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Laptop BIOS Recovery Question

BIOS Recovery Question

I bought an acer laptop of unknown history. Acer E1-510-4828 Has no HD. Shipped with windows 8.1 Apparently UEFI BIOS.

4GB PC3L ram.

I put a linux boot CD in it and applied power. Draws 25W. Assume it's charging the battery, but the charge indicator is not lit. The battery has gone from not working to running the laptop, so looks like it's actually charging.

Press the power button. Fans run CD spins up No light on the screen. Nothing on the VGA external monitor Pressing the function F5/F6 keys does nothing. Runs for about 5 seconds and restarts over and over.

If I remove the RAM, it powers up and the fans run continuously. Replacing the RAM doesn't help.

My conclusion is that the system is trying to run, but the BIOS is borked.

I had the same system with a Gateway desktop with an Acer board. I could get into the BIOS. I installed win 8.1. Win 8.1 seemed to install and run fine, but the first reboot didn't. Same symptom as above. Nothing on screen. Can't enter bios. reboot loop.

Almost all the google hits about bios tell you how to update/reinstall/recover using methods that require the system to at least boot into bios.

I have two UEFI systems and both are borked.

I did find some info about recovery mode or crisis mode or insyde, but they're vague about exactly what to do. Vendors are vague about which systems support USB BIOS recovery.

I did try recovery via flash drive and some multiple keypresses on the Gateway with no success. Couldn't even get the lights on the flash drive to blink. Symptoms suggest the boot block is trashed.

There are a LOT of variables on the bios file formats and file names and keypresses required to initiate the USB recovery process.

Since I can't see what I have, I'm lost. Any ideas on where to go from here?

Reply to
mike
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Reflash the BIOS off-board?

Cheers!

Reply to
c4urs11

Before I would assume the bios is hosed, I would try another A/C adapter on the computer. If the adapter does not come up fast enough with enough current, the laptop will not boot or stay turned on. I have seen this on laptops.

It seems that you should get something on the screen or VGA output if the processor is starting. Some computers have problems starting with a low CMOS battery, I would also check its voltage. Also check with different RAM if possible, as most must have some working RAM in order to start.

Reply to
Ken

Dumb question (answer not apparent from your post):

Have you tried installing a HD?

Reply to
pedro

Have you tried running it on just the AC adapter, with the battery removed? Is the AC adapter the original one that goes with this machine, or a good one that may not match the machine, or a random Chinese "120 W Laptop Power Supply Top Best only $1.37" thing?

Did you try an HDMI monitor? It might be set to "prefer" that when starting.

Have you tried shining a strong flashlight at the built-in monitor when booting? Sometimes if the backlight is broken, you can at least see if it's trying to put any text on the screen that way.

Does it beep? How about plugging some powered speakers into the audio jack at bootup? Startup chimes (rather than beeps) are more of an Apple thing, but maybe it's trying to tell your ears something.

Is there a built-in SD/microSD card reader that might have a card in it? If so, eject the card (if you can), and try again.

Do you know if *all* the fans are working? Sometimes laptops refuse to run if the (internal) main CPU fan isn't turning, or isn't turning fast enough. Maybe put your fingers or some tissue paper near the vent slots while booting, to see if any air is moving.

I've never tried to update a UEFI BIOS, either under normal or rescue conditions, so I don't have any specific advice on that.

Matt Roberds

Reply to
mroberds

Sometimes you can remove the CMOS battery and all the RAM and reboot a coup le of times. Then when you put it all back in, if it comes up with "BIOS ch ecksum error defaults loaded" you are in luck.

That trick has worked for me several times. Not last time, that thing did r un, I reloaded Win 7 in it and even registered it. Then it got sat on a she lf. Then I went to sell it but the guy didn't want it so I takes it home an d figured hell I'll just use it a little bit and we were back to no boot. M ust be a bad mobo, found it is an elcheapo and they way too much, it was a Dell and has an ECS I think mobo in it and I am not paying $60 for an outda ted board.

But I think you are down to the BIOS, or a bad mobo or processor.

Reply to
jurb6006

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