ACER Aspire S3 laptop boot problem.

Thanx, for the password tip, L J, but, that didn't get me anything more than a blank screen. I tried it twice.

This is absolutely crazy and unheard of in my thirty years of personal computing. For starters, I have never set a password for a BIOS on any computer in all those years and certainly did not on this laptop. This problem might suggest that something else is wrong that is false triggering the password routine.

At this point (of desperation), I suppose there is no point to pulling the main battery in the hope that that would somehow reset something, is there?

 

It depends how far you are with your teardown and if you want continue pulling the laptop apart. There is probably nothing to lose taking out the battery. Maybe you could test it or just replace it. I find it strange that it's asking for a password that was never set. I've read about it but never encountered it with all the laptops I've worked on. I'm wondering if Acer laptops are notorious for this problem. I'll have to do some research on it.

 

Yes, LJ, and, right now, I am thinking there is nothing to lose by stomping the thing to bits!!!

I suppose the real question is: Is there anything to gain from further "stabbing in the dark" for a solution? I feel absolutely certain that there is NOTHING wrong with the hardware and installed software (Windows 8.1, etc) and that the problem is some anomaly in the BIOS. It is entirely ridiculous to sh*t can a perfectly good computer/os because of a stupid glitch.

Oh, well, guess I'll climb down off this soapbox and take a long walk among the exotics.

 

Why not target practice. It is a shame because of a possible BIOS glitch you lose a perfectly good machine.

 

Yes, indeed, LJ, total shame.

One thing that kinda went under the radar in this thread was the fact that the first evidence of this problem was the computer displaying the message just after POST that an "automatic repair is being performed" (or, words to that effect) and then, nothing happening. I repeat this tidbit simply because there are times when a little detail such as that can trigger an "Ah, ha!" response with someone. Unfortunately, that "someone" isn't me!

 

http://www.yumapk.com/how-to-get-rid-of-the-bios-password-on-acer-aspire-s3-391-9695.html

 

Can't find to much about the auto repair function after post

 

Thanx, LJ. Right now, it 'lights out' here and I will be back tomorrow with a followup regarding your most recent posts. Again, thanx!

 

No problem.

 

Other life priorities got in my way on this 'repair' project and I didn't get back as promised. However, I will have some interesting new discoveries to report---hopefully, soon. For now I would like to ask one quick, OT, question.

What determines how long a thread remains open and active on the forum?

 

Typically, the OP (original poster - in this case, you).

That said, if a thread is closed before it should be, you can always contact a mod or admin to reopen it, or just start a new thread, referencing back to the closed one so everyone can catch up and follow.

As far as staying active, that just depends on others participating.

 

Thanx, Bill!

 

Acer Aspire S3-391 Boot Problem UPDATE.

So, I pulled the hard drive (piece of cake) and hooked it up to one of my desktop computers. The drive was recognized and Windows reported errors that ChkDsk subsequently repaired. I fervently hoped that that would take care of the boot failure...it didn't!. However, after reinstalling the drive in the S3, I am now able to use F12 to chose the external optical drive to boot to my Macrium Reflect backup (full) and perform a restore. I did so, w/o incident. Except, that did nothing to improve things.

I'm thinking that there really is something wrong with the hard drive (even though my desktop recognized it and wrote to it (supposedly). Something that prevents the BIOS from seeing the drive when I try to boot (w/o pressing either F2 or F12). Attempts at a regular cold boot result in the notification "No Bootable Device --- Insert boot disk and press any key ".

My next step will be to remove the hard drive again and see if I can determine a problem (when connected to my desktop). I may purchase a replacement drive and load the backup on that and (hopefully) be back in business. I've never done a disk replacement such as this before...are there any special considerations involved? I figure the procedure will be to replace the drive, boot to the external optical drive and restore the disk image to the new drive. Am I missing something here??????

You guys have been very helpful and I greatly appreciate your help. So much so that, just before writing this post, I became a Lifetime Member

 

Who manufactured the HDD.

 

LJ, it's a Seagate Momentus Thin 320Gig. It's thin, all right, 7mm.

 

Sea Tools for Windows: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/

 

Aha! Great idea, LJ, thanx!

I will download the Seagate Diagnostics to my desktop a little later this morning and test that little sucker out. I do believe this is the first time in my computing life that I am actually hoping a drive fails diagnostic testing .

I will post the results ASAP afterwards.

 

Your welcome. I'll keep my fingers crossed for HDD failure(shoulder shrug)? I guess there is a first time for everything.

 

Well, ALL hard drives WILL fail - eventually, if not retired before their time, as is the case with all mechanical devices. Yet another reminder to make sure we all have current backups of any data we do not want to lose.

 

Darn! The drive passed both the Quick Test and the Extended Test. Don't suppose the Seagate System File Recovery software will do anything for me???

Guess I'm back to square one. And, guess it's time to start looking for a new laptop.