How to restore to factory, a Gateway or Acer laptop when Alt-F10 will not work.
This is a tutorial on how to deal with SWM files, WIM files, and the IMAGEX command.
The Gateway brand is now owned by Acer. These instructions should work for either brand.
I acquired a Gateway laptop. Model NV55C. Also known as model PEW91. There was already factory installed Win 7 Home Premium plus software and personal data of the original owner. I wanted to do a factor restore.
Normally on the Gateway laptop, Recovery Mode is entered at startup by pressing Alt-F10. Unfortunately it did not work on this laptop. I do not know why. I would get the [/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN] thing.
I remove the disc drive from the laptop and connect it to a desktop computer as a secondary drive. This way I have the power of Window and other tools. It makes things much easier. I use Partition Magic to view and alter disc partitions. It is from Easeus software. It is very powerful and also free. Highly recommended.
Partition Magic shows the drive is partitioned into 3. All 3 are primary (not extended) partitions. The first is the restore partition, labeled "PQService", 13 GB. Next is a small partition labeled "System Reserved", only 100 MB. Last is the main (primary) partition, no label. This takes up the rest of the disc drive. None of the partitions have drive letters, and therefore they are invisible to Windows. With Partition Magic, I arbitrarily assign the restore partition drive letter P: and the main partition the drive letter Q: Once the partitions have drive letters, you can examine their contents with Windows Explorer.
The Restore Partitions on some other brands will contained a large WIM file. It will be several gigabytes. The big WIM file contains the entire factory set up in compressed form. On Dell computers, the restore partition contains FACTORY.WIM. On HP computers, there is BASE.WIM. The may be some small WIM files to make other things, like WinPE discs. Ignore those. On this Gateway laptop, there was no big WIM file.
There is a directory call D2D. In that directory the were 2 sub directories called Images and Patch. In the D2D\Images directory, there are 130 files that started with the name, POP010BY0OX01C21, and had the extension of SWM. All of the SWM files have to be merged to create the all important WIM file. I believe the SWM file names are specific for this model. Different models will have different SWM file names.
IMAGEX.EXE is a program from Microsoft that is used for both merging SWM files into WIM files and for decompressing WIM files into factory restore partitions.
IMAGEX.EXE can be downloaded from several places, including Microsoft. It is also present on the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) disc. There is both a 32 bit and a 64 bit versions of IMAGEX, but sure to use the correct one. In this case, it was the 64 bit version.
When IMAGEX merges all of the SWM files in a big WIM file. You need a big space to put the WIM file. It will be around 6.5 GB. You could use a thumb drive. I decided to use the computer disc drive. I used Partition Magic to shrink the size of the primary partition about 20 GB (actually 10 GB would have worked). I then created a 20 GB extended partition in that free space and assigned it letter R: . I copied IMAGEX.EXE to drive R and create a target directory called INSTALL.
To review: We have Partition 1, the restore partition, letter P. Partition 2, the tiny "System Reserve" partition. Partition 3, the primary partition, letter Q. The extended partition, letter R, to hold IMAGEX.EXE and the yet to be created WIM file.
I want to merge all the SWM files into a single WIM file called INSTALL.WIM and store that WIM file in the E:\Install directory on the extended partition. From Accessories, Launch "Command Prompt" as administrator. At the DOS command line. Type:
R:\imagex.exe /ref p:\d2d\images\POP010BY0OX01C21*.swm /check /export p:\d2d\images\POP010BY0OX01C21.swm * R:\install\install.wim
The * is a wild card. Your SWM files may have a different name. Change the command accordingly. Syntax is critical. If all goes will, it takes about 20 minutes. It produced R:\Install\INSTALL.WIM. The file size was 6.5 GB.
Now the WIM file has to be decompressed to create the factory setup on the primary drive. Again, IMAGEX is used.
I removed the disc drive from the desk top computer and placed it back into the NV55C laptop. I start the laptop with the Microsoft Repair CD. It takes a while to load. First screen asks what type of keyboard you use. Select and hit next. Next, "System Recovery Options". Select "Use Recovery Tools that can Help Fix Problems..." and hit next. Select "Command Prompt". You will get a DOS window.
When the disc drive in placed back in the laptop and the computer is started with the Windows Repair CD, the drive letters change. In my case "System Reserved" is now C:\, the extended partition is D:\, the main partition is E:\ and recovery partition "PQService" is F:\. Yours drive letters might be different. Check the drive letter and adjust the following command accordingly before launching the command.
At the DOS prompt. Enter a command like this.
[source drive]:\imagex /apply [source drive]:\[WIM file] 1 [target drive]:\
Source is where the imagex and WIM reside. Target is the drive where the factory partition is going to be built.
In my case, the command looked like this:
D:\imagex /apply D:\install\install.wim 1 E:\
If you did everything correctly, a factory partition will be rebuilt on E:\. It takes about 20 minutes to complete.
When it is complete, remove the Windows Repair Disc and restart the computer.
If all went well, you should be a Windows 7 first start up. It takes about 20 minutes and several automatic restarts to get everything installed.
The drive letters will change again. The primary partition will be C:\ and the Recovery Partition and System Reserve Partition will have no drive letter and will not be visible to Windows Explorer. If you want to remove the extended partition created earlier, you can do it with Partition Magic. I would suggest saving the INSTALL.WIN file in case you need to do a factory restore again in the future.
If the new setup will not start, try to fix the partition with the "Windows Repair CD". At the "System Recovery Options", select "System Repair". When it is complete, remove the CD and restart. Hopefully that did the trick. If not, the next step is the FIXBOOT command. If it comes to that, please refer to the many online explanations of how to use it.
As a courtesy to the original owner, I wiped the main partition to removed all of the prior personal data prior to installing the factory reset.
/www.hirensbootcd.org/files/Hirens.BootCD.15.2.zip) copy and paste into browser if clicking doesn't work.
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