# Can't start up Acer Aspire laptop



## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

Hello, I have an Acer Aspire laptop with Windows 7. I have never had any major problems with this laptop until today. I was watching a DVD of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The show kept freezing so I paused it and clicked to play a song (the song doesn't have a virus because it's one I recorded), and then the computer froze and a message came up saying "Windows Explorer has stopped responding" (I have gotten this message a few times before when I run too many programs). I clicked OK or whatever it said to click and then the screen turned blue with small white text saying something that I can't remember. I waited on the screen because it was counting down something and I didn't want to interrupt, in case it was doing something important. Then the screen turned black. I waited a bit longer and then just forced shut down by holding in the button. When I start it up it brings up a screen that says "Windows Error Recovery" on the top and the text underneath says "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause." and two options, to "Launch Windows Repair Something", or "Start Windows Normally". Starting normally just brings me right back to the same screen after a few seconds, and clicking the launch repair thing just goes to a black screen (however, it did take me to a blue flowery menu with lots of repair options the first time I tried it... none of the options worked except for reboot system and now it wont work at all.... except sometimes when it goes to a blank blue flowery screen and freezes).

I tried all of the suggestions from the Black Screen thread, solution #1 and no luck; the other solutions would void my warranty so I can't try those. If anyone could help I would really appreciate it. This is very important data that I cannot lose. Please and thank you very much.


OTHER INFO:

- I think I still have a warranty. But, I'm sure their way of repairing it is to do a factory recovery thing, and I can't lose my data.

-Also, I have another Acer/Gateway NV53A laptop with windows 7 as well. It has 400GB of free space and the Aspire only has ~200GB of data, so if I could transfer the data from the Aspire to the other before sending it in, that would work out. Let me know how this would be possible, if you're not sure how to fix the actual error.


Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help,
Andoru


[Sorry for writing such a long thread. Just trying to make sure it's detailed enough for you to figure out what happened.]


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi and welcome to TSF have you tried to start in safemode with networking that would be F8 on booting


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

On the "Repair Your Computer" Screen can you open "cmd" prompt? If you can type in "chkdsk /r" and hit "enter". Then "Y" to allow restart to do it and then restart laptop.


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

I tried starting the laptop in Safe mode, Safe mode with networking, and Safe mode with command prompt. All of those took me directly back to the "Windows Error Recovery" screen.

When I click on "Launch Windows Repair" the screen turns black and doesn't do anything else. I tried doing a hard reset to see if that worked, but no change.

I called Acer technical support and they said I could restore factory settings and fix it, but I would lose all my data. Is there a way I can get the important data off that laptop and onto another Windows 7 laptop temporarily?


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi this is one way Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer - How-To Geek
you could take the hdd and put it in a usb enclosure and hook it up to another computer and get the data that way


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

Thanks a lot, I hope I can get it to work properly. But, the largest USB drive I have is 8GB, and that's actually a Mini SD card with a USB adapter. Will that work correctly? 

Can I use any blank CD, or is it a specific type of CD? And, do I use either a CD OR a USB, or is both required? 

Thanks in advance.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi it should still work using the live cd and the 8gb together it may be a little slow but that is all read the link all the info is there


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

I am getting this error message. Any clue on how to fix this? I have tried a couple different blank CDs and keep getting this message. Is there another program I can burn this with besides IMGburn?


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

Just tried Nero express and it said error as well.

I'll try to download an older version of Ubuntu and see if it works.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi try it from here Homepage | Ubuntu


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

Thanks bud, it's downloading. If the problem comes up again, could I put ubuntu on a USB flashdrive instead? Not sure if it works the same. And, if it does work, do I have to do anything to boot the disk when I put it in my other laptop? The link didn't say anything about that.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi try here for info how to run ubuntu from a flash drive - Google Search


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

Hi, I got ubuntu to run off a disk finally. Version 11.04 wouldn't burn to a disk so I downloaded version 10.04 and it burned just fine. Now my problem is getting my hard-drive open once inside of ubuntu. I did what the link said (create directory/force mount) and according to the walk-through, the drive should be opening properly now. BUT, I keep getting this error message, "dbus error org.freedesktop.dbus.error.noreply"... no clue why. I'm getting so close to fixing this but I keep running into problems =/

Thanks in advance


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi do you have passwords on folders [ubuntu] Warning DBuserror.org.freedesktop.DBUS.Error.NoReply - Page 3 - Ubuntu Forums


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

I've never set any passwords except for the password to log onto windows. None of the [understandable] suggestions worked for me. People keep talking about "Seahorse", "Suba", different packs of stuff that I don't understand. I think a good option would be to try and re-download an older version of Ubuntu, as I see that most people with older versions don't have the problem (I guess I'll do 8.04 since it is the version in the guide). Let me know if this is a bad idea.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

You might be as well to get recovery discs


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

Yea I have to back up my data first, though. I have years worth of music recording on the laptop that I can't lose, which is why I'm trying to get these Ubuntu boot disks to work. I downloaded Ubuntu 8.04 and it wouldn't burn, just like 11.04 - 10.04 is the only one that has worked so far but I can't get the error to fix.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Ok then this may be another option Use Puppy Linux Live CD to Recover Your Data - Geeks to Go Forums


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## Andoru (May 7, 2011)

Thanks a lot, I'll try this out.


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