Hello All. This is about an ACER ASPIRE ONE 725 Netbook I bought for my wife, now out of warranty. It's a superb small computer. I tried all the usual recovery procedures but as the HDD was not rotating, nothing like that was going to work. I kept getting the message 'no bootable device found' The BIOS listed the HDD as non-existant - no hard drive.
SO, I bought a brand new WD 750 Gig drive from the internet in sealed packaging.This is now visible in the BIOS with the correct component description. I tried to install Vista from a new 32gb USB, but as it's a copy of a recovery disk I made 8 years ago and as it's been used a few times since, I'm dubious about its quality. Anyway that didn't work.
SO, then I bought an external USB CD/DVD drive and tried the recovery disc in there. It showed an error message - 'boot manager missing'.Many attempts didn't change a thing.
SO, Then I got hold of a W8.1 disc I was told would be 'good for a re-install'. I got to the part when it wants the product key. I tried 'advanced options' and the repair and install options but nothing there works.
Now ..... MY QUESTION IS .... IS IT POSSIBLE .... to retrieve my legally-puchased original, authentic product key which came with the pre-installed version of W8 (bought from Curry's) from within the BIOS and use it to install the W8.1 disc I now have?
Apologies that my first post is so long and wordy (I am a Virgo!). I should add that I feel I don't really have the experience or confidence to get into the DOS and fiddle about in there, though at the moment my options are limited. If I bought a new, sealed copy of W8.1 from the internet would that solve my problem? Obviously there's a cost issue - I can buy a s/h Aspire for not much more than the repair shops want just to look at it. My sincere thanks in anticipation.
SO, I bought a brand new WD 750 Gig drive from the internet in sealed packaging.This is now visible in the BIOS with the correct component description. I tried to install Vista from a new 32gb USB, but as it's a copy of a recovery disk I made 8 years ago and as it's been used a few times since, I'm dubious about its quality. Anyway that didn't work.
SO, then I bought an external USB CD/DVD drive and tried the recovery disc in there. It showed an error message - 'boot manager missing'.Many attempts didn't change a thing.
SO, Then I got hold of a W8.1 disc I was told would be 'good for a re-install'. I got to the part when it wants the product key. I tried 'advanced options' and the repair and install options but nothing there works.
Now ..... MY QUESTION IS .... IS IT POSSIBLE .... to retrieve my legally-puchased original, authentic product key which came with the pre-installed version of W8 (bought from Curry's) from within the BIOS and use it to install the W8.1 disc I now have?
Apologies that my first post is so long and wordy (I am a Virgo!). I should add that I feel I don't really have the experience or confidence to get into the DOS and fiddle about in there, though at the moment my options are limited. If I bought a new, sealed copy of W8.1 from the internet would that solve my problem? Obviously there's a cost issue - I can buy a s/h Aspire for not much more than the repair shops want just to look at it. My sincere thanks in anticipation.