Aspire One D255 will not boot / power up

Discussion in 'Laptop Hardware' started by tishame, Feb 4, 2012.

  1. tishame

    tishame

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    I've very recently bought a second user D255 and performed a factory restore on it. All was well during the restore and I created a new user profile. One of the last things I did was to set the lid function to HIBERNATE and then closed the lid. Opened it today pressed the power button and the power button illumined as well as the power led. The fans run briefly, hard disc begins to spin, fans go off and nothing else happens. Power button and power led stay on. Nothing is displayed on screen at any point.

    I've tried taking the power lead off and battery out to discharge any residual power but that hasn't made any difference.

    I've read a fair bit about Aspire Ones getting stuck in hibernation and about flashing the BIOS from USB.

    Any thoughts on how I should proceed ?
    Regards, Colin
     
    tishame, Feb 4, 2012
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  2. tishame

    something back

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    Some internet sites suggest:

    (Press the Power button on your laptop and keep it pressed for 20 or so
    Then wait 2 minutes. Then click on the Power button. Or the same without battery.)

    soon as you get it working hopefully,


    1. Restart your laptop and keep pressing F8 key.
    2. This will take you to Boot Option Menu
    3. Select "Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked)"
    4. Press Enter
    2. if you get it working then in windows go to the start button
    3. type in power then go to change what power button do
    4. repeat type in power the choose change when computer sleeps and any other power settings.

    Good luck no one seem to know this one as yet.
     
    something back, Feb 4, 2012
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  3. tishame

    tishame

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    Hi, I'm ok with disabling the hibernate if I could get in. Currently the laptop will not boot. Nothing on the display. Fans and disc spin for a couple of seconds then nothing. Sounds like its just gone into hibernate. When I had mains power off earlier and battery out I had one instance where when I tried switching on that the disc kept spinning and the hdd activity light flashed on/off repeatedly but still no boot and nothing on display.
     
    tishame, Feb 4, 2012
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  4. tishame

    tishame

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    Maybe I should add that when everything goes quiet the power button and power led remain illuminated, so prob not in hibernation, otherwise all lights would be out, right ?

    Help
     
    tishame, Feb 5, 2012
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  5. tishame

    something back

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    Have you tried pressing the on button then immediately pressing the f2 rapidly to invoke the motherboard settings.

    Now that you don’t think it's in hibernation mode?

    It's sounding more like a harddrive problem

    Another thing to check is the fan vents blocked given it's a second user machine?
     
    something back, Feb 5, 2012
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  6. tishame

    tishame

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    Thanks for your reply, yeah tried F2, but no luck.

    Strange thing is that I switch it on, fan and disk run but within 2 secs power drops, it auto starts again with fan and disk running but after a few secs the disk spins down and all is quiet. Power button lit, power led on and if left on, fan runs.

    I never see anything on the display, no splash screen for the BIOS or anything for that matter. I guess its feasible that the HD could be at fault but would have thought I'd still get command of the BIOS even if the HD was missing.

    RAM module maybe ? But again, would I not see some activity on the screen for POST/BIOS ?

    Thought I would try the crisis recovery but that does nothing for me either. Downloaded the files from Acer and did the following:

    Tried it on a 1Gb stick and also a 512Mb, read somewhere that the Boot block of the BIOS couldnt cope with partition sizes of 1Gb and above on the USB stick. That could well be a myth, but I tried it anyway.

    Damn thing ! Anybody ?
     
    tishame, Feb 6, 2012
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  7. tishame

    something back

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    something back, Feb 6, 2012
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  8. tishame

    tishame

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    Thank you :)
     
    tishame, Feb 6, 2012
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  9. tishame

    tishame

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    Well, just when you think its terminal .....

    I decided I had nothing to lose by having a dig inside, after all Acer UK said they wanted £55 just to collect and have a look !!! I only paid £100 for it, so really wasnt worth it. Anyway, got the keyboard out and released the bottom access panel by removing the 4 screws under the keyboard. Had intended to take out the HDD and see if it would spin up ok in a USB disk caddy, but figured I'd start with the DDR module first.

    I had read in several places that it was suspected that a static charge on the memory may prevent the netbook from starting. I removed the module, re inserted the battery and tried to switch the device on. It behaved exactly as before. Ok power off, battery out, DDR module back in, power on, it works !!!

    So I shutdown again, reattached the keyboard, and made sure all the keys were active. Checked that I could hibernate & sleep and be able to wake it back up again and then reattached the bottom panel and clicked the keyboard back into place. Happy days !!!

    So, conclusions ..... may well have been a static charge on the memory (more than likely actually) that did not resolve itself by the Acer recommended solution of removing mains power, battery and then leaning on power button for a while. Strangely, for me anyway, as I do have a reasonable amount of PC repair experience, was that this problem would not even allow the POST & BIOS to run.

    Anyway hopefully this thread may help someone who thought all was lost. Bear in mind if removing the keyboard that the retaining clips are a little fiddly. I used a bic pen lid for the pointy bit and an old credit card for leverage. There are 4 clips along the top edge and one down each side. NB All clips depress with the exception of the top left, it is fixed so once the rest are released you have to flex the keyboard to get it out from under this clip.

    :mrgreen:
     
    tishame, Feb 8, 2012
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  10. tishame

    something back

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    Very pleased to know that your up and working again.

    Thanks for letting the forum know how you resolved your problem.

    Hopefully some one else will be able to resolve their problems by using the same method


    Static charge build up problems


    Forum member Tishame highlighted an interesting possible answer to the most common
    problem affecting acer one netbooks that of failure to start.

    Acer acknowledge that some netbooks fail to start due to a static charge build up.

    Acer recommends removing the mains power, battery, and then holding down the power button for a 20 second period.

    Tishame experience was, that the only way to resolve the static problem was to
    physically remove the ram module.

    It would be interesting to know the how many members have successfully resolved
    their issues using Tishame method.
     
    something back, Feb 8, 2012
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  11. tishame

    BiminiRoad

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    I had the same issue after I upgraded the RAM. I could not remedy the problem using the 20 second power button push. I had to physically remove the memory module, power up, then reinstall (after removing batt & pwr), as described by Tishame.
     
    BiminiRoad, Nov 22, 2013
    #11
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