Medion Erazer - Think i have wiped my preinstalled windows, what are my options?

[DomF1989]

Hi Guys

I own a Medion Erazer X5361 G UK - MSN: 1002 1504 and am having a few issues, I have been trying to fix this myself for the last few days but i am all out of ideas so any advice or what my options are now would be really appreciated as if i do need to repurchase a hard drive with windows etc i would rather just know now.

I tried to reformat my pc as it hadnt had one for 2 years, i have done this before with no issues but i think this time i ticked the button on the windows recovery to clear all drives which is where i am stuck now.

The computer is factory standard and has had no modifications etc and was working fine before the reformat which i am deeply regretting doing right now.

When the computer loads i get the bleeps from the motherboard as i assume it cant detect anything to actually load but i also cant seem to get to BIOS at all, having checked the manual on the motherboard its confirming i should be clicking delete when the computer starts up but this just stays on a blank screen and cant seem to get to the BIOS at all now. https://www.ecs.com.tw/he/Product/Motherboard/B250H4-M20/overview

I downloaded the windows tool and tried creating a usb flash drive for a windows install to see if this would help but again when the USB drive is actually plugged in to the computer i get the same bleeps when pressing delete for BIOS and the same thing happens it just doesnt load anything and screen looks like its on standby.

If i turn the computer on and dont do anything i end up in a cycle of WIndows loads and i get to the Windows preparing screen but I get the same error 'The Computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click "OK" to restart the computer then restart the installation. - if you click ok or click the x to close this just restarts the cycle again.

If anyone can advise me i would be eternally grateful.

Thanks

[sweetpoison]

It's been some time since I saw a bios with "delete" key access. Most of the new machines responds to F keys (like F2, F10 or F12). Even back in the good old days F8 was also responding as choose for del key.

Unable to install might be a result of resetting HDD mode to an incompatible mode but to fix that you need to get to Bios/uefi.

 As for windows license (assuming the computer come with preinstalled OS), that is stored on HDD, microsoft account  and BIOS/uefi so any fresh install using same account and same windows edition will validate the licence.

Oh, and welcome to the forum @DomF1989 

[DomF1989]

Hi Sweet

Thanks, I had a look through the forum and found issues i pondered for ages on  years back when i first bought the machine so i wish i had signed up earlier than i have 🙂

I will go back and try all F keys to see if i can get it to boot to bios, if this doesnt work is there any other way of doing this? Also if i do get it to work with the reformat i did would i need to change a particular setting on the hard drive back or is there a standard it should be and i can check to see what changed?

Yes it was a preinstalled OS just so angry at myself for clearly disrupting the partition, i will becertainly paying more attention next time if i ever had to format.

The flash drive i made do you know if i am doing it correctly in terms of i just plug it in and it should load the windows install or do i need to be pressing anything when the computer starts?

Thanks

[sweetpoison]

As "brute force" to gain access to bios is removing the battery from MB (and hold start button for about 5 sec than put battery back). Everything have to be done while  computer is disconnected from main power system. Removing the battery will force bios in default/recover state and ask you to make the proper adjustments for date/time and other stuff. Also will say which key to press to gain access for that.

As for HDD settings... well there are 2 major protocols UEFI and LEGACY so it's kind of try thing to see which one is the right for your machine. That's usually stored in "advanced" settings HDD mode or Storage Mode.

Additional you should be able to see an option for USB drive mode (legacy/uefi) where only one mode will work properly with your USB drive.

While you are under bios interface see which key is for boot manager (an information which comes in handy from time to time).

I assume before formatting you saved your data? If so, let windows set as it wants to and once is installed you can adjust the partition size. So id windows install detects more partisions and ask which one to use select "C ONLY". Manual set is not recommended.

[Fishtown]

Hi @DomF1989 and welcome

are you doing it in the right order too?

Executing the UEFI setting

You can only run the configuration program upon system start-up. If you have already started up your PC, exit Windows® and restart your PC.Before restarting your PC, press the button Entf and hold it down until the message Entering Setup appears.

bye Fishtown

[DomF1989]

I can see the battery its located just by the graphics card so i can pull the card out and then, when you say the start button would this just be the power button for the computer?

Yes thankfully i backed up everything before going through with the format.

I tried both delete and F keys and no joy it just keeps my monitor on standby and the computer just keeps running without anything being loaded.

In terms of removing the battery just want to make sure as never had to do this before so as i remove the battery keep the button held down, place battery back after 5 seconds and then release?

thanks

[DomF1989]

Hi Fish and thanks for responding

So to make sure i am i powered down and tried holding down Delete and nothing loaded i then proceed to try this again with the F keys just to make sure but still the same.

Just to make sure i am not missing anything the Entf key is just delete?

wanted to make sure i was doing this right before i had to go through the route of removing battery from MB.

thanks again

[sweetpoison]

Yes, Entf  is delete (or del) on English keyboard.

Before going for brute fore, make sure you actually need that method. Power the computer while fast press (many times) delete key (or F* key) or just hold the key. For finding which F key you need you might try folding F1, F2, F3 and F4 at once, if nothing good comes out, reboot computer and try next block F5-F8. 

Only if not F key or Delete key is working you can go for battery. 

As for safety precaution, DISCONNECT computer (remove the power cord). Even powered down you still have power on MB and a lot of bad things can happen so to be on safe side remove the power cord. 

With a tweezers you should be able to squeeze the grip that holds the battery and the battery will just pop out. 

If you don't have enough space, yes, removing the video card will do the trick (be careful on that part to not physically damage the MB or video card). 

Just remember, all the battery remove, power button held and battery placed back are done while power cord is removed (pressing the power button helps to discharge all capacitors that might have some "juice" left).

General note

When going inside computer you have 3 mandatory conditions: "What, Why and How" you do it. It sounds like cheap corporates propaganda but missing one condition (any) can result in damage.

[DomF1989]

Thanks again, i will try all buttons first as if i can fix this without going in I totally agree i would rather not if i can avoid this.

If not i will try the battery method and let you know how that gets on.

thanks

[DomF1989]

Hi Sweet

just to update you on the situation.

- So i firstly tried all buttons holding them down and repeatedly hitting them and my findings are below.

Delete - by holding delete or repeatedly hitting stops the windows loading although thats it, computer stays on nothing on screen

F1 - F4 - holding down or repeatedly hitting the buttons did nothing and the computer proceeds on to the windows preparing screen

F5 - F6 - by holding delete or repeatedly hitting stops the windows loading although thats it, computer stays on nothing on screen

F9 - F12 - holding down did nothing but repeatedly hitting again did stop the windows screen popping up.

- i removed the battery from the motherboard with tweasers thankfully and that was pretty straight forward and left it out of the pc for a good minute, i have placed this back and the computer is no change following the exact cycle.

not sure now if it is the hard drive or if something else is wrong as its strange i cant even get to any form of BIOS at all.

let me know if any other ideas? only thing i was thinking was trying to get a windows CD and trying that although again not an option i wanted to do down.

Thanks