Acer Aspire Vn7 571 nitro - black screen, BIOS/acer logo visible with HDMI and external screen

124

Answers

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    edited May 2021
    @JackE Double checking: delete all these partitions? (booted from MBR FAT32 USB, legacy mode enabled ) 

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Load it on the biggest ACER partition 400+GB. If it goes, you'll probably wind up with four instead of five partitions, one of which will be extended.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Load it on the biggest ACER partition 400+GB. If it goes, you'll probably wind up with four instead of five partitions, one of which will be extended.
    So I select the Acer partition and I click on "load driver" if I understood correctly? :) 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Sorry no. Click on the biggest partition 4 (448.2GB) to highlight it, NOT partition 1. Then click next.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Sorry no. Click on the biggest partition 4 (448.2GB) to highlight it, NOT partition 1. Then click next.
    Partition 4 is GPT format, so I cant click on next. Should I select "format" first in the lower menu? (See pic)


  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Click 'show details'. It will probably want to convert to MBR from GPT partitioning.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Click 'show details'. It will probably want to convert to MBR from GPT partitioning.
    The detail says: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style"
  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    @JackE And by the way, I really appreciate you for helping me so far!! 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    OK. We must convert it to MBR partitioning from the command prompt. This will wipe the whole disk. Are you sure you want to do this before trying to reseat or replace the $25 LCD ribbon cable?

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    OK. We must convert it to MBR partitioning from the command prompt. This will wipe the whole disk. Are you sure you want to do this before trying to reseat or replace the $25 LCD ribbon cable?
    I think it's indeed wise to first try to reseat the cable and if that doesn't work, replace it with a new one
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Your other option is to simply replace the HDD with a new 2.5" 1TB HDD and install Windows on it. They're supercheap these days. About $40. Then you'd still be able to get stuff off the old drive with a 2.5" USB-to-HDD adapter cable.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    @JackE Yes but you think it will fix the black screen if I replace the HDD for a new one? I think I'll try to reseat the LCD cable first and if that has no result I'll replace it with a new one. And if those both don't work I'll try to install a fresh windows copy on my old hard drive and reformat it to MBR like you suggested. And if those solutions don't work, I might throw it out of the window ;)
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    No, the black lid screen will likely NOT be fixed as it stands right now with a new HDD, only that you might get the thing to boot with an external screen. So yes try re-seating the cable ends first. If that doesn't work, then I'd bite the bullet, spend $25, and try a new cable. If still no joy, then I'd conclude there's a 50+% chance the lid screen has failed.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    @JackE Update! I reseated the LCD cable and it seems that the screen itself is working now. But there seems to be a new problem, I cant boot my laptop properly because it instantly enters repair mode. Do you suggest installing a new windows version via a GPT, FAT32 usb stick?  

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    >>> Do you suggest installing a new windows version via a GPT, FAT32 usb stick? >>>

    Congrats on getting the lid screen back!  If the repair mode doesn't complete, then absolutely yes, try to re-install Windows in BIOS UEFI mode with the GPT FAT32 stick!!! Disconnect the external monitor so the installation can proceed without other complications. But I still recommend installing Windows on a new 2.5" HDD so you can still try to get the data off the old HDD later on! New 1TB HDDs are really quite inexpensive now.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    @JackE Thanks!  I'll report back when I have the Windows installed on the new disk, it should arrive today. Yesterday I was able to acces the login screen with the old disk and I tried to login, but the system was so incredibly slow that I had to shut it down. It took almost 10 minutes for the system to recognize the password was incorrect. So I shut it down and restart it and now it's semi stuck at the "scanning and repairing drive (C): 2% complete. I had it run for the night and just 5 minutes ago when I woke up it went from 1% to 2%, which took about 12 hours in total  :open_mouth:
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    >>> I woke up it went from 1% to 2%, which took about 12 hours in total>>

    Yes, this is a warning symptom that the HDD read/write head is hitting the disk. It repairs one part of the disk only to damage another part when the head hits. Also more commonly known as a crash. I'd advise not continuing to try to boot or repair this HDD as it's obviously putting needless heat and stress on the rest of the hardware mainly the CPU..

    Jack E/NJ

  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>> I woke up it went from 1% to 2%, which took about 12 hours in total>>

    Yes, this is a warning symptom that the HDD read/write head is hitting the disk. It repairs one part of the disk only to damage another part when the head hits. Also more commonly known as a crash. I'd advise not continuing to try to boot or repair this HDD as it's obviously putting needless heat and stress on the rest of the hardware mainly the CPU..
    Tnx for the info, i"ll shut the system down. New disk has arrived so i'll be reporting back here soon! 
  • Wesleydewijs
    Wesleydewijs Member Posts: 46 Troubleshooter
    edited June 2021
    @JackE. Quick question before installing, should secure boot be disabled in UEFI mode? 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    You shouldn't have to with a new HDD. But it can't hurt. And might actually be useful in the future as long as you don't forget your BIOS supervisor password. In fact, all my UEFI BIOS machines have secure boot turned off but retain the supervisor password to get into the menu. It makes things easier with changes  that require secure boot be disabled since it's already disabled. I think secure boot seems a bit overkill for most home users.

    Jack E/NJ