# [SOLVED] Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)



## Melkijad

It started as (probably) a BIOS problem: the computer would turn on normally, but the screen was blank. I tried recovering BIOS with Acer BIOS recovery function (which I knew Acer Aspire One had, because I had the same problem with it and recovery helped), but I couldn't find any instructions/files on how to do it on Aspire 5520. So I took out the battery and disconected from charger and left it for a day, then turned it on again and this time it would show the Acer boot screen and then a blank screen, which looked like command-prompt window with just 'underscore' blinking in top left corner. Nothing happened after that so I turned it off holding the power button and then turned it on again, but this time I pressed F2 on boot screen to open BIOS window and restored it to factory defaults. This didn't help either so I tried recovering with ALT + F10, this just caused the computer to try and load windows but it would always just stop in the middle of loading proccess. I took the battery out again and left it for a day and then tried ALT + F10 again, this time eRecovery started and formatted my C: drive. Now, when I try to turn the computer on it starts, runs for a secdond or two and then turns itself off and then on again, runs for second or two, turns itself off an on again and so on...

Is there anything I can do to get it working again?

Computer: Acer Aspire 5520g
OS: Windows Vista SP2

Any help appreciated.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

When u say a bios problem, were u trying to flash the bios and its got u into this trouble or do u know that it has actually got a bios fault?
Try reaseating ur RAM modules. Take out battery, remove power chord and hold start button for about a minute then restart. Tell me what happens.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

I didn't try to flash BIOS or anything. It just happened and the reason why i think it was BIOS problem is because the symptoms were the same as on my Aspire One (computer turned on, but not the screen) and BIOS recovery solved the problem.

I tried reseting RAM, diudn't solve the problem...

And also, I forgot to mention that when the problem was only computer booting up, but not the screen I tried connecting to external screen to see if it would work but it didn't.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Did ur acer come with vista?, have u recently made any major service pack updates or driver updates?


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Yes, Vista was preinstalled (Home Premium). No service pack updates lately and no driver updates. The only driver problem I had was with a Canyon USB hub: if I had the hub connected to the computer when it was shutting down it would show a bluescreen which said that hub driver is causing problems. I would then just press te power button and computer would turn off (and next time I started it would say it recovered from fatal crash). So I always disconected hub from USB port before I turned off the computer and then computer turned off normally.

Which reminds me, another bluescreen I got from time to time lately, also when turning off the computer:

*** Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
*** The system has halted ***

A friend told me that this has happened to him and it was because of low hard drive space, which made sense because I usually had very little free space on drive when this occured.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

There are many things that can cause Memory Parity Errors. Some can be incompatible drivers, bad memory etc.
Have you replaced ur memory at any time? (fitting the wrong memory type can cause this)
1.Try removing a stick of RAM at a time and start ur lappy. Try one stick in each slot to prove ur RAM.is ok.
2.If u can get into BIOS change to BIOS setting to default or Fail-Safe defaults.
3.Remove and uninstall this USB hub and its drivers, if u can.

Bottom line. U NEED to prove ur RAM is ok. U NEED to remove this Hub and drivers. U NEED to get ur BIOS back to default and u gotta get rid of all the C..P on ur HDD to give it space to breath. I think fixing one or all of these issues might do the trick dude........and if not we can then move on to something else.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

I didn't replace memory.

As I said, computer deosn't stay on for more than 2 seconds, I can't get into BIOS, so:

1. I tried removing one stick at a time and each slot, nothing.
2. Can't get into BIOS, but I have already tried with default settings when the problem was just 'black screen' and it hasn't changed anything.
3. Hub is disconnected, but I can't remove drivers or anything since the computer won't start...

EDIT: About the disk space: there are two partitions on the drive, C: and D:, each 120GB. C: has Windows installed and always has at least 20GB of free space, D: is te partition for all the downloaded files and stuff and this is the one with little free space.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Remove the hard drive and post back what happens.
Refit the hard drive and remove ur RAM and post back what happens.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

just read your edit. If u got plenty space on C this should not cause u memory problems unless u switch virtual memory to run on D.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*



night_shift said:


> Remove the hard drive and post back what happens.
> Refit the hard drive and remove ur RAM and post back what happens.


No change...


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Just to recap,
1. Before the start of this problem was your lappy operating ok (neglect the usb hub issue)?
2. Acers usually have a hidden recovery partiton, u havent deleted this by accident have u? You would know if you had. Ive known people to find this partition with partitioning software and delete this to retrieve more disc space............no more recovery. 
3. Do you have recovery disks or as you say recovery is only by Fn + F10.

