Acer One Notebook Won't Boot Closed

Question

My Acer AO532h-2588 notebook PC boots fine as far as the BIOS screen, but no longer boots my Win10 OS from the HD or from an external bootable USB drive.  After the BIOS screen, the display goes black.  A quick web search shows that to be a common problem with this model.

I followed the instructions from this five-year-old answer, but they don’t work:

https://ccm.net/forum/affich-975707-acer-aspire-one-laptop-will-not-boot

As instructed, I made a FAT USB and held down the FN and ESC keys while I pressed the power switch, but the light on the power switch never starts blinking to indicate that the BIOS is being overwritten.  Any other ideas?

HelpiOS · Answer

Hi,

Did you check the boot order in the BIOS settings?  Make sure your hard drive is set at the top and your USB devices are set just after. Alternatively, try resetting the BIOS to its default settings.

Good luck

RandyF · Answer

Thanks for the quick response.  I had been using a boot order with the USB drive first, followed by the internal HD, so I was hopeful that your suggestion to put the HD on top would solve the mystery.  Sadly though, it appears to make no difference.

Additional info: It seems as though holding down the FN and ESC keys have no effect.  As before, the PC simply displays the BIOS screen (InsydeH2O) and then goes black, sometimes with the cursor blinking in the upper left-hand corner of the black screen.

Are there any other ways to update the BIOS without having a working OS?

HelpiOS · Answer

Hi,

I don't think the BIOS is directly the problem - for the moment, don't flash the BIOS.

Remove any external devices that are connected to your notebook to make sure there are not interfering when it tries to boot. To check Windows and your hard drive, use another computer and follow these steps to create an installation media using an empty USB key.

Once you've created the installation media, connect it to your notebook and boot from it. Your notebook should normally recognize the USB key and start the Windows 10 setup.

When you see the "Install now" screen, select Repair your computer and go to:

Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt.

Type the command chkdsk c: /f /r and press Enter to check your hard drive.

Next, enter the following commands to rebuild the Boot Configuration Data:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

To the question, type Y.

Restart your notebook and when it turns off, remove the USB key to boot from the HDD.

If you still have the problem, boot again from the installation media and select Command Prompt, then in the advanced troubleshoot options, choose Startup repair. Alternatively, try restoring your system to a restore point prior to the problem. At the last resort, start Windows in Safe Mode to back up your data, then reinstall Windows using the installation media.

Good luck.

RandyF · Answer

Thanks for your second suggestion.  Sorry about the delay.  Here is the current status.

My PC fails to boot on any of the following media:

1) Internal HD that was running Win10 (Used to work on this PC but no longer boots)
2) Bootable USB with Win10 (Does not work on this PC)
3) Bootable USB with Linux Lite v5.6 (Does not work on this PC)
4) Bootable USB with Linux Mint v20.3 (Does not work on this PC)
5) Bootable old 2011 CD with UBUNTU (Used to work on this PC but no longer boots)

Failure mode for each OS:

1) Internal HD Win10: Blank screen or blank screen with flashing cursor

2) USB Win10: Sometimes gets as far as the Win10 aqua-colored logo.  Then freezes

3a) Linux Lite: Displays install/try welcome menu.  If select “Start Linux Lite”, it freezes after a few seconds and displays error message similar to this:

[0.239053] ACPI BIOS error (bug): \_SB.PCIO._OSC: Excess arguments – ASL declared 5, ACPI requires 4 (20190816/nsarguments-160)
[5.303711] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page found
[5.303720] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through

3b) Linux Lite with “Start Linux Lite in safe mode” selected:  Displays dozens of lines of scrolling screen messages but usually freezes on “7 urandom warnings missed due to ratelimiting”.  Sometimes begins scrolling messages again but then freezes after it displays a message like this:

[56.914214] perf: interrupt took too long (2605 > 2500), lowering kernal.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 76750

Or sometimes displays encouraging things like “Loading essential drivers… done", "Mounting root file system", "Running scripts/casper-premount... done".  But then it freezes

4) Linux Mint: Similar to Linux Lite behavior in both regular and safe mode

5) Old UBUNTU CD: Sometimes displays its welcome menu.  If select “Try without installing”, sometimes it displays the UBUNTU logo with rotating dots under it, as expected, but then always freezes

HelpiOS · Answer

Hi,

As your laptop fails to boot whatever the operating system or boot device, your motherboard could be faulty. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that flashing it via USB will not possible since it freezes every time and can't run anything.

The best way is to take your laptop to a local technician.

Good luck.

Acer One Notebook Won't Boot

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