wilkes

Ive tried all the mentioned suggestions to no avail. Nothing attached by usb, no new programs or hardware. Was working fine one moment the next it powered off and will not power on long enough to click ANY buttons. It will NOT stay on long enough to get to safe mode, reformat or anything else. Ive switched batteries and power cords. Still having same problem.

f11

Are you still having the same power problem? It's possible, but unlikely that a bad harddrive could cause this.

Or is this a separate issue? If it is separate, what fixed the power problem?

Some systems (even brand new ones) will not boot from an external hard-drive. Some do - but if you do, be prepared for it to run at about half speed - if you are lucky.

What makes you think the drive is bad?

Angel Girl, Any chance do you have any USB devices plugged into the Laptop? If so some USB devices will cause a system boot problem. Removing the devices and than starting your computer should fix the problem. Now I have had many computers over the years have all types of start-up problems.



1. Take and use an can of air spray (buy at Walmarts computer section or local computer store). ((Make sure your laptop is power off and unplugged.)) Next clean the vent area's under and on the sides of the laptop removing any dust accumulations. This can cause poor circulation; which causes the CPU to over heat enabling the security feature that protects the processor from heat damage, which will shut the laptop down in a matter of secs.



2. Listen to see if you can hear the fan coming on when the computer boots up. If you cannot hear it then your fan is shot and needs to be replaced. If you do hear it then likely it is either a hardware failure or a device driver causing the issue.



Did you install anything, have an update installed, new hardware i.e. (scanner, printer, camera, mouse and so-on), download anything before this happen?

Any Computer Shop should be able to replace the hard drive, But that will not fix your power problem

take the laptop to a shop that you trust, you may have a CPU fan bad

Is there anyone that can replace the hard drive in this laptop since the warranty ran out? Would an external hard drive help to do anything?

pk it does the same thing

http://netbooks-us.custhelp... This is on the Acer Support site and has a live chat link for support. Check the hours that chat is available and try asking the support techs what to do!

Pull the battery out and set it aside. Leave the power cord plugged in. Does it still do this, or does it come on at all now?

yes

Ok - so it shuts off when you enter the BIOS/SETUP also?

It completely powers off. It doesnt stay on for 1 minute let alone 10 mins.

if you getting to see the windows screen then it is starting to load your operating system and you should hit f8 before that screen. restart your pc and as your computer is starting up keep pressing f8 and a screen will appear with a few start up options: start windows normally... last known good config and safe modes are the only one you need to worry about at the moment. try last known good config first and if that dosnt get you in try safe mode. Safe mode will take a few seconds longer to start up than normal. if it boots click ok to continue in safe mode. now push the button on your keyboard that has a windows symbol (bottom left beside your alt key) and the letter R key at the same time then type MSCONFIG and you will see a few options in the middle of the box. click selective start up and for now uncheck start up items buttom. if that dosnt fix your problem it seems like you have a hardware failure or there is a service running that is causing your failure. if it boots up after unselecting startup items go back into msconfig and check startup items and now click on the startup tab at the top. now uncheck everything but one item and reboot your pc keep gonig back to msconfig and checking one startup item and restarting your pc until you get the problem to happen again and you will know what startup item is causing you greif or call me ProTech Networks
336 262 2945 my name is Joey

Try tapping the DEL key, or f2 as soon as you turn it on while it is plugged in - if it jumps into the BIOS screen, leave it there for 10 minutes or so (dont make any changes!) just to rule out a power issue.

It might actually be the CTRL+ALT+ESC keys at the same time to enter the bios. Keep hitting the 3 keys at the same time over and over as soon as you turn it on. Even if it pops up with an error message and stops, do the same - just leave it alone for about 10 minutes.

Does it actually "cut off"?

Meaning no power.

Or does the screen just go "black"?

yes, the light comes on and the windows picture does too it just cuts off before it loads or I can do anything with it

sounds like it got fried, does the computer light come on?

it wont stay on long enough to get it into safe mode, to boot up or to restore.

turn the computer on and tap f8 (f as in frank) until you can get into safe mode
then select "last known good configuration"
if that doesn't work try "safe mode"

if you can get on in safe mode go to msconfig and turn off items until you find what causes the problem some times just booting into safe mode and restarting will correct the problem