How does a pqservice partition work?

Question

Hello everyone,  Could someone knowledgeable provide an explanation of how a PC with a pqservice type partition works, allowing restoration of the main partition? Let’s take the case of an ACER PC running Vista: it has a hidden pqservice partition, a main partition (C), and an extended partition (D). An ACER software, erecovery, is able to back up the C partition into a hidden file on the D partition and restore this C partition by rebooting into the hidden pqservice partition. During boot, you can even force the boot into pqservice partition and launch the erecovery software by pressing the Alt F10 key. How does all this work? Where is the MBR? In the hidden partition, or before the three partitions? Who intercepts the Alt F10 command? The BIOS? Another program launched before or after the BIOS? What is the structure of the boot description file: boot.ini or bcdcfg under Vista? Why doesn’t the pqservice partition have an associated letter like C or D? How does the erecovery program running under Windows force a boot on the hidden partition? Can this be done manually? Is the erecovery program duplicated in the pqservice partition? How does the e-recovery program know the list of past backups? By checking D? Dozens of users complain they can no longer initiate restoration with Alt F10 at boot. What could be the cause of this functionality loss? A change in the MBR? The boot.ini or bcdcfg?  It would be great if someone who understands how all this works could explain it to others...  Denis

DJ*costa · Accepted Answer

Hi Denis, hi guys!
I came across this and I see how Rems-15 responds, who certainly doesn't know any more than you on the subject; he certainly has his preferences. Personally, I love Acer, but I wouldn't go so far as to criticize another brand unless I'm sure of one of its issues.
I hope it's not too late for your response. Here's how to restore the Alt+F10 function!!!
Best regards
Dj*costa
Programmer.

Without a recovery CD/eRecovery/password/ALT+F10 or F10 keys

1 - Data recovery from the hidden PQSERVICE partition for the password

A - Install the R-Drive Image software to create an image of this partition (this file will have the .ARC extension)
B - Still using this software, create a virtual logic disk to view the files
C - From the workstation, go to the newly created virtual disk and find the aimdrs.dat file. Open it with Notepad and recover the password.
D - The factory default password is 6 times the digit "0".
2 - Reactivate the ALT+F10 function

A - Still on the created virtual disk, find the 2 following files: mbrwrwin.exe and rtmbr.bin/.
B - Copy these 2 files to the C:\ drive
C - From the MS-DOS command prompt (Windows accessory) on C:\, type the following command: mbrwrwin install rtmbr.bin
D - The function has been reactivated.

3 - Launching the restoration

A - At startup, go into set-up to check if the D2D function is set to ENABLED (normally, this is a default setting... but you never know.)
B - Once the verification is done and the PC has rebooted, as soon as the ACER logo appears, press ALT+F10 simultaneously to launch the restoration utility.
C - When it asks for the password, type the one found in the aimdrs.dat file. WARNING: the keyboard is in QWERTY mode, so you think you're typing your password, but since some letters are inverted, it won't work. If there's no numeric keypad, in QWERTY mode, no need to use the SHIFT key, just press the number!!!

4 - Normally at this stage... everything works and the restoration proceeds without any issues.

Note: If the operating system isn't working, it is possible to perform this operation from another PC by connecting the hard drive as a slave or via USB.

anon · Answer

Whoa, that's a lot of questions. To determine the answers, we would need to have the machine on hand to perform the necessary tests and diagnostics.

Blindly, I would say this:
- the MBR is probably in the usual location of the MBR
- the alt-F10 command is being intercepted by an interrupt (IRQ)

Denis · Answer

OK but who intercepts this interrupt? The boot program pointed to by the MBR?
And where is this program? Outside the partition? On the recovery partition PQService, on partition C, or on data partition D?
That was one of my questions?
In fact, I am trying to understand why dozens of users of Acer or Compaq PCs lose the boot functionality on the recovery partition by pressing a key combination
Where can we define or redefine this combination?
If someone could point me to a tutorial on the subject, that would be nice.

Denis

Denis · Answer

Thank you very much, DJ Costa, for these precise and clear answers. I will try to find this functionality on my PC starting tomorrow.  Denis

crakosor · Answer

Hello,
I just tried this method on an Acer 1355 LC and I can't find the mentioned files! This must be normal because I'm not on Vista but XP.
I explain my problem: I formatted the C partition following a system bug and I installed the official Windows XP from my unused desktop computer.

I want to return to factory settings and I don't have the restoration CDs since they weren't created before the formatting. However, I have the hidden Acer partition.
How can I create restoration CDs from there or boot from this hidden partition?

Thank you for your help.

Marakima · Answer

Hello,
I have a small problem and I would appreciate it if someone could help me. Here it is:

I have an Acer Aspire 2920 laptop with Vista,
what I did was install an Ubuntu Ultimate 1.6 DVD that formatted the entire PC, and I believe it even wiped the PQservice partition, because when I tried to restore the PC to its original state with the recovery DVDs, I received a message:
an error window: No partition available

So, did I lose the PQservice partition? Is it not possible to recover the original state??

Thank you in advance!!

Damdam · Answer

Thank you, DJ Costa, your trick works like a charm!  I can finally go to bed after 3 days of struggle!!

tybeau · Answer

Hello,

I have an ACER Aspire 5720G with Vista 32bits. I want to perform a factory reset.
I don't have any installation or recovery CDs for anything.

Can I have the step-by-step process please?

