Reformat hard drive in 11.10

First you need a dvd-rom Then when starting the computer press F1 or F2 or esc to get into the bios. Set the boot order to boot from the dvd-rom first then the hard-drive. Put a windows install dvd in the dvd-rom. restart the computer. Press any key once the windows install comes up choose the partition or hard drive to format. You won't be able to format from windows directly unless it is a second partition. In the old days you could format using dos. You may be able to use a utility like Hiren's Boot CD to format

Try this method it may work.
If you can boot up with the external USB hard drive on your Acer, then use a working computer and copy the Windows installation CD onto the external hard disk then connect the USB externak hard disk to the USB port on your Acer and boot up using the external hard drive.

on the acer aspire range there should be a recovery partition hidden by turning your note book off completely then press the power button as soon as you have done this press ALT on the left hand side and keep it down while continuously tapping the F10 button "fast" as this will start the internal recovery partition, if you have formatted the hard drive and this partition does not exist anymore you can go to microsoft or a torrent site and download the correct operating system making sure it matches your Operating system genuine sticker by using this key on the back of your computer you wont have to buy a new operating system, if your hard drive has developed a fault which is the main cause of you doing this then you will have to buy a new hard drive to replace it with using the same method above if you need further help please drop me a line, If i have helped please rate me Kronoguy

It looks like there's a 500GB drive out there for it, so I'm going to guess you can at least go to 500.

Take a look at this. They guarantee 100% compatibility it seems:
http://www.comptick.com/500gb-hard-drive-acer-aspire-4520-4530-4530z-4535-4540.html

is it fit Acer BTP-60A1 battery ?

It sounds like something on the motherboard has possibly shorted out. That can range from the CPU to RAM to the DVD. If it's still under warranty I would suggest sending it in for repair.

If you do send it in, please let them know to backup your harddrive if they have to reformat and restore it for any reason. Your important files are still there and safe.

Enter in the BIOS and see in the boot order or the internal units if the dvd unit is still there. If it isn't then it's dead, replace it.
If it is then you didn't do a correct reinstall. Enter the bios again and make sure the dvd unit is the first in the boot order, boot from a Linux Live-CD like PCLinuxOS and from Computer Management/ Hard Disks  delete all partitions, format the entire disk to something else then format it again to NTFS or FAT. This is the only way you can be sure you are doing a clean install.

I am using ACER (Aspire 4520), with Windows Vista BASIC & then once i have format my laptop & install Vista Ultimate on it from that time my webcam is not appearing on desktop & I am enable to use web cam & another problem is when I have install yahoo massager that was installed on the time I start working all of the sudden it disappear plz provide me solution of this
with regard
pawan sharma

I had this problem with my Acer Aspire 5920. What I had to do was use GPLCD which is a linux utilty to format the disk as NTFS. It is available here. http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/

For me it was easy as I have another computer here. I downloaded the iso file and created a CD which is bootable.

I put it in the drive for the laptop when the computer was on, turned it off and then powered on. The cd loaded GPLCD and I selected the format disk option. NTFS was what I used.

I then put in my ACER recovery CD for the Acer Aspire 5920. All worked ok from this point onwards.

Hope this helps.

cheers

Robert
http://www.robkeating.com

Acer Aspires don't ship with Install CDs or DVDs, acer suggests that you create your own intall/backups with their empowerment utilities, I know this because I have an An Acer Aspire. A few questions if I may, first have you backed up your hard drive yet? Is there anything important on it, that if you lost it you would be upset? If so then I strongly urge you to backup any important files before you format, why is it you want to format? Please ask yourself these questions before you proceed, I don't believe any of us here would want to be responsible for showing you how to wipe out your hard drives data, so with that said I won't go any further till you have asked and answered those questions.

Hope this helps :)