Im just tryin to get a bigger picture.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

1. Yes.
2. No, I haven't.
3. I don't have recovery disks, ALT + F10 was the last thing I tried before this '2 second startup' happened (described in first post). But is there also Fn + F10 recovery option?


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*



Melkijad said:


> Now, when I try to turn the computer on it starts, runs for a secdond or two and then turns itself off and then on again, runs for second or two, turns itself off an on again and so on...


Tell me does the above still happen with the HDD removed.

My mistake I meant to say ALT instead of Fn


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Yes, it still happens with HDD removed. It even happens with RAM removed. No matter what computer won't stay on for more than 2 seconds and will keep restarting itself.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

When u say restarting, 
1.do the lights and processor fan run, then the processor fan stops but the lights still remain on.
2. or do the lights and processor fan run, then the processor fan stops and the lights go out and the process starts all over again.

Stay with me here dude ..........Im leading up to things.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

This is what happens: I press the power button, lights turn on, processor fan turns on, HDD light blinks twice, then processor fan turns off and then power lights turn off and at the same time I can hear HDD turn off.

And after that it starts all over again.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

When I said I was leading up to things this is what I meant.

I had a similar problem with an old Acer 1690 that I fixed and thats what got me started posting here. I have not put my post to SOLVED just yet as I want to prove that the old lappy will remain stable.

There are hundreds of similar posts with laptops having this same problem and I want to get as many options as possible to pass on.

Read my post here- http://www.techsupportforum.com/f108/solved-black-screen-aspire-412145.html

Over the years this laptop has been reformated, bios flashed beer spill disaster, new dvd and RAM and cpu and I have managed to breath new life into it. Then BSOD and well u know the rest.

I thought I was beat this time but I reflashed with the original BIOS. When I reflashed with the original BIOS the lappy nearly fried itself!!!! it heated up and the fan would not cut in. I had to pull the battery and the power to shut it down. I left it to cool off and its been running perfectly with its old BIOS installed.

So has the old BIOS cured it or has something on the mobo come back together??????

The only thing was when I left it switched on for a period of time it would eventually restart. I used the windows BIOS flash utility WINPHLASH not universally recomended but flashed mine ok without problem. Not any good for u as you now dont have Windows on ur lappy.

A couple of years ago I had a BIOS problem with BSOD and I resolved this by buying a usb floppy drive and flashed it using a floppy disk in DOS. You can get the files from Acer web site.

Try leaving it on and if u can get it to POST and get into BIOS check its booting order and see if there is a floppy device option. I believe flashing from a usb device is possible.

Go ask the flashing teckies. Let me know how you get on Dude cos I'm out a solutions.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Thanks for all the help man, there is one more thing I need to know. I really need some files that are on the computers HDD, so can I just take it out of my computer and put it into my friends computer (he has Aspire 5520g also) and boot wthout problem?


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

NO. It dont work like that.

U could use a cross over cable but I,m not sure how to set this up.

What I use is an external caddy. You remove your HDD and fit it in the caddy and it becomes an external HDD. It will connect with any PC or Laptop via USB cable. The host PC will recognise it as another drive and all you do is pull off all the files u need. You can even run HDD diagnostics from the other computer/laptop.

If ur lappy cant be fixed dude, then at least u will have an external USB HDD for backups etc. Make sure you get one that supports ur HDD. I think u can get multi HDD support types as well.

Once you get what u want give the BIOS flash a try. Shame to give up and scrapyard ur lappy.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Just had a thought dude! Im still thinkin u got busted RAM. Why not try a stick of your friends RAM just to prove its not a RAM issue........if its compatible......worth a try!


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

OK, very strange thing has just happened!

I just tried to turn on the computer and it got past 'Acer boot screen' and got to a black screen with underscore blinking in top left corner!!

I only left HDD out for like few hours and this happened.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Strange beasts Laptops. Why not try ur recovery process again dude.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

That recovery is very mysterious. By pressing ALT + F10, I only get to a screen that says 'windows failed to start' and then tells me that I need to insert windows CD and do a windows repair, but I can't do this since I don't have the CD. The other options are starting in safe mode, starting with last good configuration and starting windows normally. I tried safe mode, but it stops when loading files, it stops at crcdisk.sys...


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

I've seen many posts on forums about this. Some say its a driver issue (ur strange HUB maybe???). Try your recovery again in safe mode and when it stops at crcdisk.sys just leave the the thing and see what happens. Some dudes have waited 15 minutes and then it loads Windows. Once u have windows back, maybe (u will be in safe mode) run check disk, the link below will show u how. If u Google crcdisk.sys, and u think ur head hurts at the moment............start takin some asprin.

http://www.windows-help-central.com/windows-vista-chkdsk.html


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

I waited and it got past crcdisk.sys, started safe mode, but I got an error message:

Windows can't finish install in safe mode.

