AA1 DEAD - Crashed on BIOS Update.

Hi there all,

Bit of an urgent one this, want to get my AA1 up and running again as fast as possible.
I tried to do a BIOS update to 3309 (i think, or the latest one.)

I was following instructions from here, and now when I went to restart my netbook, everything stays black and nothing happens!

Heres what I did.

Saved the BIOS to my USB flash drive
Turned on the laptop took me into BIOS, then re-assigned my BIOS to boot from USB
Restarted.
BOOM
Black nothing happened for like 10 mins, so I took the USB flash stick out, and now whenever it tries to get turned on nothing works!

The main 'On' light shows the laptop is on, and the fans etc power up, but nothing appears on screen.
I have:
a) Tried leaving it for hours to see if it would work itself out
b) Booting from Various disks including the recovery disk from Acer (with my USB Cd drive) but to no avail.
c) Pressing random combinations of buttons which I thought would work.

Have tried contacting Acer but to no response, and It's been 2 weeks now! :evil:
So im hoping (last resort style) that somebody on here can help me sort this problem out!!

Thanks in advance.
Regards
Ryan

 

So, you have tried to re-cycle the power on/off?

Have you tried removing the battery, unplug the power adapter, hold the power button for 10 seconds and then plug all power back in and try again?

When I tried doing the update to my AA1 I first tried the USB option and nothing. Then I tried the hold F-key plus what ever else and I got the black screen too. I left the power on for an hour and rebooted to black screen. I then removed as above and was able to boot to Windoes with old BIOS. From there I just used the good ole' floppy drive from USB to do my BIOS update.

try the above and post back. If you really need it I could mail you the USB floppy drive so you can do it the way I did it. A lot safer and easier if you ask me.

 

Got this from Macles: It saved me sending mine back. Just make sure you rename the bios file and have the computer connected to AC.

Acer Aspire One BIOS Recovery
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.

P.S. The usb stick must be formatted to FAT or FAT 32 NTFS won't boot.

 

I managed to brake my BIOS while installing Ubuntu 9.04 NBR onto my A1. Had the same symtoms as described on this thread.

This BIOS restore worked a treat. Cheers Rich

Just one thing to add.....here is a link to the most recient Bios files from Macles.....

http://sites.google.com/site/maclesblogspotcom/BIOS

 

Hey Rich,

Cheers for all the help, it worked!! But still have not done the BIOS update. Oh well - think I will just leave it as it is after this :lol: :mrgreen:

Thanks Again!
Ryan