Aspire 2920 problem with screen at boot... (and after) after multiple crashes

Hi everybody,

After multiple BSOD's with B=blue or B= black while updating I got following problem.

At this time when the computer boots it shows the Acer logo screen but the word Acer and the whole screen streches out and overflows the bottom of the screen. The screen does also not cover the total width. After booting the screen keeps this bad definition so it's impossible for me to acceed to the taskbars. Is it a problem with the BIOS ? the motherboard ? or else ? And how can I fix it ? Can I even manage to fix it by myself ?

Here some other indications of what I already did.

After trying several recoveries with eRecovery, which did not help (I have the CD's with factory configuration) I finally took out the HDD and connected it to another computer with a sata to usb cable.

I made a backup of all my work and after that formatted the Data partition, the C partition and the PQService because I wanted to install Linux, what I did. And the computer works with Linux but with that bad screen.

I downloaded the Bios V1.13 on Acer's site. But how can I flash it ? and will it fix the problem of the screen ?

Lot's of questions I would like to have an answer for.

Thanks to those how will read that, and perhaps answer or even help to solve my problem.

And A Happy New Year for the coming 2016 !

Amedeo

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Amedeo

Hi !

I flashed the BIOS of my Aspire2920 after reading this

http://foivos.zakkak.net/tutorials/flashing_bios_acer_aspire_2920z

but with differences

So first I downloaded 2 versions of a BIOS for Aspire2920.

The first was the v1.13 on Acer’s Site

The second was v1.14 on a third part site.

In v1.13 you get following files

ABVXD.VXD

CLD-113.EXE

Flash.sys

Readme.txt

Readme.txt contains the following text

Model:

Aspire 2420

Aspire 2920

Aspire 2920Z

Launch CLD-113.exe and then follow the program procedure to flash BIOS.

Of course I couldn’t launch CLD-113.EXE…

I read that to get the file with .FD extension one has to unpack the CLD-113.EXE file. I tried that on several ways but unpacking was unsuccessful. It seems that this file cannot be unpacked…

Everything I tried with these files did not work.

In v1.14 I have a WINFLASH directory containing

ABVXD.VXD

CLD-114.EXE

Flash.sys

Beside this directory there are also

ACERACDC.EXE

BIOS.bat

Phlash16.exe

CLD-114.ROM

CLD-114.WPH

I formatted a USB-Stick in Fat32

I downloaded unetbootin and created a FreeDOS usb

I copied and pasted all the files for BIOS 1.14 on the stick.

After having modified the BIOS settings to boot on the stick I booted the laptop. But the option 5 did not work.

I had to choose the option 2 in the FreeDOS menu.

I got A:/ on my screen…

Command dir gave some results but I did not see my bios files.

So I typed C:

And there with dir I saw my files.

The easiest way was then to launch Bios.bat.

At first it failed with the message “DC doesn’t exist”.(I had disconnected the battery for the previous tests)

So I connected the battery and then it worked successfully.

If you open Bios.bat you get this

@echo off

set UMAROM=CLD-114.WPH

set UMAWFEXE=CLD-114.EXE

cls

if (%OS%)==(Windows_NT) goto WindowsMode

Smiley Very Happy OSMode

echo *********** Calado BIOS Flash Utility ***********

REM ***************************************************************

REM *** Just modify the above part ********************************

echo Notice:

echo 1. This procedure may replace your BIOS!

echo If you don't want to do it, press Ctrl-C to cancel.

echo 2. Make sure you plug in the AC adapter before flashing BIOS.

echo If not, DO NOT flash!

echo 3. This utility will check if the battery capacity is over 30%%.

echo If not, it will stop to flash the BIOS.

pause

ACERACDC

if errorlevel 255 goto Calado

goto end

:Calado

phlash16 /x /s /mode=3 %UMAROM%

goto end

:WindowsMode

CLS

echo *** WinFlash Will start ,please wait ........... ***

cd winflash

%UMAWFEXE%

goto end

:end

cd ..

It may be easy to understand that, as far as my laptop has no more windows installed it goes to DOS mode.

Then ADERACDC tests if battery is present and AC plugged in.

And after that you have the phlash16 command with %UMAROM% = CLD-114.WPH

Nevertheless my screen problem is not solved…

But I don’t know how to solve it.

If somebody has an idea…

Thank you for reading

Amedeo

finlux

Hi Amedeo

I'd say it's likely to be a hardware issue & not a software or BIOS problem. Motherboard/Graphics Chip, possibly the LCD panel. Have you tried an external screen?

Amedeo

Hi Finlux,

After reading your post I tried with an external screen and everything works fine.

So according to what you wrote it may be a motherboard problem / graphic chip out of order. If yes I have to find out where this graphic chip is, and if I can replace it. The Acer's 2920 service guide gives no information.

At booting of Linux I have a short message I barely have time to read, about an impossibility of calibration. I guess it concerns the calibration of the screen.

I will deepen the question

Amedeo

finlux

As your laptop worked fine on an external screen - perhaps it's an issue with the LCD panel?

You could try asking at your local PC store, if they can test it....

Amedeo

I'm gonna try to disconnect it form the laptop and connect it to a Raspberry... but this will take time. I come back here as soon as I have new answers.