[SOLVED] I think I just bricked my netbook...

[ozzy_7]

Ok, I really fudged up this time.

I was attempting to downgrade from Windows 10 Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate on my Acer TravelMate B-115M. I'd done it several times before on different PCs, laptops and netbooks. I wanted to do as fresh and clean of an install I could do, so I chose "Format" on both Disk Partition 1 and 2.

Turns out the netbook has eMMC storage, which I failed to remember. I can't install Windows 7 because the "next" option is greyed-out for both partitions.

To make matters worse, I pretty much deleted the system recovery files I thought were just drivers I could re-install after downgrading. When I boot the netbook, it says "Remove disks or other media. Press any key to restart." After hitting a key, the following message appears:

Intel UNDI. PXE-2.1 (build 083)

Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Series v2.59 (01/13/14)
PXE-E61 : Media test failure, check cable

PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key

Any guidance or advice will be much appreciated, and I apologize in advance if I've posted this in the wrong forum. 👽

 

[RealBeast]

I would make a Windows 7 installer stick using Rufus and a USB 2.0 USB drive.

Then I would do a custom install deleting any existing partitions prior to installing on one of the HDDs as the OS drive (ignoring the eMMC as they are not W7 friendly and would need some kind of RAID driver that was probably never made for that device as it came with W8.1, although perhaps an Intel driver would work to set up the cache).

You may need to disable secure boot prior to the install following THESE Acer instructions.

You will also need to download all the W7x64 drivers from the Acer support site, and I suggest doing it using another machine before you start to make it convenient.

 

[ozzy_7]

I would make a Windows 7 installer stick using Rufus and a USB 2.0 USB drive.

Then I would do a custom install deleting any existing partitions prior to installing on one of the HDDs as the OS drive (ignoring the eMMC as they are not W7 friendly and would need some kind of RAID driver that was probably never made for that device as it came with W8.1, although perhaps an Intel driver would work to set up the cache).

You may need to disable secure boot prior to the install following THESE Acer instructions.

You will also need to download all the W7x64 drivers from the Acer support site, and I suggest doing it using another machine before you start to make it convenient.

Thanks for your reply!

I was able to install it after switching format partition type to GPT from MBR on Rufus. That was basically all I had to do lol. Everything is running smooth now, thank God

Thanks again for your response, much appreciated 🙂