Help! Acer Iconia W510 won't function after an update. Can't do a restore either!

JennyMM

All was fine until I allowed an update.  (I believe it was a Win 8.1 update.)  Now, it tries to come up, goes as far as to let me log in, then get a blue screen with a bar across the bottom that flashes every couple seconds. 

 

First time this happened, I saw a momentary flash message about a file related to Poki (start-up menu like Windows 7 that was on the tablet), so I'm assuming the update screwed up Poki and now nothing works.  Never saw that error message again but I've researched, figured out how to access the BIOS but it's so minimal!  No options to get to doing a RESTORE, nor to get into SAFE MODE!  This Bios sucks!!!

 

First option would be to get into Safe Mode and uninstall Poki.  At this point, I'm willing to do a complete restore and lose all my data and software installations if necessary.

 

Does anyone have any advice???  I don't have a restore disc and Acer won't even let me get a price on their eRestore product because they're not recognizing my serial number as being in warranty.  They simply transfer me to a 3rd party tech support who will charge me $79 to try to fix my problem!  Not cool, ACER!!!!!

 

If anyone knows how to get to Safe Mode (outside of Windows), or to do a Restore (outside of Windows), please let me know.  Or, would it work just to re-install Windows 8.1 Pro?  (I can't un-install it first though.)  Thanks in advance for any help.

padgett

I have seen a flashing screen occur before (see threads) and what worked for me was when the logon screen comes up, before entering the password go into the "mobility" settings and select "high contrast screen".

 

This let me boot far enoungh to go into device manager>display adapter>properties>driver and uninstall (do not delete) the driver. On the restart all was well

 

@&% is pure Microsoft.

JennyMM

How would I get into "mobility" settings?  I can't do anything really except log in ... and the power icon at the bottom right is there, appears to work.

 

My entire screen is not flashing ... it looks fine until I enter my password.  Then a solid blue screen appears with the bar across the bottom that flashes exery couple seconds.

JennyMM

Regarding the safe boot issue, I have Windows 8.1 Pro on the desktop that I recently built;  I can get into that BIOS and do lots of stuff ... including a restore, enter safe mode, etc.  (It's an Asus Sabertooth motherboard.) 

padgett

OK since you did not find my earlier post which was much more complete:

 

Boot.

Open page for password

At the lower left there is an icon that if you close one eye and squint the other looks like a wheelchair from PONG. Press

Select "High Contrast" ON

Enter password

 

This may change the dissplay into something you can read since it ignores the driver.

 

If that is a problem maybe you should stick to devices that begin with "i".

 

 

JennyMM

You are amazing!!!  I had looked into that icon earlier, didn't see anything that I thought could help ... never would have thought about "high contrast" making any difference!  I was amazed to see that I could function (although it all looks strange).  First I uninstalled Pokki as I thought that may have been what the Windows update didn't like.  Right now I'm running a restore dated 12/12/14 ... the most recent that I know was working fine.  I will post again with final results but wanted to tell you ... and THANK YOU!

padgett

NP and apologise if a bit snide, have been fighing a bad cold and not feeling very well.

JennyMM

Hope you're feeling better soon.  But, want to give an update, not good news.  Restores didn't work, tried several different restore points, several times.  Got an error that it couldn't access a file.  Very erratic, sometimes absolutely nothing came up.  Occasionally, I'd get the screen that something is wrong with options to Advanced settings.  Nothing at the command prompt worked either.  Never saw that icon again where I could set to high contrast, couldn't get into safe mode either.  So, last resort, I managed to do a reset ... and it looks like it worked.  Ready to start over.  Very frustrating but better than having to trash this tablet.

 

"Snide" wasn't a problem, I appreciate your help.  My son would agree with you about the "i" products ... he's an iphone, ipad person!  LOL!

JennyMM

Just another update, I'm still dead in the water.  I can get into the BIOS (holding the volume down key with power key), and can get into the Advanced Startup Options menu (with the shift + power key + restort icon).  But, it freezes up when I try to do a restore, reset, repair, etc.  I have tried some DOS commands, but can't get to DOS before Windows starts to load.  So, I can't do a DOS format, even tried to force a dismount but got message it couldn't because volume was "still in use".  If I could re-format BEFORE Windows starts trying to load, that's what I'd do, wipe it all clean.

 

I downloaded a repair ISO file specifically for this tablet from a post on Acer forum (http://community.acer.com/t5/Windows-Tablets/Get-more-space-on-Acer-Iconia-W5-w510-with-windows-8-1-Update/m-p/257868/highlight/false#M10970), burned a bootable thumb drive.  It appears to start, reads the drive, then freezes.  I used a DOS command to run setup.exe on a Windows 7 32-bit disk;  it looked to be working, even brought up the Windows 7 logo screen, said it was loading files or something;  then it froze up, stopped accessing the drive.

 

I'm also not happy with Acer at all.  They have no support staff to talk through a problem if device isn't still in warranty.  On 12/29/14, I ordered Acer's repair drive for $59.00.  IMO, that price is outrageous for a "fix" on one of their own products!  To make it worse, I am STILL waiting for that thumb drive.  They sent it FexEx SmartPost, taking 10 days to get here from California!  Supposed to arrive on 1/8/15.  If they had sent it USPS First Class mail, it would have arrived in 3 days (I checked on-line)!  And, I don't even know if this repair will work. 

padgett

One thing about Windows operations in general is that sometimes it just goes away for a long period of time and ruminates. On a larger machine you can see the disk activity light flash occasionally but modern tabs do not do that.

