Acer Europe - Windows Vista™

Quick Guide to Windows Vista™ upgrade

Q: Why cannot I find my model name in Acer Upgrade Wizard?

Q: How to free up more hard disk space?

Q: Why does Acer Upgrade Wizard require 10GB free space in system partition for a Windows upgrade?

Q: What’s the risk of a BIOS update?

Q: Why some Acer applications are not supported after I upgrade my computer to Windows Vista™?

Q: Why not backing up to a hard disk drive with Acer eRecovery Management is not recommended?

Q: There are at most three backup tools appearing on the Acer Upgrade Wizard. How should I choose from them?

Q: Does Backup Utility for Windows have any limitation?

Q: Will Acer provide technical support for the Windows upgrade?

Q: Where can I find more information about Windows Vista?

Q: Why cannot I find my model name in Acer Upgrade Wizard?

A: Acer Upgrade Wizard supports the following models. If your computer is not in the list, you can check http://global.acer.com/support/winvista/ for more support information.

Table 1. Supported notebook models

Aspire 3050

Aspire 1640Z

Aspire 1650

Aspire 1650Z

Aspire 1690

Aspire 3100

Aspire 3610

Aspire 3620

Aspire 3630

Aspire 3640

Aspire 3650

Aspire 3660

Aspire 3670

Aspire 3680

Aspire 3690

Aspire 5030

Aspire 5050

Aspire 5100

Aspire 5500

Aspire 5500Z

Aspire 5510

Aspire 5540

Aspire 5550

Aspire 5560

Aspire 5570

Aspire 5580

Aspire 5600

Aspire 5610

Aspire 5620

Aspire 5630

Aspire 5650

Aspire 5670

Aspire 5680

Aspire 7000

Aspire 7100

Aspire 9110

Aspire 9120

Aspire 9300

Aspire 9400

Aspire 9410

Aspire 9420

Aspire 9510

Aspire 9520

Aspire 9800

Aspire 9810

Extensa 3100

Extensa 4100

Extensa 6600

Ferarri 1000

Ferrarri 5000

TravelMate 2410

TravelMate 2420

TravelMate 2430

TravelMate 2440

TravelMate 2450

TravelMate 2460

TravelMate 2470

TravelMate 2480

TravelMate 3010

TravelMate 3020

TravelMate 3030

TravelMate 3210

TravelMate 3210Z

TravelMate 3220

TravelMate 3230

TravelMate 3240

TravelMate 3250

TravelMate 3260

TravelMate 3270

TravelMate 3280

TravelMate 3300

TravelMate 4020

TravelMate 4070

TravelMate 4080

TravelMate 4100

TravelMate 4150

TravelMate 4200

TravelMate 4210

TravelMate 4220

TravelMate 4230

TravelMate 4260

TravelMate 4270

TravelMate 4280

TravelMate 4600

TravelMate 4650

TravelMate 4670

TravelMate 5100

TravelMate 5110

TravelMate 5600

TravelMate 5610

TravelMate 5620

TravelMate 6410

TravelMate 6460

TravelMate 6500

TravelMate 7110

TravelMate 8100

TravelMate 8200

TravelMate 8210

TravelMate C200

TravelMate C210

TravelMate C310

Table 2. Supported desktop models

Aspire E360

Aspire E380

Aspire E500

Aspire E560

Aspire E571

Aspire E600

Aspire E650

Aspire E700

Aspire iDea 500

Aspire iDea 510

Aspire L100

Aspire L250

Aspire L300

Aspire L310

Aspire L350

Aspire SA80

Aspire SA85

Aspire T135

Aspire T136

Aspire T160

Aspire T180

Aspire T650

Aspire T660

Aspire T671

Aspire T680

Aspire T690

Veriton 3700GX

Veriton 5700GX

Veriton 7700GX

Veriton 1000

Veriton 2800

Veriton 5800

Veriton 6800

Veriton 7800

Veriton 3900Pro

Veriton 5900Pro

Veriton 6900Pro

Veriton 7900Pro

AcerPower FG

AcerPower FH

AcerPower F5

AcerPower F6

AcerPower M35

AcerPower M36

AcerPower M6

AcerPower M8

AcerPower 1000

AcerPower 2000

AcerPower S280

AcerPower S285

Q: How to free up more hard disk space?

