acer aspire e5-521-23kh

I am having a huge problem getting windows to reolad back onto my laptop. My Daughter uses it for her schooling and connects in to an external monitor. I went to use it tonight and the screen was black. The screen would work on the monitor as long as it was connected to the laptop( laptop screen still black) So... I go in and do a complete reset and the laptop didnt get a full reset. It lost power before any of the setup.exe info could load. When I turned it back on it started the infamous error loop! While showing the error to restart, I hit shift f10 then tye in the regedit.

but the problem I am having, is where the setup.exe should be, the only thing there is (default) REG_SZ (value data not set). I am at my wits end. Any help greatly appreciated.

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JackE

>>>I>>>do a complete reset

Did you first try to turn the lid screen back on with the Fn+F6 and/or Fn+F5 toggle key combinations? What reset method did you use? What Windows version is on the machine? Jack E/NJ

remington550

Did all that. I did a factory reset, wiping the computer. It was origionally windows 8.1 but had upgrade to windows 10. When going into the regedit, it shows windows 10 still listed. What happened was, when doing a reset, it had completed the first half of reset, but battery was pulled so the windows installation process could not take place. It has an endless loop wanting to restart computer to be able to install the windows.

JackE

>>> I did a factory reset, wiping the computer.>>>

What method did you use to do the factory reset, wiping the computer? Did you use the Acer erecovery media method? Did you use the Acer hidden erecovery partition method? Did you use the MicroSoft reset method? Or use some other factory-reset method? Jack E/NJ

JackE

Another question. Do you recall if the lid screen showed the Acer startup splash logo before it went black? Jack E/NJ

remington550

I just used the reset setting in the control panel. The acer screen did come on. When powering the screen up it goes to the point where it wants to try and reinstall the windows back onto the computer. Is there a way to post images here to show?

remington550

From some of the computer repair shops nearby I had spoken with about it, they're saying that Windows just needs to be reinstalled. But its going to have to be done using the cmd. I downloaded the windows 8.1 from microsoft to a usb flash to use to do the installation. But I'm not sure of the commands to get it to load from usb.

JackE

>>>The acer screen did come on. >>>

That's a good sign. Means your hardware is probably fine. If Try this. Shut all power off and prepare to do a cold boot. Then follow this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvFRTfFGCgY If the hidden eRecovery partition on your hard drive is still intact, you can reset to laptop with this Alt+F10 method to either factory-new default or factory default while saving your data.

Jack E/NJ

remington550

I feel like such an ****! I forgot that when you go into regedit hkey_local_machine\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\ChildCompletion, that i was suppised to open up each file. System then setup etc... The regedit and change svalue data to 3 fixed the problem!! A huge thank you for all of your assistance ☺

JackE

Congrats. Did the reg_sz message and registry editor originally come up automatically at or immediately after the Acer splash logo screen? Jack E/NJ

remington550

The registery screen popped up as soon as i typed the regedit into the command prompt. Doing this got rid of the error and started the process on the windows installation again. But its now been stuck on installation 64% then reatarts computer ????

remington550

Now, i can not even hit shift f10 to get the command prompt back up before it starts an automatic restart..

JackE

Can you F2 into the BIOS at the Acer boot splash screen? Jack E/NJ

remington550

Yes, but I'm not sure of what to do there.

JackE

>>>It was origionally windows 8.1 but had upgrade to windows 10.>>>

This was the reason I asked. I'm still notl clear on how ---or more precisely when --- this graphics issue surfaced. From all the evidence, the problem seems to have NOTHING to do with your hardware or firmware outside of the operating system. So at this point, if it was my machine, I'd try to re-set it to factory-delivered condition using the "outside-of-the-operating-system" approach shown in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvFRTfFGCgY But first, I'd F2 into the BIOS menu to see if there's an item called "D2D recovery" and that it is enabled. This would, of course, upgrade your machine back to Windows 8.1. One caveat. I'm also still not sure on how you installed Win10. Some Win10 installations apparently wipe the hidden Acer erecovery HD partition that allows this type of outside-the-operating-system factory re-set. Jack E/NJ

remington550

The D2D Recovery is enabled.

remington550

The windows 10 was a free upgrade done through the microsoft website.

JackE

Well then, I think that the hidden Acer partition is probably still intact and that you can return the machine to it's factory delivered Win81 state. The only reservation I have is why this graphics issue happened in the first place if you had been using Win10 without problems when you first installed it. Possibly undetected malware got in there somehow? As I said, if it were mine, I'd try to Alt+F10 reset described in the video which should get rid of the malware too if that's the problem. Jack E/NJ

remington550

The alt f10 didnt work. Guess I am gonna have to take it to a friends that works on these. Didnt wanna have to though. Thanks again for your help.

JackE

What happened when you tried the Alt+F10? Any error messages? If none, try it again. Make sure it's a cold boot. And start holding the Alt key and banging on the F10 key right from the getgo, even before you press the power buttton. Don't wait for the Acer logo to appear. There's still one other option if this doesn't work. Jack E/NJ

remington550

Ok. It worked by powering down computer, then start hitting alt f10 first before powering back on. Went into troubleshoot and reset pc. It only showed option to reset windows 10. Now its asking that I insert windows installation or recovery media to continue.

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