I've checked all other threads on this and haven't found a fix yet. But first here's a little background.
We have the Acer Aspire TC-220, and it's been a wonderful computer for around 3 years. About 5 days ago, windows had an automatic update that completely messed up. I spent days with Microsoft tech support trying to fix the issue, and even though we lost years of files and beloved photos (string of bad luck, our backup hard drive for the photos had a freak accident a few days before) I was just happy to finally have the computer working again.
Everything was fine for all of 6 hours. Then windows got slow, really really slow. Naturally I restarted the computer, but it then got stuck in a reboot loop. It would get to the acer logo screen, load, and then restart unless I intervened by opening BIOS or the boot menu. It was around midnight at this point so I just turned it back off and figured I'd sort it out tomorrow.
Now for the current problem. Woke up this morning and tried to boot it, and it loads to a black screen with the Acer logo, and in the bottom left corner it says to press del for BIOS, and f12 for boot menu. There are no loading dots underneath the logo, nothing. If I just leave it, it sits there (longest I've left it so far is 2 hrs). If I press del or f12, the text in the bottom left corner changes to "please wait..." and it just sits there, for hours. At no point do I get any little loading dots or symbols.
So far I've tried restarting, unplugging the power and "dissipating charge" or whatever tech support said, putting a windows 7 disk in, putting a bootable USB with Ubuntu in, opening the pc tower and blowing the large amounts of dust out, unplugging literally everything (monitor too) and letting it sit, then plugging it all back in. It all brings me back to the black screen of death.
I really hope this stupid Microsoft update hasn't messed up the actual computer or anything. Microsoft tech support so far has been useless, they keep recommending troubleshooting options that I've made clear I don't have access to. Acer tech support tried to help, but say I should take it to get fixed or checked somewhere nearby me. I'm not spending money on something that's not my fault, especially considering I don't have any money.
So what can I do to fix this? As of now I just want to completely clear everything and start fresh with Linux but have no clue how when I can't open the boot menu.
Thanks in advance for any help.
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FAQ & Answers
You can put your HDD in to an external USB enclosure and try to recover your files.
Your HDD is probably either corrupt or failing. Personally, I would just buy another HDD and an external enclosure and use the old HDD as a backup if it's still good. Or it might be a good time to upgrade to an SSD.
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-3-5-inches-SATA-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B01MZC303G/ref=pd_cp_147_4?pd_rd_w=FHMti&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=TY0RA3BTGANMVACAMYQK&pd_rd_r=f32a820a-a122-11e9-a02a-55bde3839eb2&pd_rd_wg=wtlv2&pd_rd_i=B01MZC303G&psc=1&refRID=TY0RA3BTGANMVACAMYQK
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cache-Desktop-Drive-WD10EZEX/dp/B0088PUEPK/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=hard+drive&qid=1562550902&s=electronics&sr=1-6
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=ssd&qid=1562550955&s=electronics&sr=1-7
You can get Windows 10 free the link below.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
The link below explains how to install Windows 10 in UEFI/EFI mode
https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/697963#Comment_697963
Or you can order you original Acer OEM recovery media from Acer.
https://store.acer.com/en-us/extended/recovery
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers
The WinFlashUtilty SOP instructions are in the Appendix folder.
Tried booting mum's pc with no hard drive, and with my hard drive, exact same screen every time.
I tried swapping the graphics cards too, someone said something about them. It was quite strange, when I put mum's graphics card in my computer it went past the acer screen and to the windows logo, then stopped. When I put my graphics card in my mum's computer the monitor didn't recognize it at all. Put them back in their respective pcs and everything was back to normal (my pc worked fine, mum's still loads to the acer screen then freezes). Have replaced the CMOS battery and still the same screen.
Also, it's unclear why the Microsoft tech would suggest trying to boot a legacy operating system (windows 7) that would require your UEFI to be in legacy mode, when your computer shipped in default UEFI mode and is assumed to be in UEFI mode......unless the Microsoft tech knows something that I don't.
From what I can tell the hard drives are identical. They look the same, are the same size and everything.
Not entirely sure what model my desktop is, family use it so informational stickers have been removed and butterfly and flower stickers have been added. Is there any other way to check the tower's model?
Here's what I'd do....
1. Unplug the TC-220 from the electrical outlet
2. Remove hard drive and graphics card and CMOS battery
3. Reassemble the computer without the hdd and graphics card, but re-install CMOS battery.
4. Turn on computer and see if you can access BIOS screen by pressing the delete key
And I'm sorry for what's probably a ridiculous question with a very obvious answer, but how can I use the monitor if there's no graphics card? Am I looking at the wrong part all together? The thing that I thought was the graphics card has the dvi cable plugged into it, so when I remove the card the monitor isn't attached to the console. Thank you very much for all your help so far btw.
I had to put the usb with the bios win flash that was suggested before in, AND move the jumper thing from the 2nd and 3rd pins to the 1st and 2nd pins.
If I do just one of these things it stays the same.
When I do them both, the power light flashes repeatedly, and the screen doesn't turn on. Idk if this is a good thing, but it's certainly something different so it seems like progress. Any idea what it means?
When I suggested updating the BIOS, I was talking about after you installed Windows 10 and your system was stable. Take a look at my previous posts.
It might be time for you to take the computer to a repair shop and quit while you're ahead.
Maybe billsey will have some more suggestions.
The symptoms you describe are typical of a failed HDD. Good luck.
Have you tried to use one memory stick at a time to test for bad memory?
I have tried loading with just 1 ram and both
I tried taking the cmos battery out and putting it back in, also the bit with the jumpers
I also tried to load the bios with my hdd unconnected with still no luck
This happened when i was trying to install windows 10 to a blank hdd from a usb but cancelled. I was put into the automatic repair then windows advanced setup.
Now i just get stuck on the acer screen. If i just leave it nothing happens and if i press delete nothing aswell.
But if i power it off then on and press delete as soon as it loads then i get the entering setup message but then it just freezes for hours with nothing else