acer aspire one zg5 - faulty motherboard??

hi guys

i have an acer aspire one zg5, and after turning it off one night, it wont boot up, power light lights up, but just get a blank black screen, no hardrive lights etc.

so ive tried the bios restore function from a usb, the issue is the power button flashes as its meant to but the usb stick doesnt flash. so is it due to the motherboard being dead that it cannot detect the usb flash drive? thanks

 

Hi and welcome to MG's,

Have you tried re-seating your HDD and Ram.

 

Hi
thanks for the reply.

ive not tried to reseat hdd and ram? as this requires a strip down, but i guess theres no harm in trying,

it would have thought if motherboard was dead, then would it allow the bios recovery process to happen as you have to hold keys on keyboard etc?

but il give it a go and let you know thanks

but id have thought iven if it was the ram etc wouldnt the laptop still post

thanks

 

I usually would be against flashing the BIOS first before trying to reseat HD, RAM etc. but your model does seem to have a unique problem.

Before going back to BIOS, I would try an external monitor just to rule out something simple like a video problem.

*****
I take it you are using instructions similar to these: http://lowendguru.com/

Are you using the same key combination?
Is your USB formatted to FAT?
Have you tried more than one USB drive? I think that trying a different drive might be my next step. You could get any cheap drive with a light signal since even the smallest would be big enough.

 

Hi

yea these laptops are known for it, another family member has one, and had the same problem and the bios trick worked?

but with this one, its as if theres no power getting to the usb as non of them flash at all, but the power button etc flash. ive tested the hardrive etc they all are fine, and ive also gone through about 6 usb sticks that we have lying around and non seem t work?

so just alittle stuck, what i dont waht to do is buy another motherboard and then find out its not that.

 

Since I'm not sure of your skill (or patience ) levels, just remember that tearing about a notebook PC is not a job for the faint of heart. Given the number of tiny (and sometimes easily broken) internal cables and connectors, it's a time consuming process. In addition, if you buy a used board, there are no guarantees the issue won't repeat in the near future (esp. given the poor quality reputation of the ZG5 series).

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news; however I hope this helps.