Need large disc support for old emachine, flash bios? or try restore cds?

Since Vista is a very old operating system you’re going to have quite a challenge finding tools that will solve your problem
- In this particular case you may want to go to a local PC repair shop that would have the old operating system discs you’ll need to restore
- From your description it is tough to figure out whether this is a software problem or if there is something physically beginning to fail on your machine but I can tell you from experience that with the machine of that era you have a hard drives that are at least 10 years old

Hi and welcome to Fixya!

In order to revert the machine back to its factory setting, you need to have the recovery disk (if you don't have it, call the warranty support line of e-machines so they can provide it to you).

To restore Windows from your recovery discs, you will need to
insert the first backup disc and enable the F12 Boot Menu via the BIOS Setup
Utility.
1 Turn on your computer and insert the first system recovery disc into the
optical disc drive. Restart your computer.
2 During startup when the eMachines logo shows, press the F2 key to enter
BIOS Setup, where you can set system parameters.
3 Use the left and right arrow keys to select the Main submenu.
4 Use the up and down arrow keys to select F12 Boot Menu.
5 Use the F5 or F6 key to change F12 Boot Menu to Enabled.
6 Press the ESC key to enter the Exit submenu, press the ENTER key to Exit
Saving Changes. Press the ENTER key again to select Yes. The system will
reboot.
7 After rebooting, when the eMachines logo shows, press the F12 key to
open the Boot Menu. Here you can select which device to boot from.
8 Use the arrow keys to select the IDE1*, then press the ENTER key. Windows
will be installed from the recovery disc.
9 Insert the second recovery disc when prompted, then follow the onscreen
prompts to complete the restore.
10 Remove the recovery disc from the optical drive once the restore is
complete. Do this before rebooting your computer.

Hope this helps!

Takasashi

I'm trying to eliminate whether this is a software or hardware issue.
Your Ps2 keyboard may have a faulty key or controller that is stopping you press F2. Uisng a USB keyboard known to be good and with USB enabled in the bios, will at least eliminate a hardware issue.
If as you suspect the restore CD is damaged (Cds last a bit longer then 2 years), I'd "borrow" a copy of a windows install cd and try that

Yes, when you use the actual discs that came with the computer you computer will be restored to normal. These Operating systems are called BIOS locked CDs, if they detect the right brand BIOS / motherboard they will install the OEM edition of the OS, hence you need not activate it or it will get activated properly.

check if the cd is the number 1 boot device

Hi,
Gateway purchased emachines a while back. Try contacting Gateway and maybe they can help you.

Hank

no you cant that restore disc has all the bios and drivers for the computer they came with if you do it will mess up the pc and nothing will operate right

Hi there.
If there is no option to press F11 as the computer starts then you are going to have to purchase a recovery disk for that machine or purchase a Windows installation disk to fully reset it to factory


Regards

Hi,

For doing a system recovery on E-machine you have to press F11 number of times at the very first boot screen then follow the procedure, and it will restore your computer back to the factory settings.
This option is available in new computers only. (2-3 years old)

it's possible that you may need to reboot your computer with your disk for your operating system