Asus Laptop X553 Recovery

I'm trying to take this laptop back to its factory setting in order to sell it but I'm having a few problems, mainly down to an oversight but hopefully it's retrievable.

According to the manual pressing F9 during boot should load the recovery partition, but nothing happens. (I think it's due to the device having Windows 8 on it initially and being upgraded to Windows 10). The alternative is to download Asus recovery in Windows 10, and run it from there.

All of this was working successfully and I watched the drive format to 100%. I had to go out so I plugged the mains charger in before I left by which time Windows had installed 2%. When I returned, the laptop was off and upon inspection I realised that the plug wasn't pushed together correctly and it went flat during the installation.

I thought I could just turn on and continue, but it says there was an unexpected shut down and I need to run the installation again. Problem is I can't as it was from Windows.

In the options menu I chose to format the partition containing Windows only so the recovery section must still be there. How do I now boot into it?

If you ran the laptop with Windows 10 for a certain amount of time your Windows 8 disc (if you even got one) won't work.. I know that may sound a bit irrelevant but I didn't want you spending ages trying to find a Win 8 ISO.

Usually when things go tits up you need either a disc or other media. I suggest downloading the Win 10 ISO from Microsoft and booting from it and reinstalling. - Sorry, to add, put it on a USB stick. They do an app that does all the work for you.

The recovery options should all be a part of the installer tbh and it will seek out and detect any previous installs. Of course that won't matter if you are selling it, just reinstall the OS from scratch as the key is stored in your laptop's bios so you shouldn't even need one. It should just install on and activate automatically

HTH !

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

^ start with that

AlienALX said:

If you ran the laptop with Windows 10 for a certain amount of time your Windows 8 disc (if you even got one) won't work.. I know that may sound a bit irrelevant but I didn't want you spending ages trying to find a Win 8 ISO.

Usually when things go tits up you need either a disc or other media. I suggest downloading the Win 10 ISO from Microsoft and booting from it and reinstalling. - Sorry, to add, put it on a USB stick. They do an app that does all the work for you.

The recovery options should all be a part of the installer tbh and it will seek out and detect any previous installs. Of course that won't matter if you are selling it, just reinstall the OS from scratch as the key is stored in your laptop's bios so you shouldn't even need one. It should just install on and activate automatically

HTH !

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

^ start with that

Click to expand...

You can still use a valid Windows 8 install to upgrade to 10.
Just so much easier and faster to do it with the tool you linked.

NeverBackDown said:

You can still use a valid Windows 8 install to upgrade to 10.
Just so much easier and faster to do it with the tool you linked.

Click to expand...

On my OEM Windows 8 I could not even install it any more once I had spent a few months on 10. The serial did not work and the install would stop when it asked for one.

So yeah, Windows 8 should be out of the equation completely now and he will need a 10 installer

OP - sorry mate I can smell my dinner and it's making me forgetful you can build a 10 USB installer on any PC. Just download that file with a 8gb memory stick in the thing and it will build you an installer

As I have a Windows 10 USB stick I used for my desktop PC, can I use this or do I have to download a new version ISO from the website still?

Will the laptop key still initialise from that?

Airwaves said:

As I have a Windows 10 USB stick I used for my desktop PC, can I use this or do I have to download a new version ISO from the website still?

Will the laptop key still initialise from that?

Click to expand...

You should be ok if the windows10 you downloaded for your desktop is the same version and arch 64bit most probably....
The windows serial is embedded in the uefi however even if re-installing the setup will autoactivate windows for your after the installation, even if you delete all partitions on your drive. just click I dont have a key during the install phase

AlienALX said:

On my OEM Windows 8 I could not even install it any more once I had spent a few months on 10. The serial did not work and the install would stop when it asked for one.

So yeah, Windows 8 should be out of the equation completely now and he will need a 10 installer

Click to expand...

Still works everytime I try it.

Thelosouvlakia said:

You should be ok if the windows10 you downloaded for your desktop is the same version and arch 64bit most probably....
The windows serial is embedded in the uefi however even if re-installing the setup will autoactivate windows for your after the installation, even if you delete all partitions on your drive. just click I dont have a key during the install phase

Click to expand...

Yeah, what he said.
Once you have W10 activated and it's genuine, you can reinstall the OS and it'll stay genuine. I've done it before, so no worries, it'll work so long as it's genuine before reinstalling.

This is far more promblematic than I first imagined - How do I boot from USB? The boot menu and option only gives me the choice of Windows Boot Manager. I can add others but what's the path I need to add?

Did you use the link above to download Windows 10?
If so it should just be a regular OS install, as if it was the first time.

Yeah I've got the download file and put it onto a USB, problem is I can't get it to boot from it. It gives me just Windows Boot Manager which just tries to load the unfinished configuration and that's all.

In the BIOS under boot you can select nothing else to boot from. You can add a new boot device but it asks you for a path for it?

