No bootable device found, but works when rebooted (Aspire 5830t)

vtmet

New to the forum.

 

Acer TimelineX 5830t-6862. This is my daughter's laptop.

 

Quite frequently, when initially powering up the laptop, I get the following problem.

The screen showing hit PF2 to enter BIOS stays on for 30+ seconds.

When it finally clears, I usually get a black screen that says:

Intel UMDI, PXE-2.0 (Build 083)

Copyright 1997-200 Intel Corporation

For Atheros PCIE Ethernet Controller v2.0.2.7 (11/02/10)

Check cable connection

PXE-MDG: Exiting PXE ROM

No Bootable device  -- Inser boot disk and press any key

 

When this happens, it appears that the HD light turns on on the front of the laptop, but stays a solid blue.

Sometimes when I see the PF2 message too long, I hit PF2 and enter into BIOS settings.

Not all the time, but sometimes, there is nothing listed under HDD in the boot section.

 

The weird thing is, if I power back down with the power button. And then immediately power back up, it starts loading Windows 7 within about 10-20 seconds.

 

Once it does boot fine, the laptop works as normal the rest of the session (time on does not seem to affect anything).

 

It usually only has problems booting on the first attempt after the computer has been off for awhile.

vtmet

A brief history on the computer.

 

During the warranty period, this computer was sent back to Acer twice for repairs for not booting. Both times, it received a new hard drive. Not sure what the original HD was, but what is in there now is a 640 GB Western Digital HD (SATA 2.0 3 GB/sec; WDC WD6400BPVT-22HXZT1).

 

We purchased 2 identical laptops at the same time, and her sister's laptop also got sent back to ACER twice and is also on the 3rd Hard Drive. Her sister's laptop is working fine since then. The laptop that currently has been having this issue, has been doing this for several weeks, but was working ok prior to that.