So since I reinstalled windows with eRecovery, it needs to start in normal mode in order to complete the installation. But when I try to start in normal mode it just stops loading at loading bar. I guess I need to find a way to start it normally.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Like most laptops these days dude they do not come with the Vista Disk to do Repairs. Windows has recognised this and u can download a recovery only version from Microsoft but its huge.

This Dude Neosmart has a trimmed down version, download the ISO file at this link - http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/ and make a Bootable Repair Disk from it. READ ALL info at the website about creating and using it.

Go into your Bios, and change the Boot Order to make the DVD/CD drive 1st in the Boot Order, then reboot with the disk u just made. 

You can do a Startup Repair, System Restore, etc with it. Screen shot below-










Give this a try dude. Let me know how u got on cos I havent tried this yet and it looks like a damn handy thing to have.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

It boots from a CD (does the 'Windows loading files' with gray progress bar), but then starts 'normal' Windows loading (with the 6 green bars moving) and then stops.

I don't know what exactly is going on behind the scenes when this green bar loading screen appears, but my computer can't get past that.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

It sounds like some system files on the recovery are toast( this is a software issue and not ur laptop hardware).

Try the above and select the Start Up repair. If that dont work u can launch check disk from the command prompt on this system recovery disk.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

The problem is, I cannot start recovery from CD, because when I boot from CD it starts loading, green bars are moving from left to right and then stop at some random time. It just freezes, I have tried waiting for almost an hour, but nothing happens...


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Sorry dude, what CD r u trying to boot from, I was under the impression u did not have CD's for recovery or Windows Vista.............I must have missed somethin along the way?


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

No, it was the Repair CD I made that you suggested, from Neosmart.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Sorry Dude I'm clean out of ideas, you could try the Vista forum or the HDD forum!


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## Cocristian

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Guys please help. I have the exact same problem. I've just read this post and after 2 months of sadness I've seen a ray of hope. At the moment my hard drive is out. I've made it external. I've tried a lot of things but nothing. Now i see Melkijad that yours started up. What did you do? Please help me. Everybody I've talked with said is the motherboard. And i was so dissapointed because the replacing of the MB costs more than the laptop itself. :sigh: But after a lot of forums reading and after this post i realized that is not the motherboard. Melkijad please tell me exactly what did you do when it started up and you succeeded to enter the bios? Help me guys. THX


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Welcome aboard Dude, just read your post. I take it you have gone through all the options in all the posts. Out of interest how old is your laptop and does it have an integrated or dedicated graphics chip? This is important, I have read thousands of posts like this and experienced this first hand myself and I think I have come to a conclusion.

Post this information back and we will take it from there, as for Melkijad I dont know how the Dudes getting on..........are you still out there Melkijad Dude?


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## Cocristian

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

My acer is an almost two years old(1 year and 8 months) laptop. I have a dedicated 512 Mb Nvidia 8600M GS. I've read all the posts and...nothing. It won't came back to life.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Did you play graphics intensive games and have you ever had overheating problems or even noticed the laptop get hot from time to time? How long would you say you keep your laptop switched on each day (ball park figure).

Prior to the final black screen did the laptop have any issues, ie start up hangs,
intermittent black screen, slow start ups or weird graphic anomalies?

The reason Im asking these questions and if you have read my post (below), is that I have intensely tried every fix you can think of and even tested components on the motherboard. I have now narrowed down the fault to the graphics chip (90% sure). There still is that 10% doubt! Which means I have not quit yet.

I am at the moment going to try something that was posted on a French forum about graphics chips, and when I first read this I thought the Dude had lost it big time, until something happened to my laptop while I tried to flash the BIOS. The process started ok then seemed to hang, so I left the laptop to finish. Returning half an hour later, the fan on the laptop had stopped and the heat at the graphics chip was unbelievable. I powered down thinking the worst. Later when it started back up, it had the new bios installed and it worked perfectly for 2 weeks.

Sorry for the long story, now back to the French Dude. He took a hot air gun and gave his graphics chip a good cook!!!! (without garlic) and his laptop worked after that. Like you I am desparate to find a solution. I have bought myself a new laptop, so what Im going to try next is gentley flambe' my graphics chip and if this dont work I think the only option is to try and replace the graphics chip. I dont think this is an easy option but I will investigate.

