So depressing

My AA1 is my favourite computer. Fits into my purse, it's light, has a great screen, and the keyboard is almost full size. I got the Linux model, so that I don't have to worry much about security. I got it for travel, but use it as much at home as I do on the road. I wish I had a Euro for every person who ran out and bought theirs after seeing mine. Even a dollar would be pretty good.
Within the first week, I got the BSOD and nothing, nothing, nothing worked. Sent it back to Acer. It came back working. Then, something else happened and I used the recovery disk ... hey, I was back in business. My use makes very few demands on the machine: I surf, do email, create the occasional document, and sort pics on holiday. Anything I really need I transfer to my desktop machine for safer-keeping. On a recent long trip, I lost the recovery disk, but that's not the end of the world.
A couple of weeks ago, I got the "new item not configured" star-shaped icon. I managed to resolve that with the help of a friend. But then the network center quit working. And the machine refused to recognize usb drives or an optical drive. My feeble attempts to set things straight failed, and I enlisted the help of a geeky girlfriend who has a degree in computer science. She has been scouring the forums, downloading images and doing everything she can think of, without any success. Finally, she ordered a new recovery disk from Acer ... and it's on backorder, so it will take a few weeks to get here.
It's driving my geeky friend crazy. And for me, it's downright depressing. Somebody, please tell me it's going to be all right ... or if you have any other suggestions that will make me feel better, or maybe even get the AA1 working again, please send them along.
And thanks for letting me vent.

 

Search the torrent sites for the Acer Aspire One Linpus recovery ISO. Who ever said only Acer has it.

And I think you need to update your BIOS. You seem to not download and install alot of stuff, so I don't understand why you're having alot of problems. I have many friends who just use their Linpus AAO, and not do anything to tweak or customize it. And they don't have any problems at all. Is there anything particular that you do with your AAO outside from web browsing and using office applications?

Tip: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4373562 ... very_image

 

Nothing! Really, honestly, I surf, I use the email program, I sort pictures (and then remove them), and I have, oh, maybe 20 office documents on the machine. I am such a technopeasant! And I'm a blonde as well. I have never downloaded anything. What, were you thinking that I might secretly be using it to skype, play action games, and pirate movies while I'm in the hot tub? :roll:

Thanks for your answer, though. Like your friends, I've not done anything to tweak or customize my AA1. I just wish that, like your friends, my machine would reward me with trouble-free performance.

I will send your tip on to my geeky girlfriend. I'd be surprised if she hasn't already been there and done that. But if anyone can come up with any other ideas, I'd appreciate your sending them along.

Thanks!

 

Tell your geeky girlfriend to update the BIOS to the latest version. That resolves ALOT of issues.

 

Do this and get version 3309
http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/acer-aspire-one-bios-recovery.html
Then do the backup on the december 19th post. Its fantastic and backs up or restores the entire netbook onto a usb in about 15 mins,
http://macles.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-01-02T17:12:00+01:00&max-results=12
You may find you dont need the backup after the bios update but once you do have it you can play around as much as you like!
Enjoy

 

Hi, I am the geeky girlfriend. I updated the bios according to Mackles and still no luck with network centre. You click it and nothing happens. I have downloaded different recovery images but none seem to work.

I tried the stuff in the Dec 19 post by Mackles and got as far as backup or restore off the usb. So first I tried restore and got a bunch of writing so it was obviously doing something. But still nothing changed. Then I tried backup although I don't really understand how backing up a system which isn't working properly and then restoring it will help. Wouldn't work anyways because USB stick doesn't have enough memory (it's 2 G).

I have downloaded the Aspire One linus lite recovery disk and went to a youtube video to try to boot off it and make the usb stick. Unfortunately neither computer will boot off this disk.

I then went to this site http://dailycupoftech.com/2008/09/02/di ... sb-device/ and am trying to follow it. But when I use self image, it won't let me select drive like his picture shows. So I selected file instead and pointed it to the usb stick. It seemed to put the recovery image on the stick. But when I just tried booting off it in the Acer, it gives this error 'could not find kernel image linux boot'.

I reformatted the usb drive and tried again but still can't select drive using self image. I downloaded all image but it won't recognize my image file, aa1_usb_recovery_image. Self image also wouldn't recognize it as a gz file even though I know it is.

I really don't know what else to do.

 

Do you have an external 5.25" USB parallel ATA enclosure and a spare (or yankable) desktop cdrom drive?

I've found the ubuntu netbook remix isolinux install cds to be priceless when tinkering with the aspire one. Booting off of CD eliminates the need for big flash drives. Even if the system goes completely under, I can still boot linux and at least attempt to fix things. This might be beyond your level of expertise, but it may also be a good time to learn?

Here are a couple of helpful links:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR (Ubuntu Netbook Remix wiki page)

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne (Aspire One specific UNR information)

 

A sad tale indeed.

Some thoughts:

1. Don't lose the recovery CD. Use it to make a bootable flash drive, then store it away in a safe place and keep the flash drive in permanent use as the restore disk.

2. Linpus can go bad just through mismanaged updates of software installs. Of course tweaking the OS as an administrator only increases the risk. Once it goes bad, it has been my experience that there is only one solution: reinstall to factory defaults and start over. Trying to "fix" the broken network manager etc. will only end in tears. Don't even try, its much faster to just reinstall.

3. The root cause is probably BIOS, at least that would be the first thing Id look into after reinstalling the OS. Also at least consider that you might have ended up with a lemon: a badly built machine with poor connections, bad soldering, or overheating problems.

 

Don't lose the recovery disk. You can say that again! Don't spill your beer on the keyboard, either! I took the recovery disk on a long trip, and put it in a very safe place. So safe, in fact ... :lol: Never mind, my geeky friend burned a new image from the net, and ordered another from Acer. So we will both have one in case it happens again, which it probably will.
The final (for now) chapter in this story is that my gf reinstalled the BIOS, and then did the OS recovery. All is well now. I will suggest that she post what she did here, to add to the knowledge pool.
There is one thing that I did that was smart (hard to imagine, I know!): anything I do on the Acer, I back up to another computer or to google docs. And I don't work for money anymore, so, although it's annoying, I'm not going to get fired if data is lost.
We have a successful bartering system, my geeky girlfriend and me: she fixes my computers, and I mend her clothes. This AA1 repair was good for two buttons, a zipper, a piece of loose trim, and several holes made by her dog in a quilt. We both think it's a good deal.