Acer ZG5 Netbook - BIOS Doesn't See HD, HD Recovery Went Fine. Now won't boot.

What I would do before calling it is stripping out all of the unnecessary hardware (Wireless card, ram, optical drive if it has one) and just leave the SSD in there. Perhaps remount the CPU and see if the board has any signs of spillage and then see if you can detect the SSD with just the SSD and the bare essentials plugged in. If it is still having issues that is when I would call it a bad board. There just isn't anything else you can do diagnostic wise.
 
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Sounds like a plan to me. I'll do it as soon as I come back in tomorrow.

I did notice that the BIOS reports 1G Memory and I found only 1 memory
slot which has a clearly marked 512K. As far as the CPU it is soldered to
the board and its not removable. But it will disconnect the wifi card and
remove the memory just to see.

The netbook has no optical drives. Its actually very very basic inside. A
main board, a SSD, a wifi card, and a daughterbord with 2 USB ports, an
audio in and out, and a card reader.

Thanks for the idea.
:)
 
nepcrepair said:
...
I did notice that the BIOS reports 1G Memory and I found only 1 memory
slot which has a clearly marked 512K.....
:)
Click to expand...


AFAIK these models have 512k soldered directly to the MB and one expansion slot usually filled with another 512k, just as you have found, so the reported 1G is correct.
 
morr said:
AFAIK these models have 512k soldered directly to the MB and one expansion slot usually filled with another 512k, just as you have found, so the reported 1G is correct.
Click to expand...

That's what I was figuring. Do you have any ideas with my issue here? I
would love to hear any input you have.
 
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nepcrepair said:
That's what I was figuring. Do you have any ideas with my issue here? I
would love to hear any input you have.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I've no new suggestions for you on this problem, the only hardware snags I've personally encountered on these has been faulty fans causing shutdown after about 15 seconds or so.
 
Well just wanted to update my thread...

After trying numerous solutions, I still can not pinpoint the problem. Since I have
tested every piece of hardware inside this netbook, except the mb itself, I have
to assume that the mb is bad.

Since the price of the new mb and labor, along with the other small things this
netbook needs (keyboard, charger,) far outweigh the cost of new I have told
the customer he would be better of buying new.

I hate to let "get a new one" come out of my mouth. I think in 15 years I have
only said it twice. Anyways, I would like to sincerely thank everyone for their
help and suggestions.

:)
 
The cable is the one thing I have not checked. Mostly because I do not have
one, and the only place I know where to get one is China. That would take
too long to get to me.

But that is a really good idea. The link you provided was to an adapter. Not
sure that would help. If the drive works with another pc, by mounting the drive
into another computer, that still won't tell me if its the mb or cable. Trying a
new, known good, cable would definitely tell me if it is the mb or the cable.

Would you happen to know where to get a new cable for this drive in the US?
 
nepcrepair said:
The cable is the one thing I have not checked. Mostly because I do not have
one, and the only place I know where to get one is China. That would take
too long to get to me.

But that is a really good idea. The link you provided was to an adapter. Not
sure that would help. If the drive works with another pc, by mounting the drive
into another computer, that still won't tell me if its the mb or cable. Trying a
new, known good, cable would definitely tell me if it is the mb or the cable.

Would you happen to know where to get a new cable for this drive in the US?
Click to expand...

I can order one from my distro, I will need the serial number of the laptop, and ill get it checked out for you.

The adapter will help because if the bios in another computer sees it, then it might narrow it down.
 
Knightsman said:
I can order one from my distro, I will need the serial number of the laptop, and ill get it checked out for you.

The adapter will help because if the bios in another computer sees it, then it might narrow it down.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the offer. It seems the situation has changed. When my customer
came to pick it up he told me to keep it in exchange for the diagnostic fee. So,
now I do have the time to wait for a cable from Hong Kong.

I sure hope that its just the cable and not the mb since I now own it. If I can
get it running, I will keep it for on site use. Its small and its slow but, it will be
perfect for doing a quick Google, or quick reference while onsite.

Once I try the cable I will post back with the results in case someone else
out there ever has this problem. Also, to any who are still reading this thread,
feel free to post any suggestions you may have.

:)
 
I am subscribed to this thread, waiting for the verdict as I'm just as perplexed as you.

Even if the cable does fix it, it would still make me confused.

Why would a hard drive not register in the bios but function to be able to recover windows.

It's a strange one, as obviously usually, no HDD in bios, no HDD functionality.
 
Adept PC Repair said:
I am subscribed to this thread, waiting for the verdict as I'm just as perplexed as you.

Even if the cable does fix it, it would still make me confused.

Why would a hard drive not register in the bios but function to be able to recover windows.

It's a strange one, as obviously usually, no HDD in bios, no HDD functionality.
Click to expand...

Yes this has totally blown my mind. Never heard of a BIOS not find a HD but
it will function :confused:

The restore took, UBCD showed all the files there, the boot record was
intact, BUT no boot and no drive in BIOS.

I'll keep you posted.
 
* UPDATE *

Well the new cable finally came in and it still didn't work. So I have now ordered
a motherboard. Can you all tell I'm DETERMINED to make this work? Why not,
the customer gave it to me free. Oh, by the way, I got the mb for $50 and it
is brand new.

Once the motherboard comes in I'll post the results. It just has to work. I
can't possible imagine anything else left that could be failed besides the mb.

Once I get this netbook working, I'm deciding weather or not to turn it into
a ANDROID netbok. I ran the android os from a USb stick on it already ans it
is really cool. As old as this is, I will probably get more for it if it is a ANDROID
book. I was also possibly thinking CHROME book?

I don't know. Anyways...I'll post back one the mainboard comes in.

:)
 
Ok...now I just don't know.

Yesterday I put in the new mainboard and it STILL has the exact same problem
that I have been having and I don't understand why.

At this point I have tried replacing the hard drive, still the same problem. I tried
replacing the motherboard, still same problem. Finally, I tried replacing the SSD
drive zif cable, still same problem.

I'm tearing my hair out over here. I have replaced EVERYTHING inside this dang
netbook and still it does not work. There is nothing left to replace. If anyone
has ANY ideas please post them here.

I'm lost...

:confused:
 
codegreen said:
Have you tried booting with the new motherboard, but without the 512k stick of RAM?
Click to expand...

Yes, I have. When I first booted the replacement mb, i did it bare. No wifi, no
extra memory stick. Still had same issue.

I just tried a system recovery once again. It appeared to go fine. It will not
boot. The BIOS still does not see the hard drive. HOWEVER, using the UBCD
for Win, I can see all the files on the hard drive. The recovery was still
able to put files on the drive.

Also, at the beginning of the system recovery it found the hard drive just
fine, make, model, and serial.

Any ideas?
 
strollin said:
Have you tried booting with a different drive, either HDD or SSD?
Click to expand...

Yes. If you look back in the thread you will see that one of the first things I
tried was a new drive. It was an eBay drive but the seller was very reputable.
So I truly believe that the drive sent to me was good.

So weird this issue. Tried new hd, mb, and cable. There is nothing left. If I
seem a bit obsessed, I am. In 15 years of doing PC Repair NOTHING has ever
beat me. Looks like this one just may, and I CAN'T let that happen.

Still open to suggestions.

:)
 
Is it possible that the Acer system restore disk is the wrong one? Have you tried an install from your own OEM disk?
 
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