Boot Failure

J

justrading

Acer desktop running Windows 7 64-bit. Switched on today, black screens, one long beep and two short beeps.

Loaded recovery disk, does not even spin as far as I can tell.

Had the main board fail after 3 months, replaced under warranty in Jan 2011.

I suspect it is a hardware failure and I'm going to have to take it in because I don't do builds myself. Pain, especially since they usually say 1 week to fix.

Any suggestions / opinions?

And yes, it will be the last Acer I buy. I have been thinking of a custom build so that I can run say 4 monitors, but that will have to wait for now. All the good stuff backed up every day so not too worried, only a ton of bookmarks I could lose.
 
Quote from justrading:

Acer desktop running Windows 7 64-bit. Switched on today, black screens, one long beep and two short beeps.

Loaded recovery disk, does not even spin as far as I can tell.

Had the main board fail after 3 months, replaced under warranty in Jan 2011.

I suspect it is a hardware failure and I'm going to have to take it in because I don't do builds myself. Pain, especially since they usually say 1 week to fix.

Any suggestions / opinions?

And yes, it will be the last Acer I buy. I have been thinking of a custom build so that I can run say 4 monitors, but that will have to wait for now. All the good stuff backed up every day so not too worried, only a ton of bookmarks I could lose.
More...

If it's the mb, then all that data on the drives should be safe, including the bookmarks. Just a matter of plugging the drives into a new system and updating the drivers to reflect the new machine.

* assuming that the machine does not even go thru the usual BIOS startup, right?
 
It could also be the graphics card (GPU) if you have a dedicated one for the screens. If you are using the motherboard DVI/VGA outputs then it's probably the motherboard that failed. You can also get those beeps if the external power plug to your GPU was unplugged, if there is one in the first place.

If you are seeing 'anything' at all on your screen (ie you can go into BIOS) then it's something else and probably more easily fixable.
 
I was having a similar problem with my old dell. It wouldn't turn. I know it had a virus in it because I was getting all the strange messages which I ignored.

Finally one morning it wouldn't turn. Black screen and all. So I just kept trying over and over. After about 10 tries it finally came on and out of desperation, I deleted chrome and went back to firefox. Kept it on sleep and believe it or not, it finally healed itself up.

Sounds like a crock but it actually happened and the computer works normally now.
good luck.
 
Using motherboard DVI/VGA Outputs. Screen completely blank, system unresponsive to keyboard (tried F12 Boot Setup) and DVD drive not functioning so it appears BIOS is not working.

I have AVG free and it is updated daily. PC was functioning normally yesterday, no warnings or any such.

Based on what you are telling me I would suppose it is a motherboard failure. That's a week gone. Ah well.

Thanks guys.
 
Quote from justrading:

Using motherboard DVI/VGA Outputs. Screen completely blank, system unresponsive to keyboard (tried F12 Boot Setup) and DVD drive not functioning so it appears BIOS is not working.

I have AVG free and it is updated daily. PC was functioning normally yesterday, no warnings or any such.

Based on what you are telling me I would suppose it is a motherboard failure. That's a week gone. Ah well.

Thanks guys.
More...

Another ETer a couple of months back had similar symptoms... took his computer into the shop and found mobo had ruptured capacitors. A skilled person might be able to replace those but as you have an el-cheapo mobo, likely not worth the effort.

Buy something with 2 or more PCIEx16 slots and no "onboard video" chip... that will be a step up in quality.
 
Quote from Scataphagos:

Another ETer a couple of months back had similar symptoms... took his computer into the shop and found mobo had ruptured capacitors. A skilled person might be able to replace those but as you have an el-cheapo mobo, likely not worth the effort.

Buy something with 2 or more PCIEx16 slots and no "onboard video" chip... that will be a step up in quality.
More...

good point. open up and take a good look

close-up.jpg
 
Quote from hard kore:

http://www.macrium.com/

use it.
More...

Bookmarked. I always wanted a fully functioning backup including all programs but that feature never worked in windows. Been a long time but the message was something like the external drive is not FAT32, when it actually is. Gave up and just copied critical files over every day.
 
Quote from Bob111:

good point. open up and take a good look

close-up.jpg
More...

Apparently blown capacitors are often the culprit in such failures. A number of mobo makers now days highlight the "quality of their capacitors". Gigabyte has a line of mobos called "Ultra Durable"... where they mention the "high quality of their components". Don't know if all of it is true or hype, but there's no doubt that cheap mobos contain cheap parts and better mobos contain better parts... reflected in their prices, of course. El-cheapo mobs probably cost the maker $20... workstation mobos even through Newegg are still $160-$260-ish... some gamer boards, $500+. There are at least somewhat valid reasons for the higher prices of better boards. Wouldn't suggest anyone build a computer with a $40 retail mobo and a $15 PSU.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top