# Acer 7520 Vista Laptop will not start.



## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

New here, so Hi

My Acer initallly would not start as follows;

When starting the 'Acer' Logo comes up on the screen, then the next screen says,

'NIVIDA BOOT AGENT
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting NIVIDA BOOT AGENT'

This keeps looping till power turned off.


Now another problem has come about;

When starting now, I hear the cooling fan run for a few secs then stop, the power and harddrive leds flash on for 3secs and off for 3secs. And the only way to stop this, is to disconnect the battery. :4-dontkno

Any clues


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## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

I suggest you run diagnostics to check your HDD. Also check in BIOS settings if your HDD is still recognized.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

But at present I can't get to the Acer Logo and so on, as It will not start as above with the fan stopping and flashing led issue.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thinking that the Hdd may be at fault I purchased a new drive.

I cannot still get the machine to start or turn off as described above, not the Logo or NVIDIA to show and I can't get to 'F2' to enter the BIOS. I put the old drive back its still the same.

Could there be a battery or Power adaptor fault, as its the same with battery removed and just the adaptor ??


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks for all the replies,

I've been doing some searching on the Net and it looks if I have the 'ON/OFF' syndrome with my Laptop. 

Read: http://go.notebookreview.com/?id=52...43165-acer-aspire-7520-repeats-going-off.html


Unless anyone can suggest otherwise. 

If there is a fault on the Motherboard could it be repaired or replacement needed, as this machine is only some 17mths old and outside the warranty period.


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## Magic Monkey (Aug 10, 2009)

Well a mobo isn't cheap I'm afraid... even a 2nd hand one on eBay might set you back £150 and then its a few hours work to strip the whole laptop down and replace the mobo. Plus if the mobo has a design fault then you might end up with a replacement mobo that behaves in exactly the same way. If it is a mobo fault then I'd take the hit and go for a new laptop myself.

That said, you might not need to be so drastic since many boot problems can be fixed. Firstly try reseting the BIOS configuration by unplugging / removing the CMOS battery for a few seconds before reattaching it. This'll reset the BIOS config to it's default factory setting and may help.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

If I remove the CMOS Battery to reset back to default factory Bios settings, but the battery is soldered into the board unlike my Tower PC.

Is it just the case I unsolder one of the terminals using a small soldering iron used for IC work, do a hard reset with the power button with the main battery disconnected, then reconnect all and try and get into Bios (F2) when restarting.

:4-dontkno

thanks


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## Magic Monkey (Aug 10, 2009)

Shame it's soldered (thanks Acer!) however I'd desolder both connections and remove the battery myself (but one desoldered connection may be all you need). Then resolder once the laptop's had the hard reset.

And yes make sure you've a soldering iron designed for circuitry that is electrostatic dischage proof.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Well I done the CMOS battery bit, left it disconnected for 1min. then did a hard reset for 1min. reconnected battery and main battery.

Restarted as before the network and hdd led lit, fan runs for a few secs. then stops and then the dreaded loop starts again.

Does this mean, its time to 'Find a man who can' repair it.

Would it be worth the effort to write to ACER stating that this machine is fairly young of 16mths and where there is common fault with these models, ask them to accept some responsibilty and carry out a repair. :4-dontkno


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Just been to this link :http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/notebook/0000/Acer/Aspire1300/Aspire1300faq39.shtml

Just had a go, 

When the ac power is just plugged in and mains switched on, no power indicator lit (green led). 

But when power button pressed to start, power indicator lit (green led), and then back to normal loop on/off.

The link says the power indicator (green led) should be lit when just switched on at mains and plugged in. This is a new adaptor and the same happened with the old unit. ??


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

1) Can anyone confirm whether they have thier Acer repaired with the same problem. ?

2) Can anyone confirm whether this fault is the Motherboard or what. ?

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Is this an aspire or travelmate?

Remove HD and RAM modules. Start up. See what happens.
Put HD back in.
Put one stick of RAM in start up. See what happens.
Remove that stick of RAM and put it in the next RAM slot. See what happens.
Remove the Stick of RAM and repeat for the other stick.

What you are looking for is a bad RAM.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

Its a Aspire 7520 Gemstone.

I'll give that a try, thanks


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## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

Acerkid said:


> Just been to this link :http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/notebook/0000/Acer/Aspire1300/Aspire1300faq39.shtml
> 
> Just had a go,
> 
> ...


Have you tried powering ON using AC only (laptop battery removed)?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks,

Yes and still the same. ??


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Are you up for reflashing the bios to the latest version?

How old is the laptop and what version of Vista 32bit/64bit and service pack?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

But I can't get that far, to get to the bios or safe mode or anything else.

I cannot get to the stage now where the ACER logo comes up, the problem I have now is the latter part of my first post.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

You dont need to get that far. 
The bios is flashed from an external drive at the moment the start button is initiated.

I have had a great deal of success of bringing dead machines back to life using a usb floppy disc drive, which you would have to borrow or get cheap from ebay.

The other method is from a flash drive/pen drive. I gave up with this method as it was not very successful.

You have tried all options up to now and by flashing the bios you have nothing to lose.

So, are you up for it? Give me as much info about your lappy as possible.


Look an example of a second hand one Buy now or best offer
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-USB-PORTA...pAccessories_LaptopDrives?hash=item2ea8d4c97d

Double the price for a new one!!!!


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Had a thought about flashing the bios with USB Floppy.

The lappy does not load any drivers or anything at all, as it only runs for about 3 or 5 secs before shutting down the CPU Fan and starting starting its loop of switching on and off automatically till the battery or mains power is disconnected. It will not turn off by pressing the start button as it should.

Unless you know better about flashing. ?? :4-dontkno

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

You may well still have a hardware problem, what I want to try is reflash and update your bios with the latest version. This may cure a corrupt bios or put a later version bios on that addresses known mobo problems.

The flashing process uses a series of programs that take control of the bios and update it, way before the computer has a clue to whats going on.

As you may or may not know the BIOS (basic input output system) has a very primitive driver set up that checks power supply and all hardware on your computer and determines if the system is healthy enough to allow the operating system to boot and take control. All this takes place in less than a second after you push the power button.

You may still have to prove if you have a faulty cpu or 1 or 2 sticks of dead RAM.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Incidently,

I tried what was suggested earlier, removing the Harddrive and Ram.

Excactly the same, fan shutting down after few seconds and the loop starting of off and on but with no fan running at all during the power-ups, the led for the harddrive lights each time power-up on during the loop. And as before the only way to stop this is to remove its power source whether its the battery or mains.

:4-dontkno

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Remove the HDD and battery. Press Fn+Esc key and tell me what happens.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

Would this be with mains power only or without. ??


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Sorry mains power only.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Just having a think about your first post.

'NVIDA BOOT AGENT
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting NVIDA BOOT AGENT'

I had a look into this on the net, and what I can see it is the boot order in the bios thats wrong. Your lappy is trying to boot from your DVD player or the network.

Try disconnecting your DVD player and then start up and see what happens.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

OK Here's the results. 


First did a hard reset in each case.

1) removed DVD drive and ran with Mains power supply, no battery. Still the same, also did a fn+esc and power on.

2) removed HDD+battery did a fn+esc, power on. Still the same.

3) did the same as 2) but with battery and no mains supply. Fan runs and led's stay lit as long as you like, but nothing else happens. Battery has to be removed to turn off.

Not looking good ??


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Remove HD,RAM,CPU and DVD and tell me what happens, with and without battery.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

OK 

Here we go,

Removed HD, DVD, CPU and Ram.

Pressed start as normal with mains supply, still same.
Pressed fn+esc and held while starting as normal with mains, still same.

Pressed start as normal with battery, still same.
Pressed fn+esc and held while starting as normal with battery, runs with fan and led's for as long as you like, till battery removed.

Small note, when starting as normal without fn+esc with either mains or battery. The fan barely gets up to speed before stopping, although the actual loop of turning on and off waits 3 or 4 secs before starting.

But with the battery, the fan does get up to full speed with the fn+esc. 

This is what I don't understand, ever since this message came up on boot after the ACER Logo on a blue screen, I've had this problem.

'NVIDA BOOT AGENT
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting NVIDA BOOT AGENT'


:4-dontkno

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

I have found out a couple things about this PXE thing and it could be a faulty HD or HD connection or the bios has changed boot order to boot from a network.

What is happening is the laptop cant see your HD so it now looks for somewhere to boot from. When it goes through the boot list ie. dvd, usb etc and cant find the boot file then it comes to boot from network, because a network has not been set up it blue screens with the error message you are getting.

There are two options here:

1. I cant remember, but can you get into your bios screen? If you can, then on the first screen the bios should recognise your HD. If it cant as I said above its a fault with the HD or the HD connector. If not find the boot order screen and move your boot order to boot first from HD then DVD/CD.

2. If you cant get into bios try a Windows Vista disc in the CD drive and it should boot from that.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks,

But thats the problem I can't get into the bios via F2 or to the DVD to boot from a CD/DVD as the screen remains Black/Blank with any of the tests we've done.

What about as you suggest, flashing the Bios via a USB floppy.

Its strange also as to why it runs from fn+esc with battery and not mains, any ideas. 

I very much appreciate your help with this.

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Do you have a Windows Vista DVD?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Yes I have


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

I forgot to mention. When running with the battery in fn+esc mode. The only leds lit are pwr button, pwr led at front and network. Hd led or others not lit.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Tonight I did the previous tests with the fn+esc again.

This time I did it with everything fitted, nothing removed.

1) First with the Mains supply, but first with the battery removed and a hard reset before connecting the supply, pressed fn+esc and held while connecting supply then pressed power button and the machine started with fan blowing, led surrounding the power button, power led at front of machine and network led are all lit. Then released fn+esc after a few seconds and the machine continued to run as above until all power supplies removed as it will not shut down via power button.

2) Did the same again but with battery only, but first with a hard reset and pressed fn+esc and held while connecting battery then pressed power button and the machine started with fan blowing, led surrounding the power button, power led at front of machine and network led are all lit. Then released fn+esc after a few seconds and the machine continued to run as above until all power supplies removed as it will not shut down via power button.

3) Did the same again but with battery fitted and using mains supply , but first with a hard reset and pressed fn+esc and held while connecting mains supply then pressed power button and the machine started with fan blowing, led surrounding the power button, power led at front of machine and network led are all lit. Then released fn+esc after a few seconds and the machine continued to run as above until all power supplies removed as it will not shut down via power button.

4) But if started as normal, the we are back to the stop/start loop with the fan stopping on its first start-up after a second or so, but the led surrounding the power button, power led at front of machine, network led and HDD led stay lit for a few seconds then shut down and restart with these leds only in a loop till all power supplies are removed.

At all times the screen remains black/blank.


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## wildcat48 (Nov 7, 2009)

I'm having the same issues, but I'm not as computer savvy.... Is this a case of a dead computer and for someone who isn't as knowledgeable about computers is there a simple fix or solution?


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

Hi i have same problem laptop,its mad because theres loads of these laptops with same fault,we need to beat this fault


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hello to you wildcat48 and falcons, welcome on board.

Acerkid, put your lappy back together and insert the Windows Vista DVD. Then shutdown your lappy keeping the disc in the drive restart. Does the lappy boot or give you an option to press any key, or are we still going loopy?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

OK

First I could not open the DVD tray and had to open manually to insert the Vista disc.

Tried fn+esc and powered up. Nothing only the fan and leds as before.

Then tried a normal start-up. Nothing and we are back to loopy.

As I wondered maybe the powerboard may have failed not allowing the DVD to work. I plugged my USB card reader as it has a power led within itself.

And yes it works as soon as you press the start button in either fn+esc or loopy mode, so I think that rules out my theory.

