Cannot restore Acer Travelmate 290?

Question

Pressing alt+F10 does'nt work, during startup.

But i think the D and hidden partions are ok. is there another way to start the recovery utility?

Answer 1

First thing to do is to backup the data on it.  You can do that with a Knoppix CD from here:

http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index...

You will also need some kind of USB device to copy data onto.  There are other tools like Knoppix, such as BART, if you prefer.

Then try to restore by booting to your Restore CD.  If you no longer have it, then get a replacement from Acer.  You may also need your Windows CD, so get that too while you're at it.  

If restore simply won't work, then hey, at least you got your data.  You can reinstall Windows without worry.  

But before you go that far, try running a check disk from the Windows CD, and also a fixboot (or is it bootfix?)  You will find info on these on the microsoft website under "Recovery Console."