Acer Aspire 5 A515 56 No Internet, troubleshooting suggested Network Reset, now blue screen

Figgis

My Internet suddenly stopped working this evening. I tried troubleshooting but my network or any network was not visible. I tried using the ethernet cable but nothing worked. I tried troubleshooting again and it suggested a Network Reset. I decided to try my old PC first and that connected as usual. So the problem was with my new Acer. I carried out a Network Reset and ended up with this blue screen I can't switch it off and am stuck.

So the problem is with my Acer Aspire 5 A515 56. Where do I go from here?

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243897#Comment_1243897

Glad Windows11 recovered by itself the way it is supposed to do, this is the big difference between W10 and W11 23H2, make sure you update to version 23H2 build 22631.2715 😀

To make a Recovery drive: Find/get a USB2.0 flash drive of at least 20GB in size and reformat that (Quick format is OK) as Fat32, label it: RecoveryW11. Boot your laptop to Windows11 and insert the USB.20 drive in the USB2.0 port of your laptop. Open Windows Control Panel (type Control in the Search bar) and click on Recovery, click on "Create a Recovery Drive" and wait till it finishes downloading WindowsRE OS on the flash drive.

You have to repeat this process each year after a major W11 upgrade to keep your recovery drive current. I encourage you to try using it one time to get familiar with the different repair and recovery options, also you can use this recovery drive to Restore a Windows backup (image file) that you should make after each monthly Windows update. You buy a large Windows11 Update drive (SSD or HDD spinner) 4TB at least. or make one with a large, SSD/HDD that is still in 100% condition by mounting the drive in an external USB case ($10) and reformat that in NTFS (full format), label the drive as BackupW11.

To do the monthly system backup I recommend Backup and Restore (Windows7) option in Control Panel as that is fully compatible with your Windows Recovery drive. Always backup your complete drive, By default it will backup 3 volumes: C:, the Windows bootloader, and a special unlabeled Windows volume. When you restore that backup, it will be exactly the same system you are using now including all files, programs, address books, you name it.

Another big advantage of this backup format is that you can mount the backup image file xxx.VHD in Windows Disk Management or just right-click on the VHD file and select Mount. The Volume will open in File Explorer (any Windows version) and you can view or copy any files you like, afterwards you unmount the VHD image file in File explorer. Many on this forum will recommend other excellent 3rd-party BU software, but I find W7 backup easiest to use, and never failed a restore job yet,

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/695614/no-internet-troubleshooting-suggested-network-reset-now-blue-screen

Probably the network driver got corrupted and Windows11 hangs, if you cannot shut down with Ctrl+Alt+Del (log off screen) or after waiting an hour or so you have to force a shut down by pressing the Power Button >5 seconds, wait a few minutes and try to reboot to Windows normally. Hopefully that will work. If you get the blue screen again and Ctrl+Alt+Del does not respond you have to force a shut down again with the Power Button. This time boot but as soon as you see the Acer logo press Alt+F10 simultaneously to enter WindowsRE OS, you will see the blue Troubleshoot menu with Advanced options, try Reset "This PC without losing files" or "Restart" and then select F4 or 4, Safe Mode. Once it reboots to Safe Mode you can uninstall the Network drivers in Device manager and reboot. If Alt+F10 does not work and you get BSOD again read this: https://allthings.how/how-to-fix-driver-power-state-failure-error-in-windows-11/ You have to boot with a Windows recovery flash drive you can make on another PC (same Windows version).

Figgis

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243873#Comment_1243873

Thank you for replying. I tried pressing the restart button for more than 10 seconds several times in the past 1/2 hour, with no success. The same with Ctrl+Alt+Del. so, I'm stuck, as is my PC. I will leave it unplugged and hope that when it runs out of power, it will work when it's charged again.

I didn't understand all of your answer but it does not matter as the restart did not work.

"You have to boot with a Windows recovery flash drive you can make on another PC (same Windows version)"

Can i make the Win 11 recovery flash drive on my old Win 10 PC?

I only have my new Acer laptop with Windows 11 preinstalled and now not working, and my old Acer is Windows 10 and is unsuitable for Win 11.