I should be having my USB Floppy drive tomorrow, would it be any good in trying to flash the BIOS.??? :4-dontkno

thanks


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

Hi,i ve searching forums about flashing dead acer laptops,heres a link


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=242740 

I hope this helps,if it does i will buy usb floppy and give it a go.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks 

I've got this already saved waiting for my floppy drive.

But most of these links we see for recovering Bios are as if your DVD is still working, when using Dos version. But as mine is not working as may yours, its going to be a 'suck it and see' syndrome.

I'll let you know the outcome, so watch this space. :wave:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Acerkid, I have read the link falcons posted and that is similar to what we are going to try for you.

What you are basically doing is setting up the floppy disc using a small program 268076.exe (zip file link at bottom) to format/set up the disc, then drop your bios file onto the floppy to carry out a reflash of your bios using the latest bios for your lappy. This is called a crisis recovery disc. 


Step1.

1. Now that you have your USB floppy drive and a formatted floppy disk. 
2. Go to Acer web site, find your laptop model go to the bios section and download the bios V1.33 in your case.
3. Unzip this file and you will have an unzipped file called v1.33, open this.
4. When you open this there will be a zip file ic50133, a read me file and a release file.
5. Unzip ic50133 and you will now have an unzipped file ic50133, open this.
6. Inside that file are 6 items.
7. The file you are looking for is ic50133.WPH (this is the new bios file).
8. Copy and save this file to the desktop of your working computer.

Step2.

1. To format and set up your floppy disc a small program 268076.exe is used (zip file link at bottom). Download unzip and extract the program, save it to desktop of working computer. Connect your usb floppy drive with floppy disc to the working computer and run this program.
2. When the program opens there should be a tick in the box for the option “Writing on Floppy”. Click OK.
3. The program will write some files onto the floppy. BIOS.WPH, MINIDOS.SYS and PHLASH16.
4. On the floppy disc delete the file BIOS.WPH. Copy your bios file ic50133.WPH onto the floppy.
5. Rename this file BIOS.WPH, yes that’s in capitals.
6. Now go and connect your floppy drive to the dead laptop and follow these instructions exactly

Step 3.

1. Take out battery.
2. Pull out ac power cord.
3. Press Fn+Esc keys together.
4. Keep holding keys Fn+Esc pressed, put in ac power cord. (Power cord obviously has to be on)
5. Keep holding Fn+Esc keys pressed then press power button.

The floppy disk light goes on and after a few seconds or so the bios image is reading, you will hear the floppy drive writing to the disc, you might hear a series of beeps as well this is normal, you can now let Fn+Esc keys go. After that there is no activity of any kind for about 20 seconds or so. *DO NOTHIHG - WAIT*. Bios image is writing; if all goes well the laptop will reboot itself back to a happy non loopy lappy :grin: ................ let’s see what happens!

If not  leave it on for about 10 mins and then pull the power cord out. Then we need to go to plan B. 


Zip file: 
http://www.techsupportforum.com/att...6133937-acer-spire-4730z-wont-boot-268076.zip


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Well,

I did whats instructed, still nothing. 

No led lit on Floppy drive, yet if I plug it into my PC it works reading the floppy. 

Then if I plug in my Card reader into the lappy, the led is lit.

Would it be any good using a SD card in the card reader into the lappy. ??

OK so whats plan 'B', its looking gloomy ??? :4-dontkno

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Dude I was having a think and play around and I want you to download a zip file (link at bottom of post) and open it to your desktop. 

We are going to create a recovery disc from within this unzipped folder *crisis-recovery-disk-creator*. The only thing you need to add to this folder is your latest bios file and name it as you know to BIOS.WPH.

Plug in your usb floppy drive with a disc to your working puter. There is a program in the folder called WINCRIS, run this. This should open a program called *Phoenix Crisis Disk Build*. The radio button should be selected - Create Minidos Crisis Disk. Then click Start.

The Format Floppy Disk Window should open after a few seconds. Click the start button, when format complete close this window.

The Phoenix Crisis Disk Build program will now continue to write the recovery files and your bios file to the floppy. Once it has completed remove your usb floppy drive and connect it to your lappy, carry out the process to flash your lappy, step 3 on my last post......you know the drill....blah, blah.

The reason I’m getting you to do this, is that the files will be written in the correct order to the formatted disk without error. Sometimes when you simply delete files from a floppy in can screw up the way the files are allocated to the sectors of the floppy drive.

Sometimes certain versions of PHLASH16 dont work. The advantage here, if the version of PHLASH16 does not work, all the earlier versions are in this folder and all you have to do is rename the one you are going to use, to PHLASH16, you may need to try them all. The program WINCRIS will pick it up and write it to the floppy. Remember only *one* file can have the name PHLASH16 in this folder at a time, so you need to give the ones you have used a rename, to say PHLASH16old1A or whatever and so on. Oldest version is PHLASH161A.

Remember you need to go through the whole format process using WINCRIS each time you use a different version of PHLASH, its the nature of the beast.

This is not going to beat us yet!

ZIP FILE: http://web.telia.com/~u43311424/crisis-recovery-disk/crisis-recovery-disk-creator.zip


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks Steve 


From this Major wincrisis as I call it, it has 10 Splash files, yes ?

And to try each one from the youngest 'PHLASH1I' down to 'PHLASH1A', yes

And hopefully find a working Splash. ray:

I'll give it a go.

thanks


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

One thing I meant to ask above,

When trying each of these PHLASH16's, is the floppy supposed to attempt to run, ie: led light up on the floppy drive. As currently when tried earlier, there was not a flicker at all, yet as I said, the Card Reader led did or is it when the correct one found it will jump into life.?? :4-dontkno

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

There are 10 files, the file named PHLASH16 is the latest and then PHLASH1I down to PHLASH1A. Remember as I mentioned in my post to rename the file you are using to PHLASH16, only one file can have the name PHLASH16 in this folder.

Go through the routine using all the PHLASH files. Start at the youngest, if nothing happens try these other key combinations at each start, Fn + B , WinLogo + B, and WinLogo + Esc. The Fn + Esc key is usually set up for Acers.

This key combination is called boot-block, its code written into the BIOS so as to allow the computer to boot into Crisis Recovery Mode, in case the BIOS becomes corrupted. 

Have a go, see what happens.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Sorry been away for last few days,

So far nothing and I'm on PHLASH1F.

The thing that is worrying me as I've already mentioned, When the Power is connected and power button pressed with fn+esc and the Floppy drv. plugged in. 

That no life of any kind appears on the Floppy drv. as if its totally dead

1) Should the floppy drive led light up, showing some activity no matter what PHLASH16 is on the floppy.

2) Or should it light up once the right PHLASH16 is found and load. ????

Please could it be confirmed which of above is correct. 

Thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

I cant answer that question :sigh:, because about the 6 or 7 times I have tried this it has worked first time with the latest version of PHLASH16. Now I'm trying to remember back about 3 years ago, when I first tried to flash my own aspire 1691wlmi, at that time I was expirementing with all sorts of things and not having any luck, I cant remember if the floppy responded or not :upset:, something in the back of my mind tells me that it did'nt.

I'm assuming you have formated the floppy from the exe called WINCRIS in the folder *crisis-recovery-disk-creator *and you have copied your bios to this folder and renamed it BIOS.WPH, and each version of PHLASH you are using you have renamed it to PHLAS16, and that the latest version of PHLASH16 that came with *crisis-recovery-disk-creator* folder, you have renamed it to something random other than PHLASH16. 

Also can you confirm that once the floppy is written you can see three files on the floppy called minidos.sys, phlash16 and bios.wph.

Also each time you use the next version of flash, are going through the process of executing WINCRIS from the folder *crisis-recovery-disk-creator*. You should not be copying or renaming anything on the floppy, WINCRIS does this from within the folder *crisis-recovery-disk-creator*. All your copying and renaming is done within this folder

Each time you use the different key combos and nothing happens, pull out the power cord, hold down the next combination, and then put the power cord in, then hit the start button, just as you should before starting each flash cyle.

Sorry for going on Dude, I dont doubt that you are not doing this correctly but each step is vital.

Hang in there :smile:


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

Hi i ve just rebuilt laptop ,same problem but after a bit of prodding on the bios chip (left hand side under keyboard ) only a slight bit of pressure with a plastic handle of a precison screw driver the frigging thing came to life,i think its just a bad solder joint on motherboard,try it acerkid and let us know m8


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Laptops run warmer than PC's and suffer from thermal stress. I have read many posts with similar problems and repaired one or two with this problem. The mobo has not much cooling space so the chassis and mobo conduct heat through every component ie. HD,DVD,Keyboards etc, and over time with normal running, solder joints dry out, connections etc loosen off.

Strange beasts laptops


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

Its bad manufacturing,trouble is theirs 100s of these laptops with same fault and acer should have owned up to the fault,they must know exactly where the fault is the m/board,mine has been A1 and also updated bios to v1.33 i will let you know when it fails,it probably will.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

On this subject falcons, have a read at this post I submitted, this happened to me......Strange but true......  The lappy is still running like a well tuned Swiss watch :grin: 

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f108/acer-aspire-screen-problem-421496.html#post2434909


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Just a note to say I'm still hanging in there, just I'm working away for a few days so will not have chance to do any of the recent tries listed. ray:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

We'll be here. :wave:


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ok

Done as requested above using all the various versions of PHLASH16, leaving Lappy for some 10 mins each try. Only the fn+esc works.

Nothing :sigh:

As I've said before, the floppy does not make any attempt to do anything (Dead), no light, no drive noise as if looking for a file.

Tried a USB flash drive with the same files, nothing.

I think I will look for the BIOS chip and make sure it is a Pheonix or other and same time see if there are any dry joints as Falcons found.

Unless you have something else up your sleeve. ray:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Dude, your bios is InsydeH20 not Phoenix, I know this, so dont worry. The flashing process for your bios uses PHLASH and and ic50133.WPH. The Phoenix crisis disk puts the same files on the floppy.

Now I said this would'nt beat us. Bios flashing can be a black art. Took me 2 months to get it right for me.

I have had a look at your v1.33 folder and in there are the files ic50133.bat, ic50133.WPH and phlash16.Lets go back to the original way I showed you
Reformat the floppy and using the files ic50133.bat (the one with the gear wheels), ic50133.WPH and phlash16 and put these on your floppy.

What ic50133.bat does is tells PHLASH to flash your bios with ic50133.WPH simpley.

The trick is trying to get PHLASH to execute. This sometimes means changing upper to lower case, editing the .bat file and generally p...ing around with the files..........easy!!


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

OK 

I'll give it ago and report

But what is playing on my mind, as it might be for nothing once the right sequence is found. That there is no life what's so ever with the floppy drive in the lappy.

But if I access/explore the files with 'My Computer' on my PC. The floppy can be heard and seen as running to show the files, but nothing when in the lappy. :4-dontkno

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

I got my old Acer aspire out, and deliberatley gave it a bad flash to brick it. I returned it to a state where the fan runs the lights flash and blank screnn nothing. I left it in that state a plugged the usb floppy drive in with a disc inside. The drive gave a very,very quiet click, no light nothing. Put your ear to the drive and when you plug it in is there any sign of anything however quiet?

The next thing, InsydeH20 or Phoenix bios. According to the service manual its InsydeH20 but makes some refrences to Phoenix. The bios file supplied by Acer v1.33 if you read the release notes, states :- *BIOS CORE Version ................ Phoenix TrustedCore SP3B*.

Now a little research has shown me, Insyde bios have a .FD extension and you flash it with an exe called FLASHIT, and as you know a Phoenix bios is .WPH and you flash it with PHLASH.....soooooooo.....whats your conclusion??

Not a well known bios vendor, the bios screen is identical to the Phoenix screen, an example of an Acer aspire that runs with Insyde, and the correct bios files from acer is the aspire 5315.

