Acer 6935G laptop failing to install Factory Restore Discs.

Hey Everyone,

I have an Acer 6935G laptop that has been given to me by a family member because they want it to be restored to factory default. The reserved/hidden partition on the hard drive had been removed by another person before the system was given to me, and so we had to purchase the restore discs from acer.

The OS is Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x86

After receiving the discs, i attempted to install and received a 'Restoration Failed - 0x000001d' message.

From this point, i have tried a number of different things that i thought might have been the problem preventing it from installing, but i still cannot get to the bottom of it,

Here's what i have tried so far.


Formatting the HD into NTFS via a different machine running windows.
Formatting the HD into FAT 32 via a different machine running windows.
Blanking the HD and allowing the recovery manager to format and partition the HD its self.
Ran an extended CHKDSK from a different machine, results said no problems found. SMART indicates no problems and 0 bad sectors.
Checked that the RAM is seated properly.
Tested EACH SODIMM separately and independently (1 x 1GB + 1 x 2GB - 3GB total).
Ran MemTest from a boot CD and it passed with no issues.
Checked all internal components and connections, most of which i reseated just in case.
Updated BIOS from v1.10 to v1.20.

I tried to install after each of the above tests and the install still fails with the same message and code. I contacted Acer regarding this issue and was passed from one department to another, with one stating that the error code is cause by a hardware issue, and the other saying that its a software issue.

I returned the discs to Acer for them to test and they said that they were able to successfully install windows on a test machine in their office and so they returned the discs back to me.

I have been forced to install windows 7 trial from a boot CD, which by the way installed with no issues.

Does anyone have any ideas i could try, or possible problems that could cause this issue? i personally think that its a problem with the discs but Acer keeps saying that its a hardware issue and that i would have to pay for them to inspect it, and then pay even more for them to do the installation.

Any responses would be appreciated.

Thanks.

If 7 went on it, it's not hardware.
Have you checked to ensure all the partitions are deleted... There seems to be some install issues if they aren't all gone.

thanks for the reply patonb, i used DBAN to erase the whole drive to ensure everything was removed, and then i tried all of the above in my first post, and still no luck, but acer are not being very helpful at this point, one dept says hardware, the other says software.. and because i have already sent the discs to them to be tested and they worked fine, they now want me to pay to have the system looked at even though i know there is nothing wrong with it.

even when installing win 7 trial, it listed disk 0 partition 1 as the only partition, and also the disk snap-in on compmgmt.msc listed only the one partition.

any other ideas because im all out of them at this point in time lol

thanks

I got an acer 8930g, and while I have the partion, my lastlast vista instal Io just stuck Vanilla Vista on it using the downloadable Vista Disk from a link on this site.
http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/296167-vista-iso-download.html

Try that using you key.