Tesco Laptop Problems

[Technonewbie]

Hope this is in the right place. Bought son laptop Sept 2008 (Acer Aspire 5520G) started having various problems mainly since Oct (see below) so of course out of years warranty. Tesco say have to send it to Acer who will charge just to look at it. At £600 I feel it is not a reasonable situation but dont know what other options I have? I paid on cc if that is of use?

• wont start up at all
  
• Starts but only gets so far then restarts - continuously
  
• if it does start tried to start in safe mode but again then only gets so far then stops or restarts again.
  
• no internet connection at all -empowering technology stopped working (though as we cant get that far for long it is difficult to check properly)
  

Any help would be gratefully received:)

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome, Technonewbie.

 

Sorry I can't help, but will move this thread to a more appropriate Forum.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[Tezcatlipoca]

• if it does start tried to start in safe mode but again then only gets so far then stops or restarts again.

 

Could you be more specific, please. When you try to star tit in safe mode (by hitting F8 during start up until the boot menu appears) what actually happens? Do you get as far as the Windows loading screen? Login screen?

 

Also, could you please confirm which version of Windows - if it is Windows - you're running on this laptop.

[Keanaz]

You should also have recovery CDs which you can boot from, you may loose all the data on it but at least you should have it working again.

 

It could also be a virus, get someone to download a bootable USB drive with a virus checker on it, then change the boot sequence in the BIOS and run the av from the usb stick

[Technonewbie]

Hi

 

Tezcatlipoca - it is Vista. So far we dont get as far as the windows loading or a log in. Hitting F8 gave us start in normal mode or launch windows repair (recommended) - then cut out and started clicking to restart again.

 

Thank you Keanaz, NO 1 son is out so not sure where the discs are but will certainly try that. However you lost me by the 2nd line:confused: -bootable usb with virus checker on etc? Way above my (and sons) ability Im afraid:(

[Keanaz]

try something like this:

 

FREE Bootable AntiVirus Rescue CDs Download List

[j66]

I had a problem with my Aspire 7720, after it had been running a while it would shut down and on the restart it would just keep shutting down. If it was left for a while, it was OK. I removed one of the rear covers and found some fluff in the fan, not much, but it was sufficient to block the cooling duct to the processor. Since cleaning it out, I've not had a problem with it.

[Technonewbie]

Well OH opened up the back (I was cringing!!) - masses of fluff around the fan, all cleaned out gently and reassembled (to my great relief).

 

Computer has started and so far so good. However there is no internet - empowering technology is not working - No1 son says that is the Acer part for the internet? so there is nothing for it to find? Does that make sense? Next step?

[Keanaz]

No 1 Son talking B****X

 

check the modem/LAN card is working and a connection i.e. 2 x little computer monitors in the system tray right hand corner of screen

[Technonewbie]

I stand corrected it is E-management tchnology.

 

The 2 little computers have a red x against them but I also have that on this laptop. The single computer shows the soundwaves but when you click on it it says no connection - when you click on that it says - cant tell you as it has started back to the switching on/off though it stayed on for about 20 minutes - I thought it had gone into safe mode but when I checked it was off.

 

I think there maybe something in the virus booting thing (as I believe son was downloading something at the point it really went into meltdown) which I can use my laptop to download onto a usb?

Or what else could be making it switch on/off

Wont be able to try anything else tonight as it usually takes at least a few hours for it to stay on for any length of time.

[SOD'EM]

Right click on the little monitors in the system tray and then view available networks, see what options come up. I had a similar problem which was caused by a virus and although I have got wireless internet access, my monitors still have a red X on them:confused:.

 

A good free AV would be Avast Home Edition, the benefits of installing this is that it automatically does a scan of your boot system and start up programs (this is only done once when it is first installed). You may have to download it to a Pen Stick Memory Device (something that you can store programs on and transfer from one computer to another) from another working computer.

 

I have used this method successfully for many laptops/pc's.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Can I just clear up a confusion here regarding this symbol first of all:

 

The icon with the 2 monitors which has the red X over them is used by Windows systems to signify no connection via a network card and that alone. This is the R45 socket on your machine, into which an ethernet cable is plugged. This crops up most often simply by unplugging that cable, and will go away when you plug it back in again and the PC once gain has a connection to the router/access point.

It is quite usual, and not a problem, to have this icon showing when using a device that is wireless alone. Wireless has its own icon(s), and the cable connection icon of the monitors with the X is in no way an indication of your level of wireless connection.

