Curse

Prestige · Oct 09, 2011, 12:28 AM // 00:28

Hey there,

I have a problem with my netbook, the Aspire One D255-2642 from Acer.
It happened an hour ago, my netbook was turned off and when I tried to boot it again, it went black, and never got it working for the past hour.

Yes, I have searched google over and over, looking for an answer.
The answer I found concerned the BIOS.

Here are the steps that I found on another forum :

The AA1 has a built-in BIOS recovery routine, making it possible to flash the BIOS even if the system doesn't boot anymore. It's only meant for emergencies and may void your warranty, so use at your own risk.

Follow every step carefully!

First format an USB stick with FAT.

Download the latest BIOS, and put both FLASHIT.EXE and the BIOS file in the root directory of the stick. Rename the BIOS file to ZG5IA32.FD, that's important. Do not remove the USB stick.

Turn the AA1 off, make sure both battery and AC adapter are connected. Press Fn+Esc, keep it pressed and press the power button to turn the AA1 on. Release Fn+Esc after a few seconds, the power button will be blinking. Press the power button once. The AA1 will now initiate the BIOS flash, do not interrupt it under any circumstances. After a while the power button will stop blinking, and the AA1 will reboot shortly after. Wait patiently.

The BIOS has been flashed and all settings reset to default.

If for some reason you made a mistake during the procedure and it doesn't reboot by itself wait 5 minutes before turning it off, just to be safe that it isn't still flashing the BIOS.

I have tried that already. I saw on another forum that I could test my laptop on another monitor than it's own, so I could see if it's a screen problem.
I have yet to test that out.

Any recommendations from you guys (solutions, etc) ?

Thanks,

-Chris.

Chthon · Oct 09, 2011, 02:16 AM // 02:16

Describe exactly what happens when you try to boot.
Do the fans spin?
Do you get the POST beeps? Are they different than normal?
Does the HDD light show activity? Can you hear the HDD? Is it continuing to show activity until you kill the power again?
Do the num/caps/scroll lock lights lights light up?
Does anything at all appear on the screen? If so, what? If not, is it a black display as in "no power, so it's black" or as in "no video data, so it's black" (presuming you can tell the difference)?
If you stick the tip of your tongue inside a USB port, does it shock you? (That last one was a joke; don't do that.)

Anywho, I have a strong suspicion that you've got a hardware failure, not a BIOS problem, but you haven't given us enough information to really tell.

Venganza · Oct 09, 2011, 04:40 AM // 04:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

Anywho, I have a strong suspicion that you've got a hardware failure, not a BIOS problem, but you haven't given us enough information to really tell.

^^ Precisely.

Almost certainly there is a failure in the system.

* Very nicely laid out check-list too.

Prestige · Oct 09, 2011, 09:39 AM // 09:39

Alright so,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

Describe exactly what happens when you try to boot.

The start button and it's corresponding light do light up, but nothing happens afterwards.

Do the fans spin?

I have no idea.

Do you get the POST beeps? Are they different than normal?

No sound what so ever.

Does the HDD light show activity? Can you hear the HDD? Is it continuing to show activity until you kill the power again?

Mhm. I have to remove the battery for it to shutdown though.

Do the num/caps/scroll lock lights lights light up?

Nada.

Does anything at all appear on the screen? If so, what? If not, is it a black display as in "no power, so it's black" or as in "no video data, so it's black" (presuming you can tell the difference)?

Nada. The Hardrive light wont light up. So I'm guessing it's memory o.o ?

I forgot to mention that the light representing the hardrive does not light up.
How can I fix that if I can't even boot my laptop ?

Thanks.

-Chris.

Quaker · Oct 09, 2011, 01:51 PM // 13:51

There is a known problem with some Acer models concerning the screen remaining blank when recovering from sleep/hibernate mode after you close the lid. This is fixed by a BIOS update. (I know from personal experience that this applies to some AMD C-50 based laptops and netbooks, but not sure about other models.)

The problem should fix itself - that is, the computer should be able to eventually come out of sleep/hibernate - once the unit has been turned completely off, but it may take a long while to start up. Perhaps unplugging the AC adapter and removing the battery for a few minutes might reset everything.
(In my case, my buddie's laptop did start up and the screen did light up after a while, but I'm not sure, what if anything he did to get it to start. In my case, I flashed the new BIOS before the glitch ever happened.)

If you get it to work again (without flashing the BIOS) you can prevent it from doing the problem by going into the Power Options in Control Panel and follow the "change what the power button does" link. In there you can find options to change what the unit does when you close the lid and set it to "Turn Off" or "Do nothing".

Once the new BIOS is flashed, the problem should be fixed and closing the lid can be set back to "Sleep" or "Hibernate", if you want.

Chthon · Oct 10, 2011, 12:46 AM // 00:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prestige

Alright so,

The start button and it's corresponding light do light up, but nothing happens afterwards.

Quote:

Do the fans spin?

I have no idea.

Fans usually make noise. Do you hear the usual fan noise?

Quote:

Do you get the POST beeps? Are they different than normal?

No sound what so ever.

Does it normally beep on startup? (Most computers beep once during a normal boot.) This sounds abnormal.

Quote:

Does the HDD light show activity? Can you hear the HDD? Is it continuing to show activity until you kill the power again?

Mhm. I have to remove the battery for it to shutdown though.

Quote:

Do the num/caps/scroll lock lights lights light up?

Nada.

Quote:

Does anything at all appear on the screen? If so, what? If not, is it a black display as in "no power, so it's black" or as in "no video data, so it's black" (presuming you can tell the difference)?

Nada. The Hardrive light wont light up. So I'm guessing it's memory o.o ?

I forgot to mention that the light representing the hardrive does not light up.
How can I fix that if I can't even boot my laptop ?

Thanks.

-Chris.

If you're not getting a post beep when you should be, that would point to a power problem (battery, PSU, loose connection), a dead motherboard, or a completely dead BIOS.

If you're not getting fans when you power on, that would point to a power problem (battery, PSU, loose connection), a completely dead motherboard, or maybe a completely dead BIOS. (Depending on configuration, fans may or may not be dependent on BIOS.) Note also, if you don't have fans, and you don't have a power problem keeping current from reaching the CPU, then you're in danger of frying the CPU to a crisp in very short order if you power up.

All in all, it sounds like it's probably a dead motherboard, but I still don't have enough data.