Aspire v5-571P fails to boot windows and can't re-install Windows now

Hi,

The Acer aspire started failing to boot Windows and I went into troubleshooting and refresh\reset fail as "a required drive partition is missing". I went in via command prompt and copied off files that hadn't backed up recently.

The first problem I had was trying to boot off a USB or CD recovery drive. The aspire was originally Windows 8 and I upgraded it ages to Windows 8.1. And it was running UEFI. I couldn't get it to boot off USB or CD despite going into the UEFI settings and turning off secure boot and putting the USB or CD at the top of the boot order. I also verfied the USB and CD recovery disks were bootable.

I then changed to Legacy Bios and I could boot off the USB or CD recovery drive fine then. I still couldn't get any recovery to work so I decided to rebuild it using a Windows 8.1 bootable DVD. I did a quick NTFS format on the primary volume and tried to install windows 8.1. The windows setup program failed with ''Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.".

So the primary partition is the GPT partition style which Windows 7 and above can use but only with UEFI! So I now appear to be stuck unless I try wiping the whole partition and formatting as an old style MBR partition and lose the benefits of a GPT disk.

If I change the BIOS back to UEFI then I fear I won't be able to boot off USB or CD again and then I may be stuck as it is appears to be difficult to get into the BIOS; the F2 key wouldn't take me into the bios when it was in UEFI mode it was only Windows failing to load that allowed me to get to the UEFI settings.

Also with the Legacy Bios on I see F2 on boot up and it beeps when I click this but it doesn't go into the BIOS. So I can't get into the BIOS to change it to UEFI. I tried downloading a BIOS update as I read that would reset the BIOS to UEFI by default. However the BIOS update is a 32bit program and failed to run under the Win PE 64 bit recovery enviroment.

This seems like a ridiculous state of affairs so I'm sure I must be doing something wrong. The questions I have are:

How do I boot off a bootable USB disk or CD when the BIOS is in UEFI mode?
How do I reliably access the bios in UEFI mode?
How do I access the bios in Legacy Bios mode when F2 doesn't work. Can I run a BIOS update (under some 32 bit OS) to force it back to UEFI? Will this work? I have also set a bios passsword.

Thanks for any help or advice.

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JackE

>>>Also with the Legacy Bios on I see F2 on boot up and it beeps when I click this but it doesn't go into the BIOS. So I can't get into the BIOS to change it to UEFI. >>>

Have you tried NOT waiting for the F2 screen to appear? Press F2 immediately following --- almost simultaneously --- with the power button. Same if you can get the bios back into UEFI mode.

Jack E/NJ

Nigel68

Thanks for the reply. Yes tried that and it still doesn't go into the bios. As mentioned I hear it beep as it seems to have taken notice of the F2 press but it doesn't go into the bios.

Nigel

JackE

Can you easily open the RAM chip compartment to check if it has a bios reset jumper inside?

Jack E/NJ

Nigel68

There is a bios reset jumper underneath the RAM but I decided to just go for installing Windows 8.1 with an MBT partition. Windows then wouldn't install because the HDD was failing which must have been the initial cause and then completely died after less than 3 years. I got a new HDD and

followed this http://community.acer.com/t5/2014-Archives/replace-hard-drive-on-an-acer-aspire-v5-571p-6400/td-p/24793/page/3 which was really useful as you have to take apart the laptop to get at the HDD.

Anyway I could then easily install Windows 8.1 however I've now hit the video drive issue mentioned here http://community.acer.com/t5/2013-Archives/Acer-Aspire-V5-571P-6400-video-driver-issues/td-p/88505

This thread is now archived without any resolution except get a recovery DVD from Acer. I've tried installing the drivers (even using the acer recovery DVD for drivers and apps) but I've still got a display with 3 ghosting images!

Thanks.

JackE

The Acer recovery DVD specific to your machine should have the proper drivers. Did you have a ghosting problem before you HDD went south? If not, I suggest you try to re-seat the ribbon cable connectors on the screen and MB a half-dozen or so times to clean them. There may be a piece of sticky tape to help affix the connector to the screen.

Jack E/NJ

Nigel68

It doesn't appear to be a hardware issue. If I uninstall the Intel HD Graphics 3000 driver then reboot it, then it uses the Microsoft VGA one and the display doesn't have any ghosting. However Windows 8.1 then updates it back to the 'correct' driver, the Intel HD graphics 3000 , and the ghosting comes back. So it looks like since I've reinstalled the OS on the new HDD then the correct video drivers don't work anymore. Also I'm trying to get Windows to stop updating the graphics driver so I can see what I'm doing and check the other drivers.