Acer Aspire E15 E5-574G-516G not booting up with black flickering screen

zeejay09
zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

Tinkerer

edited February 2018 in Legacy Laptops and Netbooks

Hi guys, Please take time to read. I have a problem, here is the scenario:

 

I am using my laptop (Editing docs with MS Word) when suddenly the screen dims slowly and when it is very dim it suddenly rebooted, after the 'Acer' logo and motto loaded then the screen goes black with a flickering screen. I turned it off and turn it on, but it is showing pure black screen with flickering screen. I use a flashlight to check if there is some images on the screen like the Acer logo and motto but it is just pure black with screen flickering. The screen flicker is not noticeable because the screen is somewhat dim-like brightness

 

So that is my problem, when I turn on my laptop, the screen is on black and the screen is flickering unnoticeably to the naked eye (unless the environment is dark or you light a flashlight directly on the screen). The LEDs are working fine, the battery LED and the charging indicator LED. It is just that my laptop won't get past the black flickering screen.

 

Also the boot up options and boot to bios won't work, i tried it many times and it failed to boot on bios

 

Solutions I tried (from this forum but solutions for not booting up for other devices):

1. Hold the power button for full 30 seconds then turning it on. (Did not work)

2. Waiting for 1 - 3 hours if it boots up. (Did not work either)

 

Solutions haven't tried:

1. Connecting and external monitor (haven't tried cause I have no computer or external monitor of some sort).

2. Removing the battery, RAM and HDD (i have built-in battery and I am a **bleep** to remove the RAM and HDD so it's a no go for me because I think maybe if I do that I might damage my laptop even more because I am no expert)

3. Sending it to Service Center (I'm from Iligan City, Mindanao, PH and repair and service centers here in our place are known for swapping out parts from clients' laptops who have nicer laptop specs than their technicians, it is known as 'Nangangahoy' or getting firewoods, basically they're making clients' high end laptops a farming place for nice hardwares and swapping it with low ends without the clients knowing, So it is a no go)

 

I am posting in this forum hopefully to find someone who knows what the problem of my laptop (I'm thinking of RAM Issue)

 

If you need more info, just ask below, I'll be willing to provide you with informations currently I know. Thank you.

Best Answer

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    The video/cam ribbon cable tortuously meanders thru the hinge area from mainboard & LCD screen connectors. Oftentimes a break or crack happens in ribbon conductor trace lines usually in the hinge area from simple wear & tear of opening/closing the screen lid. Other times, the ribbon connector ends simply need to be re-seated several times to clean the connections. Google "e5-574G" "disassembly" with the quotes for how to videos on accessing the connectors. Jack E/NJ     

    Jack E/NJ

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer

    You really need to try to borrow a TV and see if you can HDMI out to it to check your video card. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Thanks for your suggestion, just this morning I tried to turn it on and it somehow booted up and the black flickering screen I earlier mentioned disappear. It is quite odd that it magically fixes itself or is it just becase I am about to send this to service center and the laptop feels it (just joking haha), but I'll keep this post up if the black flickering screen will occur again :fingerscrossed: 

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer

    OK. If it happens again, try to HDMI out to an external TV screen. If the TV seems OK, the ribbon cable connectors between the laptop screen and the mainboard probably need to be re-seated several times to clean their contacts. This is sometimes expected if the laptop is exposed to hot & humid weather conditions. Jack E/NJ  

    Jack E/NJ

  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    JackE, unfortunately it is back. My solution last time was to reformat my laptop because I think it is the nvidia gpu driver that causing the abnormalities. It's been  3 weeks now since that happened and it is back. After I reformatted my laptop and upgrading to windows 10 creator update, I've encounter this NTF.sys BSOD but I diagnosed it that the windows.old folder is causing the anomalies so i got rid of it and my laptop is working fine. Today, morning, it is back again. But I've captured the whole thing that I wasn't able to capture before. See this link: 

     

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/awtzwe7wpyf3agw/AAAf7gZcWpl5HKgAIvNcCQ8Ka?dl=0

     

    Same scenario, I am just regularly browsing, then it suddenly dimming until it turned off and rebooted with a completely black flickering screen, with the led lights turned on (also the fan is working). I gave it 1 hour rest then tried turning it on, 3 attempts to turn it on with 1 hour interval each and when the 3rd attempt, it successfully showed me the Acer OEM boot logo and then as you can see on that link above, I can't describe it but just look at those. I think it is not a driver problem. After that showed up, i gave another 1 hour and try to boot it up and it booted up succesfully, for 30 mins I am using it if the issue is still there and it did not let me down  :''''(, yes BSOD attacked like last time, last time is IRQL not less or equal, but this time, it is Security check failure, I am sure it has another word at the beginning, because after that I tried to capture it but it turned into (see the picture with blue and static like screen) the in the picture, I am trying to stay calm and not freakout. Please help me, I didn't attached to to an external display yet because I am waiting for my uncle to let me borrow since he's not arround. Please help, let me know if you have something to clarify or ask details. Thank you so much.

