanks for the help though, I'm impressed that you signed up here to tell me what to do.

EDIT: I found your earlier article on the subject. When I click on type and hit "Set Type", though, the partition "pqservice" isn't on the list. I think we're almost there though.

EDIT2: I typed put 12 in the Type column, in the third row. (Replace the 07, as you said in your other article) I restarted my computer, but I still can't see the partition in my computer. I went to the BIOS and disabled D2D recovery (Again, as you said in your article) and restarted again. Again, no luck, the partition isn't visible when I go to my computer.

EDIT3: I think I finally found the the revealed partition files by manually finding it - it wasn't there before, so I'm pretty sure this was what I revealed - except there's only one file with password in the name, and it doesn't open properly with notepad, Open Office, or Wordpad. (The file name is "acer.empowering.framework.passwordsetting". That seems like that would be it, but it doesn't open with Wordpad like you said it would. Any ideas?

 

[laptop support]

Ok we are on a good way, think that you have only one hard drive, to localize your pqservice partition remember that it's the first in order(generaly)
I understand that my guide explanations are not clear the 07 is for a native ntfs partition (click on the column type and down of the window hit the button "set type" you will see a table of various partition type), the pqservice partition is a fat32 hidden partition.
you have probably set your os partition to hidden but no problem. try it again.
An other thing the restore system is supposed to work on a fat32 partition(yes it's stupid but...)
Hope that can help.

Thanks for the help though, I'm impressed that you signed up here to tell me what to do.

My site is new and there's not to much activity on my forum, so I have time to help people on other forum, this is also helpful for me as I can increase my knowledge.(sorry for my english I'm french aurevoir)

 

[Elrohir]

Ok we are on a good way, think that you have only one hard drive, to localize your pqservice partition remember that it's the first in order(generaly)
I understand that my guide explanations are not clear the 07 is for a native ntfs partition (click on the column type and down of the window hit the button "set type" you will see a table of various partition type), the pqservice partition is a fat32 hidden partition.
you have probably set your os partition to hidden but no problem. try it again.
An other thing the restore system is supposed to work on a fat32 partition(yes it's stupid but...)
Hope that can help.

I finally got everything figured out and my system back to factory conditions. Thank you very much for all your help.

My site is new and there's not to much activity on my forum, so I have time to help people on other forum, this is also helpful for me as I can increase my knowledge.(sorry for my english I'm french aurevoir)

Your English is better than my French. (It would have to be, since it's nonexistent )