I repaired an Acer 5542 laptop because it was infected with some sort of rootkit that the owner had managed to get.
[It is generally a good idea not to run the system as the administrator... which allowed it to get furthor into the system]
First I tried the usual... Spybot S&D, Mbam etc... that did not work, [I downloaded the programs using another computer and to make sure it was not infected as well - scanned with a/v- tested clean.]
Installed spybot, tried running it- it had a warning message come up, your system may be infected.. well I knew that- had it try to scan the system to remove the problem.. it failed.
[I copied the installer from a dvd to the hard drive- checked the md5 of both files- the one on the disc was correct- the other was not.] I already had the any important data already backed up... well before the computer was infected.
Decided to go ahead and format it, using the Windows 7 installer and have it install Home Premium x64 [has MS COA].. completes the format gets to the 'Expanding files... was at 90% error 0x80070570.. very common error..
Tried the same disc in virtual box... it worked. Tried downloading a disc image from Digital River and burn and 2.4x.. also failed.
Virtual Box- »
www.virtualbox.org/Ordered the factory restore set from Acer.. it failed to restore- error 'WIMApplyImage cannot apply image'. [Acers recovery program had copied the 3rd dvd to the hard drive when it errored out.
Using Virtual Box [with Windows 7 64 OS.] on 32 bit host.. I ran the restore and it worked.. Installed True Image +Plus Pack- had it backup to a 16 gig usb flash drive, and make it bootable. [
Ran the TI restore on the laptop.. it worked [used the univarsal restore- due to numerous hardware diffrences.] The system detected the hardware and set it up..
The real rant is that the Acer eRecovery program [which is MS Windows PE based btw] doesn't always work- The real credit goes to Acronis True Image.. which works more often then Acers own recovery! I will however be recommending people use True Image..
