doug, I think the biggest problem right now is this "no bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key" that means that your computer does either not have, or can't read, the operating system. If you can, enter the BIOS and see if your Acer still recognizes the hard drive. You can also set the boot order to the digital drive and try to boot it with a live Linux CD. Of course you will have to either borrow an OS disk or download a linux version. I prefer Puppy Linux, due to its simplicity. If you can access the hard drive with a different OS, you may have to get your version OS and reformat your drive. Hope this helps, good luck.