No hard drive letter?

klwolf1

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Hello,
i had to reinstall win 7 home prem. and had issues...from original disc from acer...now my hard disk does not have a letter? says hard disk channel 0, target 0, lun 0...have no idea what that means...
 

klwolf1

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from device mgr...i need to send it to acer anyway..i keep getting blue screen after blue screen....some say irql is not less than or equal to and a few others too....i was able to actually get on here but very unstable..also had a message that ...PCF files corrupt ...whatever that means...anyway...i am trying to figure out how to fix the registry files for errors on the c prompt but so far no luck...i dont know what to do or wht to type in at the command even to see if my files from the factory disk are even all installed...apparently something is wrong if i installed from factory and it is still blue screening...thanks for any help
 

curtis_87

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Couple o things, if you had files on the desktop and re-installed win7 then you would be logging in as a different (new users)...your files should be in the C:\Users\old.Username.

If it doesn't exist you have most likely lost your files...you could try something like "recuva" to try and get it back but chances are the data will be too badly fragmented to yield a file that's intact.

As for the error message, IRQL?..ive had IRQ not less than or equal to before but not IRQL..Is it a desktop/laptop...Have you tried hitting F8 as you boot up to go into safe mode with networking...if you can work stably from there you may have a chance at fixing it...if not make em give you another instal media.

This is an unlikely one but have you tried changing the bios settings for the controllers from IDE/Raid/AHCI..if on boot its looking for relevant drives for a particular mode,esp if the install media was tailored for it, ive noticed OS's tend to crap out,sometime you get lucky and make it to the desktop but get bad slow down and system instability other times you BSOD before it even hits the GUI.
If they used some sort of clone utility to restore an image instead of the original Win7 instal disk that could be the reason why you are having this difficulty, though QC should have picked that up before you got the computer.

If the registry is screwed up though, as you received your PC in this un-useable state (i.e it was like that before you tied a repair) send it back to them to sort out..just put any files you can recover to an external Hdd, registry problems for small stuff aint too bad to fix but something like this could take ages...
 

klwolf1

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hi, thanks for the reply...i am not worried about saving any files on this computer. I have reinstalled and restored to the factory settings like 20 times anyway...lol...i actually did purchase the restore disks from acer and it still didnt work right. i am on that computer right now but it will blue screen at any moment. and continuously freezes on internet so i have to hard shut down. i have done mem checks extended and it says its fine...who knows...also in the conflicts area it shows all kinds of conflicts when all i did was reinstall all the software to factory settings...it is quite frustrating since i dont know that much about computers to begin with. isnt there some program to run at the c prompt to fix my directory or fix registry settings...it also said something like PCF currupt...whatever that means....i will probably just send it back for them to fix since it is under warrenty but i need my computer to use for work so i am trying everything first. i can get on win normally but as i said it blue screens when ever it feels like it. also yes i have tried the f8 key and every choice in there...lol ...several times...i am relentless but getting irritated also...anywho...if there is some fix or check to see if my files are correct or directory and registry files are correct can u please advise what to type in at the prompt.

thanks for all the help

karen wolf
 

curtis_87

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OK, cause that sounds like the kinda problem that would freaking drive me nuts...

1.Threaten computer with an axe,or being thrown out of a window (am serious it sometimes helps me, and the computer behaves itself), you need to be convincing though.

2. Download recent driver for each and every device that comprises of your computer.

3. Perform a custom install, do not use Acer's recovery CD, I am sure you could find a way to obtain a copy of windows 7 that works well though i can not offer you my psersonal advice here, during the installation process of the operating system delete all partitions and let the install create a fresh one.

4. Only once the clean build is done you've reached the desktop played solitaire admired the changes and shut down and turned it back on, then start one by one installing the drivers (that you downloaded from Acers home page, you did say acer right?..)for Mboard and chipset(RAID,etc), Sata,Sound and finally graphics cards in that order...also in the mean time..

Just humour me also and see if a "live Ubuntu" cd takes you to the desktop and you are able to work stably without having something crash, .... this will basically rule out hardware vs software issues. If ubuntu is fine then the software you have been given to install is ... well... most likely pants..if ubuntu struggles or cant get to the desktop then its a definitive hardware problem, as they are very picky about RAM and CPU or anything else not working properly.
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
or try the puppy
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

much lighter download..


If that doesn't give you a stable build...i dunno... I really dont.. I just hope they havent given you a CD/DVD that restore a cloned image instead of the proper win7 install CD as that is bout the only thing I can think of that would generate random BSOD's an behave this way after that many rebuild...
If I knew your spec I could give you a rough idea how long it would take for a full install vs restoring a cloned image...hold on you say restore disk..how many, one 4gb dvd should be enough to install windows and maybe another with the drivers...
 

klwolf1

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thank u so much for the indepth reply...i will try this this weekend. i think i can handle that. i will do the unbuntu first. the disks from acer : there are several...one set up and then 4 recovery and then one lanuage disk...i have a acer aspire 5251-1513 and when i looked inside the files of the recovery disks it was listing a different computer model...whether that matters or not i do not know...i would think windows would install anyway.....i really do appreciate all of the responses...there are so many sites that just dont really respond with anything we can use....i will update u after this weekend when i try what u have above..because if it is only a software problem then i may not need to send it into acer....thanks again..

karen wolf

ps....thanks for the laugh about threatening my computer...i may throw a few swear words in to...
 

curtis_87

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The setup Dvd i have for win7 has setup.exe,bootmgr and autorun.inf file in the root, the folders included on the root of the drive are boot,efi,sources ,support, upgrade and sytem volume information,.. it sounds like you may have one of their ghost restore cds.

try what i suggested above.
At my office we bought one of their full sized PC's and the driver DVD they sent out was practiacally useless, no automation for installing device drivers, so had to sit there and install 'em one at a time, and also gues which setup was actually for a particular device. some of which didnt work at all so had to get drivers from the web site :(
 

klwolf1

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i will definately try ur fix first...then i think i will have to send it in if it does not work because i risk throwing it at a wall...lol...thank u so much for all the support

karen