Fujitsu Lifebook A512 Help Needed

[Yesevil]

Hello all,

I'm after a bit of advice if anybody can help. My friend was given a Fujitsu Lifebook A512 by a family member that he wishes to refurb for his daughter to use for school work, and he has asked me to take a look at it.

He did not get the recovery disc with the laptop and I would like to do a fresh/clean install, without the disc I am struggling to access the recovery partition. The laptop is running Windows 8.1.
Can I access the recovery section of the HDD from the bios?

My only other option would be to try and reformat and put one of my older versions of Windows 7 on (legit copies).

Any other ideas?

Many Thanks in advance

 

[kurosagi01]

Should be able to boot the recovery partition if you know the boot setup key for the laptop, if that don't work then you should be able to create a bootable USB with windows 8.1 which you should be able to get from Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows8ISO

Edit:
Optionally I would recommend your friend that he spend bit of money and get a SSD and replace the HDD to help speed the laptop for his daughter as it will improve the experience with the better boot time and loading applications etc.

 

[coupe69]

Presumably you've tried this?

Using the Recovery Partition
Step 1
Reboot or turn on your Fujitsu Lifebook and press "F12" when the Fujitsu logo appears.

Step 2
Highlight "Recovery and Utility" using your arrow keys and press "Enter." If this options does not appear, you have to recover directly from the recovery disc.

Step 3
Select a new keyboard layout on the first screen that appears, if your preferred keyboard is not already selected. Click "Next." Select "Use recovery tools...," and "Next" on the "Operating System" dialog screen. Enter your password, if your system is configured with one.

Step 4
Click "Recovery and Utility" on the "System Recovery Options" screen.

Step 5
Click the "Recovery" tab and click "Restoring the Factory Image (only C:\drive)." Follow the on-screen instructions to restore your Fujitsu Lifebook. Some models may require a supplied recovery disc be inserted at this point.

To be honest though I'd probably be tempted to download the latest version of Win 10 on to a USB drive and install that. That way you'll also be able to flatten any partitions when running through the setup.

 

[Yesevil]

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated.

To be honest though I'd probably be tempted to download the latest version of Win 10 on to a USB drive and install that. That way you'll also be able to flatten any partitions when running through the setup.

As I'm not currently at home in front of the machine (damned shift work!) I'm unsure of the specs off the top of my head. Do you think that Windows 10 would run OK on an older machine? I'm concerned about it being slow if I put a newer OS on it. (I worked 2nd line tech support a lot of years ago but due toa career change I'm no longer up-to-date and haven't dabbled for a long time!)

 

[coupe69]

Do you think that Windows 10 would run OK on an older machine?

You stated that it was originally running 8.1, so it should be absolutely fine to run Win 10

I'd be tempted to slap a cheap SSD in it as well, you can get a 240GB for around 30 quid now and would be money well spent.

 

[Yesevil]

You stated that it was originally running 8.1, so it should be absolutely fine to run Win 10

I'd be tempted to slap a cheap SSD in it as well, you can get a 240GB for around 30 quid now and would be money well spent.

Brilliant - Thank you for that