Aspire V5-131 intermittant boot-up problem. Error: 0xc00000e9, Unexpected I/O Error has occurred

davideda

For approximately 1-in-10 boot-ups, my Acer Aspire will fail to boot completely.  Rather than booting up to the Win-7 operating system, I sometimes get a Windows Boot Manager window with the following message:

Windows has encountered a problem communicating with a device connected to your computer.  The error can be caused by unplugging a removable storage device such as an external USB drive while the device is in use, or by faulty hardware such as a hard drive or CD-ROM drive that is failing.  Make sure any removable storage is properly connected and then restart your computer.

If you continue to receive this error message, contact the hardware manufacturer.

Status:  0xc00000e9
Info:  An unexpected I/O error has occurred.

So, there is no external USB drive or internal CD-ROM drive to cause the problem.  More significantly, I returned the laptop to Acer Service about six months ago for this same issue and to have the hard drive replaced.  Out of the box from Service, though, it came up with the same error message as described.  How frustrating!  I verified that the hard drive was replaced by checking the serial number of the new drive against the serial number of the drive the laptop was sent back with, and they were different.

Up to this point I've been able to work around the issue by pressing the Enter or Escape key from the Windows Boot Manager window, which reboots the laptop.  Usually, it boots properly from that point, but sometimes it gives the reported error message.  If not, then I redo the Enter or Escape key sequence until it does boot properly.  So far, it hasn't taken more than two times of this key sequence to get it to boot.

Can anyone help?  This unreliable boot-up has me wondering if I eventually won't be able to do the work around.  Also, this laptop has always done this since brand-new.  I kick myself for not trying it out in the 30-day vendor return period.  The installed BIOS version, 1.09, is the latest and greatest according the the Acer Downloads site.

philetus

If you have nothing else connected besides the HDD and memory, it's bound to be connected to these two or a virus.

Since it has done it from new, it could be a problem in the M/B connections to the HDD or memory. I would test the HDD and memory, remove the back and reseat the HDD and memory.This video looks too easy to be the right one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tkkd_QpVTs

 

If you need utilities to test, download http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd and use Memtest86+ and Excelstor

davideda

I'm a bit reluctant to remove the back of the laptop at this point to reseat things only because the system is still under warranty for a few more months, but with regard to reseating things, the laptop runs great once it boots up so do you think it could really be a hard drive or memory seating issue?  I would think that there would be failures after bootup from those things not being connected correctly, but the laptop does work well after it is able to boot. 

 

Please, don't take my reply as being critical of your advice because I really do appreciate it.  Indeed, thank you for your response!  I'll look into running the test software you have given the link for, then may send the laptop back to Acer Service if nothing comes up with that.  Any of the virus scans I've done have not turned up anything, so I don't think it's that.  

 

Intermittants are so tough to fix, though, that I may just keep doing my work-around, and calling the cost of the laptop "tuition" if it ever does fully fail.  A friend recommended Acer, so that's why I went with the brand.

philetus

Download and run http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/malwarebytes_anti_malware,3.html

It might surprise you and find something your anti-virus missed.

davideda

Sorry for the delay in getting back with you.   I was able to download the majorgeeks malware from the link you provided and ran that.  No problems were reported, however.  I was so hopeful that when it scanned the startup files at the beginning of the run, that it would find a problem, which would likely explain the intermittant boot issue.  Everything came back clean, though.

 

I haven't run the hardware test software from the link you provided earlier, but will get to that next.  Do you know if that will test the power supplies of the motherboard?  Maybe this is all hardware related, and since the hard drive was already replaced, maybe there is a problem with the motherboard.  If there a special circuit on the motherboard that gets the hard drive up and running quickly at power-up then maybe there is an issue with that.  Just speculating.

 

Again, thank you for your help!