A315-510P - stuck in 'Preparing Automatic Repair' loop

BurkoAus
BurkoAus Member Posts: 3 New User
edited October 2024 in Aspire Laptops

Hi all, hoping someone can help me?

My daughter has an A315-510P - a couple days ago it started looping on 'Preparing Automatic Repair' at start up and won't power on. The screen displays for a second or two then the cycle repeats. I have done full shutdown but no change.

I have a bootable USB and have been trying to boot from it to diagnose but in the BIOS utility I only have 'Windows Boot Manager' as an option and can't set the USB as a boot priority. The Boot Mode is UEFI & Secure Boot is enabled.

Can anyone help? Either with how to resolve the looping issue or how to boot from USB?

Thanks.

Answers

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 14,454 Trailblazer

    There are two ways to break the "Repair loop" depending on the boot drive (boot loader) condition, if not corrupted you should be able to boot to the Acer logo and as soon as you see that logo quickly press Alt + F10 that will start the blue Trouble shoot menu (see below). When that fails and the Repair loop starts again, you have to make a Windows Recovery disk (not a bootable USB disk) on another PC with the same Windows version. Insert a 10GB flash drive in a USB port of that PC and in Windows type Recovery and click on Create a recovery drive

    Takes 40 minutes to make, insert that USB drive in the laptop USB port and boot to windows with F2, move to the BOOT screen and if you see the USB drive move it to the top of the Boot devices list with the Arrow key or F6/F6. Save changes on exit BIOS and boot again without pressing F2. Now you will see the blue Troubleshoot menu, click on Advanced and Restart-Startup Settings 4 of F4. The system will restart in Safe mode where you can uninstall problem drivers or just reboot to Windows.

  • BurkoAus
    BurkoAus Member Posts: 3 New User

    Thanks @Puraw , appreciate the response. Alas, still no luck. Alt-F10 does not seem to work on the affected laptop. I did create a recovery disk on a separate laptop and have inserted it, but when I access the BIOS setup I still only see Windows Boot Manager and don't have a USB option?

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 14,454 Trailblazer

    Hi, if you have a USB3.0 flash drive get a USB2.0 flash drive and create a new Recovery drive. Also make sure the laptop is completely shut down; no LEDs should be on before you boot with the USB drive (this procedure requires a cold boot). Try if you can boot that other PC that you used with that USB Recovery drive, if that boots OK you have a USB port issue with your laptop.

    try inserting the USB drive into a different USB port of the laptop. Avoid using USB hubs or cables, because they might not be detected during the boot sequence. Avoid USB 3.0 ports if the firmware does not contain native support for USB 3.0.

    The fact that Alt+F10 does not work means that the recovery volume on your boot drive is missing or corrupted, if you cannot boot with that USB2.0 Recovery drive you need to bring the laptop to Acer Services to reset the system to factory default for a small service fee.

  • BurkoAus
    BurkoAus Member Posts: 3 New User

    Thanks again @Puraw, the drive is USB2.0 and the problem laptop was completely shutdown. The laptop only has 2 USB3.0 ports & no matter what I try, I can't get past the recurring restart cycle and I can't get Alt F10 to work. Fn F2 to access the BIOS utility is the only think I've been able to do but per the initial post, I can't select USB as a boot option. I suspect I need to try with Acer to reset to factory?

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 14,454 Trailblazer

    Yes, if you can boot the other PC with that USB2.0 recovery drive that you made then I recommend bringing the Aspire3 to Acer Services to reset the system to factory default for a small service fee.