Crashed hard drive

the software suite isn't working? sometimes the installed apps may save a basic copy of the install app on your hard drive. however, you may still need the activation code in order to use the app in question.
also why do you need to do a system restore in the first place? did one of your apps crash on you? this would simple if that is the case, simply re-install that app, however, if is just the power dvd 5 then please search for your software cd's. you know those music cd holders work wonders for holding your computer software cd's too! i have 2x 300 cd holder books that i use for keeping all of my computer software cd's in. just mark the cd holder book for computer cd's only that way nothing else gets put into the cd holder book.
hope this was some help. have a gr8 day

Hi

I hope i am assumming that your emachine is an acer if so i think you can do this

start
all programs
acer
acer recovery
in there it should give you a few options to :-
restore back to factory settings
re install applications
and burn a recovery disk normally about 3 dvd,s
also to burn an applications disk 1 dvd

this is really worth doing because sometimes ones hard drive will crash
losing you the ability to then restore your operating system onto a new hard drive

please if you have the option do this before you try the restore
also try to save anything that you may of put onto your laptop that you want or need to keep
either burn them to disk or copy onto a pendrive or spare usb hard drive

also i think there may be an option to get into the recovery consol by
pressing the power up key as well as F10
some laptops are power key+alt+F10

good luck
please let us know if this has helped you
so that we may be able to help others

many thanks

many thanks

make sure that all files and folders are saved to an external storage device as it indicates a problem hard drive -----
first----

go to system manager and run the disc rescue operation
you could also try going back to an earlier restore point Suggest about 1 week before problem started and restore the system
both are in the operating system and doesn't require any external programs

Your hard drive is / has crashed.

You'll need to swap it out with a new one.

Here's a guide.

ANY 500gb SATA 2.5 drive will work. Best Buy is selling a 320gb Western Digital right now for $49.99

Hope this info helps ;)

Do you need anything that is stored on the crashed hard drive? If so, you need to get an adapter for the drive and connect it to a desktop pc as the 'd:' disk. then copy any files you can access that you need saved.
Re-install the drive into the laptop, use "FDISK /MBR" from a floppy drive or a USB drive set up as a boot disk to re-partition it, and install the master boot record, and then boot the CDrom to install your operating system afresh.
The error message you are getting is caused by the 'restore' program trying to use the C: disk programs, and they are not there. I think you may have a bad hard drive, as usually the programs will be found.
You need to find out if the disk is really really bad or just needs to be re-formatted. Follow the above steps to determine if you need a new drive or not.
tom

Yes, but it will erase any personal data you have. Let me know if there is data to save and I will give more suggestions.

Your hard drive is probably crashing or has crashed. You need to start your computer with an XP CD and try to use the repair function. You'll be able to tell if the hard drive is still working or not once you run the repair function. Let me know what happens or if you run into any problems.

No, but it would be MUCH better to just REFORMAT it. Reformating it would just erase your entire hard drive

If your hard drive is big enough try using Partition Magic unless you already have another partition. You can send your most important things like music, pictures and docs to the other partition. Then do a reinstall only on the C partition. Doing a system restore is drastic anyway putting your computer back as the day you bought it.
Viruses are great for messing up window system files and settings which without proper virus removal software, re-installation of the most practical partition (C) is the one to target your repairs to. This case most likely being reinstalling windows which by default is only on C. Be careful of your choices when choosing which partition to delete and reinstall. Pick only C. leaving (x) where that means your other partitions, alone.

Couldn't find the hard drive or the DVD drive? If it's the hard drive then the crash was due to a hard drive failure and the hard drive will have to be replaced. If it's the DVD drive, you will need to get a floppy for it and flash the bios in order for the machine to recognize the DVD drive again.