The plot thickens


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

You are right about "The plot thickens"

The service manual for the aspire 7520, says its a Insydeh20 bios.

The Acer bios v1.33 download for the aspire 7520, says its a Pheonix bios.

I wonder if for XP versions (Insydeh20) and for Vista versions (Pheonix), as mine is Vista made in 2007 according labels etc on the motherboard.??

I've seen various threads mentioning the insydeh20 bios as you mentioned *.FD file extensions.

I've found Flashit.exe software, but cannot find any reference to a Bios *.FD download, also downloaded v1.45 from Acer aspire 5315, but no mention of *.FD.

It looks if I will have to open the lappy to find which chip is fitted to confirm which flashy bits we should be using. :wink:

Once its found as whatever, I'm tempted and confident, if we are sure the BIOS is the route of my problem, to replace it or even fit a socket if space is not an issue. 

As we've already said " What have I got to lose" ray:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Version v1.45 only from Acer US, and is only the exe to flash from Windows.

Acer Europe highest version is v1.43 and gives both the Windows and DOS flash files, and in there you will find Flashit.exe and an *.fd bios file.

Open it up and have a look for the obvious, bad solder joints etc, and give falcons suggestion a go, that sounds like a dry solder joint issue. Well you know my theories on thermal stress on mobos..........been there, done that!


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

Acerkid m8 i m sure you have a motherboard fault,mine started to cycle again,so i stripped it open again ,left the m/board in bottom case ,pulled off both button pcbs and connected ,thus leaving top of motherboard exposed,let lappy cycling,then light pressing arround front area of motherboard,it came back to life again,the other thing i have done is to clean old heatsink compound off processor and video chip and put new compound on,fit heatsink and secure.its been fine all week.give it a go m8 you may be lucky


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Well,

I removed the key board and prodded various chips and connectors and still nothing. To be sure where the bios chip is on the board, where is it exactly. Any pics or links to images. 

Downloaded Insyde v1.34 bios and loaded, still nothing.

Downloaded v1.07 from acer again, nothing.

In both cases, left machine for 30mins.

Noticed tonight that the power connection at rear is not very good, ie: any movement of cable will shut lappy down.

Where nothing seems to have any power at USB ports or DVD drive, could this be a power board fault. ??

Or whats next Doc, Bin ??. ray:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

This looks like a bad solder joint on the mobo at the power socket. You need to get the mobo out. Taking your time and following the disassembly guide in theservice manual and applying a little Acerkid methology, you can do this. Power sockets can be replaced for a few quid.

This is still not going to beat us yet! falcons get your mobo out and give it a good inspection.

Dudes buy yourselves soldering irons with small tips.


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

my motherboard was out for about a month and i ve had it under a dentists magnifying lamp every other day,it was only after joining this forum and talking too you guys that i decided to build it back up,i searched and phoned acer to find a new m/board they wont supply,ebay has everything for this lappy bar m/board i wonder why?,some one will find either intermitant component failure or pcb fault,i think its a joint between top/bottom board,acerkid dont give up,have a look at service pdf of m/board i think it shows p6 chip 5 i think is bios,but push arround 5,9,11 &12,give it another shot m8


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Acerkid said:


> My Acer initallly would not start as follows;
> 
> When starting the 'Acer' Logo comes up on the screen, then the next screen says,
> 
> ...


Ok Thanks both,

I was told today by my son, that he had ago to try and rectify my original problem as above.

But he having a HP lappy, accidently used his power adaptor on my lappy, unknowing to me. 

And since that day we've been in this situation, where we are and cannot do anything with the BIOS etc. 

With this bit of "News Extra", does this throw a different light on my problem. Such as the MBoard or some other item that is damaged from this error.
Where his adaptor is 14v and mine is 19v or wrong polarity etc. :4-dontkno

I thought I'd mention this before taking it to bits. ray:

Thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

The voltage from his 14v adaptor on its own will do no damage, reverse polarity can.

First thing to check, and to disprove reverse polarity is to have a look at both power adaptors. Where it tells your output voltage, there should be a symbol next to that, should look like two circles either side of a solid dot inside a C shape. If the outer part of the jack socket is the negative pole then the C shape should be connected by a line to the circle with the - and the positive solid dot connected to the circle with the +. Its actually quite explanatory if you look at it.

If both are the same then no electrical damage will have been caused.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Checked both power adaptors, both are of the polarity but of difference voltages, his is 14v and mine 19v. But its strange why since he plugged his in, this black screen, nothing working and its does the loopy syndrome.

I'm about to take lappy apart tonight but I have different versions of the Service Manuals. One shows the Mboard exposed from two sides and the other not. But any clues of how to go about taking it apart to expose the power/usb boards etc. I've removed the top cover below the screen and keyboard to find the various chips and cmos battery where I disconnected it to try and reset the cmos. With no joy.

Any links to YouTube etc for a demo of how to dismantle would be a help.

Thanks guys.


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

My lappy failed again yesterday,i did nt remove keyboard etc,i pushed on vga socket and it started,i spoke to a mate who works in electronics he said pcbs are made out of many layers and are joined/sandwiched if you like he said it will be hard to pin point fault.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

If polarity is the same his 14v would not damage your 19v laptop. The only common link to this is that your son may have inadvertantly physically damaged the power socket on your lappy 

The service manual link I gave you acerkid shows you a step by step way of doing this. You just need to take your time and remove all your bottom covers first. You already have your top cover and keyboard removed. You now need to disconnect the screen cables. Then you have to find the screws that hold the screen to the hinges. Once the screen is off, remove all visible screws on the bottom case. Remember to take the two post like screws off the vga socket, they usually hold the socket connected onto casing.

Heres a link that shows a disassembly, I dont think its a 7520 but you will get the idea. 

YouTube - Disassembly Acer laptop

Oh, and don't do as this Dude has done a take it apart on a bed. Do it on a table and dont use anything that can generate static electricity. Ground yourself regularly on something earthy a metal light switch or something that is connected to earth.

Put all your screws in order of disassembly, this way you avoid spare parts left over when your finished.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

:upset:

Well I've stripped it, run it, prodded it and still nothing.

Would it be a power board fault for the drives and USB etc. as I am not getting any life at all from the CD Drive or USB with either the Floppy or Flash drive as all I'm getting is the fan and power leds. ?? 

Just had alook of what a USB board looks like, 2 ports and either a AV port or not. But mine has 4 ports, 2 to the left and 2 to the right. And tried all four with the Floppy.

Any comments on these: http://www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/...t&search_in_description=1&keyword=Aspire+7520 / 7520G


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Acerkid

There are no separate USB boards or power supply boards. The laptop mobo is made up of a dual layer board that houses all the components, not like a PC where power supply etc are seperate and interchangeable. This is the PRICE for compactness. :sigh:

Now, I'm a professional electronics tech  and I know you have read this http://www.techsupportforum.com/f108/acer-aspire-screen-problem-421496.html#post2434909 This is still on the subject of bad solder joints. I gave my old Acer a good roasting and it is still going strong. Strange but true. :grin:

We have travelled a long path so far..................so what do you want to do next? If you lived near I think the pub! Your lappy is a bit like Frankensteins laboratory now, you still want to give life to the monster?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

OK thanks,

I dont want to give up as yet. :sigh:

What mini heat gun would you suggest, to try as yours and the french method.

Questions for you,

I know computers are like a science, but being fairly logical. I can't understand why or how, what is the cause of this problem in laymans terms. Away from the dry joint syndrome, what else would give this problem, RAM, CPU, Trashed/Duff Eprom Bios chip, DC power socket. Etc . :4-dontkno

But if I was to get another MBO is this going to cure my problem and that the cause is not an ancillary piece of the jigsaw already on the board that could be changed.

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

falcons said:


> Its bad manufacturing,trouble is theirs 100s of these laptops with same fault and acer should have owned up to the fault,they must know exactly where the fault is the m/board,mine has been A1 and also updated bios to v1.33 i will let you know when it fails,it probably will.


Acerkid/falcons

Just been reading and dissecting all the posts, and at the time my mind was on all things bios and thermal stress, and I missed this bit in falcons post.


> and also updated bios to v1.33


falcons

Now, when you flashed your bios what was the exact process you followed, and did you notice if your Acer 7520 came with Insyde or Phoenix bios???

Acerkid

The most common faults (hardware) computers develop are:
RAM (failure or bad seating)
HDD (failure or bad seating)
CPU (failure or bad seating)
Graphics Chip failure (laptop integrated on mobo, high end models plug in. PC integrated or on a separate card).

The Bios rom chip will check all thes components in the blink of an eye at push button start. If component faulty it will beep an error code or just black screen you.
Now this post has gotten very busy and some focus is being lost, by me.

Solutions:
The bios thing, Insyde/Phoenix threw me, as the bios files supplied from Acer are for Phoenix , and I was mind set it was Phoenix. Hope falcons can shed some light. So we will leave the bios for now.

Let’s start again. I’m going to treat this as a hardware problem.

This is what you have done already;


> Thinking that the Hdd may be at fault I purchased a new drive.


With your new HDD installed your lappy would have started up ok, gone through the post(where you would have bios options) and tried to boot which would have given you an error and stopped at this point. Now, even with HDD removed it should go to POST. So this proves there is not an HDD problem, but common to both is the HD connector on your mobo, check for bent pins or any signs of damage etc. Moving on.

RAM, you have swapped them around and fault is still present. The only way to disprove a RAM issue is to replace with known good RAM. Borrow or buy.



> My Acer initallly would not start as follows;
> 
> When starting the 'Acer' Logo comes up on the screen, then the next screen says,
> 
> ...


CPU, we have not been there yet. The reason I did not go there earlier was that your machine initially started up. The bios needs the CPU memory to continue, so I dismissed the CPU and then the focus was bios etc. You could remove and reseat your cpu. Again, the only way to disprove a CPU issue is to replace with known good CPU. Borrow or buy.

Graphics chip fault will still let you get to POST.

If you sent it to Acer, they would first charge you £70 for the pleasure, then tell you that you need a new mobo at +£500. Acer don’t repair mobo’s.

You need to balance this out now. £500+£70+£££admin+VAT or new Laptop, or the cheaper option RAM, borrow or buy, then CPU borrow or buy.

Once you prove its not CPU or RAM, then we can confidently move on to solder joints and stuff.

How’s all that sound?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

OK Thanks,

I'm up for that, Hdd + CPU + RAM connections, then RAM + CPU renewal.

With the connection bit, years ago when replacing Cards in a Industrial PLC, when a problem arisen. I used a electronic contact cleaner where the contacts may have been contaminated giving faulty connections etc. Would this be safe on MBO's.


Once these checks and replacements are done and whether the correct or incorrect flash BIOS may have been tried, would it be best to remove the CMOS Battery and allow a default reset, if it will still work. 

Thanks ray:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Contact cleaners are ok, as long as they are not abrasive, do not use contact lubricants that are designed for relay sets, contactors etc. High flash point solvents like Safeclean, isopropylealcohol etc are all ok as they leave no residue.

It will do no harm removing the battery and resetting bios, or even replacing it with new.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ok

More problems, sorry for being a pain.:yltype:

Checked with various sites all confusing and don't tell you alot.:sigh:

1) Current Processor *AMDTK55HAX4DC 1.8MHz S1 Socket* As this is obsolete, which current AMD could I choose.

2) Current RAM '512MB 2R x16 PC2-5300S' x2, Samsung. Strange, maybe replaced by previous owner.

3) As one of the RAM slots is suspect with its retaining clip, could I use a single 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300 or a 4GB DDR2 PC2-5300. Or do I have use both slots.

Thanks ray:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

RAM.Singles fine.
Processor, need to think about that one.


