Need help with formatting Acer TM 5720

[Bluetooth]

Hi all

I have bought a few vista laptops a while ago, and while i set them up perfectly the staff still dont like them etc so im being asked to format them and put windows xp on.

Now, not a problem, ive found the correct driver for the sata controller and it finds the hdd's fine, after xp gets to the part where its "copying files" im being asked for an intel matrix storage manager disk, which afaik is already in the floppy drive.

I sit there begging. pleading, and smacking the damn thing to accept the disk but nothing, ive double checked that the disk is the correct one of the chipset inside and obv it must be if xp setup is seeing the disks.

anyone got any ideas why the feck its doing this?

[FN-GM]

Have a look in the bios, there might be a setting to change how your hard drive behave. For example you might be able to put it into IDE mode.

Z

[Bluetooth]

Yea i found that option, that allowed me to get xp onto the machine etc but when it reboots to get into the GUI setup it comes up saying access is denied and setup cant continue.

[FN-GM]

Try using killdisk then install XP.

[Bluetooth]

Try using killdisk then install XP.

Killdisk? this is new to me, how does one use that?

[FN-GM]

You Download it and it completely scrubs your hard drive, it can also repair small faults on the disk.

[Bluetooth]

i dont think the hdd is the problem tho, its windows xp setup that is asking for a intel matrix storage manager disc which is in the floppy drive but wont recognize it.

are you talking about setting the disc to run in ide mode then using this killdisc and then trying the setup again?

[Bluetooth]

I have found an identical 5720 at another of my schools that has xp on it.

question:

If i do an image across the network from this laptop to the other, would the image take OK on the other and also if i formatted the other after it receives the image, will the disk work since itll have the drivers for the chipset.

[SYNACK]

Integrate the drivers into the install CD using nLite for the reinstall. It is quite possible that the textmode drivers are a bit screwy and this method will allow it to use the full proper version of the driver. This will also give your the slight speed benefits of using SATA directly rather than messing with every IO operation to convert it.

The image should work but you would need to make sure that you syspreped it and scrubbed any serial numbers and software from the other school otherwise you will breach liscences. You would also need to make sure that your imaging software supports SATA.

[Bluetooth]

you're on the right lines but i wouldnt need to do any sys prepping etc if i did it this way would i:

Lets say that laptop 1 is the xp one, and laptop 2 is the formatted non working vista one.

I would take laptop 1, run the image over the network using bartpe to laptop 2 and once the process was done this would mean both laptops are exactly the same, thus the problem with breaching of licenses.

However, since laptop 2 would now have the drivers to run xp and detect the sata hard drive, i should be able to format it and install our own version of xp correct?

[SYNACK]

I would take laptop 1, run the image over the network using bartpe to laptop 2 and once the process was done this would mean both laptops are exactly the same, thus the problem with breaching of licenses.

However, since laptop 2 would now have the drivers to run xp and detect the sata hard drive, i should be able to format it and install our own version of xp correct?

If you format it after the imaging it will wipe the drivers and stuff that you copied over anyway. By syspreping the image it will reset the machine SIDs and allow you to change the serial key used. There are other apps that will allow you to reset the SIDs and change the cd keys if it is a volume liscence copy.

It would be much quicker to simply integrate the driver into an install disk with nLite, probably half an hour worth of time to copy the contents of the cd, integrate the driver and burn it back to the CD.

Also make sure that you integrate the drivers from the F6 Intel SATA Disk Utility from here Acer Europe - Service & Support, Drivers & Utilities, Downloads, Notebook, TravelMate 5720 so that it grabs the textmode ones.

[Bluetooth]

Ok im having a bash with this nlite stuff.

lets see how this goes.

So with this nlite software i can just customize the xp cd to have the drivers in already and then just run the xp cd like i normally would just without the FDD?

[Bluetooth]

Ok im having a bash with this nlite stuff.

lets see how this goes.

So with this nlite software i can just customize the xp cd to have the drivers in already and then just run the xp cd like i normally would just without the FDD?

Crash and burn.

I used nlite, selected the driver from the floppy drive, selected the relevant chipset etc, finished nlite, burnt the cd, put the cd into the laptop and...

"setyup cannot find any hard disks in this machine" blah blah

nearly ready to cry now.

[SYNACK]

Umm, possibly integrate the AHCI and chipset drivers as well if you have not already done so as the AHCI ones may be needed. Also check that everything is still enabled and set to SATA native mode in the BIOS.

[Bluetooth]

Thanks Sy, after much messing about and fiddling with nlite, i got it working.

Am replying to you now from the laptop, thankfully got all the drivers working.

Have you ever heard of acer laptops overheating when you revert them back to xp from vista due to the ePower sofware not working correctly? read it while searching the internet with this problem.