Dead aspire one

Fairly simple fix, common problem, re flash your bios. Be absolutely sure you follow the instructions on how to do it, if not you can mess it up. I've done this on 6 so far and fixed the problem everytime.

 

I have tried several times with no luck. My USB Flash card is not being accessed (no activity light). This tells me that the ACER is not accessing the USB to get the bios data. Any thoughts?

 

Try an older and smaller USB stick, I had to try 3 different ones before I finally got it to work. I believe the one that worked was an old 16MB dell stick I had laying around

 

This may not be the solution to your problem, but is worth a try.

1, Turn your AA1 OFF.
2, Turn it upside down.
3, Give it a smart smack by the fan vents ( On the right when viewed upside down).
4, Turn it back on.

This is not as daft as it sounds, I fixed my ZG5 this way.

It seems that the fan can get 'unseated/out of true' , the fan monitor then detects a higher current than usual and shuts the system down. This all happens in just a few seconds.

Giving it a 'pat on the boko' re-seats the fan and eliminates the problem.

Do post back to say if it worked.

 

@AcmeUK

Many thanks for that tip, just fixed a customers AAO 110 with it. The AAO would start up every time, but shut down within 30 secs. I was about to take it apart, saw your advice, gave a smack and the fan now runs, as does the netbook. If I could email you a beer, I would....

 

Hi johnmalc

Glad it worked for you.

Your post to say it worked was as good as a beer.

Best Wishes

 

Swift slap did it for me too! I noticed it was oddly quite and my fan wasn't running. Read your advice, knocked it, rebooted and sure enough my fan starts running and my computer it up and running.

 

This worked a treat for me the second time! The first time was with an 8MB CompactFlash card in a USB card reader, plugged into a USB slot on the right-side of the Aspire. That was formatted in Windows Vista. That didn't work. Second attempt was with an 1GB USB stick (unknown brand, magazine freeby) in a USB slot on the left side, formatted in Ubuntu as FAT (no option between FAT/FAT32). That worked. Thanks to all!

 

while flashing my laptop it accidentally pull my flash drive from my laptop, i try to do it again but the led just flashing but it wont read my flashdrive anymore then after a day it turns totaly black it wont turn on anymore totaly black screen no led signals help i dont know what to do to fix my laptop

 

Phew, the bang on the back fixed my daughters' unit...she's only had it a week :?

 

If hitting your computer fixed a problem then the problem is not fixed because hitting it again could bring the problem back and next time the problem may not go away. Sounds to me like something is loose inside and the problem will not be gone until it is fixed. If it was me I would return it for another since she just got it.

 

I can't say I condone the "smack the sh*t outta your computer" approach, but seein as it works for some of you I should probably explain a little about what you're doing to your computers.

* If the fan's sucked some crud into it, smacking it is only going to dislodge whatever's stopping the fan from running. It's not "re-seating" anything.

* At the same time your stressing and flexing all the components inside your machine. The CPU in these little rigs for a start is only wafer-thin and made of a brittle metal. Lets just hope you're not stressing the components to the point where someone literally snaps their CPU

* Stressing the components like this is also enough to detach surface mounted components like diodes, IC chips etc which can permanently destroy your laptop

* There's a reason HDDs with moving components have a sticker on them saying not to hit it with excessive G-Force, if you were to "smack" a HDD while it's running, it's enough to make heads crash and completely destroy it. So please o PLEASE make sure you're not doing it while anything is running. You can also disable a hard drive just by dropping it, even while turned off, smacking it an do the same

* I've worked on laptops that have merely been dropped before, this is enough to partially detach memory modules. So lets also hope you're not going to make the situation worse

* Lastly, LCD screens are far too easy to bend to the point of shattering, smacking your computer is putting more than enough force into it to destroy the screen too.

Is risking all the vital components and data loss really worth it?

 

A few people have asked in this thread about trying to flash the BIOS using the Fn+Esc routine, but the computer doesn't seem to access the USB drive containing the new (or old) BIOS.

Haven't seen any responses and wonder if anyone has any clue regarding this issue.

My circumstance is similar:
-created a FAT-formatted USB drive containing FLASHIT.EXE and the 3315.fd bios (renamed appropriately for my machine).
-Held down Fn +Esc
-Hit Power button and light starts to flash
-No power to USB key. Power on computer then turns off after a few minutes

No magic restart, no aha moment. Just tears...

Any thoughts?

 

I have done this twice now, once in the past few days and about a year ago. I formatted my usb stick using vista in an internet cafe, only option was FAT32 but it seems to have worked.

Thank you again for the help here.

 

Hi here is one more happy smacker reporting back!

Just thought I'd have to look at what the netbook scene has to offer nowdays, but noooo, the good old A150 keeps on going again!!! :mrgreen:

 

I just bought a new D260-2dkk Aspire one. I powered it on and started configuring it to my liking and then shut it down. (Note: I had plugged in an SD card that I was using for Readyboost in Windows 7) . Later when I went to restart the computer the power light came on and the fan comes on for a second or so, but the computer does not boot up and the LCD screen stays black--nothing at all on the screen and it seems to be powered off. I do not see any other signs of life besides the power light, no sign of HDD activity or response to keys, the computer just seems dead.

I can power it off by holding the power button down for about 5 seconds. I tried all the usual things for this description from the web/Acer site and nothing has helped. I made sure the system had fully discharged its power (disconnecting all power/battery and holding down the power button for many minutes (I was desperate)) it sat overnight after doing that and still no change when trying it again.

I've found articles about doing a "blind flash" or crisis disk recovery of the bios, but they seem to be for other models of Aspire One netbooks as the procedure won't work (I tested the key combinations of holding fn + Esc then turning on the power). Can anyone help with a solution for this model of netbook? Is there another similar method (DYI) to fix this computer short of taking it in for return/repair?

 

Did you remove the SD card?

 

Did you remove the SD card?

Yes I only mentioned it because In reading around about these things someone in had mentioned they though the problems might have been related to having external devices attached when rebooting. I took the SD out and tried all my tests with it in or out and it made no difference.

 

No manufacturer would ever warranty a machine that somebody's been mucking about inside - for all they know there was a static charge and the user fried it. Hardware mods are at the user's risk, and whining not acceptable. The machines are cheap and playing with them is cheap fun. There's a distinction between that and using what the user bought.

My UNMODIFIED two and a half year old AOA-150 runs (knock wood) like a Swiss watch.

 

lowai it is not clear whether you can get as far as the setup for your bios? Have you tried to boot from an external device using F12 at beginning of boot sequence?