Thank you

tip2chato · Answer

Salut à tous !! Je suis très content de moi car j'ai trouvé le fichier aimdrs.dat à l'aide du logiciel EaseUS Partition Manager !! J'ai créé la partition PQService en appuyant sur Copy Disk Wizard puis dans Poste de travail... PQ Service (A:) normalement... il est ici !!

ZADELINE · Answer

acer aspire4530 Read page 31 of the Acer guide on system restoration (reformatting) without recovery CDs.

trixo · Answer

Hello,

Personally, I have a DOT009 from Packard Bell (identical to an Acer Aspire A150), but it has a PQSERVICE partition. When trying to reformat, I encountered the problem: ALT+F10 didn't start the restoration from the hidden partition...

I then used R-drive image to display the files from this hidden partition and saw that there was a bootmgr (a file that makes a partition bootable) but no files as described in the tutorial mentioned here.
I then had the idea to use diskpart to make this partition active (to boot the PC from it) by doing:

run: diskpart
then in diskpart:
sel disk 0
sel part 1
active

sel part 1 selects partition 1, which is the unknown one. If you don't know its number, you can do "list part" instead to see which one is unknown and then "sel part ...".

I restarted, and my recovery partition launched itself (I also pressed ALT+F10 at the POST screen (Packard Bell written in large on a pink background) just in case).

I was able to start my recovery, and everything is back to normal!

Of course, you can use diskpart by booting into DOS or Windows XP.

vigipirate · Answer

Hello
seriously, you don't even answer the first question asked
nonsense
we're asking for help on how the pqservice partition works with several questions and you respond with nonsense, read the first question before answering backwards grrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bobbypointe · Answer

For my part, having big installation problems on Vista, I had to activate the PQservice partition, turn the PC off and on, and there you go, the factory reset started.
The F10 or Alt+F10 didn't work.
I activated the partition with the easeus software.
There are some that work under DOS, in case of boot issues.

yethi · Answer

Hello everyone

machine: ACER E380 - Windows XP

after applying DJ COSTA and CRACOSOR's method, I managed to recover the PQSERVICE partition, reinstalled ALT F10, and performed the factory restore,

so far so good

but at the end of the restore it reboots and then I get a message "verify DMI pool data" followed by some weird characters (that I don't even know how to type on the keyboard) and it freezes

However, the machine is strictly original (I'm the one who ripped the warranty sticker)

What should I do????

thanks in advance

ania92i · Answer

I have a problem; I burned my CD with the R-Drive Image software on DJ Costa's recommendations, but my CD does not contain the aimdrs.dat file
nor the mbrwrwin.exe and rtmbr.bin files.
I have the files: rmconfig.bin; kernel; rmpcard.bin; rmusb.bin; rmother.bin; rmscsi.bin; rootfs.

So what do I do!
It's very urgent because due to my problem, I have no sound anymore.

Arno59 · Answer

Hello,

Have you resolved this issue?

I'm trying to recover data from a partition deleted by the Windows 7 system.

The laptop Acer Aspire 5536 had 3 partitions, and due to a bug, the partition containing Windows & the data is inaccessible??

Here are the names of the partitions:

- PQSERVICE
- SYSTEM
- [ACER]: the one containing the data

I'm attempting a recovery, but I don't have a recovery DVD; I tried using the recovery partition, but it crashes?

I used the GPARTED 0.11 software, I can see the 3 partitions, but how do I restore the data on the [ACER] partition?

Thank you in advance

--

Open source responds to the freedom of choice for consumers in the 21st century.

dd01 · Answer

thank you to trixo, his solution works very well on Packard Bell PCs the diskpart commands are select disk 0 (enter) select partition 1 (enter) active (enter)

Pabo · Answer

Thank you Trixo!  You took a huge thorn out of my side!  Worked for recovering an Acer 6930G without CD/F10.

Queener · Answer

Thanks to DJ*costa, October 16, 2008 at 02:10
it's this method with R-drive that allowed me to recover my password - originally 000000, but I had indeed changed it during a backup with Acer eRecovery (except that I had forgotten about that). I didn’t go through step 2 - Reactivating the ALT+F10 function, since it was already working.
At first, I thought it was some kind of hacking or nasty virus. Then that this PQSERVICE partition was damaged. I tried a ton of manipulations. Nothing. Then I followed this method and... bingo, I am in the process of recovering my Vista and its factory default settings. The installation is underway. I hope to be able to reinstall everything - drivers, programs, etc. Yes! it works - everything is fine. Come on! don’t lose hope, I had just been struggling for 3 days on this Vista reinstallation...

Aucun · Answer

Is it possible to recreate the PQSERVICE partition? I formatted and deleted this partition.

Nero-déçu · Answer

For my part, I had accepted the update for Nero which requires uninstalling the existing version and then restarting to install the update; however, upon restarting, the installation did NOT finish.  So thanks to r-drive image and 7-zip, I was able to create the image, mount it as a virtual disk, and browse the folders of the image to reinstall the original Nero.  I think this is intentional to push users who trusted the update to purchase the full version, which is still 10% of the price of the PC!!!  I'm not saying this lightly, but while looking for a solution, I came across many people experiencing this problem...

juliendu58 · Answer

Hello, I have an ASUS laptop. Does anyone know how to adapt the method for Acer laptops to the ASUS brand, please? It seems that it's the file names that change. Thank you in advance.

How does a pqservice partition work?

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