(RESOVLED) Can't boot d250 from external drive

Hi Folks,

First I started getting the "usb device not recognized" message. The usb mouse worked OK so I just disabled the notify me message. Then I caught a virus. I was unable to restore using the hidden partition. Then I obtained the restore disks from Acer. Then when I tried to restore using the disks and the acer external DVD drive I get the Atheros PCIC ethernet controller check cable connection message and no boot. The light on the external drive comes on and the drive spins up but no boot. Long story short......drivers are current and the boot order was changed to see the external drive first and I am way open to suggestions?

Sorry if this post is in the wromg location. I am new here.

zdog

 

Re: Can't boot d250 from external drive

Just some ideas

Atheros PCIC ethernet controller - this should be listed in the (BOOT) SECTION of your motherboard settings via the F2 key change its boot priority, this could be stopping you.

YOU MAY WELL HAVE DONE SOME OF THIS

On boot-up, First press F2 and then in the (MAIN) SECTION scroll down and enable the F12 boot menu then exit and save.

Reboot again holding the F12 key and then choose your cd/dvd drive, the process should then start and restore the factory settings from your Acer recovery discs.

This is a link to a windows 7 recovery cd download . It should, if all fails, help in booting and possibly fixing your Windows 7 (MBR) boot record.

http://cybernetnews.com/windows-7-recovery-disc/

 

Re: Can't boot d250 from external drive

Thanks for your post. Long story short, I got the netbook to boot from the external DVD drive. I had previously enabled the f12 boot option but had not tried it. Instead I had moved the cd/rom to the first boot position in the bios and all that I got when this happened was that the external drive light came on and drive spun up but no date was transferred and then the external drive shut down. Using the f12 option on boot up I saw a new screen that I had not seen before. I chose the boot from the cd/dvd option and successfully installed the acer recovery disks. I am up and running and life is good. I still, however, have the a unknown device in the universal serial bus controllers in the device manager. I suspect this is a hardware problem such a dust in a usb port or possible a bad usb controller. I appreciate your ideas.

Best to all,
zdog

 

Glad to know that your problems resolved.

Possible usb fix

Goto start button type “device” click on “device manager”

Scroll down to “universal serial bus controllers” find the problem one highlighted right click choose uninstall, now restart your computer, it should reinstall the right driver.

 

Also glad to hear you've got it sorted. I'm guessing your USB DVD/CD-RW drive is solely USB powered? as in no AC adaptor? This would explain the situation as the USB ports probably won't be able to give the external drive enough power in enough time to spin up and read bootabe data by the time the BIOS is ready to boot from it. Using the F12 option gives the computer enough time to power up and spin up the device, which means by the time a human has taken the few seconds to make the selection from the boot menu, the drive is ready to boot.

However if your USB drive does have it's own AC adapter I could only speculate that the USB-SATA or USB-IDE chipset in the drive needs time to initialise. Otherwise I woud have been stumped.

Otherwise, changing hardware settings in a software environment (Windows, Linux etc) should and will more than likely have absolutely no effect on how the AAO's BIOS boots from devices.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been all over the device manager deleting everything and letting them reinstall on boot up. The unknown device keeps returning. I will probably set it not to report problems and get on with my life. All the usb ports seem to work OK.

My cd/dvd drive is USB powered. Thanks for that info. I learned something.

Last bit of information. After restoring my system with the factory disks, windows XP, I started IE so I could download firefox. The first time I started IE another window opened from webprizegiveaways.com. Thanks ACER for including a virus in your restore disks.

zdog

 

Have you checked to see if your webcam is functioning? The webcam modules in the AAO's have a bad habit of dying whenever they feel like it. This could explain the unknown hardware in your device manager.

Also considering you've just done a full system restore from the disks, you might want to hit the Acer website and make sure you've downloaded and installed all the latest drivers. This may or may not fix the unknown device issue. I'm pretty sure I've already made a sticky topic for getting drivers. But Acer has recently revamped the site, so your particular model may not appear if it's an older one, so you might have to check different locales on the site to find your machine.

 

I just learned something about using the factory restore disks. I used the factory restore disks to get rid of the google rediret virus. After doing a factory disk restore I STILL HAD THE VIRUS. I talked to ACER tech support about that issue and was told by the tech that when you do a factory disk restore that the original registry is used. Well that is great because that is where the virus resides. The tech told me where to download an ISO image file to format the hard drive with before running the factory disk restore in hopes of killing the virus but that did not work so hot either. I am now considering buying a set of windows xp installation disks but then I am going to have to deal with making this acer aspire one run on that system after installation.

I am still wide open to suggestions
Zdog

 

Well, I did it now. The system will not boot....the bios doesn't even start. Hit the power and spins up for a couple seconds and then shuts down.

Anyone want to buy a slightly used Aspire One D250?

Zdog

 

When you say "you did it", do you mean you've actually tried something? or has the computer just all of a sudden decided not to post?

If it's the latter, you should be able to blind-flash the latest BIOS again... Failing that, how much do you want for your D250?

 

OK....here is what happened. After reading your post about doing a blind-flash I fished the computer out of the trash to give it a try. I reinstalled the battery and hit the power switch. I do not know how or why but the computer booted up. Maybe it had something to do with having all power removed. I did some more research and found how to get rid of the redirect virus. I downloaded the TDSS root kit removal tool and it found and removed the virus that was hiding in the registry in about 60 seconds. If you have the redirect virus this is the solution. I ran the factory restore disks through one more time and things now look good. After a few hours of restoring programs and files it looks like things are back to normal.

I still have the "unknown usb device" message but I guess I can live with that. A previous post mentioned that it might be the camera. Do you have any idea how to check that out?

I guess I won't be able to buy that new Toshiba net book now.

I appreciated all the help and suggestions on this subject and I have learned a great deal. Next time I run into you at the pub the drinks are on me.

Best to all,
zdog

 

Just open up an MSN or Yahoo! messenger window and run the program's Audio/Video Setup Wizard, that should tell you if it's detected a webcam or not. If no, then chances are high the unknown USB device is your webcam module.

Or if you arent afraid to pull the front bezel off your LCD, you should be able to unclip the white plug from the webcam module (while the power is off of course). Then when you power-on the computer you should no longer see the unknown USB device, that is if it's the cam.

The drivers for the cam should automatically be installed after a factory restore, or after a fresh clean-install of Windows it should be detected as a USB Camera. If Windows has failed to install the generic driver, then it's more than likely cactus and needs replacing, that is if you want to use it. If you don't want to use it, just unplug the cable from it inside the LCD bezel and close it back up.

If it's not the webcam module, my only other suggestion would be the Reatek Card Reader, plug an SD Card in and see if it changes.