 

The result: it may seem to freeze but I would just leave it and go away for a couple of hours (seriously) and then see if anything has happened. Make sure it is on mains power when you do this.

JennyMM

I let it go for 1 1 /2 hours with the USB restore thumb drive, and about 1 hour when I tried the install of Win 7 from a DOS command.  I've never encountered anything that didn't do anything for that long, even large installs.  But, based on what you've said, I will try again and just let it go.  There's nothing to lose. 

 

What I really don't understand is why it's not possible to get to the BIOS and do a DOS command to just format the drive and start over.  When it's a serious mess, I would think that's what needs to be done, then start from scratch.

 

Thanks for coming back to me on this problem.

padgett

Problem is that the Clover and Bay trail tabs seem to have a very reduced capability BIOS. The other issue is that you cannot just open the case and remove the drive without voiding the warrenty.

 

Now if you have access to a desktop or Notebook with Windows 8 or 8.1 Enterprise (comes with MSDN subscription along with necessary licenses) and a special Workspace drive (e.g. Kingston DTWS/32GB) then you can create a bootable flash drive , boot into Windows (is UEFI compatible) from it with the C: drive mounted as a slave and run extended toolsets.

 

Well you asked...

JennyMM

Well, you're over my head now.  Yes, I was amazed how limited the BIOS was, expected it to be similar to the BIOS on my Sabertooth motherboard!

 

I do have my desktop that I built with Windows 8.1 Pro.  I tried the bootable disk I created for that install on this tablet but got message that it wasnt' compatible.  (It is 64-bit and tablet is 32-bit).  I also tried a bootable disk with Win 7 32-bit; it appeared like it would work and install, said it was copying temp files, then froze up.  I KNOW both those disks work because I installed from them ... a dual boot on my desktop.  I also tried a bootable thumb drive with Win 8, 32-bit, made specifically for this W510 tablet;  it got so far, then froze up.

 

So, can you explain in layman's terms what you're suggesting and how it's different from what I've tried?  I'm game to try anything, and I do know how to burn a bootable disk or flash drive ... have used both ImgBurn and Rufus.  I don't understand the "boot into Windows ... with the c: drive mounted as a slave".  This would be different from what I tried to do with my bootable disks and drives?

 

Are you an Acer employee?

JennyMM

Your "first PC" looks like one I had back in that era!  I was a whiz at using Lotus 123, writing macros for it.  I remember wondering why in the world people would need WINDOWS, with all these little icons, etc!  As long as I had Lotus, Word and Leisure Suit Larry, I was happy!  LOL!

padgett

Think you meant "WordStar", WORD was later. Last version I had was 5.5. As for Lotus 1-2-3, that caused the "640k barrier".

 

If you can find someone with either access to Windows 8 or 8.1 Enterprise or a MSDN subscription, they should understand the rest (and now that I think on it I installed WTG on a 120 GB USB SSD so is an alternative to a Workspace drive).

 

Then you can boot into a full version of Windows from the external drive and mount the internal SSD (eMMC ?) as a slave.

 

(Last worked it in 2012 when I thought that dual-boot Windows tabs were going to dominate BYOD. Even the NSA had instructions on how. Was rong.)

 

ps super trivia: the '85 definition of "100% compatible" was the ability to run WordStar, 1-2-3, and Flight Simulator.

 

pps Just occured to me that you might be able to do the same with the Windows 10 demo on a USB SSD. Haven't tried that though.

JennyMM

Final update ... I finally got this tablet functional with the Acer restore thumb drive!  So it was not a hardware problem as I was beginning to suspect.

 

But, I'm baffled as to what was on this Acer restore disk that broke through, why all the other restores and Windows installs that I burned to thumb drives and a disk couldn't complete ... all tried to start, then froze up.  I know they all were bootable because I tested them on another system.  Any ideas, anyone?  Just curiosity, as I'm happy that I don't have to trash this tablet.

 

Thank you to all of you who have offered suggestions, especially you, Padgett.  Without some of you on these forums, we would have nowhere to turn for help.

padgett

Well one way is to run msinfo32.exe and look at the entry for "BIOS Mode". If it says "UEFI" then it will only boot if properly signed. OTOH if it says "Legacy" then it will boot anything that is configured as bootable.

 

This is why some devices will boot things that most tablets won't.

JennyMM

It IS UEFI ... which I seem to remember seeing before, but I really didn't know what it meant for my situation. 

 

But, the download and tutorial at this Acer post :Get more space on Acer Iconia W5 (w510) with windows 8.1 Update (25GB Free Space!!!) was supposed to create a bootable drive for this specific tablet, and it was set to create a GPF partition for UEFI system.  I tried something else too that was supposed to be for UEFI but that didn't boot up either.

 

What does it really mean "properly signed"?

billsey

Properly Signed means it has some encrypted data verifying that the software was created by a specific company, and not some hacked up version that may not be true. It keeps people from installing things like root kitted versions of the OS and such...

JennyMM

Well, Acer certainly kept ME from booting and installing anything other than their eRecovery thumb drive!!!  Must have been something still on my messed up tablet preventing it.  Thanks for the info.

padgett

Most Tablets just seem to have two signatures in the Library, the vendor (Acer or Toshiba or???) and Microsoft's. The Microsoft .iso to USB tool for Windows 7 will create a bootable drive if it recognises the .iso (like ones from MSDN or the Win 10 preview).

 

I took a complete set of images first but have my W3 running Win 10-32 right now. It seems happy.

 

Took this shot from my W510 which also is UEFI when experimenting.