Dead aspire one

Did you re-flash the BIOS before this happened? I backed up everything thoroughly last night after reading through the posts on this thread.

 

No, i don't know how to flash the BIOS. Hehe.. But it happened when i was going to watch a Steven Segal movie. Steven Segal killed my computer! So, it's the BIOS or the graphic card. The guy at Acer said it might be the graphic card.

 

the guy at acer italy said could be the motherboard... BUT before going any further with assistance or BIOS reflash I think this attempt worths a try

 

Yeah, but the problem is that my screen doesn't work, so how can i flash or do anything?

 

OKAY! IT'S ALIVE AGAIN!

Just follow this guide! Took me about 2 minutes!

http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/acer ... overy.html

 

good to here wish I had found the guide be for I sent mine out for repair but not sure it would have worked in my case as acer changed my motherboard.

unless there to dumb to know it can be recovered with a recovery flash
who ever repaired mine stripped some screws and only finger tightened some screws
and didn't even put the rubber feet back where they go.

but its now working again so I am happy about that I am afraid it will brick again so I made recovery usb stick
that is going to be packed in its little laptop case.

 

Very good news indeed Bazooka. Thanks for the link and for keeping us posted.

 

Not all dead Aspire Ones are fixed by this bios "upgrade" :x

I got a Brand new one last week (8gb SSD running Linpus) Supplier-fitted with the 1gb Ram upgrade.
It was DOA.
Power on, the lights cycle through one and then go out. No sounds, nothing on the display - just a dead brick.

I have read through this post (and several similar on this site) and each time its suggested to try the USB Bios refresh trick.
We;ll i tried, however my machine doesnt want to know about any USB key, in any of the ports - it simply remains as dead as when it first arrived.

I'm currently hanging on the phone to Acer UK in order to log a DOA warranty replacement.

Disappointed really, as i've been using these puppies elsewhere and they're quite good - opt to buy one myself in order to engage the enthusiasm of my better half and get this...Not the best of starts...

 

Have you made you USB-stick bootable? If no, you need to do that.

Edit: On another computer Since your's dead

 

Yup
Tried it with 4 different USB sticks in the end - all reformatted and made bootable specifically to try out this "fix"
Did all 4 on one of my XP machines, and then did them again using one of my Linx machines - same result all round - no joy.

 

Hmm.. That's weird! Anyone who knows what to do?

 

I just thought I would let you know that the problem you're describing sounds like it may not be a BIOS issue it could be incompatibility with the RAM
it is possible that the supplier you ordered from did not test the laptop after installing the RAM it is also possible that something on the motherboard is burned out

Does the power light on your Acer aspire one stay on and never go out when you power up if the power light stays on it is a BIOS problem
if it powers up and then shuts down it could be the fan or a variety of other things

anyway good luck getting your acer aspire one back up and running or replaced.

I have just updated my bios to the following version
Date : 2008/12/04
BIOS Version : v0.3309
all went well running fine
got the bios from
http://sites.google.com/site/maclesblogspotcom

I sure hope acer has fixed all the problems with the BIOS corrupting itself
and hope to never see the black screen again

 

How do i flash my BIOS? I have a bootable USB-stick, and the BIOS i going to flash is provided bye the person above me (zaperbaby). I'm thinking of using the BIOS he's using.

So.. What to do next? I don't want to brick my AAO, so that's the reason i'm asking you guys Maybe you, Zaperbaby can explain? Hehe. Oh come on!

 

It is actually pretty easy to install flash the new BIOS
things you will need to install the BIOS a bootable DOS USB key
the 3309 BIOS files
simply follow the instructions on this page http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/07/flashing-bios.html
but instead of downloading the 3305 BIOS download the 3309 BIOS here
http://sites.google.com/site/maclesblogspotcom/

When I did mine I used a 1 GB USB flash drive made with unetbootin utility to create a bootable USB stick simply followed the instructions
at http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/07/flashing-bios.html
also when I booted off the flash drives I selected free DOS safe mode and I had to switch from
the A:\ drive to the two the B:\ drive by typing b: and hitting enter
then to start the flash process all I had to do is type 3309 and hit enter
and wait till it's finished flashing it took about a minute to complete

I have been using my acer for the last 3 hours and everything is still working properly

 

Today I got my little One back from the repair center.
It has a new motherboard, and Bios 3308.
BUT, some guy at the repaircenter put in a password. Which makes my One useless, I can't install new programs or change the password.
Also the system is not installed in my preffered language.
Is there a solution to these problems? Or will i have to use the recovery CD.
Does recovery work from USB stick?

WJ

 

SOLVED ! by doing:
ALT F2
type 'terminal'
type 'sudo oobe'
A window wil open as if it were a new AA1. You can choose language and set your password without the need of typing the old (unknown) one first.

Now we're back in bussiness !

WJ

 

This is the same problem as discussed in the topic entitled Acer Shutdown Problems. Anyone have any solution. This unwanted shutdown after a minute or so seems to be a common problem. Somebody from Acer must be reading this. I would think they would want a solution quickly or word of mouth is going to tank this piece of garbage.

 

To me there is quite a difference between dead and shutting down after a minute! It's obvious the main bord is functioning in the case of unwanted shutdown, but not in the 'dead' case.
Unwanted shutdown might be caused by overtemperature, bad connection, power or temp issues, ...

WJ

 

Today (nah, yesterday), my Netbook was killed, after recovering with recoverCD/external cddrive
Reading this topic, i found the way for reflashing the BIOS, tit it with 3308, and Netbook works again

Why don't we use same way for upgrading BIOS as for recovering BIOS? with recovering we dont need Bootable,etc, only the move 2 files.

// PHPnerd

 

I wish I would have found this thread 2 days ago... bought my AOA150 on Nov 28, changed to dual boot with FC10 and was working great for 3 weeks. I tried copying the Windows partitions to external storage and booting from USB 60GB drive (in prep to completely removing windows, but keeping a copy in case it was needed) and it kept prompting for the disk restore process (press F11). Gave up for the time, was switching boot sequence back to standard and it bricked... power light, battery light, and completely dark display.

Sent it in to the Texas repair center yesterday... their phone support suspected a dead MB, but would have been nice to try the macles bios restore solution first. What isn't clear on prior posts (I read many pages, but not everything on the 36 pages), do my symptoms match the others? no splash screen, nothing on the display!

They'll be getting it at the repair center on Dec 24... then promise return in 7-10 business days.

I love the portability of this thing, and had excellent success with other Acer laptops over the past couple years. I have to refrain from buy a 2nd one while mine is out for the repair.

I noticed the folks on phone support weren't really surprised when I gave them my symptoms...

As for the device itself, would appear that a simple access panel on the bottom would facilitate much easier drive replacements... mine was the 120GB version, was thinking about replacing with SSD, but just the description of complete disassembly delayed me from that... good thing too because that sounds like it probably would have voided warranty.

Will post again when I get it back or get any other response from them.