Notebooks & Netbooks

[diddlyidi]

I have been asked to look at a laptop to see if i can identify the cause of the problem.

The laptop powers up, the fan quickly whirls on start up then stops and then after a couple of minutes retstarts.

There is just a black screen no acer logo and i am unable to boot into bios.

This is what I have done so far.

1.Tried attaching to an external monitor- doesn't help

2.Tried a new hard working hard drive-doesn't help

3.Tried different memory-doesn't help

4.Tried a new CPU- doesn't help

I am beginning to suspect that it may be a motherboard problem and wonder if it is worth replacing.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated

Thanks

[laurent_14]

Hello diddlyidi,

In first, have you removed the RTC battery (CR2032) to make a Clear Cmos?

[diddlyidi]

No I haven't tried that but I will 

[pjl]

Flashing the BIOS may be an option for you.... I have done it under Black Screen conditions on my Aspire  5250 to a very satisfying result.
  Check the Acer product support to see if there had been a BIOS update for your model. If so, use the Update file with which to Flash the BIOS.

[pjl]

I`ll add this vid conjhcerning an aspire One as an example for .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHkGkw9EE8c

[diddlyidi]

I can't find the battery to remove it

[diddlyidi]

How do I flash the bios?

[laurent_14]

Hello diddlyidi,

You'll find the RTC battery near the DVD drive (under the keyboard and the upper case).

Make this before to try a bios recovery.

[diddlyidi]

Well I did try to flash the bios but it didn't help, so after some further searches on the internet I came across this suggestion and it worked for me http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f15/acer-aspire-5535-how-to-flash-bios-546082-5.html  #81 terrence66.

The Acer Aspire is now up and running with a different hard drive so at the moment I am struggling to activate windows but I am sure that there must be a workaround for this problem.

Thank you for the suggestions

[pjl]

    Glad to read that your unit is again operational, congratulations!
However switching hard drives and subsequently Operating Systems will require you to contact Microsoft and purchasing a new Product Key in the $40 range. All part of the OEM validation in laptops and how a specific copy of Windows is tied to the original laptop that it was loaded on.