Help! My Acer Swift 3 laptop is stuck in a repair mode/boot loop and keeps restarting.

Help! My Acer Swift 3 laptop is stuck in a repair mode/boot loop and keeps restarting from the initial black, Acer-logo screen. It says 'Diagnosing problem' and then goes into blue screen repair menu function

I've tried all sorts of solutions (from YouTube videos about how to fix the problem) and none of them have worked so far.
It won't let me enter safe mode, so none of the fixes that involve 'safe mode' will work for me.
I decided to revert to a 'Clean the Drive Fully/Factory Reset' this morning (and forfeit the personal files that are on the laptop) but it wouldn't let me do that either. It just says there was a problem resetting and no changes have been made.

Can anyone be a Clark Kent to my Lois Lane and help please?
You'd be my eternal hero if you could!

Many thanks :-)

Accepted answers

billsey

Let us know when you have it booting to a Windows install flash drive and we'll start stepping you through the diagnostics.

billsey

No problem, I was glad that I could help. IIRC the version of Office that came with it was a limited time license for Office 365. You were able to use it for some time (6 months or a year I think) and then had to pay the monthly or yearly license fee after that. Since it's been more than a year it would have run out by now anyway. Depending on how long you are planning on keeping the laptop you may find that the Office 365 pay as you go will be cost effective and always up to date, or it might end up better to buy the desktop version and just do security updates. The last major version of Office was 2019, the next should be 2022.

All comments

Easwar

Hi EternalLearner,

# Try to get the BIOS page.

1. Turn OFF the unit.

2. Press and hold the F2 key and turn on the unit.
3. You will be in setup utility page.
4. Once you got the screen release the F2 key.
5. Tap on F9 key and hit enter key without changing the option.
6. Tap on F10 key and hit enter key without changing the option.
7. Your unit will restart by itself.

Check this T/S and post the result.

billsey

There are several things that can cause those types of errors. Getting into the BIOS will be critical for a diagnosis, but doesn't tell you anything directly. Most likely the issue is a corrupted Windows. That might be due to an infection, hardware issues with the motherboard, hardware issues with the drive, software issues caused by a manual shutoff corrupting the drive, etc.. Once you can boot into the BIOS enable the F12 boot menu and disable the secure boot option. That sets you up to be able to boot from a USB drive. Next is to use a Windows install flash drive, which you will likely need to create using a different computer, to boot into the repair mode. From there was can do a lot to figure out where the problem lies.

EternalLearner

Thanks very much for these suggestions guys. I’ll try them today and let you know how I get on.
:-)

billsey

Let us know when you have it booting to a Windows install flash drive and we'll start stepping you through the diagnostics.

EternalLearner

billsey said:

Let us know when you have it booting to a Windows install flash drive and we'll start stepping you through the diagnostics.

Thanks billsey, will do. I’ve had a busy day today so only managed to try Easwar’s suggestion, which didn't work. It just restarted in the Repair Mode loop again. But I’ll create a Windows install USB tomorrow and try to get it to boot up off that, as per your suggestion, then get back in touch. Thanks for your help with this. It’s much appreciated.

EternalLearner

billsey said:

Let us know when you have it booting to a Windows install flash drive and we'll start stepping you through the diagnostics.

It worked billsey! Thanks so much. I now have my notebook up and running again. I've closed it down and restarted it a few times and it all seems to be working fine again.
The install wiped everything (which I expected it to do) but I can now start reinstalling stuff again. The notebook came with a version of Microsoft Office installed (to be honest, I can't remember which package, because I've had the Acer stored and unused for more than 12 months and don't have the paperwork for it any more) and that's gone too. But if I now have to buy a new version of Office and install it, it will be worth it just to have my notebook working again.

I really appreciate your help with this billsey. Many thanks :-)

billsey

No problem, I was glad that I could help. IIRC the version of Office that came with it was a limited time license for Office 365. You were able to use it for some time (6 months or a year I think) and then had to pay the monthly or yearly license fee after that. Since it's been more than a year it would have run out by now anyway. Depending on how long you are planning on keeping the laptop you may find that the Office 365 pay as you go will be cost effective and always up to date, or it might end up better to buy the desktop version and just do security updates. The last major version of Office was 2019, the next should be 2022.

EternalLearner

billsey said:

No problem, I was glad that I could help. IIRC the version of Office that came with it was a limited time license for Office 365. You were able to use it for some time (6 months or a year I think) and then had to pay the monthly or yearly license fee after that. Since it's been more than a year it would have run out by now anyway. Depending on how long you are planning on keeping the laptop you may find that the Office 365 pay as you go will be cost effective and always up to date, or it might end up better to buy the desktop version and just do security updates. The last major version of Office was 2019, the next should be 2022.