My Acer Aspire S-3 391 is just out of warranty and there is NO way to talk to Acer.

My Acer S3-391, running Windows 8.1 (shipped with 8.0), died just after the one-year warranty ended. Suddenly one day, all I got was a black screen with the "No bootable device ---- ......" message. That's still all I get. I know what you are thinking: The hard drive has died. But, not so. I plugged the hd in to one of my desktops and it reads like a charm. I even ran factory diagnostics on it and it passed 100%. I need to talk to a human being and can't...Acer policy after warranty expires.

Attempting to enter the BIOS on boot results only in a window asking me for a non-existent password (since none had been set!) resulting in my being unable to access the BIOS. I need to talk to a human being and can't...Acer policy after warranty expires.

Several times, I tried the recovery procedures that Acer outlines in its Document 2631, to no avail. Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered the Recovery Software on a bootable usb drive for $48.00. Total waste of money. The usb device is not even recognized by the computer. I need to talk to a human being and can't...Acer policy after warranty expires.

Now, this is interesting: I installed a bootable distro of Puppy Linux on a usb drive and the computer boots perfectly from it. I can even use Linux to explore the contents of the hard drive.

Do you have any potentially helpful ideas or advice. I need to talk to a human being and can't...Acer policy after warranty expires.

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Sharanji

Table corruption may cause the error message, No bootable device -- Please restart system. This may appear on notebooks with solid state drives (SSD) after an unplanned shutdown.

This can be corrected using the following steps:

Power on the computer and press F2 to enter the BIOS.

Leave the system idle in the BIOS for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, press F10 and select Yes to save and exit.
Do NOT press the power button to exit the CMOS.

Once the tables are synchronized, the computer should boot properly.

To boot from USB recovery media , you may need to change the boot option to USB HDD, however you need to clear the BIOS password to change the options. To clear BIOS password (user or supervisor password), you need to short the clear password hardware gap located on the mainboard

If you have a unit from US or Canada, you may try to live chat with an Acer technician at : Acer live chat

Click the Kudos to say “Thanks” for helping! select "Accept Solution" if your issue is resovled.

SidMoore

Thanx for your reply. Your suggestion : "To clear BIOS password (user or supervisor password), you need to short the clear password hardware gap located on the mainboard" is interesting. However, I have no idea where these mainboard contacts are.

Can you post a photo of the mainboard with a highlight on where to short to clear the BIOS password? If not, can you explain where to look on the mainboard? Is the mainboard labeled with this information?

Many thanks for your help!

SidMoore

I found the "clear BIOS" info in the Service Manual for the S-391, plus, a nice photo of the contacts on the pc board.

HOWEVER, I still need answers to my main questions. Please consider helping. Thanx!

SidMoore

Okay, five days since my last post in my own thread here and no responses from anyone since. I was hoping I would get the attention of someone at Acer (only way I have found to communicate with Acer on my problems with their product(s) ), but, nothing. So...

To recap, my almost new Aspire S-3 391 ultrabook (just out of warranty) simply keeled over one day, acting as though no operating system existed while Windows 8.0 waited in the wings ready to load and kick ****. Nothing.

Enter Linux.

I installed a version of Linux on a bootable usb drive and am running it totally trouble-free on this Acer! How about that?! I'd say that Linux has proven that the essential elements of the physical computer are fine (one point for Acer). However, I can't say that the human elements of the company are equal to their manufacturing segment---once the meager one-year warranty expires, they kiss their customers goodby (and, I presume, "good riddance"). Be warned!!!

As a result of this, I have placed a stop payment with my credit card company on the $48.00 piece of useless plastic they call their Bootable System Recovery Software. Their usb recovery thumb drive is supposed to be bootable, but, doesn't boot. It is not even recognized by the system as existing.

So, it's goodby to Acer for me, no more, nada.

End of story.

l02turner

I don't know if you are still struggling with the Acer or not - I think the problem is the startup sequence is looking for an OS on a CD or USB and noy on the HDD where t should. Getting past that password is going to be tough IMO - getting to those contacts on the MoBo will probably require partial disassembly of the laptop. With an Acer on the verge of leaving warrranty (within days) I am in the same position as you but with a different Acer flaw. BTW, I have owned a couple of Acers in the past and they were exceptional - but this one that's about a year old is junk compared to the older ones. And acer's practice of having the public/customers Forums act as their troubleshooting team is a method many companies are using to avoid having company-paid troubleshooters helping ccustomers. Speaking of passwords, my laptop doesn't leave home so it's reasonably safe from theft so I don't want any passwords interferring with me being able to repair my Acer once it's out of warranty. Especially passwords I never put in place! IMO that's just a way to get Acer products returned for factory approved service. It sounds like the Linux solution is working for you! Excellent! Goood Luck,,

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