Lost HDD Access After BIOS Update in Acer Aspire A514-54

Trider_101
Trider_101 Member Posts: 3 New User
edited May 21 in Aspire Laptops

Hello,

I have an Acer Aspire A514-54 with the following parameters:
CPU: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-1115G4 @ 3.00GHz
BIOS v1.34
GOP Version Intel(R) GOP Driver [17.0.104]
HDD: Kingston 0M8PCP3512F-AA

I have recently tried updating the BIOS to 1.34 (which, based on the InsydeH20 Setup Utility has somewhat succeeded), but it backfired big time... I am no longer able to see the hard drive on which Windows 10 is installed. I have tried System Recovery, repair / reinstall from USB, all to no avail as the system is literally not seeing the HDD partition. All CMD commands that relate to disk / volume only see and return drive X:\ which is the recovery drive. There is no Drive 0, Unnamed drive or any other indication of any HDD.

I have tried resetting BIOS to factory setting, including removing the laptop battery, BIOS battery and letting it reset manually (still on 1.34 in InsydeH20 Utility Screen).

I removed the HDD from the laptop and access it through SSK stick on another computer with no issues whatsoever, so I know it's not a bad HDD issue.

At this point, I am trying to install another (earlier) version of BIOS in hope that it will restore the HDD accessibility, however I am not sure how to go about it. All my attempts to run BIOS from a bootable USB have failed. Does anyone have a step-by-step solution for this or any advice on how to run BIOS firmware on this particular model with a USB stick and unbootable Windows / HDD? Thank you in advance!

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

Answers

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 12,850 Trailblazer

    You are stating HDD (spinner) but quote the Kingston Gen3 NVMe SSD? Do you have a 2.5" Sata-3 HDD as boot drive or is the boot drive the M.2 NVMe SSD?

  • Trider_101
    Trider_101 Member Posts: 3 New User

    M.2 NVMe SSD. I was just quoting what I can see in BIOS with the HDD lingo.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 12,850 Trailblazer

    (Graphics Output Protocol is called VBIOS) You can't roll back a BIOS version, Windows security won't allow that. Maybe you interrupted the BIOS installation as this is a slow process, and it didn't install properly. I recommend bringing the laptop to Acer Services to reprogram the ePROM and reset the system to factory default for a small service fee.

  • Trider_101
    Trider_101 Member Posts: 3 New User

    The laptop actually uses EUFI.

    I am probably being confusing due to using the wrong terminology, but… as fa as the system is concerned, there is no drive with a Windows installation on it. All I am able to do is enter the EUFI configuration (InsydeH20 Setup) or Recovery Mode (which for the most part does not function except for Command Prompt) or boot from an external Media.