OEM partition

Octopussy

Member
I have a 10 GB OEM partition on my Acer laptop, and I was what else it does besides let the user recover the system in case they haven't got a recovery disc handy. Could I use it to reinstall Vista as well? Also, does it have the laptop's drivers and/or other hardware information stored there?
 
It's there to let you do the ultimate repair. Restore your PC to the way it was when it came out of the box.
It contains everything to set the PC up again. Windows and all the device drivers, all the OEM's utilities, and any bundled extras.
It probably has an option to let you burn the contents to a set of CD/DVDs as an alternative recovery medium, but be very sure that what you burn is bootable and complete before you decide to delete the partition to regain the space.
 
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Some OEM's have utitlity partitions on your hard drive as well. Dell for example puts on a 10gb restore partition as well as a smaller (in the mbs) utility partition that contains a hard drive copy of thier hardware diagnostics utilities.
 
I've burnt a disc using the OEM partition, but I'm still not sure as to how it's going to go about restoring my laptop to its original state. Is it basically a Vista install disc with all the necessary drivers for my laptop integrated into it?

I haven't done anything yet, by the way. I'm just trying to figure out how I can wipe my drive clean of everything besides the OEM partition and at the same time restore my laptop to factory defaults.
 
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Even if I delete the Vista partition before using the disc? I just want to be completely sure of everything before I go ahead with this.
 
I need help plz :frowning:
I have an Acer 5730 and my Acer eRecovery Management Icon is missing (it's not in the Acer Empowering Technology).
My Alt-F10 options doesn't work anymore :frowning: It takes me to a black screen that says {EDIT BOOT OPTIONS] or something like that and my D2D options are [Enabled] in the bios.
In my computer management, I have an Eisa Configuration partition and I cannot access it, When I right click there is only a [Help icon] option. When I try to access that other two Partitions, which is Acer and Data I can.
I've also tried the [DiskPart] tool to find my PQSERVICE Partition but I find something called an OEM Type Partition.... What Is That?
Info On It :
Partition 1
Type : 27
Hidden : Yes
Active : No
I don't know what to do :frowning: I'm afraid to attempt anything I don't know about because I don't want to make my computer unusable, My DVD RW drive isn't working as well because I think it's connected to the MBR somehow, that and my Recovery options aren't working anymore.
If someone can assist me in this matter I'd be truly grateful.
Plz Help.
 
I don't understand what you're trying to do. You may need to contact Acer for alternative recovery media.
 
For Acer it could be F9 to get you started. Also another trick i found when working with a lot of laptops recently is to use the F8 to get the Advanced Boot Menu. There they have the option for Repair Your Computer at the top. There they have the additional option of Factory Reset right on the Repair screen. The only manufacturer i have not seen with this option is Sony which makes you boot into Windows to use their Vaio recovery.

But doing repairs on HP, Toshiba, Compaq, Dell, Acer and Sony laptops alot over the last 2 weeks this is what i found. I have fixed at least 30 Laptops back to factory settings using this method.
 
Hi, I have a similar problem, so didn't want to make a new thread.

Because of lack of space my laptop (ACER Extensa 5220) isn't working really well and I was advised to reset it.
I've reset it before, several times. But, the Acer eRecovery Management isn't working at all for me.

When I click yes, and confirm once more I really want to reset it back to the factory settings, it just shuts off and starts up like nothing happened. Now the eRecovery factory setting isn't even possible anymore. It's made un-click able.

And alt f10 doesn't work for me, I've tried f9, which did work, and then f8 to get in the menu which shows me 5 options, but non are "restore my laptop to factory defaults".

I've been trying to figure this out for two days.

I hope you guys can help me.:smile:
 
Acer Alt-F10 also needs a BIOS option enabled (D2D I think) before it will work.
 
D2D is enabled, I disabled it as well and tried then, and tried it once more when it was enabled.

Is there maybe a command I can use in Command Prompt that can reset my laptop?
 
Can you see if you have mbrwrdos.exe and rtmbr.bin on the PQservice partition - may be in a folder called Tools or similar.

If you don't have those, do you have a folder on the recovery partition called Recovery containing winre.wim and boot.sdi?

You say F9 did work - what did it bring up?
 
I'm searching for mbrwrdos.exe and rtmbr.bin on the PQservice partition, but I'm not sure where to look, you said Tools, but my Windows isn't in English.

*Done searching, I think they disappeared:glare:. I can't find them, nor the Recovery file.:shame:

After I press F9 i get a black screen saying something about starting up the laptop, or pressing F8 for repairing, and then I see this screen, but I have Windows Vista.

W7-RE02.jpg


After this I get here:
systemrecoveryoptions.jpg


I guess, that's why it won't work, cause those files are missing right?
 
This is the Microsoft Windows repair console. Not the laptop manufacturer repair console.

I'd say contact Acer tech support and ask them how to do a factory reset.
 
You could try bypassing the MBR entirely and booting the recovery partition directly. There are several utilities that will allow you to do this, provided the partition is bootable and intact. PLoP boot CD's are around, but I'd suggest that you make this CD or USB key since it has the PLoP boot manager (which detects bootable partitions and then presents them in a boot menu) as one boot alternative. But the rest of the tools offered are all very useful, too.

*******************************************
Parted Magic disk partitoning tool (Bootable CD image)(partedmagic.com)
If you prefer a bootable USB key, download and run http://www.linuxliveusb.com/. Choose the Parted Magic distro, and it will download it and automatically create a bootable USB key.

This CD (or key) contains many useful tools. You can partition, recover files, recover lost partitions, make disk images (by several different methods), transfer files between media, scan for viruses (It can serve as an Alternative Trusted Platform for search and elimination of rootkits and bootkits), examine and benchmark hardware, access the internet, and much more.

*******************************************

Once you get your machine set up, make a disk image, or delete the recovery partition and then make a disk image. You can use the image for recovery and have the space for your system. I do this on all new machines.
 
Every make is different, but I know that I can restore my factory drivers & programs on my HP w/o doing a reinstall. Although I do prefer to do a fresh reinstall at least once a year.

For those who are considering deleting the partition, be sure to back it up first, and burn your recovery discs. There are 2 reasons that I say to backup this partition, one day you may suddenly need it. The other reason is resale. Many computer users buys new when the next version is released, and sells the one they have. For a seller, it's an advantage to have the recovery partition in place, and have the recovery discs burned. It will allow the seller to command a higher price, and the buyer has peace of mind that they have a way to restore the OS, should a problem arise.

As far as problems arising, it's not a matter of if, but when it happens. Recovery partitions & discs should never take the place of using a backup program (many of which are free), but they do make an excellent fall back option.

Cat
 
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