.......to clear uo a few things as far as I know.
The whole boot process has changed compared to XP.
Then the Recovery Console is not there anymore.
This has also changed and to repair your boot manager in Vista by choosing F8 is not always available.
Recovery Console in XP was only available if you activated it from inside Windows XP as far as I remember.
To enter Repair Your PC via F8 is available on preinstalled versions like I have it on my new Home Premium notebook right now but it wasn't available on the notebook with the problem where I got rid of the preinstalled Home Premium and replaced it with Ultimate.
Then the Repair Your PC option was only available while booting the Vista DVD but I think it can be activated that this is available via F8 as well from inside Vista but I'm not sure about that.
Anyway, many things are different in Vista and many old things like in XP are changed after giving them a new makeup.
I'm not so good explaing these things but one thing is for sure and that is that you have to work with Vista a while to get the hang of it.
I'll post back tomorrow and let you guys know what Acer came up with.......Tommy.......

Hi.

Sorry, that I did not get back to you earlier but I was out of town without internet.
My laptop ist still with Acer and I've been told that the motherboad is defekt.
Now they have to get a new one from Germany because this notebook with 2 separate HD's is only available over there.
I for myself still can't figure it out because windows was running with one drive removed and also was booting from CD/DVD with only one drive.
The drive that was removed was the secondary one not the master slave.
I recon that you guys know better if it is possible that it is realy the motherboard or not.
As soon as I get the machine back I'll share all the details with you.
For now I'm using the latest Acer 5920 -Gemstone.
It's a nice rig but my other one was faster and I hope to have it back soon and working again as it was.
Until then thanks for all your concern and help.

Tommy

A member in the Acronis True Image forum experienced a similar problem. He couldn't boot to the Vista CD after installing a different video card (new drivers too). All other CDs booted OK but he wasn't a Ghost 12 user. The Vista CD booted when he reinstalled the original video card.

Strange how hardware changes can prevent certain CDs from booting.