Trouble booting my Acer GX-781

Hey,

I bought this Acer GX-781 in 2017, and I don't use it much anymore. I haven't turned it on for maybe 6 months and now it has problems booting. It stays with the Acer logo and the loading spinning thing then turns black. Yesterday it had some error messages after while and will report back if I get them again. There has been periods before where it haven't used it much where it has taken several tries or long time to get it to boot correctly. I have tried to open the cabinet and clean it for some dust to no avail. It's installed with 8gb extra RAM and a 1tb SATA, if that's relevant in any way.

Does anyone know what I can do to get the PC up and running again?

Thanks.

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mathiaceer

There is a beep at the beginning and I have also tried to connect it to a grounded outlet.

mathiaceer

Now I just the message:
"Reboot and Select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in selected device and press a key", which was not the message I got yesterday. It seems like the HDD with Windows 10 installed could be faulty...?

mathiaceer

In BIOS Setup
Windows Boot Manager is 1st Boot Device as it should

mathiaceer

I also get the message:

0xc0000185

Some of the time...

Larryodie

See if yo can create a WIN bootable USB drive.
Note you'll have to enable the F12 then do a F12 or Fn F12 to boot.
YOU can create the usb drive on another WIN computer
I'm thinking that your hard drive is bad.

Larryodie

You might also be sure that your time and date is correct in BIOS.

Larryodie

You may just do an ALT-F0 or FN F-10 too after you be sure that the date /time is correct

billsey

Sounds like either a drive issue or as suggested a CMOS battery gone flat, leading to a system time of something like Jan 1 1970. Those models came with either a HDD (1, 2 or 3TB) or a SSD (256GB or 512GB). Do you know which yours has? Both drive types are SATA, but the SSDs are in an M.2 form factor instead of the 3.5" HDD form.

ttttt

@mathiaceer

It is most likely poor connection to the drive or a faulty drive problem.

1) Make sure the connection to the boot drive is good by reseating the connectors a few times.

2) When bootup, keep tapping the "Del" key until you see the BIOS, check if the boot drive shows up in the BIOS.
In BIOS HDD Priority, also check the Windows boot drive is at the top there.

3) Though not likely a BIOS problem, replacing the CR2032 battery sometimes will solve BIOS related problems. The PC is close to five years old, replacing the battery is not a waste.

mathiaceer

Larryodie said:

See if yo can create a WIN bootable USB drive.
Note you'll have to enable the F12 then do a F12 or Fn F12 to boot.
YOU can create the usb drive on another WIN computer
I'm thinking that your hard drive is bad.

I'm thinking about trying to boot with an USB stick with WIN on...

billsey said:

Sounds like either a drive issue or as suggested a CMOS battery gone flat, leading to a system time of something like Jan 1 1970. Those models came with either a HDD (1, 2 or 3TB) or a SSD (256GB or 512GB). Do you know which yours has? Both drive types are SATA, but the SSDs are in an M.2 form factor instead of the 3.5" HDD form.

In BIOS it says the time is same as today, just one hour off.

It has a SSD 256gb mounted to the motherboard.

ttttt said:

@mathiaceer

It is most likely poor connection to the drive or a faulty drive problem.

1) Make sure the connection to the boot drive is good by reseating the connectors a few times.

2) When bootup, keep tapping the "Del" key until you see the BIOS, check if the boot drive shows up in the BIOS.
In BIOS HDD Priority, also check the Windows boot drive is at the top there.

3) Though not likely a BIOS problem, replacing the CR2032 battery sometimes will solve BIOS related problems. The PC is close to five years old, replacing the battery is not a waste.

1. Not sure how to do that when it's integrated to the motherboard.

2. Windows Boot Manager is 1st Boot Device. That should be the SDD with Windows installed?

3. Can you explain a bit further how I could do this please?

Larryodie

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d

billsey

Nope, with the SSD installed the boot choice in the BIOS should be Windows Boot Manager, WBM will enumerate all the UEFI devices and the boot menu will then give you choice as to which to use. Use Larry's link to download a Windows install image and create a bootable USB flash drive. Having the BIOS one hour off can be an issue unless Windows is set to use a different time zone or has a wrong daylight savings time setting. Try setting the BIOS to the correct time.

ttttt

@mathiaceer

Make sure you are using the latest BIOS first by clicking Drivers and Manuals under the "assistance by Acer" in the right pane of this web page and enter your model number there. By the way, how many drives that you have with your PC?

Assuming you have the latest BIOS:

1) Don't think your HDD/SSD will be integrated to the motherboard. If it is 2.5" SATA3 SSD and mechanical HDD that will be easily visible once opened up the PC or it is mounted at the back side of the big piece metal HDD/SSD plate/tray. If it is the M.2 NVMe SSD it may be hidden from plain view, probably partially blocked by opticak drive tray if viewed from the rear of the PC.

2) If Windows Boot Manager is the 1st priority, it should boot from there first, whether it is loaded in the SSD.

3) That CR2032 coin battery should be easily visible if you lok for it. Just use fingernail can have it pop out easily. Insert a new one to the same spot. If you still cannot see it, how about attach a photo here? Hope your model is not that stupid type at the back side of the motherboard.

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