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

Hi chaps its pheonix bios for sure,the ram is the same 2x samy,when mine failed i had blank black screen,power led.network led,hd led, dvd tray if loaded,cycle for 2-3 seconds,fan now and again,i hope this helps,while on subject ,my wireless led has not come back on and does nt show correct size of ram ?


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

falcons
Thanks for that info, what method did you use to flash the bios? Did you carry out a permanent repair to your mobo to get it to the operating state its in at the mo, or are you still pushing and poking things to get it to work?

Acerkid
Go for the one stick of RAM and put it in the RAM slot that dont look abused, did you try one stick of your RAM in that better looking slot to see what happens?

For your own info; I put various hardware faults on my old _'*TEST*'_ Acer 1691 and these are the common returns you will get.

*CPU *(Black Screen) Power on – May get a beep sound - Fan runs initially - HD light on for about 20 seconds then goes off – then nothing, power light on and fan runs now and then.

*RAM* (Black Screen) Power on – May get a beep sound - Fan runs initially - HD light on for about 20 seconds then goes off – then nothing, power light on and fan runs now and then.

*HDD* Power on – Fan starts – HD light on – POST screen appears – HD lights goes out and black screen appears with message *Operating System Not Found* and remains at this screen.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ok,

Waiting for new Ram to arrive.

1) Cmos battery, I know the battery is a ML1220, but it has tags attached to it. Does this mean I have to transfer the tags to a standard ML1220 battery. Also the voltage seems ok. at 2.87v. Is it worth changing??

2) ISOPROPANOL on its way, to clean various contacts from contaminations etc.

3) AMDTX55HAX4DC CPU, seems to be no longer available unless its S/H. Would a TMDTL56HAX5DC. TMDTL56HAX5CT or TMDTL60HAX5DC fit as an upgrade. ??


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Voltage is healthy enough for battery, not worth replacing.

Go with the RAM first and research the processor.

The processor should have the same voltage, bus speed and pin configuration to what you already have. The clock speed, don’t put in more than your mobos stated max. Preferably try for the same clock speed, cos the faster you go, the hotter the lappy will get.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Visit this link and compare processors.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 X2 TK-55 - AMDTK55HAX4DC.html


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## cossy (Dec 4, 2009)

Hi Guys, got probably the same issue as you guys. My laptop just starts for 2 seconds and reboots, no screen, only the fan spins up and the power light goes on. 

I tried your first solution "night shift", but my floppy drive won't light up. 
I completly buildout my motherbord, resettet every thing, but can't start my usb stick and usb floppy drive to work. Do you get any idea's left to get one of those working?


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Welcome onboard cossy

If you have read all the posts, then we are going to watch this space, Acerkid is going to try a systematic hardware replacement to see what happens.

What lappy do you have and how old is it?


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## cossy (Dec 4, 2009)

Hi night shift,

I also got a acer 7520G, it is 17 months old now. So no warrenty left 

I tried several this, what I did notice that the FN+ESC will have some affect, it will enter the special mode. But not reading my floppy or USB stick, Tomorrow I will try it with an bootable CD (found that on an other forum). Just try and error I guess.


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

hi lads its definetly a motherboard/electonic component fault,mine died again monday,i pushed the normal things but it did not want to know,so i stripped down and left motherboard in and connected everything bar keypad and touch pad,thus leaving it so it can boot up(leave hd,mem,dvd,batt all in),i noticed after about an hour how hot the board was round about were the battery connector is,the fan was coming on now and again,anyway theirs a diode/resistor with 20m i think written on it i pushed with a pda stylus and ping back into life,then after it started it pushed the 20m component again and the screen went off,then on so its defo in that area,by the way its built back up and working great,dont waste money on buying new hardware it wont work,these mobos are ****e.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Well falcons this is starting to hold up my thermal stress theory. Where over time the mobo solder joints start to dry out. Remember my link ( http://www.techsupportforum.com/f108/acer-aspire-screen-problem-421496.html#post2434909 ) where I rewetted the joints with a heat gun.

Well that old Acer is still going no problems.

What to do Dudes is buy yourselves a small gas soldering iron that comes with a hot air attachment, it will also probably come with the blowtorch attachment too, you don’t want to use that one. The hot air attachment is designed to give a constant blast of hot air that can melt solder, and this is what you want to do, rewet the solder joints.

This is the model I use, this is a pro version but there are cheaper equivalents which do exactly the same job.

http://www.ttcuk.com/apk-portasol-pro-soldering-iron-kit-1302-p.asp


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Hi Guys, I'm back. :wave:

Well I finally had time to strip the lappy bare with the MBO loose. :sigh:

I've got my gas soldering iron pencil and the cleaning fluid which I've cleaned all the plug-in connections whether its hardware or ribbon connectors etc. 

Now, using the Iron

1) Which side of the IC's & diodes/resistors etc on the MBO should we heat to re-melt the solder. The IC side or underside.

2) How hot, just enough to see the solder just about to melt or more.

3) Has every solder joint, everywhere got to be done or just hardware connections and components (IC/resistors/diodes/etc)

Or is there a link to instructions. 

Falcons, where on the board was this resistor etc.

Cossy seems to have my problem too. :4-dontkno


Soon be Christmas, then will I or won't I get my lappy back or will it be down to the Sales. :laugh:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

> What to do Dudes is buy yourselves a small gas soldering iron that comes with a hot air attachment, it will also probably come with the blowtorch attachment too, you don’t want to use that one. The hot air attachment is designed to give a constant blast of hot air that can melt solder, and this is what you want to do, rewet the solder joints.


Acerkid did you read my last post? Does your iron have this attachment? If yours has the blowtorch and you go too close to the mobo you will evapourate the solder and it will be like going to your mobo with a light sabre.

Tell me what you have first before going near your mobo?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Oops.

Thats rushing it, Its a Torch Pencil with Soldering Tip, Diffuser & Torch Tip.
It says its suitable for PVC pipe bending, solder, plastics etc 
Soldering iron, Blowtorch.


Is it any good ??


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

It's cool, well its not cool cos its a blowtorch, but yes it will do the job.

What you need to be is carefull, you dont want to get too close to the mobo. If you have noticed when you turn the BLOWTORCH on there is a nice blue cone shape in the flame, well...... right at the tip of that flame its F...in hot, hot enough to make mild steel red hot, melt brass and set fire to your mobo.

The secret hear is to heat the solder until it goes a brighter silver colour, this is called a remelt.

Remove your CPU from the board and also your RAM. Go round all the solder joints round the graphics chip, RAM connector, CPU connector and BIOS chip............remember its a very fine balance between getting the heat right to rewet and burning the board.

Be very careful.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ok

I've seen somewhere a video of this "re-melt" of a motherboard, done a search but can't find it. What about this French version you mention.

Thought I'd watch first before Meltdown.

Thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

The process the French Dude used is called re-flowing or remelting. The process i used was a little tamer. I could not find the original post but I have found the process of re-flowing here on video.

Enjoy:

YouTube - Re-flow Video Card IBM T41p Latop motherboard


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Have you watched the video yet?

The actual process of reflowing is when multiple components are originally attached to a pcb with a solder paste and a uniform heat is applied enogh to melt the flux and solder to bond the components to the pcb.


Word of caution; take the dudes advice and be careful with all things plastic. What this video is showing you is an *attempt* at rewetting (remelting) any residual flux and solder in the *hope* of curing dry joints.

Remember I took a more liberal approach, if you use the process in the video heed all the instructions given, also remove any component that is not soldered down to the board

The process worked on my GPU (luck maybe? I don't know), remember this I would give a 50% success rate. Which I think are good odds at the moment.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Hi guys, :wave:

Guess what, my lappy is back from the dead. :smooch:

Well nearly all the way. 

It boots and the screen is back, but I'm back to square one with the NVIDIA bit.

NVIDIA BOOT AGENT 249.0542
PXE-E61: MEDIA TEST FAILURE, CHECK CABLE
PXE-MOF: EXITING NVIDIA BOOT AGENT

Any suggestions ???

Thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Well done Dude what did you do? So we can all learn.

The fault you have, try this:

Go into your bios and on the menu heading named Main, set the Network Boot to [Disabled].

Well done mate ray:


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

I did the re-melt jobby.

Firstly because I used a Gas type soldering torch, I got abit of solder and played with the distance to melt that solder. As you say its F...in hot at the end of the flame. 

Re-melting as many joints as I could on all the chips and connections etc. such as CPU, DVD and whatever on both sides of the board. 

!!! IF anyone uses one of these torches the min. distance should be 50/60mm from the surface and keep it moving. If you don't, up in smoke your board or chip etc will go. !!! :FIREdevil

As Night_Shift suggested, if I had to do it again I would get a proper hot air blower, as once or twice I nearly over did it.


I've tried to enter the Bios with F2 and F10, but nothing only the message as above with NVIDIA.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

So what you are saying; post screen appears with the option to F2 set up but you cant access bios, then windows loads but with the error message as above. I take it your desktop does not load.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

When it starts,

Acer Logo, then Black screen with the NVIDIA Message and it keeps looping through that message. Nothing else.

I've tried entering the Bios by hitting the buttons as soon as the lappy starts as you do with a Desk top PC. Nothing, just goes into the NVIDIA loop.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ooooops,

Found the Keyboard ribbon not fitted correctly, I had a hell of a job getting the ribbon into its socket.

Booted into Bios, disabled Network Boot.

Checked order of boot, Hdd, DVD and so on with Networking moved to the bottom of the list.

But still nothing, as its a new Hdd due to old one defunc, DVD runs with Vista CD in it and can hear DVD running. The cursor flashing in corner of screen and networking led flashing. But nothing appears.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

With Network Boot disabled, Network Boot should not appear in the boot order selection. Recheck to make sure Network Boot [Disabled], exit and save changes, do not load defaults.

I forgot you had changed the HD. What happened to the original HD? Try starting it up without the HD.

FYI the keyboard ribbon cable socket has a thin retaining bar which gently pulls back remaining with the socket. The ribbon cable should just pull out, reverse procedure for inserting the ribbon.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

Yes the Network Boot is Disabled, Its LAN Network thats listed at the end of the order.

The ribbon is so flexible thats where I had a prob getting it back into its slot.

It appears the problem is with the DVD as its the one supplied from the previous owner, if I put my PC XP Pro dvd in, its starts to boot. But not with the Vista dvd.

Yet if I put the Vista dvd into the PC, it opens automatically to the Install starting page when placed in the DVD drive.

When I explore the Vista dvd on the PC it lists files Boot, Setup, Autorun and etc. Is there a exec program I could burn on to a copy to enable it to boot on the lappy.

If anything I'd rather use XP than Vista, if it can be installed on the lappy, but have read the Bios has to be changed to do this. ????


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## falcons (Nov 8, 2009)

well done acerkid on not giving in,i put xp on my lappy the bios is fine,install xp and when lappys running o.k update bios, thats what i did,all the drivers for xp are on acer support site,the only problem i had was with the sound card but their is a fix,let us now how you get on.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Did you try removing the HD and see what happens. It should go through the post, then black screen appears with the message *Operating System Not Found*, and remains at this screen.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

OK,

Hdd drive fitted with no Disc in DVD tray, the lappy goes through quiet post 'Acer Logo' then cursor flashing top L/H corner of screen (blank screen) and Hdd led flashing.

Hdd drive removed with no Disc in DVD tray, the lappy goes through quiet post 'Acer Logo' then cursor flashing top L/H corner of screen (blank screen).
No Hdd led.

In both cases the fan runs for some 4/5 secs then stops.??? :4-dontkno


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Now that you have managed to get the laptop to enter bios via the POST screen, have you tried to reflash the bios as in post #41 of this thread.

