Acer Apsire 7741G freezes on the Acer Bootup screen

Vinomino

I followed your steps correctly. The activity light blinked a few times. Then it stopped. Still black screen. Then I removed the pendrive and tried booting the machine. But still a black screen. Maybe it has something to do with the screen itself? It may be broken.

Vino

JackE

OK. The blinking activity light means the BIOS is trying to read the pendrive, which is good. Now try renaming the WPH file to simply BIOS.WPH and try it again. Jack E/NJ

Vinomino

I renamed and tried it again. This time the activity light only blinked once. Then it stopped. The screen is still black.

Vino

Commodore_1995#

The service manual mentions this name XXXXXXX.FD

Vinomino

What does XXXXXXX.FD mean? What does it do? Does it help?

Vino

JackE

@egydiocoelho Thanks. Page 89 ambiguously claims both WPH & FD. Phoenix is usually wph. Insyde fd. Phoenix is listed as the BIOS setup menu. Guess we'll have to try both.

Vinomino  Try the current wph, exe & sys files one more time. If still no joy, then rename the BIOS.wph to the original filename  xxxxxxxx.fd. I used xxx's because I don't have it in front of me right now. You should have it.

Jack E/NJ

Vinomino

What should I have? I do not understand what you mean. Should I rename the file "xxxxxxxx.fd" now? Or something else instead of the xxx's? If yes, where do I find it?

Vino

JackE

When you unzipped the original ACER BIOS downloaded zipfile, you found a wph file that was not named BIOS.wph in the DOS subdirectory. It had another name like JE70126.wph, I don't recall exactly right now. I asked you to rename the JE70126.wph to BIOS.wph recently. Try the BIOS.wph file one or two more times. If it still doesn't work then rename the BIOS.wph file to JE70126.fd and try that file along with the same other two files, the P....exe and minidos.sys  Jack E/NJ

Vinomino

I renamed the file. But still the same  result: The USB drive blinks once then nothing. With the USB drive removed it is still a black screen.

Vino

Commodore_1995#

Try turning off the notebook, disconnecting the battery and pressing the power for 60 seconds. Then try to perform the procedure with the battery disconnected. It is a risky procedure but it can work. In addition, the usb stick must be converted to mbr and formatted in fat32.

Vinomino

I am sorry but what exactly is mbr and how do I get it? The stick is already formatted in fat32.

Vino

JackE

Right click on the USB drive in file explorer. Click properties. Click hardware tab. Click USB drive again. Click volumes tab. Click populate button. It should show MBR as partition style, not GPT. Jack E/NJ

Vinomino

It does show MBR as partition style. But despite all that (and I checked the files on the stick again and renewed then) still nothing is happening on the screen. It is still black. I don't think I can ever get this machine running again and I don't know what to do. I am not an expert.
Should I give up trying or is there another way?

Vino

JackE

>>>I checked the files on the stick again>>>

What do you mean by 'files'? There should only be one single file on the stick. Which filename is on the stick right now? Jack E/NJ

Vinomino

On the stick there are the files 'JE70126.WPH' , 'minidos.sys' and 'phlash16.exe' .
I was told that these three files should belong onto the stick.

Vino

JackE

Yes, that was the first we tried but didn't work. Try this. Rename the JE70126.wph to JE70126.FD and make the FD file the only file on the stick. Save the other two files somewhere else for future use. Then try FN+ESC technique again. Jack E/NJ

Vinomino

I removed the other two files and kept only JE70126.FD, inserted it into the machine and did the FN + ESC thing. the activity light flashed once but nothing else happened. The screen is still black.

Vino

JackE

You said earlier with the 3 files present minidos.sys, phlash.exe and bios.wph  >>>The activity light blinked a few times. >>>>

(1) Do you think the USB LED blinked more times when you did it this way?

(2) Why did you originally lock the laptop away in the attic for 3 years?

Jack E/NJ

Vinomino

It did blink 4 times total in the span of 4 seconds. I locked the laptop in the attic because I thought that I'd never use it again after obtaining my new computer. That is why I left it there. Now I got the laptop back because I might need it in a few years when I don't have access to my computer. Before locking it there, it was in perfect condition.

Vino

JackE

Let's go back to the title of your thread >>>Acer Apsire 7741G freezes on the Acer Bootup screen>>>

At what point did the ACER boot screen disappear? And do you see any indication whatsoever of a screen backlight in a darkened room?

Jack E/NJ