Aspire TC-780 AMZKi5 Power Up Problems

Skuddle
Skuddle Member Posts: 9

Tinkerer
in Aspire and Veriton Desktops
I'm having problems powering my Aspire TC-780 AMZKi5 on. Problem occurs regardless of how I turned the computer off. Bought the computer in March 2017 and it started up without problems until about the time I updated Windows 10 to version 1904 and then to 1909 in mid-2020. Here is an example of what happens when I try to power the computer up:
  1. 8:20:00 AM: Pressed the Power button with the computer turned off. "No Signal" was displayed for about 5 seconds. Fan turned on and ran noisily for about 5 seconds, then turned off.
  2. 8:20:20 AM: The Acer boot screen appeared and stayed on for about 20 seconds. Computer beeped. Disk started seeking randomly. Display power light began flashing for 2 seconds on, 2 seconds off.
  3. 8:20:40 to 8:27:50 AM: Disk doing a lot of seeks, display was black, display power light kept flashing.
  4. 8:28:00 AM: Gave up and held Power button down for 5 seconds. Computer displayed "No Signal" and then turned off.
  5. 8:31:00 AM: Tried pushing Power button to boot up computer. Fan started quietly, ran for 5 seconds, then turned off. No Acer boot screen.
  6. 8:32:15 Pushed Power button again to boot up computer. Again no Acer boot screen.
  7. 8:35:00 AM: Pressed the Power button on without turning the computer off. "No Signal" was displayed for 5 seconds, then nothing (including no Acer boot screen) for 70 seconds.
  8. 8:35:55 AM: Windows started to load.
  9. 8:36:15 AM: Desktop appeared and I could use the computer.
Sometimes the computer will power up in about 70 to 80 seconds. Most of the time it takes around 15 minutes during which time the computer's hard drive is randomly seeking. Here is what I have done to try to correct the problem, non of which helped:
  1. Updated Win10 to 2H20.
  2. Emptied Windows and email trash cans.
  3. The computer is running Bitdefender so I uninstalled that.
  4. Defragged C:
  5. Downloaded and ran Malwarebytes. No problems found.
  6. Compacted emails (Thunderbird version 78.6.0).
  7. Cleared Firefox cache (version 84.0.1).
  8. Ran chkdsk, found problems, let chkdsk fix them.
  9. Ran SFC/SCANNOW, found problems, let SFC fix them.
  10. Reran chkdsk and SFC, no problems found.
  11. Went through Settings, disabled all that I didn't need.
  12. Removed the internet connection from rear of computer.
The only thing I have not done was to "repair" Windows. I'm out of ideas.Thought I'd check here before running any of the built-in "repair" options. Have I missed anything?




Best Answer

  • Skuddle
    Skuddle Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    Answer ✓
    I don't think the drive was failing.
    I gave up and performed a "repair" operation using whatever was on the computer. No internet, no CD, no USB stick. The repair operation worked. Took about 2 hours. Left all of the data files but I had to reinstall my programs. Starts up normally now. Thank you for your help1

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,246 Trailblazer
    Try running one of the utilities that give you a dump of the SMART data in the HDD. The drive may be in the process of failing.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Skuddle
    Skuddle Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    Answer ✓
    I don't think the drive was failing.
    I gave up and performed a "repair" operation using whatever was on the computer. No internet, no CD, no USB stick. The repair operation worked. Took about 2 hours. Left all of the data files but I had to reinstall my programs. Starts up normally now. Thank you for your help1

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