BIOS Recovery Question

I bought an acer laptop of unknown history.
Acer E1-510-4828
Has no HD.
Shipped with windows 8.1
Apparently UEFI BIOS.
4GB PC3L ram.

I put a linux boot CD in it and applied power.
Draws 25W. Assume it's charging the battery, but the
charge indicator is not lit. The battery has gone from
not working to running the laptop, so looks like it's
actually charging.

Press the power button.
Fans run
CD spins up
No light on the screen.
Nothing on the VGA external monitor
Pressing the function F5/F6 keys does nothing.
Runs for about 5 seconds and restarts over and over.

If I remove the RAM, it powers up and the fans run
continuously.
Replacing the RAM doesn't help.

My conclusion is that the system is trying to run,
but the BIOS is borked.

I had the same system with a Gateway desktop with an
Acer board. I could get into the BIOS.
I installed win 8.1.
Win 8.1 seemed to install and run fine, but the
first reboot didn't.
Same symptom as above. Nothing on screen.
Can't enter bios. reboot loop.

Almost all the google hits about bios tell you how to
update/reinstall/recover using methods that require the system
to at least boot into bios.

I have two UEFI systems and both are borked.

I did find some info about recovery mode or crisis mode
or insyde, but they're vague about exactly what to do.
Vendors are vague about which systems support USB
BIOS recovery.

I did try recovery via flash drive and some multiple
keypresses on the Gateway with no success.
Couldn't even get the lights on the flash drive to blink.
Symptoms suggest the boot block is trashed.

There are a LOT of variables on the bios file formats
and file names and keypresses required to initiate
the USB recovery process.

Since I can't see what I have, I'm lost.
Any ideas on where to go from here?

On Sat, 31 Oct 2015 01:33:04 -0700, mike wrote:

BIOS Recovery Question

I bought an acer laptop of unknown history.

...

There are a LOT of variables on the bios file formats
and file names and keypresses required to initiate
the USB recovery process.

Since I can't see what I have, I'm lost.
Any ideas on where to go from here?

Reflash the BIOS off-board?

Cheers!

mike wrote:
BIOS Recovery Question

I bought an acer laptop of unknown history.
Acer E1-510-4828
Has no HD.
Shipped with windows 8.1
Apparently UEFI BIOS.
4GB PC3L ram.

I put a linux boot CD in it and applied power.
Draws 25W. Assume it's charging the battery, but the
charge indicator is not lit. The battery has gone from
not working to running the laptop, so looks like it's
actually charging.

Before I would assume the bios is hosed, I would try another A/C adapter
on the computer. If the adapter does not come up fast enough with
enough current, the laptop will not boot or stay turned on. I have seen
this on laptops.

It seems that you should get something on the screen or VGA output if
the processor is starting. Some computers have problems starting with a
low CMOS battery, I would also check its voltage. Also check with
different RAM if possible, as most must have some working RAM in order
to start.



Press the power button.
Fans run
CD spins up
No light on the screen.
Nothing on the VGA external monitor
Pressing the function F5/F6 keys does nothing.
Runs for about 5 seconds and restarts over and over.

If I remove the RAM, it powers up and the fans run
continuously.
Replacing the RAM doesn't help.

My conclusion is that the system is trying to run,
but the BIOS is borked.

I had the same system with a Gateway desktop with an
Acer board. I could get into the BIOS.
I installed win 8.1.
Win 8.1 seemed to install and run fine, but the
first reboot didn't.
Same symptom as above. Nothing on screen.
Can't enter bios. reboot loop.

Almost all the google hits about bios tell you how to
update/reinstall/recover using methods that require the system
to at least boot into bios.

I have two UEFI systems and both are borked.

I did find some info about recovery mode or crisis mode
or insyde, but they're vague about exactly what to do.
Vendors are vague about which systems support USB
BIOS recovery.

I did try recovery via flash drive and some multiple
keypresses on the Gateway with no success.
Couldn't even get the lights on the flash drive to blink.
Symptoms suggest the boot block is trashed.

There are a LOT of variables on the bios file formats
and file names and keypresses required to initiate
the USB recovery process.

Since I can't see what I have, I'm lost.
Any ideas on where to go from here?

Dumb question (answer not apparent from your post):

Have you tried installing a HD?

mike wrote:
The battery has gone from not working to running the laptop, so looks
like it's actually charging.

Have you tried running it on just the AC adapter, with the battery
removed? Is the AC adapter the original one that goes with this
machine, or a good one that may not match the machine, or a random
Chinese "120 W Laptop Power Supply Top Best only $1.37" thing?

Press the power button.
Fans run
CD spins up
No light on the screen.
Nothing on the VGA external monitor

Did you try an HDMI monitor? It might be set to "prefer" that when
starting.

Have you tried shining a strong flashlight at the built-in monitor when
booting? Sometimes if the backlight is broken, you can at least see if
it's trying to put any text on the screen that way.

Does it beep? How about plugging some powered speakers into the audio
jack at bootup? Startup chimes (rather than beeps) are more of an Apple
thing, but maybe it's trying to tell your ears something.

Is there a built-in SD/microSD card reader that might have a card in it?
If so, eject the card (if you can), and try again.

If I remove the RAM, it powers up and the fans run
continuously.
Replacing the RAM doesn't help.

Do you know if *all* the fans are working? Sometimes laptops refuse to
run if the (internal) main CPU fan isn't turning, or isn't turning fast
enough. Maybe put your fingers or some tissue paper near the vent slots
while booting, to see if any air is moving.

There are a LOT of variables on the bios file formats and file names
and keypresses required to initiate the USB recovery process.

I've never tried to update a UEFI BIOS, either under normal or rescue
conditions, so I don't have any specific advice on that.

Matt Roberds

Sometimes you can remove the CMOS battery and all the RAM and reboot a couple of times. Then when you put it all back in, if it comes up with "BIOS checksum error defaults loaded" you are in luck.

That trick has worked for me several times. Not last time, that thing did run, I reloaded Win 7 in it and even registered it. Then it got sat on a shelf. Then I went to sell it but the guy didn't want it so I takes it home and figured hell I'll just use it a little bit and we were back to no boot. Must be a bad mobo, found it is an elcheapo and they way too much, it was a Dell and has an ECS I think mobo in it and I am not paying $60 for an outdated board.

But I think you are down to the BIOS, or a bad mobo or processor.