Out of curiosity what version of bios is shown at the moment?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Well I went back to item 41 and did the crisis boot again. The floppy drive was accessed about 2 times within the first 5 secs, then nothing.

Now I'm back to square one. :sigh:

Lappy looping again, black screen, and network led back on and exactly as before where nothing works even the floppy.

I'm going to disconnect the CMOS battery again and leave if it for a few hours to completely drain any power that maybe held anywhere on the Motherboard.


If it works again, how long should the floppy be accessed for during the inital flashing and then how long should it be before the flashing process is completed and should the lappy restart itself back to the quiet boot with the ACER Logo.??

thanks


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ok

Having left the CMOS battery disconnected for some 2 hrs and reconnected.

Still the same, going loopy.

What do I do now, bin it or go all over again what I've done with the remelt. :upset:

Or is it a faulty BIOS chip.???? :4-dontkno


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

The flashing process takes about 2 mins. When I carried out my remelt/reflow and rebuilt the lappy, I still had the black screen until I carried out a reflash.

_*falcons*_ had a component fault, and I still think its down to a bad solder connection on the mobo. Did you watch the video on post *#93*, may be worth a try! If you do follow the dudes instructions, and if you can get back to the bios after the rebuild, try a reflash with an earlier version of the bios.

FYI its amazing how much punishment a mobo can take.

This has become some challenge! Hope you still got enough fight left to beat this Acerkid.

Respect ray:

Steve :grin:


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks Steve

I will get the model of heat gun you had listed earlier.

I've already done a remelt of the board of the major items, so will do it again with the proper jobby.

Its strange as it appears the same thing happen again this time as when this fault first started. Because when I started the lappy after reassemble I used the battery knowing it was fully charged.

When I did the reflash I used the Mains supply as when my son used his lappy power supply to try himself remedy this fault. Thats when the loopy problem started again as it did the first time.

One thing I noted last night, whenever the mains adaptor is plugged/touched in into the lappy without any button/keys pressed, theres a glimmer of a flash of the Network led and no others. Yet when the FN/Esc is used with power on, the power and network leds are fully lit.

Maybe worth changing the power socket on the MoBo.

If I'm not back before Christmas, may wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

Tel


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Acerkid said:


> Thanks Steve
> 
> One thing I noted last night, whenever the mains adaptor is plugged/touched in into the lappy without any button/keys pressed, theres a glimmer of a flash of the Network led and no others. Yet when the FN/Esc is used with power on, the power and network leds are fully lit.
> 
> Maybe worth changing the power socket on the MoBo.


Try removing your wifi card and see what happens. I'm suggesting this as there seems to be a link with networking here, i.e. the PXE thingy and network LED flashing on :4-dontkno who knows?


----------



## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks,

I'll give that ago with the WiFi.

As to again remelting the connections etc on the MoBo, You say its best to use a Hot air gun and you use a "APK Portasol kit".

Would this Hot air gun be suitable for rework of small joints/chips etc. without the fear of over doing it. "Xytronic 80w Hot-Air Pencil - HAP80" or "CSIHOTGUN-2" on flea bay for £55.00

thanks


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

If you have watched the video in post #93, then you need a hot air gun like the ones that can strip paint. My fault was local to my graphics chip and the "hot air pencil" was small enough to tackle this.

B&Q sell a resonable priced one -
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.j...refview=search&ts=1261471377442&isSearch=true

The dude in the video uses a similar one to the one sold at B&Q. It's only £17. Give it a try and follow his instructions on screen.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Last post this side Christmas,

Well I've found what the Bios eprom looks like, but where it is on the board I have'nt a clue.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BIOS-Chip:Acer-...temQQimsxZ20091116?IMSfp=TL091116199010r12114


As for the glimmer of a flash of the Network led when connecting the Mains power, it stopped by removal, but still going loopy.

Although it still seems there maybe a dry/bad joint somewhere, its strange that after 2 flashes of access to the floppy that we are back to the loopy bit. Could it have been due to the wrong Bios reflash. As I restarted the lappy a few times with the battery with no probs changing the Bios settings etc. then doing the reflash we are where we are now, loopy.

Over the break I will do the melt down bit again as frenchy did.

Merry Christmas all :grin:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Merry Christmas Acer Dude. :biggrinsa


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Well

I cooked it as frenchy with a borrowed Heat gun, did a re-melt as before with my gas torch.

And its still loopy.

I've given up now, unless someone can say its "that" is the causing the problem. As you know from above whats been done and renewed etc.

The only thing not changed is the CPU & Eprom.

As for the Eprom I can can get a new one for approx. £15, but as for the CPU they are hard to find.

Is it worth spending more money on it and may still have the same answer in the end 'Loopy'.

Thanks for everyones help, especially Steve.

Thanks guys


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

I must be a sucker I can't get away from this yet. :wave:

I've been reading and searching for info:- 'Which comes first Bios or CPU'. Trying in a logical manner where things start and finish etc.

When a Lappy or PC is switched on what is first in the operating procedure. Why is there no power to USB etc what controls that, Bios or CPU. ??

As I've had the lappy working after the first remelt, then went loopy doing the reflash of the bios (USB Floppy acessed for for approx 10 secs, then black screen). And doing another remelt as above topics. Could this mean the Eprom is knackered or the CPU. 

Thanks

Hope all had a good Christmas


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hope you had a good Christmas Acerkid.

Your like me, if there is a glimmer of hope you will not be beat! Untill someone hits you over the head and tells you its over.

Once you press the ON switch and the voltage stabalises, fans and lights come on. Then the systems takes a HOLD off the CPU, and it has to work out what the hell to do. Its like it has just woken up with memory loss. The cpu is coded to look for the BIOS ROM where hidden in its memory is a small piece of software code. The CPU then carries out a sequence of task instructed by the BIOS to check for hardware, test the hardware and also find the operating system. The POST power on self test.

So Chicken or Egg. Could be corrupt bios code, failed BIOS or failed CPU????????? Ahhhhhhh!

So where do you want to start? The BIOS is the ROM (read only memory) which you can flash and change. The EPROM (erasable programable read only memory) which keeps the date and time and the last configuration of the BIOS. The small CMOS battery keeps this in memory. 

I would opt for CPU as your lappy has tried to do various things before looping etc.

:spinning:


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## Darob (Oct 26, 2009)

re: #114 above. loc. of bios chip...
I dont know if other acer MoBo's are much different, my Bios is under black tape in PCI-e compartment (close to main battery connector). I had a qucik look at 7520 manual ( http://www.acer.co.uk/acer/service....tx1g.c2att92=122&ctx1.att21k=1&CRC=2980211862 ) but its not as detailed as the one i found for mine

found this (service manual) http://www.2shared.com/file/3858491/5acb234b/SG_AS7520_7220_BOOK.html?s=1
see click this link near bottom page


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## mulley (Dec 31, 2009)

hi all, i have been reading all the posts now with lots of interest, unfortunately i know nothing at all about computers and i have the same problem with the loopy laptop, i dont know what you guys think but mine seemed to go tits up after i set my daughters new laptop up on our wireless network, next time i went to use my laptop on christmas day it went loopy.
mine is a 7520. i took the processor off and noticed it hardly had any paste on it, could an overheated processor cause this problem?


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hello mulley,

How old is your laptop? When you took the cpu out did you notice if the cooling path was clogged with dust?


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Happy New Year Everyone. :wave:



Darob said:


> re: #114 above. loc. of bios chip...
> I dont know if other acer MoBo's are much different, my Bios is under black tape in PCI-e compartment (close to main battery connector).


Thanks Darob, I already have 2 different versions of the Aspire 7520 manuals. One shows the MoBo in detail and the other not. I have no Chip with black tape on it near the Battery connector or elsewhere.

I've tried searching on Google, but it seems nobody can/has pinpointed the Bios chip on this MoBo. Even the guy selling the BIOS eeprom hasn't a clue, he only sells Bios eeproms for various makes. I know its a 8 pin, but when you look on the MoBo theres at least 10. :4-dontkno

thanks


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Hi,

Still searching where is the BIOS Eeprom, while waiting for a replacement CPU.

Came across this from a website motherboardpoint.com

[The problem probably IS the motherboard (not the bios, but the
motherboard). I talked to a technician at a firm I use in Miami that
actually does component repairs of motherboards (the cost is typically
$80 to $100, plus shipping, and they can't always fix the problem). The
usual problem is that either the Southbridge (part of the chipset) burns
up and dies (from overheating) or that BGA (ball grid array) connections
of the chipset (northbridge or southbridge) to the motherboard fail.
Fixing any of these requires a BGA workstation that can unsolder /
remove / replace the chipset chips. It's a $20,000 workstation,
typically. Other things can happen, but these are the most common
things that they see in dead motherboards that have no physical damage.]

Not looking good if this correct what they are saying. :sad: :3-smash:

keep looking and pray the CPU works when it arrives.ray:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Acerkid this is only one of many possible solutions. By now we have discovered, if its not a hardware fault, then its down to ACER's "QUALITY" mobos :lol:.

You have taken this challenge head on Dude, you are the laptop peoples champion. Respect Acerkid ray:

Soooooooooo..............I know you by now Acerkid and is the challenge still on?

Have you managed to source a CPU yet.

Heres one on ebay from US "Best Offer". Its tested and working.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-ATHLON-64...62QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCPUs?hash=item3a55a7634e


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Hi 

Not given up yet. Waiting for CPU, found where which appears to be the Bios chip on the MoBo. The info read using a Jewllers eye glass:-

EON
F80100HCP
173K22C (???? not sure)
0731GDA

Its under the key board in a hole, roughly under the key 'Z' and a small ribbon cable to the right, there 3 8pin chips and it appears the bios is centre of the 3.

If the CPU is not the answer When it Arrives, this will be my next project.

Can you Steve or anyone confirm this is the BIOS from the Ref. Nos.

Tel


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel
Contacting a dude in California who sells bios chips for Acers. Hope he comes up with something.
Steve


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel 
I sent a Dude in California two pictures of your mobo (top and bottom). He returned them with some chips circled and needs to know whats written on them. So get out that jewellers eye piece and see what you can see.
Steve


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks

Having strip the lappy again to find the Info requested, its only now I've noted that the Board shown in the PDF Manual for the Aspire 7520/7520G/7220/7220G is not the correct MoBo I have.

These are the two sides I've taken if they are any good for Dude over the pond.



















The Red Square is the Chip is what I've been told is the BIOS shown on the ICY70 Top photo and the info is as earlier above.

Further info: the board is made by Foxconn. :4-dontkno

Thanks again


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

Acerkid said:


> When starting now, I hear the cooling fan run for a few secs then stop, the power and harddrive leds flash on for 3secs and off for 3secs. And the only way to stop this, is to disconnect the battery. :4-dontkno
> 
> Any clues


I'm new here now and it's all because of the above problem. First of all Hi everyone and here is my problem.

I was using my Aspire 7520 today and all was well. I decided to go lay on the couch for about 30 minutes cause my head hurt. When I came back my laptop was in power save mode as normal with the screen off. I moved the mouse pushed some keys, even tried pushing the power button and then holding it down to try and get the laptop to either come back to life or turn off. After seeing that the power would not go off and the screen would not come back on I pulled the plug and the batt. When I went to go turn it back on the exact same problem described above happened. 

1. Hit power fan goes on for about 2 seconds shuts off and laptop powers off.
2. Laptop powers back on with no fan all lights come on then shuts down and repeats this cycle without the fan. 


You can only stop this by removing the battery!
I have removed all hardware including ram and symptoms still remain.
I have replaced hardware piece by piece still symptoms remain
Tried using just the battery and no power cord and still the same.

I'm out of options I don't know what to do has anyone found the solutions. My laptop is like 2 years old this sucks.....


