Replacing HDD with Advanced format HDD

[tlaybourn]

Hello

I have a problem replacing a drive in an Acer laptop.

Customer brought me a Acer Aspire 5732Z Windows 7 netbook with IE funnies and a problem installing SP1.

sfc /scannow failed.
Drive failed extended test in Gsmartcontrol.

As drive is not completely broken I clone without problem to WD3200BVT 320GB and reboot on the new drive.
I decide to do a Windows 7 upgrade install over the existing installation using a std Windows 7 DVD.

During the reboot stage I get the message "Windows Setup could not configure Windows on this computer's hardware". Looks like KB2466753 indicates the problem with an out of date RST driver and Advanced Format.

Sure enough when I attempt to clean install Windows 7 from the DVD it only works when I install the latest Intel RST driver at install time.
Problem with this is the licence key is worn away on the COA sticker, so can't stay with this.

Other things tried:
Clean install from recovery partition, same error.
Used WD Align after re-cloning to no avail.
Also tried upgrade install with W7 SP1 DVD, same error.

Any ideas how to get a good copy of Windows 7 back on this laptop?

Thanks.

 

[mikeroq]

If you still have the old HDD install intact, you can pull the product key.

Use Recover Keys, KeyFinder, etc.

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugex...94,d.b2U&fp=ade9e698f573dc00&biw=1920&bih=933

 

[tlaybourn]

I actually did that before I started but its the bulk key they use in the factory.
(there's a name for it but I can't recall).

Therefore it won't activate a plain Windows 7 DVD.

 

[mikeroq]

You can buy yourself an ACER Win7 restore disc. OR

You can work around it and use the extracted key from the OS install
You can extract/use the SLP/SLIC information from the old install to make a disc
http://reboot.pro/topic/16578-oem-product-activation-clearing-the-crapware/

Or you can try to use the recovery partition on the HDD to reimage the drive. I am not sure how Acer does it, but Dell uses .WIM images for this operation. You can run imagex to apply the image to the HDD. Boot up a WinPE disc and make the recovery partition visable/assign a letter (if it is already not) and then use imagex. You can slave this drive to your PC and check out the partition beforehand and see if they have a .WIM file.

 

[tlaybourn]

OK, thanks for the link will try tomorrow.

 

[PC Ops]

If you're still able to boot the old drive (virtual or real) then you can easily backup the activation files and product key using Advanced Token Manager. Easy and swift.
Use the backup function on the old drive and after you're done installing on the new drive, use the restore function.

Found an easy 'how to' guide here.

Used it several times on machines with worn COA's myself.

Hope this helps

 

[DocGreen]

If you're still able to boot the old drive (virtual or real) then you can easily backup the activation files and product key using Advanced Token Manager. Easy and swift.
Use the backup function on the old drive and after your done installing on the new drive, use the restore function.

Found an easy 'how to' guide here.

Used it several times on machines with worn COA's myself.

Hope this helps

+1! I'll have to add that to my toolkit

 

[mikeroq]

If you're still able to boot the old drive (virtual or real) then you can easily backup the activation files and product key using Advanced Token Manager. Easy and swift.
Use the backup function on the old drive and after you're done installing on the new drive, use the restore function.

Found an easy 'how to' guide here.

Used it several times on machines with worn COA's myself.

Hope this helps

Well you just make things too easy!

 

[frodo7200]

+1! Nice find PC Ops!

 

[PC Ops]

In all fairness: I learned about ATM here on TN, in the repair tool section.

 

[johnrobert]

Does this work for Windows 8 activation backup

 

[brandonkick]

If you're still able to boot the old drive (virtual or real) then you can easily backup the activation files and product key using Advanced Token Manager. Easy and swift.
Use the backup function on the old drive and after you're done installing on the new drive, use the restore function.

Found an easy 'how to' guide here.

Used it several times on machines with worn COA's myself.

Hope this helps

Awesome! Thanks!

Does this work for Windows 8 activation backup

Windows 8 stores its product information in the BIOS. All you need to do is reinstall the operating system and it will activate. This is unless you installed an OEM copy. An end user most of the time wouldn't have done this them selves. I don't know how to get a product key out of an OEM install.

There is a tool that I THINK can do it, but it's similar to the microsoft office 2010 toolkit and the user who posted that got a ton of crap about it before people realized it had functionality that could be used for legal and helpful purposes. Pretty sure the tool I'm thinking of fit's that same bill

 

[tlaybourn]

I eventually managed to fix the notebook:

Repair (upgrade) install using original HDD and retail DVD, having used Advanced Token Manager to backup and restore the activation stuff.
Cloned original HDD to new HDD.
At some stage the new Intel RST driver has to be manually loaded. If this is not done then Windows Update will not run on the new advanced format HDD?!? (true).
Ran updates OK.

Of course if the original HDD was failing badly I wouldn't have been able to do step 1.

BTW I found that if I did a clean install using the Windows 7 retail DVD then the restore of the Advanced Token Manager would not work.

 

[PC Ops]

BTW I found that if I did a clean install using the Windows 7 retail DVD then the restore of the Advanced Token Manager would not work.

Very strange. I have a 100% success rate with ATM Don't give up on it yet. Next time you need it it'll probably work out fine.

Thanks for posting your solution BTW