A: You can try the following ways.

Uninstall rarely used applications from your computer.
Backup your personal files to a CD/DVD or other external media and then delete them.

Q: Why does Acer Upgrade Wizard require 1 0 GB free space in system partition for a Windows upgrade?

A: Since Windows Vista installation itself needs more than 5GB of free space in system partition, Microsoft recommends 5~10GB of free space in system partition to ensure your computer working smoothly during and after a Windows Upgrade.

Q: What’s the risk of a BIOS update?

A: If a power failure occurs during BIOS update is taking place, the computer may run into a crash and unable to boot anymore. As a result, please make sure the system is always connected to AC power supply during the process.

Q: Why some Acer applications are not supported after I upgrade my computer to Windows Vista™?

Windows Vista is a brand-new operating system that brings us many innovative and powerful features. As a leading computer manufacturer, Acer always devotes itself to deliver new technologies to our customers. For some features that were delivered by Acer and now are replaceable by Windows built-in functions, Acer decides not to port them to support Windows Vista so that we can focus on more advanced technologies. Below is a summary of Acer applications that do not support upgrading to Windows Vista.

Application name	New version reinstalled on Windows Vista™?
Acer eRecovery Management	No. The new version of Acer eRecovery Management, which is compatible with Windows Vista™, requires repartitioning your hard disc drive and thus will cause data loss. As a result, the Wizard will not re-install the new version of eRecovery on you computer under Windows Vista™. However, you will be able to find the similar features in the built-in Backup Utility of Windows Vista, including full system volume backup to a HDD or CD/DVD.
Acer eAcoustics Management	No. Windows Vista supports similar functions of eAcoustic, and therefore Acer will no longer provide this utility for Windows Vista.
Acer ePresentation Management	No. Windows Vista allows you to easily manage your external monitor settings via Mobility Center . As a result, we do not support any upgrade of Acer ePresentation Management.
Acer ePower Management	No for partial models. Due to an underlying architecture change of Windows Vista, Acer ePower Management for partial models are not able to be upgraded. However, you can easily manage your power settings via Mobility Center of Windows Vista™ instead.
Acer ePerformance Management	No for notebook models. While optimizing your system performance, it also takes a few, although not too much, system resource monitoring your system memory utilization. Since Windows Vista provides similar resource management functionality, we will no longer provide this utility for Windows Vista on notebook models.
Acer Arcade 3.x Acer eNet Management 1.x Acer eDataSecurity Management 1.x	No. Due to an underlying architecture change of Windows Vista, these applications are not able to be upgraded.

Q: Why not backing up to a hard disk drive with Acer eRecovery Management is not recommended ?

A: If you backup your system to a CD/DVD with Acer eRecovery Management, the CD/DVD will be bootable. In case your system crashes during Windows upgrade or you would like to rollback to Windows® XP after a successful upgrade, you will be able to boot your system with the CD/DVD and restore your system to the state right before the backup gets started. Otherwise, if you backup your system to another disc driver other than CD/DVD, you will have to restore your system to Windows XP

Q: There are at most three backup tools appearing on the Acer Upgrade Wizard. How should I choose from them?

A: Each of the backup tools has its functional scope. For example, Acer eRecovery Management can backup and your whole system volume, whereas NTI Backup NOW! and Backup Utility for Windows can backup your individual data files and settings. I recommend you to use all of them to backup your system before upgrading it. At least, you are highly recommended to backup your full system volume to CD/DVD with Acer eRecovery Management.

Q: Does Backup Utility for Windows have any limitation?

A: Yes. If you want to backup your files with Backup Utility for Windows to a FAT32 hard disc drive, there is a limitation of 4GB for each backup output file. That is, you have to separate your files into two or more groups and backup each group one by one, if the total size of the files you want to backup exceeds 4GB.

Q: Will Acer provide technical support for the Windows upgrade?

A: Yes. If you need technical support during your Windows upgrade, you can visit http://global.acer.com/support/winvista/ or call our customer service center.

Q: Where can I find more information about Windows Vista?

A: Here are some recommended resources about Windows Vista.

Microsoft Windows Vista website at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista

Acer’s Vista Zone at http://global.acer.com/support/winvista/