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## phildos (Jan 11, 2010)

I have one for you all . I have acer aspire 7520 did a remelt on it today to cure the dreaded black screen cycle aprox * mins of heat as shown in an earlier post and hey presto laptop has power again , rebuilt the latop to install a copy of windows7 and as im in the bios I notice the screens flickering, blurred and the best way to dicribe it , has double vision " can see more than one thing on screen " . i tried an extrenal monitor thats perfect so tried a screen off a acer 5315 i have and that was the same, swapped inverters and the problems still there , updated the bios via acer site and still same problem, with the laptop working fine on an external screen i dont think its the graphics card which leaves me with faulty motherboard "tried the remelt agin just incase i moved something on the screen connector when rebuilding it but still same , any ideas ???


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hello phildos

If it shows up perfect on another monitor and your screen is lit, then it is not a graphics chip problem, mobo or inverter. Make sure your screen connection is ok. With taking the lappy apart you may have caused a bad connection. Check cable at mobo end and at the rear of the screen.

Worse case cenario the LCD screen is faulty.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hello fingerz

As you will have guessed reading this thread there are many things that can cause Black Screen and Shutdown/Restarts, and trying to pin point what, is a minefield. I have cured this fault for myself and other forum members, but all the solutions are not consistent to one specific problem, so you can see how frustrating this can get.

One member only required a hard reset of his laptop, while one needed a new HD, another required a bios flash, another dry solder joints on the mobo resoldered, and I could go on.

Try this first, or maybe you have;
1. Remove battery.
2. Remove HD. (keep your RAM and CPU connected)
3. Start up and see what happens.


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## phildos (Jan 11, 2010)

night_shift said:


> Hello phildos
> 
> If it shows up perfect on another monitor and your screen is lit, then it is not a graphics chip problem, mobo or inverter. Make sure your screen connection is ok. With taking the lappy apart you may have caused a bad connection. Check cable at mobo end and at the rear of the screen.
> 
> Worse case cenario the LCD screen is faulty.


tried other screen tried different screen cable checked the connections etc it wont turn on now though green light comes on and the fleashes, i have reflashed it with v1.33 from acer and had it load a few times but as i say it comes on fan starts then turns off but green light flashes on and off


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

phildos

I think I miss read your post, you are telling me that even with external monitors you were still getting the same fault?


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## phildos (Jan 11, 2010)

night_shift said:


> phildos
> 
> I think I miss read your post, you are telling me that even with external monitors you were still getting the same fault?


no on extrenal screen it was ok i had windows 7 running on it but with the blurry screen on monitor but crystal clear on external monitor i tried remelting the graphics chip as shown on youtube and press the chip firmly in place after this the unit wont power up will turn on the fan starts then stop and the green light flashed on and off so assentially i had it running with fuzzy screen but now not at all


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hmmm!
When you got a crystal clear picture on external monitor this proves that the graphics chip, cpu, ram and mobo etc are operating ok. The fuzzy screen fault would have been lcd cable, connector etc. I'm using past tense here as I think on your last remelt you may have introduced the original fault back.

The remelt technique relies on ressidual flux in the solder to flow and allow it to readhere. This residual flux on each remelt is used up, so you can see where I'm going here.

Give it another shot, and if you get a crystal clear picture on the external monitor, then start investigating lcd faults. Good luck. Let me know how you get on.


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## phildos (Jan 11, 2010)

night_shift said:


> Hmmm!
> When you got a crystal clear picture on external monitor this proves that the graphics chip, cpu, ram and mobo etc are operating ok. The fuzzy screen fault would have been lcd cable, connector etc. I'm using past tense here as I think on your last remelt you may have introduced the original fault back.
> 
> The remelt technique relies on ressidual flux in the solder to flow and allow it to readhere. This residual flux on each remelt is used up, so you can see where I'm going here.
> ...


the original fault was on off cycle this is no longer the fault it stays on but no display could i of over heated the graphic chip and also i tried another wire off another acer that is working fine which led me to think it was a fault from somewhere near the lcd socket is there any other alternative to a remelt than using a heat gun ?


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

night_shift said:


> Hello fingerz
> 
> As you will have guessed reading this thread there are many things that can cause Black Screen and Shutdown/Restarts, and trying to pin point what, is a minefield. I have cured this fault for myself and other forum members, but all the solutions are not consistent to one specific problem, so you can see how frustrating this can get.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your help! Here is what I have done so far...

I removed hard drive, dvd rom drive and tried each stick of ram individual all with the same black screen shutdown restart symptom. I even tried without ram for kicks...


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

phildos
The other alternative is to use a small point soldering iron and and rewet with fresh solder, the solder joints at the graphic chip(there are many small solder joints here) and the lcd connector.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Got my CPU now,

Should I or should not, that is my question. Change the Bios chip while Lappy is stripped.

Heard anymore from your Dude in sunny California, where my MoBo differs from the PDF and he wanting chip info.

Also going back to a guy who sells Pre-Flashed Bios chips No. W25X80VSIG (http://bios-repair.co.uk/ref/macercr.htm), He says, " Many different makers parts can be used but they should all have 25xxxx as a number and will contain an 8 also". But my Bios chip from the info given in #125 has no 25xxxx etc. 

If that is the Bios marked with a red square on my MoBo photo.

Thanks Tel


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel,
Received an email from this dude and he cant identify this chip with ICY70 on it, he is looking for more digits. Have you looked at all your 8 leg chips to see if any have the 25XXXX prefix?
Steve


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

fingerz
I have not forgotton about you, been a bit busy at work and home, I will get back to you.


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

night_shift said:


> fingerz
> I have not forgotton about you, been a bit busy at work and home, I will get back to you.


NP after drifting back through this thread I have attempted a few more tests.

1. fn + esc power with no batt and ac no effect
2. fn + esc power with batt and ac no effect
3. fn + esc power with batt and no ac powers up fan runs no display

All of the above with DVD drive in and copy of windows vista in drive.
1 and 2 same effect
3 Dvd drive spins up and appears to be reading data from disk but still blank screen and then seems to finish reading data and just continues to run with fan continuing to spin. DVD drive goes dormant I can eject and insert disk and it will try to read it once again.

Remove DVD Drive setup bootable flash drive with the following files

COMMAND.COM (from MINIDOS)
KERNEL.SYS (from MINIDOS)
PHLASH16.EXE (from the latest bios update on acer website)
BIOS.WPH (renamed bios file from acer bios)
AUTOEXEC.BAT w/ the following lines. PHLASH16 bios.WPH /mode=3 /X

Does not work attempting to start laptop with method 1. 2. or 3 with or without HD or DVD drive no activity on any usb ports.

Next I made a bootable dvd with the same files as the USB stick thinking well maybe it will read that since it seems to spin up and attempt to read the disks I put in.

Same story nothing!

I'm losing my mind... lol


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## Darob (Oct 26, 2009)

re post #143 above,
I also had the same results when I wanted to flash the bios on my lappy. however, I searched for many different methods to make my (4GB) usb stick bootable and put the nessesary flashing files (+ boot loader) on it with no sucsess. similarly, I also burned a few cd's with different versions of Phlash etc to try that aswell. For some reason, I could only (eventually) reflash using a (refurb) usb floppy I got from local comp shop for about £7 - should have saved the time and got it 1st.

Consider - Having tried to start the flashing process with Fn+Esc, maybe the Bios may now be corrupted (or are the Bios's inbuilt routines clever enough to ignore unsucsessful attempts?)


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

night_shift said:


> Tel,
> Received an email from this dude and he cant identify this chip with ICY70 on it, he is looking for more digits. Have you looked at all your 8 leg chips to see if any have the 25XXXX prefix?
> Steve


The 'ICY70' is the model of the Lappy stated on the underside of the Lappy below the 'Aspire 7520 Series' along with the full S/N etc.

Sorry for the confusion, will try and check other 8 leg ic's. Alittle difficult as they are mostly dark brown digits on black ic's.

This is the info below on the ic which I've been told is the Bios from a guy with the same problem in the Netherland to which he changed.

EON (manufacturer)
F80100HCP
173K22C (?? not sure if correct)
0731GDA 

thanks


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ok

I've checked every 8 leg ic on the board and nothing starts with a 25xxxxx etc, so I've gone back to the Bios supplier.

I've read the MoBo and the PDF so many times, it looks if I've miss read that the MoBo was Foxconn.

Anyway, more details from my MoBo:-

Made in China
ICW50 LA3581 (Google says this is a Aspire 5520 series)
2007-07-24
Rev 2.0

Also on a bar code label:-
2089568702159
ICY70 L21 (Google says this is a Aspire 7220, 7220G, 7520 & 7520G)
461474 BOL21

Is this of any help for your Dude over the big pond.

Tel


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

fingerz

I have tried usb memory stick and cd but could not get them to perform the flash. The only thing that was succesful, as Darob has mentioned, is to get yourself a usb floppy drive.

The Fn+Esc key triggers the bios crisis repair mode. Even if the bios was bad flashed and corrupt, this method should recover it, I know cos I've been there more than once.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel
I have just this minute e-mailed your details to the Californian bios Dude.
Steve


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel

Just had a look at an Acer 5520 service manual and guess what? I will let you work it out.

I have attached a picture of the mobo from the service manual from the 5520..........looks familiar does it!!!!!!!! 

The plot thickens even more my old Pal

Steve


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

sorry heres the other side

If you can read what is says on the board

ICW50 LA3581P 
2007-03-26
Rev 0.4


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

Thats funny when I look at my Mother board on my 7520 I see a sticker in the same orientation as the one in the ram area that says....

ICY70L22

But just to the left and underneath that sticker I see this..

ICW50 LA- Blocked by sticker
Rev: 2.0
2007-07-blocked by sticker


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

Hmm here is something else when I googled the ICW50 LA I got a link that said Acer Aspire ICW50 & ICY70 motherboard (exchange) Basically these people are taking your old mother board and around $300 and giving you a re-conditioned one. Then they re-condition yours and sell it. So obviously they know what the common faults are.


http://www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5217


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

fingerz said:


> Hmm here is something else when I googled the ICW50 LA I got a link that said Acer Aspire ICW50 & ICY70 motherboard (exchange) Basically these people are taking your old mother board and around $300 and giving you a re-conditioned one. Then they re-condition yours and sell it. So obviously they know what the common faults are.
> 
> 
> http://www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5217


Thats right, I've seen that site already for about £148. But is it worth paying that much when as I've seen Tesco Direct got a Compaq 15.6" for less than £340 with Win7. ??


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel



> EON (manufacturer)
> F80100HCP
> 173K22C (?? not sure if correct)
> 0731GDA


The chip you have identified is your bios chip.

Steve


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

Acerkid said:


> Thats right, I've seen that site already for about £148. But is it worth paying that much when as I've seen Tesco Direct got a Compaq 15.6" for less than £340 with Win7. ??


I don't know for me maybe I have 17" screen. I don't know what to do? all I know is I need my laptop and soon. I can't really afford to go out and buy a brand new one with 2 kids a dog and a baby on the way.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

fingerz said:


> I don't know for me maybe I have 17" screen. I don't know what to do? all I know is I need my laptop and soon. I can't really afford to go out and buy a brand new one with 2 kids a dog and a baby on the way.


OK, I would or may yet go down down the same road. All I can say at this point, it apppears you have the same problem as I have and the same MoBo etc. is to read through everything I've done or has been suggested. And follow what I'm hoping to do with the help from night_shift in Re-newing my Bios Chip aswell as the CPU with not a great expense.

In the end it might fruitless as whats said in #123 as the Mobo chipset etc. maybe at fault. That would be beyond me to replace and then think of whether to get this replacement board or a new Lappy. :4-dontkno

good luck


----------



## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Ok,

Now that we know the details I gave, the EON IC is my Bios, the MoBo was originally for a Aspire 5520 and re-labled for a Aspire 7520.