Airwaves said:

Yeah I've got the download file and put it onto a USB, problem is I can't get it to boot from it. It gives me just Windows Boot Manager which just tries to load the unfinished configuration and that's all.

In the BIOS under boot you can select nothing else to boot from. You can add a new boot device but it asks you for a path for it?

Click to expand...

Firstly try and boot from the stick using a PC. If it works you can rule out the stick not being done properly.

Then if you can not find it in bios for booting try and select a path that has USB in it when it asks you to browse or whatever.

Also it may be a good idea to Google your laptop model number and "Boot from USB stick" in one sentence.

AlienALX said:

Firstly try and boot from the stick using a PC. If it works you can rule out the stick not being done properly.

Then if you can not find it in bios for booting try and select a path that has USB in it when it asks you to browse or whatever.

Also it may be a good idea to Google your laptop model number and "Boot from USB stick" in one sentence.

Click to expand...

Right after a few BIOS changes its booting from USB. When the list of partitions displays, it lists around four different options but two are to small. The sizeable ones are marked "DATA" and "OS". The recovery is also present.

Shall I try and keep some intact or just format them all and start from scratch? I think I'm stressing to much but I assuming if I'm trading it in they would want all the bundled software present and an out the box state?

Just wipe the lot dude. Otherwise they may still be able to access your data. One thing I do when I buy a PC or laptop is root through it looking for bad stuff haha.

TBH I would rather buy a laptop/PC with a clean install of Win 10 and nothing else than one loaded down with bloatware and crap.

You can delete all the partitions you want, then make a new volume, just keep the default value (it's the highest amount), then create a partition.
It will then automatically create the files you just deleted, this time they are empty. Windows requires these for protection reasons (like logs)

Edit: didn't read the part that said you are turning it in. I'd still do my method. It'll clean it as much as you can(you can do more but it's a lot of effort for little gain)

Thanks for the assistance guys, Windows has successfully installed. I wasn't asked for a serial key during the installation process so I assume everything's fine on that score?

I didn't add my internet so it's currently searching for drivers on it's own.

Airwaves said:

Thanks for the assistance guys, Windows has successfully installed. I wasn't asked for a serial key during the installation process so I assume everything's fine on that score?

I didn't add my internet so it's currently searching for drivers on it's own.

Click to expand...

Yes it's fine. Windows 10 integrates with your bios so you don't need to install the key more than the one time

Glad you got it there, and you're very welcome dude. Makes a nice change some one actually saying thank you

All done and dusted now. Having said that, I got my cash, went to the bank to deposit it using one of those machines, and the money jammed the machine and they needed to put it out of action for the day! Apparently it will get resolved and I'll get the money in my account tomorrow morning.

Nothing is ever simple!

Really? Thanking someone costs nothing. So...thanks again.

NeverBackDown said:

Still works everytime I try it.

Click to expand...

Then you have a retail license with more than one activation.

AlienALX said:

Then you have a retail license with more than one activation.

Click to expand...

No it only counts one. Can do it as much as you want, once the hardware is certified on there servers with your OS, it just checks the server if you exist, if you do already, it activates genuinely. Trust me that's how it works. Read it everywhere online or take my advice as I've done this plenty of times.

NeverBackDown said:

No it only counts one. Can do it as much as you want, once the hardware is certified on there servers with your OS, it just checks the server if you exist, if you do already, it activates genuinely. Trust me that's how it works. Read it everywhere online or take my advice as I've done this plenty of times.

Click to expand...

It doesn't work like that with all copies of Windows, dude.

Example -

My Alienware came pre installed with Windows 8.1. I had to install it myself off the bat because they had installed it to the 2tb HDD and I wanted it on my Asus RAIDR.

So I fitted my drive and installed 8.1. No serial needed, it is on the motherboard so it just goes straight in. I then reinstalled it a couple of months later. Same procedure.

I then upgrade the rig to Windows 10 and use it for about nine months before I get stuck on and older version of 10 that refused to update and wanted me to reinstall (yeah, as you can tell I was overjoyed with this..).

I thought to myself "chuff it, I fancy going back to 8.1. CBA with all of this reinstalling if the version of 10 is old etc".

So I put in the disc (8.1) and started the installer. I got to the point of activation and it asked me for a serial. There was absolutely no way to skip this. I searched around the internet on my other PC (because I could not even get Windows on the rig) and apparently the key for your Windows install on a Dell (so also Alienware) is SLIC in the bios. You never get a physical key. Once you upgrade to Windows 10 and use it for a certain amount of time Microsoft disable your old key. So you can not use it in anything but Windows 10 again.

Eventually I figured out that I needed to actually reinstall 10. Stuck it on a USB stick and bingo bongo, installed straight on and was activated before it even got an internet connection.

So as I said, you must not be running an OEM version of 10 if it allows you to also still use any other OS. Either that or you simply haven't used it long enough for M$ to disable your old serial.

With OEM licenses you get one and that's it, and you don't even get it on a sticker any more. It's all automated and in the bios.