Will not boot up

Hello All - I have an Acer Aspire 5551-2013 laptop and it will not boot up. I think I can hear the HD spinning, but if is, nothing happens. I removed the HD and was able to read all the files using it as an external HD, but when replacing it back into the laptop or hoping it would boot up connected as an external drive, it would not boot up. Could there be something wrong with the operating system or something else? The HD seems to work or at least is readable, but useless in a boot. I did order a new HD, but not sure if that will fix anything should there be something else wrong with the computer. Thank you in advance for your help.

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Commodore_1995#

Have you tried to disconnect and reconnect the hdd?

NYRainman

egydiocoelho said:

Have you tried to disconnect and reconnect the hdd?

Yes, I did that. I even tried using the recovery and repair disks I have and all the CD/DVD player did was spin, but nothing took place with the computer itself.

I took the HDD out again and used it as an external drive on another computer and it seems fine. I can read all files on that drive, etc. This is why I am thinking there might be something wrong with the computer. But what?

Commodore_1995#

OK! Have you checked your hard drive with crystaldiskinfo?

NYRainman

egydiocoelho said:

OK! Have you checked your hard drive with crystaldiskinfo?

No I haven't - never heard of it until now. I Googled it and it seems that it only checks hard drive functionality. The hard drive seems to work and I can read all the files. I'm thinking that this may be more of either a software issue in the operating system or a hardware on the computer itself.

I found a few places that mentioned the cmos battery might be bad and that would cause it not to start up. Then again, others say that the battery wouldn't cause this type of problem. I do have a new battery on hand, but not sure how difficult it is to get to in order to change.

Although I'm not a fan of downloading third party software off the internet, crystaldiskinfo seems safe. In case I missed it, will this be able to check and see if there is a software issue on the drive?

One other questions - If I hook up this HDD as an external HDD, will the computer read it and use it to boot up? This would save me the time of constantly switching the HDD in and out of the computer as needed.

Commodore_1995#

Crystaldiskinfo only checks the sectors of the disk. You said at the beginning that the computer won't boot, correct? Is the Acer logo also missing? Have you ever tried to turn off the notebook, disconnect the battery and press the power for 60 seconds?

NYRainman

egydiocoelho said:

Crystaldiskinfo only checks the sectors of the disk. You said at the beginning that the computer won't boot, correct? Is the Acer logo also missing? Have you ever tried to turn off the notebook, disconnect the battery and press the power for 60 seconds?

Here is all that I've done and the results ...

- I've tried turning it on with a fully charged battery.

- Tried with the battery out and just the charger cable.

- Tried with the HDD in the computer, as well as taking it out and using it as an external drive via a USB port.

- I tried leaving it in and running both repair and recovery disks for the computer.

- I've also, on several occasions, did push and hold the power button.

Results each time ...

- With the HDD in the computer, after I push the power button, the button lights up, I hear the fan go on then off, another tiny blue light lights up with a light bulb icon next to it and I can hear and feel the HDD spinning constantly.

- With the HDD used as an external drive, the same as the above, except I can see the light on the external drive casing light up then go out, but the HDD is still spinning constantly.

- With the HDD in the computer and trying to use the repair or recovery disks just keep spinning and nothing happens. Blank screen, just nothing.

Note: I also removed the DVD drive, because I know that if that fails, it can cause the computer not to start. That did not help either. I also removed and reinstalled the memory card just to make sure it was seated properly, and that did not help.

So basically, nothing happens at all except what is mentioned above. Blank screen, that's it.

On the upside, I can still read everything on the HDD when used as an external drive on another computer, but it would be nice to get the computer working, as it would come in handed.

Commodore_1995#

The blank screen may occur due to a video card or ram failure. Have you tested with another ram?

NYRainman

egydiocoelho said:

The blank screen may occur due to a video card or ram failure. Have you tested with another ram?

I just pulled a ram card from another laptop. Not sure how the compatibility thing works, but it fit with no problem.

I first removed the original and replaced it with the one from the other computer and the same thing - nothing happened, so I switched everything back.

Might be the video card, but I'll have to look into where it is located.

Commodore_1995#

One question: is the image displayed on an external monitor?

NYRainman

egydiocoelho said:

One question: is the image displayed on an external monitor?

Just gave it a try, hooking it up to an external monitor and no image at all. Just does what I mentioned before, HDD spins, but nothing else happens - no image.

If my searching is correct, the video card is soldered to the MB, in which case this will not be worth the fix. But if you have any other suggestions, I'm open to them.

Commodore_1995#

I'm really running out of ideas. Perhaps colleagues @Billsey and @JackE might have some other suggestions.

NYRainman

egydiocoelho said:

I'm really running out of ideas. Perhaps colleagues @Billsey and @JackE might have some other suggestions.

Hey, no problem. Thank you for all your help. I appreciate it. Have a great day.

Commodore_1995#

Check the rtc battery too!

NYRainman

egydiocoelho said:

Check the rtc battery too!

Yes, that was one of the things I wanted to check first, but that battery is soldered onto the MB and I don't have a soldering gun. I will be looking into it though and see what I can do.

I've also seen videos where people have heated up their video card to try and loosen up the solder and they have had good results, but in my case where it is right on the MB, I'm not sure if that will fry everything. I guess it wouldn't hurt, since nothing works anyway. I just have to find more time to play around with this. It's getting frustrating, as I'm also working on another computer of mine that's an HP and works great, except the display hinge broke, which makes it very difficult to use the computer. With that, I have to basically dismantle the entire laptop to get to the screws at the base of the hinge.