     

    I am guessing that it is either the HDD or the RAM that is causing this issue to my laptop. I'll contact Acer support after posting this. 

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer

    >>>After I reformatted my laptop and upgrading to windows 10 creator update>>>

     

    A comment & 2 questions. (1) We really need to see what happens when its HDMIed out to a TV before moving on unless you can answer question 2 with 100% certainty! (2) Did this first happen immediately after *any* Win10 update was done? (3) What method did you use to re-install Win10 after formatting?  Jack E/NJ  

    Jack E/NJ

  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    I connected it to a tv via HDMI, nothing happens. 

     

    No, this didn't happen after any win 10 update before, after I reinstalled win 10, due to my speculation that it is a software issue, the problem reoccured yesterday, 3 weeks after the fresh install.

     

    As for the formatting, I let my brother do it because he is expert at that. As for the installation method, I have a bootable USB drive Win 10, and just install it. I reused my license key to activate it and automatically it upgraded to Creator's Update after successfull installation, 3 weeks after, the problem reoccurred.

     

    So I called an expert, a service center agent at our place. I have him check my laptop,,all he did after seeing the colored lines on the screen was reseat the RAMS, booting at 1 stick at a time on the first slot and checking the RAM using windows memory diagnostic tool and it came all positive, no errors. The issue wasn't occurring, then he proceeded to boot 1 stick at a time on the 2nd slot, but it is not booting, all lights are on, fan running so the device is up, but the screen is black. Totally black. I started worrying. He them proceeded to the 2nd ram to boot on the 2nd slot still none, no boot, totally black. I was losing hope for 2nd slot. He advice me to not to use it and let it rest. (This happened yesterday).

     

    This morning,  he came back. He checked the device, booting 1 stick at a time again on the 1st slot then it is okay, he then proceeded to the 2nd slot. A miracle happened, it booted suddenly up to the desktop, but after 5 mins, it got into a BSOD, Kernel Security Check Failure is the stopcode, then before it got collected data at 100%, it got those colored lines again. He explained to me that it is either the RAM or HDD is causing the issue (or the RAM slot in my mind). He checked the disk for errors using windows tool. It has no error, he booted to safe mode and checked it, it says "Repair this drive", it has errors. He then proceede to sfc /scannow, chkdsk /f on the normal boot mode. Then checked again in normal  boot mode, it got no errrors, he then booted to safe mode and checked the disk, still it is saying "Repair this drive". I got confused and maybe also is he. 

     

    He then adviced me to buy an SSD and a New RAM (Atleast,1 stick, which is what I am planning to do before this issue had come) to check whethere it is the hdd, ram or the ram slot itself, so today I ordered a Samsung EVO 250gb SSD and a Kingston DDR3L 8gb memory (I checked the memory compatibility on Kingston Memory Finder and it is indeed compatible and have the same part #, so it is okay I think). 

     

    Now, I am waiting for my order to arrive, I have not touched nor booted the laptop since the guy left. He will be back if my ordered items arrived and he will install them.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer

    >>>I connected it to a tv via HDMI, nothing happens.>>>

     

    Did you try to turn the TV screen on with the Fn+F5 toggle key combo? Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Sorry, I forgot to tell you about that. Of course, I did that, I connect disconnect it for an hour, following every step in a forum I read. FN+F5 = nothing happened, reconnecting the HDMI on both ends then booting and FN+F5 = nothing happens, swapping ends and making sure it is connected then boot up then press FN+F5 = also nothing happened, I tried another HDMI cable, and redo all that I did = nothing really happens. I get my 2nd laptop, I tried it out if it connects to the TV via HDMI while booting, and nope, it didn't show on the TV Screen while it booted up but when I got to the desktop, it automatically detected the TV then display everything on the TV. So I speculated that it is impossible to display a booting screen of a laptop to an external display unless you have set it up already. I also tried my brother's laptop, connecting and HDMI to it and to the TV, turn the TV on, set it up to detect HDMI as an input (btw I set the TV to detect HDMI as an input from the very beginning of my hour diagnostic), then booting the laptop, the TV is blank and then when it came to the desktop, that's where the laptop screen is displayed on the TV Screen, same as what my 2nd laptop did.