Please answer the above questions. Your problem might not be your graphics chip and the bigger picture you can paint with your problem might give us other avenues.

Post back.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f108/solved-black-screen-aspire-412145.html


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## Cocristian

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Hi again. To answer your questions. Yes i have played quite a lot on it. Last "hard" game i've played is Hellgate London who has quite a few requirements.
Yes like all Acer my laptop got hot from time to time. The left side up was the hotest. Some times i left it on through the night but no problems occured councerning the heating problem. Except this last time when it died. :sigh:
No ie start up hangs,
intermittent black screen, slow start ups or weird graphic anomalies. Except some reebots frome time to time when it was overheating due to multitasking.
Just today i found someone who has a lapptop service and i'm giveing it away for some tests hopeing to solve the problem. I'll even say to him to check my gaphic chip in detail. Maybe you are wright and you found the wholly grail. 
I found something interesting over the net frome other guys with same problem. Maybe wi'll give u other perspectives. Here it is: "Hi there i to have an acer aspire 5520g and had the same problem, all i was told i had to do was replace the onboard power controller & it has worked since."
AND
"I have the same Acer with the same problem. Turns on and off! I have isolated it to the graphics chip. Remove the back center panel(4 screws) locate the copper heat transfer tube which starts at the fan, follow it towards the cpu, You will see a square heat sink just below the cpu, press on this upon startup and you may find the culprit. The problem is it is integrated into the motherboard so even though it is a $25.00 part it is not worth replacing. If this is your problem you can chech with a repaire shop and see if it is worth fixing."

Maybe wi'll give you fresh ideas beacause i'm out of those . 

Many thx!!!


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Thanks Cocristian everything helps.

On my Acer the power control (hardware) is part of the mobo and without a circuit diagram trying to identify components is a shot in the dark.
There are software options that do a better job than the manufacturers power settings control, but my lappy at the moment is in a BLACK SCREEN sulk!

While I have the mobo out I will try and desolder and remove the chip before the FLAMBE technique!!! I had already tried pressing the chip technique on start a while back. I want to have a look under the chip to see if something has gone nasty there.

I still have 10% guess work left.

I will post back.


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## Cocristian

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Thx again. I'll wait for your post and as soon as my laptop comes back from service , if i found something new i'll post.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Thats cool.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Cocristian, I had a look at the graphic chip and it would be very difficult to try and remove it. Apart from the grahics processor there is the memory chip which makes up the chip set. What ones fried? I tried giving the chip set a bit of a warming, but nothing.

Found a forum where a dude was selling the same chip, he was looking at a aprice of 70GBP............no way!

I'am 99.9% sure its the chip set. I have now given up. Have you had any luck with yours?


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

I took the computer to service today an I will tell you whats wrong as soon as they tell me.

I bought that adapter to connect the hard drive with another computer with USB and as I was copying files I encountered some errors:

-sometimes, hard drive just stopped working and I had to reconnect the USB to get it running again (and I had to copy file by file instead of more files at once because disk had problems with that)
-some files could not be copied, the error was something like 'file is too deep'
-HDD was quite noisy when running (that squeaking and other weird noises I only heard on one computer before and that computer's HDD died a week later  )

I don't know if any of this is because of the adapter, but it might be the hard drive in my case. Well, we'll see.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Nice to hear from you Melkijad Dude.

Tell me Dude has this caddy got its own power supply or are you running with usb only. I'm asking as mine has its own power supply and it recomends using the power rather than just usb. I have had no issues.

If its making strange noises thats got to be bad! Try running some disk diagnossis software to see whats up with it. 

The only thing I have seen about 'file is too deep' is something to with the file length being too long for Windows. Can happen if you are Vista and the host machine is say XP, other than that not sure.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

'File too deep' could be what you said since I'm now on XP computer...

The adapter has its own power supply, disk wont even run only connected to usb...

I've only tried to check disk with windows disk check, but it wouldnt run.


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

So what your telling me is that it has its own power supply and also usb.
Can you save anything off the disk Dude? This HDD sounds SICK!

Have you access to a VISTA PC/Laptop.


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## Melkijad

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Okay it took them more than a month to get it back to me and the problem was: HDD. They replaced it, the old one was dead. It now works better than ever


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## night_shift

*Re: Acer ASPIRE 5520g boot problem (when turned on it turns off)*

Welcome back Dude. :wave:

Yea it was looking like it was down to your HDD. Thats good news your sorted out now. :grin:

If your happy and want to conclude this post, then mark this thread solved. Top of the post, go to _*Thread Tools*_ and tick the box _*Solved*._

All the best for the future.


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