Does this mean I look for a Bios eprom for a Aspire 5520 or a 7520. :4-dontkno

I'm waiting from the Bios guy as to what he thinks, now we have established whats what.

Watch this space.

Hey!!, If we get through this and its all sorted after all our efforts. Could this Topic be put as some say a 'Sticky' for others to follow in the future. ray:

Tel


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

Acerkid said:


> OK, I would or may yet go down down the same road. All I can say at this point, it apppears you have the same problem as I have and the same MoBo etc. is to read through everything I've done or has been suggested. And follow what I'm hoping to do with the help from night_shift in Re-newing my Bios Chip aswell as the CPU with not a great expense.
> 
> In the end it might fruitless as whats said in #123 as the Mobo chipset etc. maybe at fault. That would be beyond me to replace and then think of whether to get this replacement board or a new Lappy. :4-dontkno
> 
> good luck


If you ask me there should be a recall seeing as it does not seem to be an isolated fault but many have the exact same problem with this mobo.


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Yes, I agree.

But when the problem first occurred, I contacted ACER about the problem I have and that it appears to be a common fault worldwide with this series of Aspire as such as mine was only 2 years old just outside its warranty.

Their response, We have no knowledge of any such problems with these Laptops, I said you should then look at the various Forums on the Web and find out.

All they are interested in, you pay for it to be sent to them, they investigate what the problem is and report the fault with a quote to put it right. I've been told by a guy that he did this and they charged him megga bucks for a new MoBo on top what he paid for collection and investigation, as he was told they don't do repairs.

But I know its been a long slog, but since finding this Forum and the great help from night_shift ray:, I've learn't alot more about Lappys or PC's and enjoyed what I've done so far and may help many more who suffer the dreaded black screen.

Tel :wave:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel

Both bios are Phoenix for the 7520 and 5520 and both share the same bios firmware v1.33, but as yours is a 5520 mobo I would go for the 5520 bios chip.

Steve


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

I'm at a stand still I don't know what to do next!


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hi fingerz

This type of fault is very frustrating, I know! Let me know what you have tried up to now. I need to know to what confidence level would you rate yourself for removing your mobo and using a soldering iron (for bios battery removal).

I know you have read through the whole post and you may have already tried some of these, this is a sort of generic list of things to initially check for this type of fault -

*One*

Check all your media slots have nothing in them, i.e. USB, CD/DVD drive and flash drives etc. Try a start with AC cord only, and no battery, then no AC with battery only, if that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Two*

1. Remove the battery and AC cord. Remove the bottom cover/covers of your laptop and make sure the cooling path is free of fluff and dust. Check the heat sink on the CPU is not loose, if so tighten the screws back down that hold it on.
2. Remove and reseat your RAM modules.
3. Replace your covers.
4. Hold down your power button for 1 minute (Battery and AC still disconnected).
5. Replace your AC power (not battery) and turn on.

This is called a hard reset. If it works COOL, then replace your battery. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Three*

Remove your HD, and try starting your laptop. If it goes through the POST, and then a black screen appears with the message _*Operating System Not Found*_, and remains at this screen, then your HD is faulty. Replace with new HD. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Four*

Next prove you dont have bad RAM. You need to identify what one is faulty. Remove all the RAM. Take one stick at a time, and swap it around the RAM slots to see if the laptop will start. You have now identified the good RAM. If each stick produces the fault, then you may have two sticks of bad RAM or a bad RAM slot. Borrow or buy known working RAM. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Five*

Make sure your CPU is seated correctly, if that didn’t work, borrow or buy new/secondhand known working CPU. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Six*

Next is the GPU, the graphics chipset. This is not so easy, as most are integrated onto the motherboard. If yours is a high end laptop then you may have a removable graphics card. Remove and reseat this, if that did not work, borrow or buy known working GPU.

For integrated graphics there are diverse ways to try a repair, but not now.

As you will have worked out by now, this is not a fault with one common solution, so that is why we have to follow a process of ilimination to identify faulty hardware before we can say its a motherboard fault.


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

Darob said:


> re post #143 above,
> I also had the same results when I wanted to flash the bios on my lappy. however, I searched for many different methods to make my (4GB) usb stick bootable and put the nessesary flashing files (+ boot loader) on it with no sucsess. similarly, I also burned a few cd's with different versions of Phlash etc to try that aswell. For some reason, I could only (eventually) reflash using a (refurb) usb floppy I got from local comp shop for about £7 - should have saved the time and got it 1st.
> 
> Consider - Having tried to start the flashing process with Fn+Esc, maybe the Bios may now be corrupted (or are the Bios's inbuilt routines clever enough to ignore unsucsessful attempts?)


Did yours come back to life after you managed to flash the Bios


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

I carried out the remelt, but the laptop needed a reflash to get it going. As Darob pointed out you can pick up a usb floppy drive cheap. This method is the only successful way to do a blind flash. I have tried with cd and usb flash sticks with no success.


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Hi guys

I have read the intire posts with interest because i also have a aspire 7520 that loops.
The odd thing is if i leave it looping for a while sometimes it boots, there is no telling when it will boot but sometimes it does.
question is if you have a faulty bios/chip will it ever boot?
I myself dont think so but please give me some input, as i am willing to try out the remelting of the soldering.

My laptop died on me after 16 months (guarantee 12 months).
Here in Holland they arerequired by law to work for 3 years under that you can get some money back on repairs, but still setting me back €200,-.

acer imho sucks there are so many people with this issue its quite ridiculous acer does not respond to this problem.
Its just like microsoft with the xbox360 toaster where microsoft did extend warrenty.
Greetz from holland
Oscar


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

> question is if you have a faulty bios/chip will it ever boot?
> I myself dont think so but please give me some input, as i am willing to try out the remelting of the soldering.


Hi oxb

You are correct if the lappy boots after a while there is nothing wrong wih the bios.

Remember as I say, the remelt is the final option. Try heating around the graphics chip set area first.

Tell me, when the laptop eventually boots up and runs, does it operate ok all day until you shut it back down?

If it does, then this is the same fault I had (graphics chip). 

Remember, at the moment you have a laptop that still kind of works. So be careful!


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Hi nightshift

I was at the point of trowing the lappy in the bin.
In my final effort to bring it back to life,i found out the harddrive was at fault.

Some months ago i took out the harddrive of my neighbours 7520 and placed it in mine,it didnt work so i thought the harddrive was ok.

I could not get into the bios it just looped before bios, i always thought you still wouldt be able to get in to bios even with faulty harddrive.
this let me to believe corrupt bios or mainbord issue.

After booting from hirens boot cd i couldt scan harddrive for errors and it gave me a whole lot of them.
Got a new harddrive installed win7 and she`s up and running again.

One thing remains a problem if i hold the laptop in a particular way (left hand side near ventilator) it shuts down, so i think the mainboard has some issues.
Will powerup and restart perfect just giving the message windows shut down due to bleu screen yadayada.

For now im glad i didnt trash the thing its up and running perfect.
If it fails on me i can always try the remelting but not for now.
I just have to be careful not to place important files on it like photos etc.
Thanx Oscar


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

As you will have worked out by now, this is not a fault with one common solution, so that is why we have to follow a process of ilimination to identify faulty hardware before we can say its a motherboard fault.

I know you have read all the posts but I have a step by step summary of what I do to identify problems. For your information :

*One*

Check all your media slots have nothing in them, i.e. USB, CD/DVD drive and flash drives etc. Try a start with AC cord only, and no battery, then no AC with battery only, if that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Two*

1. Remove the battery and AC cord. Remove the bottom cover/covers of your laptop and make sure the cooling path is free of fluff and dust. Check the heat sink on the CPU is not loose, if so tighten the screws back down that hold it on.
2. Remove and reseat your RAM modules.
3. Replace your covers.
4. Hold down your power button for 1 minute (Battery and AC still disconnected).
5. Replace your AC power (not battery) and turn on.

This is called a hard reset. If it works COOL, then replace your battery. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Three*

Remove your HD, and try starting your laptop. If it goes through the POST, and then a black screen appears with the message _*Operating System Not Found*_, and remains at this screen, then your HD is faulty. Replace with new HD. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Four*

Next prove you dont have bad RAM. You need to identify what one is faulty. Remove all the RAM. Take one stick at a time, and swap it around the RAM slots to see if the laptop will start. You have now identified the good RAM. If each stick produces the fault, then you may have two sticks of bad RAM or a bad RAM slot. Borrow or buy known working RAM. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Five*

Make sure your CPU is seated correctly, if that didn’t work, borrow or buy new/secondhand known working CPU. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Six*

Next is the GPU, the graphics chipset. This is not so easy, as most are integrated onto the motherboard. If yours is a high end laptop then you may have a removable graphics card. Remove and reseat this, if that did not work, borrow or buy known working GPU.

For integrated graphics, as they are an integral part of the motherboard, there are diverse ways to try a repair.

If all hardware is proven 100% working then its down to investigating problems on the motherboard.


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

oxb said:


> Hi nightshift
> 
> I was at the point of trowing the lappy in the bin.
> In my final effort to bring it back to life,i found out the harddrive was at fault.
> ...


I don't think it can be your hard drive, although it may have had errors did your machine boot when you removed the hard drive. If the hard drive was at fault when you removed it from the system it should have booted.


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

fingerz said:


> I don't think it can be your hard drive, although it may have had errors did your machine boot when you removed the hard drive. If the hard drive was at fault when you removed it from the system it should have booted.


Well thats my thought too, however the laptop is stil going on strong now :grin:.

I do have to mention that i flashed the bios by accident, i started a winflash program and thought well i better not do this, but the crappy software started itself whitout my input after 20sec or so.

What i did just let it go and see what happend.(didnt want to break flash in progress)
Right after that the laptop was screwed up.

Yesterday i did the hard reset thing maybe that did the trick.
So it is possible it left me with 2 probs 1:a faulty bios 2: defect harddrive.

And all i did was replace the harddrive, after i did so there was an immediate change in laptop behavior.
I tried to install the acer rescue disc at first (found on usenet) got the message not compatible (or whatever).
Then i tried to install win7 it did load the windows files, but the install stopped.
Immediatly after installing the new drive all was well same win7 disc (couldt be just a fluke).
I have not tried the acer rescue disc because it`s vista and me dont like anymore after using win7 :4-thatsba
So for now the laptop has been on all day long now (10 hours or so) no overheating and no shutdowns.

So if it aint broke dont try to fix it (again) is what i think of it.

I will let you know if it breaks down again (hopefully not).
Or i couldt be a mean sob and sell the thing now:grin:
No just kidding thats not how i operate:1angel:


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

oxb said:


> Well thats my thought too, however the laptop is stil going on strong now :grin:.
> And all i did was replace the harddrive, after i did so there was an immediate change in laptop behavior.
> I tried to install the acer rescue disc at first (found on usenet) got the message not compatible (or whatever).
> Then i tried to install win7 it did load the windows files, but the install stopped.
> ...



But am I wrong or does the lap top not boot unless a hard drive or the hard drive tray is attached!


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Look above i edited my post and no it didnt boot with harddrive disconnected.
My best guess is that the harddrive somehow came to life for a bit once in a while.


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Ok laptop has died on me again, was too good to be true.
Tomorrow i`m gonna blast it with my gasheatgun.
cant see any dodgy connections or whatever but i`m at the point i couldnt care less what happens now.
i`m fed up with the crappy machine!
Gonna give the thing a real nice heatblast and see what happens.
if it doesnt work ill sell it for parts.
wish me luck.
Oxb


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Before you Blast the MoBo with your heat gun.

