Help with boot-up

I have an Acer aspire one ZG5 AOA-150. I bought it online from a seller I trust. I have been using it for
a long time (almost a year). it's been running fine until now. It comes with Windows XP.

The problem:

1. When I boot-up the netbook. The power button lights up but the acer logo won't show up until I press a key.
After that, the acer logo will show up but wont progress also I noticed that F2 and F12 won't work. Until I
press another key, The f2 and f12 is now functional but it will not again progress. After that an underscore (_)
like thing will show up on the top-left corner of the screen. After another key press, the underscore will start
blinking but still it won't continue. After another key press, The bootscreen will show then it is normal from here
onwards.

So basically:
1. Power button
2. Spacebar
3. Acer logo
4. Spacebar
5. F2 and F12 becomes functional
6. Spacebar
7. Underscore shows up
8. Spacebar
9. Underscore starts blinking
10. Spacebar
11. Bootscreen shows (Windows XP)
12. Blue screen notification from Windows shows with the text "Please wait..." The number of dots increases as the time pass
by. This does not last a minute.


2. Fn + up key, was supposed to raise the volume up but it does not work. Also, Fn + F12 which is supposed
to be Scroll lock doesn't work either.



While the Fn combinations: Fn + x = Working

Where x is equal to:
F11 = Num Lock
F1 = Html help file for Fn shortcuts ( unfortunately it is just a manual )
F2 = System Properties
F3 = Power options
F4 = Sleep
F5 = Monitor
F6 = Turn LCD off
F7 = Touchpad on or off
F8 = Mute on or off
Down = Volume down
Left and Right = LCD brightness control

Note: Fn + down works so I don't see any reason why Fn + up to malfunction. Up button seems to work fine.

Also, PS tray factory seems to work fine until this problem occurs. The program supposed to hide tray icons and allows
shortcut keys to be assigned to them to do certain functions such as Left click, Right click , Show/hide tray icon and Etc.

The program does hide the appointed tray icons but the Windows + Number keys do not work. However, Windows + letter keys
does work fine.






Hypotheses:

1. It might be caused by a BIOS malfunction. If it is, Reflashing the BIOS should work.
2. Might be caused by a driver malfunction.
3. A Format might fix the problem.
4. The problem might be caused by a windows update or an installation of an incompatible program.

Testing the Hypotheses: I have no control setup because I do not have a second netbook or laptop to replicate the problem.

Finding the Solution - All of these didn't work.

1. System Restore
2. Reinstalling all the drivers
3. Flashing Bios (Both using Fn + Esc and a windows program included with the *.fd file) I flashed the bios to 3310. I didn't
work so I back-flashed it to 3309. Still it did not work.
4. Fn + F10. Backed-up all my files to a External Hard drive then did a "reformat"- basically this will format the disk
then install WinXP and all the drivers included. More of like a "Reset to Factory setting" but all of your files disappear.

Conclusion:

After the tests and probable solutions tested, I therefore conclude that the problem is not caused by a BIOS malfunction
nor a Windows XP malfunction. The BIOS reflashing worked well without any discrepancies and the System Restore did work its
way through without errors. Also, the Factory Default, Fn + F10, did not fix the error meaning no system drives or programs
is hindering the process causing it to malfunction. None of the keys were grounded and all were working.

Although I can use my netbook well, this problem just bothers me.

I am an above-average PC user. Currently in college (If that matters, 1st yr, 1st sem ).

 

You could have a go at replacing the keyboard. They're cheap.

You might want to check the "Pause Break" button, top-right of keyboard. It could be sticking, which would explain the boot time issues.

 

Thanks

Thanks. It seems that the "Pause Break" Key was causing the problem.

A Keyboard Vacuum did the trick. Thanks.

BTW, This might be better than the Customer Service Support. So I was wondering, Is this forum connected to acer?

 

Nope, not connected with nor endorsed by Acer, but as a community, we're probably 10,000 times bette at problem solving than they are