Bootup problem Acer Aspire 5100

[KDs]

Hi. I've ran into a tricky problem with clients laptop(media center edition). On boot it hangs just before the welcome screen (screen goes black). If I try safeboot it stops at mup.sys. Tried starting with different bootcd:s, UBCD4Win etc. but hangs on windowslogo. If I try to boot from a windowsxpcd the screen goes black and hangs after loading files. Seems that there is nothing wrong with the HD. Had it plugged in my laptop with usb and ran chkdsk on the partitions. I can access the files on HD from my laptop. I'm running out of ideas. Maybe a biosupdate might solve the problem (there is one from 3.10 to 3.13)

 

[seedubya]

I'd check RAM first and then see if it's possibly overheating.

 

[KDs]

I'd check RAM first and then see if it's possibly overheating.

Checked ram with memtest86, no errors, everything seems ok.
Anyone else have a clue?

 

[geekhelp4u]

seen some odd issues with this regarding a wireless client.

Does it have a wireless switch on the outside, and will it boot if you disable this?

 

[purple_minion]

http://www.aitechsolutions.net/mupdotsysXPhang.html
http://www.aitechsolutions.net/mup-sys-resolved.html

Maybe? I'm sure you googled those already.

Might also try a linux live cd since it is completely different then windows. Also you can usually edit the boot line right before it starts. If you push e for edit and then delete the silent and spash words it will output A LOT of good useful info. It's how I fixed my mythtv front end cause it would crap out on an AGP module load... only it doesn't have AGP!!! Worth a shot to see if it's failing part of some hardware.

Also I have seen hard drives that go out and will kill the computer, as even the live cd's are trying to probe the drive and possibly even mount it which then hangs up the system since the drive is going bye-bye.

 

[KDs]

Hi. Thank you for your inputs. Tried a few linux livecd:s. Upon boot with ubuntu i get (ehci_hcd 0000.00:13.2: port 5 reset error -110, hub3-0:1.0:hubport status failed (error= -32), hub3-0:1.0:cannot enable port5.maybe the usbcable is bad) When i try other distros the usbports and touchpad does'nt work. Talked to my client and he said that he had trouble with the usbports prior to the bootfailure. None of the usbports (3) seems to work.
Can it be a USBHost controller failure and can it cause the hang on boot ?
Anyone have any experiences with this ? Bios on this laptop is very basic and does'nt include any advanced options.

 

[luckman212]

have you got a USB loopback tester?
such as this one here? (sorry can't post URLs yet- just change the 'xx' to 'tt')

hxxp://www.passmark.com/products/usbloopback.htm


that would quickly tell you if the usb controller is fouled up.
you could put the test software on a BartPE disc if the boot drive cannot get past the login screen. I've got one of these in my kit and it's really a nice thing to have.