     

    Glad to have you mate as a helping hand. Thanks

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer

    OK. If you're game and haven't done so already, you might try to re-set the machine to a factory-fresh state using the ALT+F10 boot eRecovery method shown in the is video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuljT0a8F7I  However, its success depend on if ACER's hidden eRecovery partition is still intact. If the graphics still exhibit funky behavior after a factory-fresh reset, then a hardware issue or incompatibility is most likely. Could be as simple as a connector or ribbon cable issue. Jack E/NJ  

     

     

    Jack E/NJ

  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    I'm gonna just skip the resetting part because I just freshly installed my windows 3 weeks ago and the issue is still here. I'm more interest on the ribbon cable issue. 

     

    I've contacted Acer support and first, they said it might be an LCD Problem, and second, they said maybe the wire connecting to the LCD is something misplaced or out of its place or something like that. Do you think it is just a ribbon cable issue? Can you elaborate what do I have to do or show me a video or detailed what to-do's and I'll let my guy do that for me?

     

    EDIT: What ribbon cable connector specifically do you mean? Is it the LCDs' ribbon cable? or some other ribbon cable?

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    The video/cam ribbon cable tortuously meanders thru the hinge area from mainboard & LCD screen connectors. Oftentimes a break or crack happens in ribbon conductor trace lines usually in the hinge area from simple wear & tear of opening/closing the screen lid. Other times, the ribbon connector ends simply need to be re-seated several times to clean the connections. Google "e5-574G" "disassembly" with the quotes for how to videos on accessing the connectors. Jack E/NJ     

    Jack E/NJ

  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Sorry for the very late reply, I did as what you said and reseated the ribbon cables from the disassembly tutorial. I just had to make sure that it will not be back so I waited for 1 month or more because the first fix was effective for 3 weeks only. Now I am sure that it is the ribbon cable, it must be reseated from time to time, I think you are right. I'll have my laptop cleaned from time to time from now on. Thank you

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer

    I'll keep my fingers crossed. Not too be a pessimist, but I think a conductor trace line break might still be possible in the hinge area. It might've temporarily re-connected just from moving the ribbon while re-seating its connector. Regularly opening & closing lid might disconnect it again. Then time for a new video ribbon cable. They're fairly inexpensive. Jack E/NJ   

    Jack E/NJ

  • Keenly
    Keenly Member Posts: 6 New User

    am having similar issues with mine so am kind of pleased in a way am not the only one.

     

    It must be these laptops. I think mine started after a windows update. Now I have nothing but black! WOn't connect to HDMI, can't reset it either. AM left unsure what to do. I can't even flash bios as the bios updates are all windows installers.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,328 Trailblazer

    Keenly>>>WOn't connect to HDMI>>>

     

    This indicates that the ribbon cable is likely NOT the issue with your ES1-520. You should next re-test each ram module individually as suggested in the original thread http://community.acer.com/t5/Legacy-Laptops-and-Netbooks/Acer-aspire-ES15-Aspire-ES1-520-Black-Screen-of-death/m-p/524955#M75720

     

    Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Hi JackE, it has been a long time since this thread opened. I just want to update you and to all members who might stumble upon this thread that my issue is long gone. Thanks to someone like you and to Acer Support.
  • johnsin1503
    johnsin1503 Member Posts: 1 New User
    Hi, zeejay09

    How's your laptop now?
    I also faced this issue on e5-574g.
    I got this laptop yesterday. Everything's fine when I checked last night. And even I've restarted the laptop. Then, I left it with close. 
    This morning I tried to on it and it happened this issue. Laptop on but won't boot. No Acer logo on screen. Then I tried with connect HDMI to monitor and TV also no display or not detect. Now I let Acer sales staff to check on it first.
  • zeejay09
    zeejay09 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Hi, zeejay09

    How's your laptop now?
    I also faced this issue on e5-574g.
    I got this laptop yesterday. Everything's fine when I checked last night. And even I've restarted the laptop. Then, I left it with close. 
    This morning I tried to on it and it happened this issue. Laptop on but won't boot. No Acer logo on screen. Then I tried with connect HDMI to monitor and TV also no display or not detect. Now I let Acer sales staff to check on it first.
    What did the staff said? What I did before was just reseat the ribbon cable for the video but it is a very tedious work.