Black screen of death.....again.

Ok I know its been asked before and ive read all the threads but the flash BIOS thingy didnt work for me.

By the way my knowledge of all things computer is very basic so please keep any responses in idiot guide format!!!! :?

Background of my "issue".

AA1 150 running linpus. Did a duel boot mod to get XP as well, had a few problems on the way but got there eventually. That lasted a couple of days then I got a virus that required a reinstall of XP (quickest way to get rid of it). The reinstall went ok and all was sorted apart from sorting out the boot order. Put in a usb stick with gparted on it (same one used in the duel boot) to change the flags and thats when it happened.

I tried to do the macles BIOS flash below but it didnt work.- see comments in red

First format an USB stick with FAT. - I managed that bit!

Download the latest BIOS, and put both FLASHIT.EXE and the BIOS file - is that the 3305.BAT file? in the root directory of the stick. - Assume that means extract them from the zip onto the stick - see told you i know sod all about computers Rename the BIOS file to ZG5IA32.FD, that's important. Do not remove the USB stick.- well I had to it was in another computer!!

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. - Yes it is. 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, - stops almost immediatly and the AA1 will reboot shortly after. Wait patiently. - tried it a few times but think 6 hours is plenty of time to wait.

Now the way I see it is that as its worked for eveyone else I must be doing something wrong or ive got a great looking blue paperweight.

 

Your mistake would be that it is NOT the 3305.BAT file that you need, it's the ZG5_3305.fd file (and that needs to be renamed).

 

see told you i know sod all! clue was in the .fd part of the name wasnt it the lesson here is dont play with computers after partaking in alcohol.

cheers meng all sorted.

 

I don't know anyone who is this patient. Pleased to hear it worked out in the end.

 

Heh. I waited 10 days for Macles' BIOS fix to work (with incredible permutations of USB sticks, formats, BIOSs, etc.). Should be back from Acer tomorrow, with a new motherboard.

 

Wow. You'd think from reading other threads that it takes about 5 minutes for most posters to reach the end of their tether. :lol:

 

Well I don't mean to beat a dead horse with this thread, but I got the Black screen O death and can't get this sucker to boot from the USB stick at all. Tried 4 different USB sticks, and about 10 hours worth of restarting this process over and over again to hope that at some point it will work but... No. The kicker is that I would suspect that I need to send it to Acer but apparently I have registered my netbook.. Problem is I never registered it. Acer support states that because it's registered (not to me mind you) they cant help me... So I basically have a 325 (that what I payed back in Dec of last year) blue paper weight. And yes I know how to follow instructions.. to the T. I guess I just have a bad bios. Maybe a new motherboard will do the trick. Anyone know (other than ebay) where I can get a MoBo for cheep.

Thanks..

--redline135