Acer Aspire 9304 wont boot, blank screen

Hi, friend has given me her Acer Aspire 9304 WSMi laptop because it won't boot up at all. It switches on the HDD light flashes once or twice then it's dead. Just a powerless black screen. I've re-seated the HDD and RAM and tried the RAM one at a time and I've tried holding the power button in for 30 sec's with no A/C or bat and still no joy.

Is it BIOS?? Can I reset the BIOS by shorting 2 terminals out as I've done on another laptop, if so where are they? Or am I going to have to flash it? (which is the last resort for me as I've never done this before.

Thanks for your time guys!!! :major

 

That the HD flashes is interesting. I would think if the BIOS wasn't starting at all neither the HD light or Cd would flash. Since you seem fairly handy with hardware, see if removing the HD and attempting to boot makes a difference. So, yes RAM but no HD. You might also try with both no HD and no CDROM. (This would rule out that a bad HD or CDROM was locking up POST, which apparently happens on some laptops.)

Edit: Do the fans still run after the HD flashes or does it power off? If it powers off then that would indicate something different like heat or CPU problem.

 

Hi Sach. Think the HD is good it works in my caddy, but tried booting with it out and the same think happens, any idea where the CDROM connection is on the board????? I have placed a CD in the drive and it spins up a few times and sounds like its being read!?!?!?!? As for the fan it doesn't sound as if it spins up at all, not even for a second, would the CPU get that hot that quick that I wouldn't see anything of the boot on the screen?

 

I can't say for laptops as I haven't taken one apart for several years. But in a PC no CPU cooling can shut it down in a second or two.

I'll take a look for the CD connection. I haven't found a good guide yet. (Many laptops have just one screw from the bottom holding the CDROM in place. Do you see any screw within the area where the CDROM would be sitting on the bottom of the laptop? This isn't your model but gives the idea of where to look http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replace-hard-drive-dvd-drive-acer-aspire-3610-laptop/)

 

Taken every screw out in the area and can't get the thing to budge. I'll try find a guide to.

 

I wouldn't spend too much time on the DVD. From looking around that model seems to have heat issues. I'll read a bit more and see if I can come up with any suggestions.

Just curious from this thread do you have a USB flash drive that lights up--I'm curious if it gets power for any extended period of time. (Might be useful to know in terms of flashing BIOS although I'm not certain a BIOS flash is really a fix here. And with the possibility that the laptop is shutting down it would probably be ill-advised.)

Oh, and technically removing main battery and AC power then holding power button for 30-60 seconds should be equivalent to removing the CMOS battery as far a resetting CMOS. So not really worth disassembly to get to the CMOS battery.

 

Yea I have a USB flash drive that lights up but it doesn't light up when I put it in the laptop!?!?!?! Is this baby a deado????

"Oh, and technically removing main battery and AC power then holding power button for 30-60 seconds should be equivalent to removing the CMOS battery as far a resetting CMOS. So not really worth disassembly to get to the CMOS battery."

Thanks, never knew they were the same!!!

 

I think pushing the power button must interrupt electricity from the battery to the board so it is basically the same as removing the battery. So no AC and no battery clears the CMOS. I've seen it in hundreds of posts so I'm fairly confident it is correct. And with many laptop batteries being soldered it is the easiest way.

As far as the laptop being a goner it seems like that may be the case. I have a few threads marked "read it later"for that laptop but I can't get to them for a while. Nothing jumped out as a clear way forward. Most just said when it happened under warranty Acer replaced the motherboard.

I did find the manual for your 9300 series (takes about 30 seconds for the download box to appear after clicking the 9300 link) but I didn't see much in there of use. Removing the optical drive doesn't appear until practically the whole laptop is dismantled. Definitely not worth the trouble, it was just a suggestion for a 5 minute test. The usual symptoms for a bad DVD causing problems would be freezing during the Acer screen not a black screen.

I'll look if I can find any posts about the process of flashing BIOS by way of USB for that model. I guess if it looks like the laptop is dead it wouldn't hurt to try.