Dead aspire one

I see all these dead aspire one post and yet I see very few post for cheap dead aspire ones.

 

Dear krizze - I have experienced EXACTLY the same problem as you. Super irritating, and worrying to find so many other customers on this forum having experienced the same... going to return it to the store...but then I'm sure I'll get a new one, and lose all that it is on my harddrive :cry:

BTW, what "Flash the bio" with a USB stick entail?

Sincerely, ola

 

sup

my first post here, everything was working just great until yesterday evening. i was restoring image using macles' software (aa1backup) and my 8gb sandisk pendrive, the restore process completed successfully, rebooted... well it didn't because the lcd nor any leds have been working since then, it just died, i can only hear the fan which makes me so annoyed

anyway, i read through 25+ pages of this topic, decided to flash bios as macles described, but it doesn't help, here's what i do

- switch off aa1 by removing battery as power button won't turn it off no matter how long i keep it pressed
- i plug in pendrive with renamed bios (tried 3114, 3305 and 3309)
- press and hold fn + esc, press power button for 1 sec, release power button, wait 5 sec, release fn + esc, press power button for 1 sec
- power button's led blinks, then it stops, i still can hear cpu fan running
- i once waited 2hrs, still nothing happened
- turned it off by removing battery again
- repeated with other bios file

what did i do wrong? don't tell me sending aa1 to acer is only way to help, that's gonna take few weeks

regards
a.

 

Quote from Macles site below. It says press the power button ONCE while it is flashing and then wait, seem like you are pressing twice. If this does not work it is not a bios issue in my opinion. You could disassemble and replace the CMOS battery and try again.


"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."

 

Jerryt do you know of a way to backup your BIOS, so that if you do not like the upgrade from flashing the BIOS you can return to the older BIOS?

 

Just note what bios version you have and download a fresh copy of that version.

You could check out the windows version of the bios update program to see if it will save the current version, I have not tried it.

 

I don't use Windows but thanks for the suggestion. I'll see if they have both BIOS versions for download.

 

Didn't want to start a new thread... my daughters Aspire One is "dead" in as much as:

- It powers on
- It shows the "<F2> or <F12>" boot screen (so i can alter the boot sequence, etc)
- It then shows the "Acer" logo in fullscreen
- It then shows a blank screen, with a *WORKING* cursor pointer (that moves with the touchpad)

It then does nothing more. Battery charges, CAPS LOCK lights work, just stays with a blank screen and cursor pointer that can be moved with the touchpad. No mods, no extra RAM, no case opened, no extra software installed, and running BIOS 3.3.0.9.

Any ideas? BIOS related, dead O/S flash drive (it's the 8GB SSD Limpus Lite version).

/UF

 

My guess would be that the computer is failing to find the boot information on the 8gb ssd. You could comfirm by booting off of a bootable usb drive.

Normally I alway reflash the bios first. The AAO seems to have a real problem with corupting the bios.

 

%The first thing I would try is to turn it off and remove the battery letting it set for several minutes. If that doesn't help then go into the Setup for the BIOS and make sure the setup is correct and that it is set to boot from the SSD.

 

I've got the same problem but with the A150 Linspire with 120Gb hard drive.

I've tried it with an external monitor and still no luck.

 

Hey there!

Sorry to start of my first post with a problem, but I have got EXACTLY the same situation over here. I've tried booting from the recovery stick created with Acer's recovery CD, but no luck. It still flashes back to the two Acer screens and then to the black screen with the mouse pointer.

The problem started after I had tried to remove some software that I had installed previously. (I needed the HD space) I don't know if that helps.

 

Just to advise my experiences here...

I had (and i hadnt checked before i was forced to emergency restore - Thanks to all that have contributed!) v3301 installed - so to my mind it's bios corruption more than a specific bios revision...

Paul

 

I'm having exactly the same problem after 6 months of it working fine. I was trying to install a programme but ended up getting a message that certain bits were missing and it 'uninstalled' everything that it had done so far and then nothing. A dead AAO! I waited and waited and waited and then eventually restarted it only to get the above :cry:

I've tried to re-flash the Bios (currently 3301 - tried to upgrade to 3310) and have followed Macles' instructions to the letter but it doesn't seem to have worked. The Bios is still listed as 3301 and I'm still getting the blank screen with the X cross pointer as mentioned above. Should I be setting the AAO to boot off the USB stick with the Bios on it whilst trying ti falsh the Bios or should I just give up and try to do a fresh install of everything from the recovery disk (I haven't got a USB recovery stick as it crashed my computer as I have 4 HDDs on it and had to re-partition it again etc. but have a USB DVD drive and can run things from the CD/DVD supplied with that, I believe). I have a few things I had not got round to backing up so that is pretty much a last resort for me.

I have the 160 Gb Linpus Lite version.

Anyone have any others ideas or found anything I may have missed that might work for me? Many thanks!

 

1) There is Macles Bios recovery using "FN & ESC", which in my experience does not write the entire bios. Because the version number does not change, but it does get you back into a dead bios.
http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/acer ... overy.html

2) Then there is Macles Flashing the Bios. Which uses a bootable USB drive created with Unetbootin. This method will completely rewrite the bios and the version number will reflect the bios file used.
http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/07/flashing-bios.html

I suggest always performing the "Macles Flashing the Bios" method after using "Macles Bios Recovery". This insures a complete bios rewrite.


Blank screen with a flashing "X" would indicate to me that the computer is not finding the boot drive. Verify that the boot drive is listed in the Bios, and set as the first drive to boot from. Also you could see if the "F12" key will allow you to boot fom a known working USB flash drive (Macles Flashing the Bios flash drive would work for this test).

 

Thank you so much! Okay, that makes a little more sense to me than what I'd picked up before as the Macles info as I was using the instructions for Bios recovery to flash my Bios! I'm in the process of flashing the Bios now but how long does it take? I've been waiting over 15 minutes and it seems to be stuck. I've got the following on my screen:

Loading /ubnkern...
Loading /ubninit...

The cursor is flashing but nothing else has been happening. I'm now worried that something has gone wrong. I don't want to interrupt it if it is still flashing but I thought this only took a few minutes. If it has got stuck will I complete ruin my AAO if I turn it off and then on again? Shoudl I just leave it? If so, for how long? Sorry for all the questions!

 

If you have not gotten to the part where you type "3310.bat" and pressed "Enter". Then you have not started to flash the Bios.

Sound like your USB drive is hanging at loading Unetbootin, try again with a different USB drive.

 

That worked! I now have an updated BIOS but, alas, it has not solved my problem :cry:

Oh well, I guess I will have to do a complete recovery of my AAO.

Many thanks indeed for advice. Much appreociated!

 

Let the forum know how everything goes with the recovery.

 

All went well. I now have a working AAO again Of course I have lost the few things I hadn't got round to saving but the system restore worked so am much relieved! All I have to do now is remember where I got all the dfifferent tips for set-up from and the names of some of my favourite programs...

Thank you so much for your advice and support!