Watch the video from the link in thread #93 first, as there are lots of plastic bits etc and you have to warm the board first then the mega blast. I used foil from a baking tray used to cooking Chicken/turkey crowns etc and cut it into bits and bend them to fit tightly around the plastic bits without them flying off when blasting.

Good luck


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

oxb

Take Acerkids advice, this Dude has been there and got the T shirt to prove it. :FIREdevil


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Ok i will put the mobo in the oven first then :3angry1: or better yet microwave the sh## out of it.
I myself sitting at home with a burnout due to bad economy losing job etc.
So really i couldnt care less what happens going to put the hammer down on it.
Thanx for the good advice but its too late for lappy its gonna burn burn burn.
Let you all know what is gonna happen but i think lappy :4-reaper:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Oxb

Cool, cool Dude. Dont do anything you will regret, dont let the bad economy beat you down, dont let this lappy beat you, cos this was running, so there may be some glimmer of hope in there, no promises though, be strong, we are all behind you Dude.


*Dont* :4-thatsba put it in the oven or your microwave or you will be buying a new microwave (very bad economics). There are components on the mobo that can *explode*. Remember to remove the cmos battery and all hardware attached (ram, cpu etc) before you put any type of heat near this.

Remember give the side with the solder a good heating not a total frying, watch the video like Acerkid has suggested.

Good luck oxb

Steve :smile:


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Hi Nightshift (en others)
I can inform you that the heating of the mobo soldering worked out allright (so far).
I really put the hammer down on it heated everything i couldt find in the area of thermal stress (gpu cpu).
At times i couldt see smoke :FIREdevil coming from the mobo :grin: but like i said it was do or die time for me.
At first it didnt seem to be working but after 3 reboots it started up again.
What i did was disconnect the fan and put a stress test on for 10 minutes, this ment that the gpu cpu and everything around was at 95 degrees celsius.
At this temperature everthing baked nice and cosy together :FIREdevil :FIREdevil.
I tried to put in the old harddrive to see if that was really broken and it is.
I can (again) confirm that if youre harddrive is broken you can`t even get into bios.(in my case).

In my earlier post i stated i had a problem if i pressed the left hand side of the laptop,or even hold it upside down it shut down immediatly,
After my baking i have no problems whatsoever, i held it upside down pushed everywhere on the backside even smashed on the keyboard (put it to my own stresstest :grin
So for now it is working again dont know for how long but its running again.

PS is a working temperature of 56-65 deg celsius a normal value for gpu?
CPU both cores at 40-50 degrees thats ok imo.
I did not replace the thermal compound.
Thanx for youre support (moral and technical)
Greetz Oxb


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## Acerkid (Oct 9, 2009)

Oxb, Well done


I've got my new Bios chip and a replacement CPU, but not had time to do anything yet with them.

As you know I've been doing mine for some 2 months now, and I know whats its like when your hopes go high then get hit back down when nothing works after as before and its very depressing. But I'm still there and hopefully and I say Hopefully its all sorted or as you say its time for the hammer.

If anyone is interested this link within a link shows how to replace a Bios chip without expensive tools etc. This chip shown is not for a 7520, but just an example of hows its done.

"How to Remove a soldered PLCC BIOS chip with inexpensive tools Video" and "See also Fitting a PLCC 32 SMD socket" ( this just an example of resoldering)
http://bios-repair.co.uk/bios/diysb.htm

As its said, "I'll be back":wave:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

You are very welcome. Laptops get us all like this :upset: :upset:

Thanks to you as well oxb for your persistance. You and many others on this post have contributed above and beyond where many would have given up. I personally thank you all for your contributions. This will help me put together a comprehensive sticky on Black Screen and Startup/Shutdown cycling. 



> I can (again) confirm that if youre harddrive is broken you can`t even get into bios.(in my case).


You are correct, but if you remove it, the lappy will POST (assuming its only a HD fault). Just a little info for anyone wanting to prove a HD fault.


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Goodluck Acerkid I hope it works out for you.
I was on my breaking point but in the end you take desperate measures and for me they seem to be working.

Nightshift 
I Think its a very good idea to make a detailed sticky about this looping problem because i have searched everywhere till i stumbled over this topic.
There is little knowlidge what to do in case of looping and me finding this thread saved my lappy (fingers crossed for how long).
Thanx again and i wil pop in once in a while how things are evolving over here.
Or tell you it really died on me.

Go Acerkid goooo!!! :4-swords: beat the machine.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Tel

You should be proud Dude, you started all this. I hope it all goes well for you.

Steve


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Acerkid it looks like you have got the same problem like i have/had.
My findings are that if you place a new harddrive in it does not boot instantly its like the bios is "confused" by adding the new hardware.
In my case i left it on looping sometimes over an half hour and suddenly the lappy booted.
You couldt try leaving the new harddrive in and let it loop for a long period.
Also download hirens bootcd (there is a version including winxpmini) put it in and if you have any luck it will boot of it.
There are some nifty tool on the disc where as you can scan monitor etcetc youre lappy.
if you have acces to usenet you can find it there.
Do as i did take off fan do a stresstest maybe youre in luck.
let us know or ask for guidance.
Oscar


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

Ok so here is some new information!

After performing all the possible tests I could think of and what is posted in this thread I gave my laptop to my buddy as I don't have the free time he does.

I have a removable video card in my machine it's not soldered to the board. If the card is removed the machine will not power on at all. If the card is in I get the loop syndrome. Any ideas now. I have no way to test this video card!


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

fingerz said:


> Ok so here is some new information!
> 
> After performing all the possible tests I could think of and what is posted in this thread I gave my laptop to my buddy as I don't have the free time he does.
> 
> I have a removable video card in my machine it's not soldered to the board. If the card is removed the machine will not power on at all. If the card is in I get the loop syndrome. Any ideas now. I have no way to test this video card!


In my case i took a bootable dvd with minixp on it and let it loop for a long time, sometimes for over an hour.
if youre in luck the machine will boot.
Goodluck

Just a question for how long did you let the laptop loop?
In my case sometimes i let it loop for an hour or more, till suddenly the laptop did boot.
What you couldt try as i did is place a bootable cd/dvd in the drive if preferebly one with some diagnostics tools on it.(or minixp)
If youre in luck the machine will boot, it could take a while just let it loop maybe it will work for you.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

fingerz

Look at post #162



> *Six*
> Next is the GPU, the graphics chipset. This is not so easy, as most are integrated onto the motherboard. If yours is a high end laptop then you may have a removable graphics card. Remove and reseat this, if that did not work, borrow or buy known working GPU.


If you have followed all the steps down to six, and by removing the graphics card it has stopped the the laptoptop at black screen, then the fault looks like the GPU. There is no easy way to test this, other than borrow (which is slim, cos whats the chances of your friend/family having the exact same model, does happen) or buy a new one or second hand (is your lappy worth saving for the price of a new GPU? in most cases yes).

You are one of the lucky ones here, cos you can eliminate this one component. If it was an integrated GPU, you would be looking at trying diverse things to test the motherboard, or replacing the motherboard$$$$$$$. Look what Acerkid and oxb and others have gone through.

So you must come to a balance at this point, buy a new GPU, put it in your lappy and hey if it works. You win, or send it to a repair shop, who will charge you for the initial pleasure, cos they are a business and tell you you need a new mobo.

If you replace the GPU and it still dont work, then all thats left is the mobo. You know that now (peace of mind, cos you have proven all the other hardware works) and it has still cost you maybe less than investigation to be told its your mobo. 

You now have to balance out the cost of a new mobo$$$$ or replacing lappy. Dont buy a second hand mobo, false economy, you dont know its history.

I said at the start this would be frustrating, there is no easy way of proving this fault, unless you got lots of money and let a repair shop do it for you. This is what this forum is all about, using the experiences and having a go yourself.

Good luck

Steve

EDIT: Just read oxb reply. FYI I have found that in many cases it is the GPU that causes this type of fault. I had a laptop that black screened and when left for 20 mins, started and ran ok until next start up, fault was the GPU.


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

night_shift said:


> fingerz
> 
> Look at post #162
> 
> ...


Just to be clear.. When I remove the GPU the machine will not even power up. Yes the screen is black but that is because it is not even turning on. 

Question:

Should the machine turn on without the GPU in it's socket.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

fingerz

When you say wont power on do you mean totaly dead, or does the power light come on, the fan run for a few seconds then nothing?

Do you get any beeps from your bios with the GPU in or out?


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## fingerz (Jan 11, 2010)

night_shift said:


> fingerz
> 
> When you say wont power on do you mean totaly dead, or does the power light come on, the fan run for a few seconds then nothing?
> 
> Do you get any beeps from your bios with the GPU in or out?


I got the machine back and verified the following. With the GPU out of the machine the symptoms still exist.

1. If turned on with power plug in batt in the machine cycles
2. if turned on with just battery machine still cycles
3. Fnc Esc turns the machine on and it is stable but no video same as with gpu in or out

No beeps at all. I have never heard a single beep ever


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

fingerz said:


> I got the machine back and verified the following. With the GPU out of the machine the symptoms still exist.
> 
> 1. If turned on with power plug in batt in the machine cycles
> 2. if turned on with just battery machine still cycles
> ...


1. So what you are telling me is with battery and ac cord attached and the GPU removed, the battery charge light is not on, and when you press the start button absolutely nothing happens? No lights no noise nothing?

2. You are also telling me that while holding Fn+Esc and starting the machine, it powers up to a black screen, regardless of the GPU in or out?

Sorry if I'm getting you to confirm this, but I am only clarifying a few things in my head.


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## DJ Prince (Feb 3, 2010)

Hey everyone,

i also got a travelmate 7520, if i try to start it it doesnt react at all except for the leds, fan and cd-rom.
so i read this topic and i couldnt flash the bios cuase the screen doesnt react at all and then i got to the re-melting part which i tried and to my suprise it worked!! but the next day it failed again.
this weekend i will get another hotair gun and i will try again only this time ill frie it a litlle longer and maybe it will hold..
this re melting i strongly suggest for everyone here because the mobo seems to be a mayor problem with acers...
but i have a question is there something i should press or something like that before/after the heating process?...

ennuh oscar..
wat doet dat voor de laptop als je de fan uitschakelt tijdens het opstarten??

thx everyone for fixing this topic:smile:


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

DJ Prince hello

You dont have to press anything. The process only remelts the solder on the component joints. The process as I have said has around a 50% success rate. Follow the instructions in the remelt video. Good luck second time round.


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

DJ Prince said:


> ennuh oscar..
> wat doet dat voor de laptop als je de fan uitschakelt tijdens het opstarten??
> 
> thx everyone for fixing this topic:smile:


Als je even een stresstest draait dan wordt hij lekker heet en als je mazzel hebt dan soldeert hij zichzelf vast.
Ik liet hem oplopen tot 90/95 graden.
Bij mij lukte het.
Suc6.


Translation 
Oscar what good is it to start the laptop with the fan disconnected.

Run a stresstest then it will get very hot and melt itself together if youre lucky.
In my case it did and its up and running like new :grin: it always became very hot in use and now it does not anymore.
Im a happy camper.


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## oxb (Jan 22, 2010)

Ok update overhere laptop still running fine now, but..

I recieved an email from the store i bought it from telling me i can give the laptop back and get 400 euro back.:grin::grin:
I will have to buy a new one from them wil not get 400 cash.
Here`s my problem
I can get a laptop in that price range but then i will have to choose between 
Acer
Compaq
Packard bell
Acer is no option :4-thatsba
My choise wouldt be a Compaq CQ71-310SD Laptop at 440 euro`s.
Couldt anyone tell me if compaq has any relyability issues?
Thanx.


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## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

Acerkid...

Any update on the original problem? I am closing this thread and will only open it on your request - as this thread seem to be building up with no solution in sight. 

To the others...please open your own thread but link this one if you need to refer. Thanks.


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