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JimminyChristmas

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Acer M1640 Desktop won't boot up

Got a bit of a mindbender for you guys...

I have an Acer Aspire M1640 desktop here...specs don't really matter I don't think. In any case, the machine starts up, shows the Acer splash screen, runs its POST, and then shows the Vista loading screen (scrolling green bar with (c) Microsoft Corporation under it).

Then the machine just freezes at this point. What I have noticed is that it is at the exact point that the machine appears to be doing another sort of hardware check, i.e. the lights on the PCI-wireless card flash, the num-, caps- and scroll-lock buttons on the keyboard flash. It at this instant that the bar just stops moving and I can leave the machine there indefinitely.

Although I can access the advanced boot menu, the machine will not start in safemode. (stops on disk.sys now, although I think it may have stopped on a different .sys earlier)

I tried booting off of the Acer Recovery Disks--it does the exact same thing. I cannot access the recovery partition on the hard drive as the key combination (Alt+F10) doesn't seem to have any effect.

Although it didn't seem to be caused by any of the following, I tried these process-of-elimination type steps (attemped one at a time)
1- Cleared the CMOS
2- Took out the HDD, plugged in another, attempted to boot to recovery CDs
3- Completely removed all HDDs, tried booting to Recovery CDs
4- Removed hardware such as the aforementioned PCI-Wiress Card, DVD-RW, and tried to boot off the hard drive
5- Removed the arbitrarily named memory stick 2, then stick 1 and then used both one at a time in the different physical slots on the board; tried booting off both disks and HDD

So at this point I think its fair to say that I have eliminated all removable hardware. (there are no further PCI-cards) To me, its not a Windows issue as then the switch of hard drive the machine would then easily boot off of the CDs.

Obviously the lack of error codes and/or an acer diagnostic partition/disk really puts a damped on things...

Would appreciate any input.
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dekkar

Is the CPU heatsync attached / fan working??

maybe the CPU get too hot and the thing freezes.
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ASKER

maybe, I will check now...but in my experience the machine usually just cuts out on an overheat no?
Thanks for the suggestion, but as I suspected the problem persists after removing the CPU heatsink, cleaning and re-seating with Artic Silver...
So you cant boot off the Acer recover disc either?

Do you have a spare HDD you can use to test and see if you can boot of the recovery disc? To try and narrow down possibly bad sectors or something faulty on your current HDD?

You've followed the correct procedure by the book. I don't know what to tell you other than follow this checklist method again just to double check.
This is the method I use to troubleshoot my laptops when brought into the shop for repair/diagnostic:
1. Capacitor/Battery check:  
A. Unplug the ac adapter. Keep ac adapter unplugged.
B. Remove the battery and keep the battery unplugged.
C. Hold the power button down for 15-20 seconds. (Nothing will appear on the display and none of the lights will light up.)
D. Release the power button and plug in the ac adapter ONLY. (Note that a power indicator light should be lit on the AC Adapter when it is plugged in).
E. Normally power on the laptop.

2. If it Does Not Power "ON":
A. Check AC Adapter: a power indicator light should be lit ON THE AC ADAPTER when it is plugged iN. If no light: replace AC Adapter.
B. If it does have a light, test the socket where AC Adapter plugs in:  If you "wiggle" the cable and the POWER LIGHT ON THE LAPTOP flickers you have a bad power socket on the motherboard.

3. Powers ON and Video is available: Test Memory and hard drive.Reset BIOS to default settings.

4. No Video? Plug in an external monitor. Test.

5. Still No Video? Disconnect AC Adapter and remove all peripherals: remove CD/DVD drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, modem, printers, anything plugged into a USB port, memory. Restart. Test. No Video?

A. If it beeps: leave one memory stick and alternate.No video: Bad Video card (if it is integrated to the motherboard you must replace the motherboard).
B. No beeps: Bad motherboard or CPU.
In your scenario, you've done most of these basic tests and have been unsuccessful. Unless you can get some more info on the history of this problem, everything seems to be pointing to a bad motherboard or a corrupt BIOS.
If you have a corrupt BIOS.... see if you can remove the CMOS battery. Also remove the power adapter and the main battery. Let is sit for about 30min... hit the power button while everything is disconnected to make sure you discharge the capacitors.
If the problem persists, you can try updating/re-flashing the BIOS.
You could also (as a last resource) download from http://www.knoppix.net/ the boot cd and run the hard drive and memory tests provided with knoppix there but I honestly doubt it will solve anything at this point.... You've taken all the right steps and followed the correct troubleshooting procedure....
Bits ...
Dekkar--as I wrote I have already put in another HDD and tried to boot off the disks to no avail--it stops at the same stage.

Bits--I appreciate your input. As you say, I have tried most of that. I did try removing the battery but perhaps not for long enough (in a bit of a rush on my end)--will do that again now.
As for the Knoppix, I will try that but once again I've taken the HDD out of the question in other stages and I doubt both memory sticks went at the same time.

In any case, I do appreciate all this input--I just want to make sure I don't miss anything as telling somebody who just lost their job that the motherboard in their 14 month old computer is going to suck just a little...
If thats the case, its probably the motherboard or the ram...... is the vid card onboard?


if there are multiple sticks of ram, try one at a time...

If all of that fails.... Sounds like its the mobo.
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BitsBytesandMore
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oops... just re - read it, sorry... u tried ram... its 99% mobo.... could be the ram on the vid card if it isnt onboard...  
I have re-read your initial entry several times and ....   it seems that the machine posts fine, all that BIOS stuff and then sets off to load the OS from the HDD...  and then it stalls. So, it seems to me that it is an OS problem ( corrupted boot etc). Then it won't load a CD boot? Is the BIOS configured for that? (maybe a silly question but I didn't see that mentioned) Can you access the BIOS and see that all hardware is recognized? (specifically CD ) and that it is in the boot list. Do you have a Vista recovery/repair disk?
I use a Parted Magic disk to supplement the OS if I am having a loading problem. You can check the hardware from there and even access the net from it. It is small and loads to the RAM so you can use the CD drive.
It does seem like a weird one, defying logic...  is it possessed or anything? ( you could smudge it with a little white sage or something, see if that helps.... heh)
As some closure: replaced the motherboard and all is A-ok.
Thanks for the feedback. As I posted above in CommentID: 26608750, after reading that you had replaced the hard drive and ran most if not all of the required steps to troubleshoot this, there was only one option remaining: Bad Motherboard or Corrupt BIOS.
Bits ...
Not a solution as much as confirmed my toughts--thanks.
All -
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