Acer Aspire 7551G NO BOOT

JohnnyBravoz

Hi, my Acer Aspire 7551G laptop switches on but

the screen does not turn on (tried VGA to TV connection but no signal).

I'm thinking it's a corrupt BIOS.

So I need to flash the BIOS.

I downloaded the BIOS from the Acer drivers page

and there are these files in the DOS folder (I have to use DOS since I can't get into Windows because no boot)

ACERACDC.exe

FLASH.bat

JE70D118.ROM

JE70D118.WPH

phlash16.exe

I've tried copying/pasting these files onto USB

and even tried the CRISIS DISK method

but neither are giving the laptop any response.

The USB light does NOT blink

even if I hold the FN + Esc keys.

What am I doing wrong?

Please advise.

Do I have to rename the .WPH file to some model specifc name?

What is the code for this model?

Accepted answers

All comments

JackE

Have you tried to toggle the lid and external screens on and off with the Fn+F5 & Fn+F6 toggle key combos?

Jack E/NJ

JohnnyBravoz

Ace, I have tried that and the screen is still not turning on while the laptop

does have power going through it. (LED and fans are on when turned on but screen doesn't turn on at all)

JackE

A few more questions. First, do you think the laptop is booting into Windows by hearing a Windows welcoming tune/tone? Second, do you hear any bios beep code warnings on first powering up the machine? Did the black screen symptom appear suddenly or did you notice it occasionally happening intermittently in the past but seeming to resolve itself on re-booting?

Jack E/NJ

JohnnyBravoz

There is no sound playing so that might suggest either

Windows is not booting or it's muted.

There are no beeps at all.

As for your last question, I'm not sure.

Perhaps it has something to do with the CMOS / BIOS battery (coin shaped battery)

or hibernation as the first time this problem happened (screen not turning on)

it was fixed by replacing the CMOS battery.

The problem I think was caused by using hibernation

every day for several days in a row.

But after a few months of replacing the CMOS battery,

it seems to have run out or something else has gone wrong in the laptop.

And now replacing the CMOS battery again doesn't fix the problem any more.

I also had a USB with some boot software

which also helped provide an intermittent temporary fixed (unreliable temporary fix)

but even this does not work any more.

This problem seems to have gotten worse.

For all I know, it could be an unplugged component,

static building in the motherboard,

fried motherboard, fried graphics card,

something wrong with the CMOS contacts,

a corrupt BIOS. etc.

I don't know how to narrow it down

but I connected the laptop to a TV via HDMI and even VGA

and still no signal.

So I was wondering maybe a BIOS flash would

work but I don't know what to rename the WPH file in order

to boot and flash the BIOS while

the laptop starts up (presumably without Windows).

JackE

>>>TV via HDMI and even VGA and still no signal.>>>

Not a good sign for the graphics adapter as long as you also tried the Fn/F5 and Fn/F6 toggle combos without success. So at this point, the danger of bricking the machine with a bios flash seems like a moot point and probably worth a shot.

The flash.bat file is a text file. Please open it with a text editor. What line commands do you see listed in the flash.bat file?

Jack E/NJ

JohnnyBravoz

This is what FLASH.bat says in Notepad:

Note:

Smiley Very Happy OSMode is actually

: DOSMode (withOUT the space between : and DOSMode)

and

Smiley Very Happy osFlash is actually

: DosFlash (withOUT the space between : and DosFlash)

@echo off

OSMode
echo *********** JE70-DN BIOS Flash Utility  ***********
REM ***************************************************************
REM *** Just modify the above part ********************************
echo Notice:
echo 1. This procedure may replace your BIOS!
echo    If you don't want to do it, press Ctrl-C to cancel.
echo 2. Make sure you plug in the AC adapter before flashing BIOS.
echo    If not, DO NOT flash!
echo 3. This utility will check if the battery capacity is over 30%%. 
echo    If not, it will stop to flash the BIOS.
pause

ACERACDC
if errorlevel 255 goto DosFlash
goto end


osFlash
phlash16 /x /s /c /bbl /mode=3 JE70D118.WPH
goto end


:end

cd ..

JackE

OK. Use notepad to remove the 'pause' line in flash.bat. Save the edited flash.bat in the root directory of the USB stick along with the other files. Don't edit any of the filenames.

Insert the USB stick in the off machine. Press and hold the Fn + Esc keys. Then press the power button. Keep holding the Fn+Esc keys till you see USB activity. Report back.

Jack E/NJ

JohnnyBravoz

Do you mean just delete the "pause" word since that's the only

word in that line?

So let me get this straight:

1) I have a 4GB USB 2.0 stick with a light indicator.

Can I use that?

Should I format it to FAT or FAT32 ??

2) So then I should go into the DOS folder of

the downloaded BIOS driver for my laptop model,

delete the "pause" word from the .BAT file

and then copy and paste the files

from that DOS folder

into the root directory of the USB?

Is this correct?

I'm guessing FAT is more likely to work than FAT 32 but I don't know.

In the DOS folder (there was a WinFlash folder but that just has

a useless .exe file since I cannot boot into Windows apparently)

these are the files present:

ACERACDC.exe

FLASH.bat

JE70D118.ROM

JE70D118.WPH

phlash16.exe

So after copy and pasting these files (with the edited FLASH.bat file omitting "pause")

I should then plug it into the laptop,

hold FN + Esc and turn the laptop on?

Then let go of the key combination when I see the USB light indicator

flickering? (Will that take long? A few seconds?)

And then wait for the flickering to stop or maybe wait 20 minutes

to ensure any BIOS flashing is complete?

Also, is it a problem that my power button doesn't work?

(The power button ribbon is damaged beyond repair unless I get a replacement ribbon)

Hence I have to turn the laptop on by plugging it in and

turn it off by unplugging it (laptop battery has been taken out).

Is that a problem or would it still work?

Since the laptop turns on as soon as I plug it in.

JackE

Format the USB stick to FAT32 and make it msdos bootable if the bootable startup disk option is available. If the bootable option is greyed out, then google the keywords "usb" "fat32" "bootable" "ms dos" and download the utilities that allow you to make the stick bootable into MS DOS. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-security/how-can-i-make-a-ms-dos-boot-disk-on-a-cdusb-for/9fd9067a-d327-4ba5-8aca-0f33501b87a4?auth=1

Yes, edit the word 'pause' or delete the whole line with the word 'pause' in the FLASH.BAT file. This edited BAT file along with the other files must go in the root directory, not a subdirectory, of the USB stick. Also make a copy of flash.bat in the USB root directlory and rename it to autoexec.bat just to be sure it runs in the MS DOS environment.

Then unplug your power cable. Insert your MS DOS bootable USB stick with all the bios flash files in the root directory. Then press and hold the Fn+Esc keys; then plug your power cable back in.