The free check: find out before you commit

1What the free check is, and who it is for

It is for Intel Acer laptops that are running Windows and whose generation is uncertain or unsupported. If that is your machine, this is the sensible first step: a firm answer before you commit to anything, and the only way to get a firm price rather than a range. It is not for the machines in section 3 — those are refused outright, and sending a file for one costs you an evening and tells us nothing we can act on.

Five steps, and only the last of them goes anywhere near a payment:

1. Download the tool

   No form, no email address, nothing to agree to. The download link appears twice on this page.

2. Run it on the locked laptop

   In Windows, as an administrator. It reads for about a minute and writes one file. It writes nothing to your machine.

3. Email that file to [email protected]

   That inbox is kept apart from live orders, so a check never gets mixed up with a real job. [email protected] is the address.

4. We reply with three things

   Whether your laptop can be done, what it will cost, and how long it will take. Free of charge, whatever the answer.

5. You decide

   Only if you want to go ahead do you fill in the order form. Nothing happens until you do.

2Whether you are covered, and what it costs

Most people can settle this in ten seconds without sending us anything. Open Settings, System, About and read the processor line. Then find your row:

Both timings are targets rather than deadlines, measured from the point a job starts. Unsupported machines sometimes need a remote session so we can gather more detail — that one is free, because it is for our benefit.

Unsupported does not mean refused. It means the work takes longer and costs more, and every one of those machines is quoted and taken on like any other. Refused is a separate thing, and it is the last row: those we do not take at any price.

All three paid tiers need the same two things: the laptop must be running Windows, and you must be able to log in to an administrator account on it. That is a requirement rather than an assumption — the tool is a Windows program, so a laptop running Linux or anything else cannot be done as things stand.

Why there are two prices

Establishing that a laptop is yours takes us more work when there is no proof of purchase, and the right-hand column is what that work costs. Neither number is a reduction of the other and neither is a penalty — they are two prices for two amounts of work.

A receipt, invoice or order confirmation is what we mean by proof. A person reads it, and if something is missing or unclear we write and ask, because every case is different and there is no checklist. We may decline a proof of purchase, in which case the right-hand column applies. We would rather say that plainly here than surprise anyone with it later.

One optional extra exists: a guided remote session over TeamViewer, $20, charged only if you want us to walk you through running the tool. It is never charged when we ask for remote access, which happens on unsupported machines and is for our benefit. Everything is listed on a single invoice, issued before the password is sent.

3Machines we refuse

These are flat noes rather than maybes, a cheaper tier or a longer queue. On a machine in this list there is nothing we can do at any price, and we would much rather tell you that now than have you spend an evening finding it out. If you would sooner have it confirmed than take our word for it, send the file anyway. We will still look at it and still reply. Just do not expect the answer to change.

4The tool, and running it

It reads — that is all it can do. It collects what we need to work out whether a recovery is possible, and writes one sealed file. It writes nothing to your firmware, because there is no code path in it that can.

Download the capture tool

SHA-256: 0caea2d27a5d874ed3855a4875bc18df3d5d4d00acfc49afc3cd2ade9f751191
Check it before you unzip it. On Windows: certutil -hashfile acer-outsyde-tool.zip SHA256. If it does not match, do not open the file and tell us.
Windows may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" box — click More info, then Run anyway. That appears because the download is new, not because anything is wrong with it.

1. Unzip the download. Inside are two files: the tool itself and a readme that repeats these steps, so you have them even if this page is not to hand.
2. Put the tool anywhere — the Desktop is fine — and double-click it.
3. Windows will ask for permission. Click yes; it cannot do its job without it.
4. A small window says what it is doing. Leave it alone for about a minute.
5. When it finishes it names the file it made and opens the folder containing it. The name looks like acer-report-<serial>-<date>.txt. That is the file we need.

You will never be asked to disable your antivirus, and you should be suspicious of any tool that asks you to.

If the tool cannot read something it expected, it says so and collects more detail instead, then tells you as much before it closes. Send that file anyway — it is still the thing that tells us what your model needs, and the answer we send back is the same answer either way.

5Sending the file, and what comes back

Attach it to an email and send it to [email protected]. There is no form, no payment and no agreement to accept. That inbox exists only for checks and is kept apart from live orders, so nothing you send here can be mistaken for a job in progress.

Two things are worth putting in the email, though neither is required: your model as exactly as the sticker gives it, and any passwords you think it might be — old passwords, PINs, patterns, a half-remembered fragment. If your machine turns out to be workable, a partial memory can shorten the job enormously.

The check is meant for Intel Acer laptops running Windows. If yours is on the refused list in section 3 — AMD, a Chromebook, a desktop, an 8 or 10 digit code on screen, or an operating system that is not Windows — there is nothing we will be able to do with the file, and we would rather save you the evening. Send it anyway if you want it confirmed; we will look and reply either way.

What comes back is one email with three things in it: whether your laptop can be done, the price from the table above with the column that applies to you, and the turnaround. If the answer is that we cannot help, you get that in plain words with the reason, and nothing is owed. You may send a file at any time; there is no queue position and no promise attached beyond an honest answer.

The file is sealed before it leaves your machine, so it is unreadable to anyone who intercepts the email — including you. The evidence page sets out what has actually been verified, what is only inferred, and the two classes of data the tool deliberately never collects.

6It only reads, and you do not have to take our word for it

Nothing you run here writes to the machine. The tool reads, and the only thing it produces is the file you send us. There is no code path in it that can write, erase or reflash anything, so it cannot brick the laptop or change a BIOS setting.

Email your file to [email protected]   Ready to order instead