Figgis

@Purow

Some very good news. When I last checked the PC it no longer displayed the Blue screen, it was now a black screen. No sign of a power light and it did not respond to Ctrl+Alt+Del nor to pressing the power button for 10 secs or so. I connected the power and charged it for a while, until there was an amber light. I pressed the power button and to my surprise it started powering up. Never was I so delighted to see the Acer screen. I entered my windows login and was delighted to see that the internet connected. It looks fine, files seem ok so do the tabs that were open.

I now want to make a Windows recovery flash drive in case this or worse happens again and would really appreciate if you could post a link to the right option. I have a few Boot files on thumb drives but they are not marked Windows 11.

Thanks a lot for coming to my rescue. I was in a panic and thought my Acer was doomed, just as I was getting used to using the Touchpad and enjoying the light weight. My old Acer feels like an old workhorse in comparison.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243897#Comment_1243897

Glad Windows11 recovered by itself the way it is supposed to do, this is the big difference between W10 and W11 23H2, make sure you update to version 23H2 build 22631.2715 😀

To make a Recovery drive: Find/get a USB2.0 flash drive of at least 20GB in size and reformat that (Quick format is OK) as Fat32, label it: RecoveryW11. Boot your laptop to Windows11 and insert the USB.20 drive in the USB2.0 port of your laptop. Open Windows Control Panel (type Control in the Search bar) and click on Recovery, click on "Create a Recovery Drive" and wait till it finishes downloading WindowsRE OS on the flash drive.

You have to repeat this process each year after a major W11 upgrade to keep your recovery drive current. I encourage you to try using it one time to get familiar with the different repair and recovery options, also you can use this recovery drive to Restore a Windows backup (image file) that you should make after each monthly Windows update. You buy a large Windows11 Update drive (SSD or HDD spinner) 4TB at least. or make one with a large, SSD/HDD that is still in 100% condition by mounting the drive in an external USB case ($10) and reformat that in NTFS (full format), label the drive as BackupW11.

To do the monthly system backup I recommend Backup and Restore (Windows7) option in Control Panel as that is fully compatible with your Windows Recovery drive. Always backup your complete drive, By default it will backup 3 volumes: C:, the Windows bootloader, and a special unlabeled Windows volume. When you restore that backup, it will be exactly the same system you are using now including all files, programs, address books, you name it.

Another big advantage of this backup format is that you can mount the backup image file xxx.VHD in Windows Disk Management or just right-click on the VHD file and select Mount. The Volume will open in File Explorer (any Windows version) and you can view or copy any files you like, afterwards you unmount the VHD image file in File explorer. Many on this forum will recommend other excellent 3rd-party BU software, but I find W7 backup easiest to use, and never failed a restore job yet,

Figgis

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243898#Comment_1243898

Thank you for providing such detailed information.

The Win 11 Recovery Drive is now being createdm 60% done. I didn't realise there was a newer version of Windows 11 available but my current version is up to date. I will download the new version later in the week.

My old Acer only used 155 GB of storage space to date. I gave up using Back up and Restore (Windows 7 ) about 2 years after buying my 7 year old Acer. It took too long to backup & I could not see how to retrieve a particular file. I looked at other backup software back then and found it all too complicated. I was looking for a simple backup where I could tick the files and/or folders I wanted to back up and I could see that mirrored on the backup drive. I gave up and did nothing. I just copy my photos, documents & spreadsheets to a USB drive regularly. A backup drive of 4 TB seems huge considering my storage needs.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1243949#Comment_1243949

Don't try to restore an individual file, with BUW7, backup the full disk in create an image file, NOT FILE HISTORY, and mount the VHD image then select the file you need. Another friendly and free BU program I used is EaseUS Todo but I still prefer the W7 in W11 23H2 and there is a good reason that this feature is still in MS latest "flagship".

Figgis

@Purow

I will update to the latest Windows 11 version later in the week and will also look at Windows 7 Backup again. Do you think a 1GB SSD drive would be sufficient for my needs? Max 155GB. It will be a lot faster than my old portable hard drives or the more recent USB thumb drives so I'm more likely to backup regularly. I tried out about four different backup programmes back in the day but decided they were too complicated for my ad-hoc backups.