A717-72G Laptop won't start up froze once I got to the lock screen.

On Sunday night my laptop downloaded and installed some updates. I thought they were done so I turned off my laptop. When I went to use it on Monday, my laptop started like normal but then froze once I got to the lock screen. I turned it off and after that it's just stuck on the Acer start up screen with the spinning circle, no matter how many times I turn it off and on. I tried hitting alt + F10 and it does say Please Wait under the Acer logo, but nothing ever happens. I left it on for an entire day when it said Please Wait and nothing happened.

Is there a way to get to system restore other than hitting alt + F10? I also stuck a paperclip in the battery reset button but nothing happened.

[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

Accepted answers

All comments

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/678428/a717-72g-laptop-wont-start-up

You need to repair the startup files, turn the laptop off, keep pressing the power key for 10 sec to discharge the laptop completely, then reboot the laptop and as soon as the green Acer logo appears keep pressing the F9 key continuedly and if the laptop doesn't go into the blue screen Choose an option, then do this a few times as eventually the laptop will go into the windows chose an option screen. When the Choose an option screen appears, choose Troubleshooting and in Advanced options choose "Startup Repair." and get this option to repair your laptop or and if this doesn't work, then choose the System Restore. Do all this and let us know if there are any other problems.

Mg92

Thanks for the quick reply.

I tried holding the power button and pressing F9 several times, but the blue screen will not show up

William_mk2

@Mg92

Different ways of going into repair mode.

I am really sorry for the inconvenience. I will do my best to help you. For me, it looks like a software issue, still we need to isolate the issue.

If you don’t see a reset pin hole on the back of laptop or if you are not able to remove the battery (if it is inbuilt ) then please unplug all the cables and devices out of laptop. Hold the power button for 1 minute. Connect all the cables back and restart the computer.

My goal is to help you to get into repair mode. It will show you - chose an option, continue, troubleshoot, use a device.

Different ways of getting into repair mode:

When you start the computer, once it goes to automatic repair, diagnosing your pc , it will show you something like restart, advanced options. If you click on advanced option, it will go to repair mode where it will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot, use a device. If you are not able to get into repair mode, we might have to do a hard reset to get into repair mode. Turn on the computer. Once it goes beyond the acer logo, turn off the computer immediately by holding the power button. Do this for 6 to 7 times. Turn on the computer. It will go to repair mode.

If it is still not working you have to follow these steps. There are two alt keys on the keyboard. If you look at the bottom row of keyboard you can see the one on the left side of space bar and the other on the right side of space bar. The alt key on the right side will be looking like alt, alt gr or alt car. Turn off the computer. Hold the alt key on the left and tap f10 continuously. It will go to repair mode. If it is not going to repair mode, turn off the computer. Turn on the computer. Hold the right alt key ( alt gr or alt car or alt ) and then tap f10 continuously. It will go to repair mode.

If you are still not able to get into repair mode then we might have to reinstall the windows.

Repair mode is the mode where you can see chose an option, continue , troubleshoot

You can go to troublshoot - advanced option - you can do system restore and other repair options to repair your computer.

You can go to troubleshoot - reset this pc - you can do a refresh and reset

Puraw

Hi @Mg92

Restore your system to an earlier point, reset your system or repair your system. All this can be done out of Windows with a Recovery USB drive that contains stand alone Windows RE sofware . If you don't have a USB Recovery flash drive, try to borrow one from a friend that runs the same Windows version (Windows10-11 Home) that you have, never mind the build. Insert this USB flash drive and boot up your laptop while pressing F2 key to open your BIOS, move to the Bios Boot Screen and change the boot order with USB at the very top, save and exit BIOS.

When you boot again you should get the Blue screen that StevenGen showed above. On another PC go to this side for the available options: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2294-boot-advanced-startup-options-windows-10-a.html

Mg92

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately, I've tried all of these options but I still cannot get to repair mode and I don't have a recovery USB.

leonaip

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/678428/a717-72g-laptop-wont-start-up

you need to reset/reformat your laptop

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1176361#Comment_1176361

Borrow a Recovery USB flashdrive from a friend who has the same Windows version that you have (Windows10-11 Home, etc., never mind the build version).😉

leonaip

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1176361#Comment_1176361

do these on the other functional laptop/desktop computer of yours or from a friend:

insert a usb flash drive to your laptop or desktop computer. (be sure to backup the contents of your usb flash drive)
download rufus https://rufus.ie/en/, then run it.
left click the drop down arrow next to the word "SELECT" and left click "DOWNLOAD" to download the original Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft. Watch the full tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me-GmdIlbgc&ab_channel=PortalSeven
after that, press START. wait for it to finish.
close rufus, open your usb flash drive then run the setup executable.
be sure to backup all the files in Drive C: or any drive partition where the operating system resides before doing step 5.
be sure you have a good internet connection for the contents of the flash drive to be updated to the latest.
as the setup runs, select delete all files, like you are installing a fresh operating system.
wait and trust the process to complete.
after that, download the latest official drivers from Acer. https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/drivers-and-manuals
download the serial number detection utility/tool to obtain the device serial number or SNID
download all the drivers, extract each, then install.
hopefully, your problem will be solved.
driver problems happens when you restore your operating system using the factory recovery image.
after all the drivers installed and working properly. make an image of the whole drive using macrium reflect, aomei, easeus, minitool and many others. Watch the tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9BGn4MivJw&ab_channel=BracerJack
the purpose of making your own backup image of the whole drive is to shorten the restoration process in case of problems or malware attacks.
go back to your laptop, be sure to turn it off.
insert your bootable usb flash drive to install the new Windows 11 operating system version 22H2 (released on September 20, 2022 and came with a lot of small but effective changes)
turn on your laptop and press F12 then choose the name of your usb flash drive.
if nothing happens, go to BIOS then turn on or enable the F12 key to boot other devices or set the boot device priority to first detect your usb flash drive.

Mg92

I have gotten a Windows Recovery USB, but it doesn't seem to change anything.

I confirmed that windows is on the USB and it the recovery USB was made from someone else with a windows laptop.

I set the laptop to boot from the USB. Once I did that, I just get the endless spinning circle and nothing else

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1177282#Comment_1177282

If you boot with the Recovery USB disk you should get to the Blue Screen (mentioned earlier by StevenGen) not the spinning circle. Either the Recovery USB disk you got is not for your Windows version or your BIOS is not detecting the USB disk. Verify if the USB disk is in your boot list (last page BIOS). Reboot with USB Disk plugged in and press F2 continuously till you get the BIOS screen, move to the last page and check the bootable devices, USB should be at the top, if not move it to the top using F keys, save on exit and reboot.

If you see the USB drive at the top of the list and you still cannot get to the Blue Screen, try to get another Windows Recovery drive with the same Windows version that you have.

If you don't see any bootable devices in BIOS you have a corrupted boot sector on your HDD, turn in your latop to Acer Services and they will install the OEM Windows and all Acer drivers for a small fee.