 

With regards to your specific issue, Technonewbie, it's extremely difficult to diagnose without the machine in front of us, but you have a couple of options. The easiest, but most expensive, is to ring Acer's technical support. They will help you, but for machines out of warranty you need to get through on a premium rate number 0906 706 8000 (little bit of a liberty, as you are in fact just going through to the exact same department).

 

Alternatively, we can see what we can do for free. If you can, please do the following:

 

Since you clearly have an interenet connection somewhere to be able to post, are you able to download NetStumbler? This should be copied onto a USB key, transferred to your laptop and installed. Since you're there, you should also - as SOD'EM says - grab a copy of an robust anti-virus system, assuming you don't already use one. The two best free versions are Avast and AVG. In realistic terms, both do the exact same thing and both equally as well, so it's personal choice as to which you want to get. Both also have more powerful paid editions, so make sure you get the basic free one (unless you want to pay, of course).

 

NetStumbler is a free utility whose job it is to check for wireless network availability. It will in no way touch your existing wireless software, nor damage anything. NetStumbler's job is to talk directly to the wireless adapter inside your laptop and find out whether or not it is detecting any networks, and, if so, which ones and how strongly.

When you install this program an icon will appear on your desktop. Please run it.

 

Ok, the main window shows a list of all the wireless networks your card can currently 'see', regardless of whether or not you can connect to them.

You should see at least one. If you don't, only one of three things can be wrong:

 

1) Either your network is unavailable (perhaps the router is broken, or switched off?)

2) There is a hardware issue with the wireless card in the laptop

3) Your wireless card drivers are not properly installed

 

If you don't see anything, please let us know. If you do, it would be an enormous help to go to File, Export and select Summary. Save the report somewhere (preferably back onto your USB key) and when you next have an internet connection, please copy/paste the report here.

If you can't do that, can you please post here telling me the information for each of the networks found from the following columns: SSID, Channel, Speed, Type, IP Addr and Subnet. If any of these sections are blank, please let me know.

 

Once again, NetStumbler is completely safe, and a free passive tool. It ignores all your software (such as eManagement) completely and just talks directly to your wirless hardware. I use it professionally to diagnose a great many wireless issues.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Tezcatlipoca

[SOD'EM]

Just tried that Netstumbler myself Tez, but when I run it, it says "access is denied". When I put my cursor onto the icon in my tray, it says "Connection status unknown, access is denied". It's not a problem because I still have wireless internet access, but it's just my OCD problems. That makes it do my head in more than it should as there should be a nice little blue disc on it and not a red X:p.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Just tried that Netstumbler myself Tez' date=' but when I run it, it says "access is denied". When I put my cursor onto the icon in my tray, it says "Connection status unknown, access is denied". It's not a problem because I still have wireless internet access, but it's just my OCD problems. That makes it do my head in more than it should as there should be a nice little blue disc on it and not a red X:p.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I've seen that before. Are you a local admin on the computer?

 

Basically, NetStumbler is setup to automatically stop the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration service (or whatever its name is) when you launch it. If NetStumbler is saying "access denied," then I suspect it tried to use your username and password to do it, but failed since you don't have access.

 

Try to stop it manually:

1. Go to Start > Run, and type services.msc and hit OK

2. When the Services MMC comes up, look for and select the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration (or whatever its name is), and click the Stop button.

 

If you aren't an admin, you'll be told either access denied or another message that implies such. At that point, you'll just need to do this with an account with local admin rights. I can't remember if you can edit NetStumbler's settings to use different credentials to do this...

 

 

...of course, you could jsut alternatively use inSSIDer. It's not quite as powerful as NetStumbler, but the former is an old tool now and doesn't really play nice with some of the newer Windows OSes. inSSIDer does the same thing as NetStumbler (talks to your wireless card and gathers data about networks), but it doesn't switch off the existing wireless services first, so you shouldn't get any denied issues.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Tezcatlipoca

[SOD'EM]

The only thing to do with wireless networking is WLAN autoconfig?

[Tezcatlipoca]

The only thing to do with wireless networking is WLAN autoconfig?

 

That's the relevant service, yes. It's Windows Wireless Zero Configuration in Xp and WLAN autoconfig in Vista, but does the same thing.

 

By stopping (note, just stop; don't disable or try to remove it!) that service, the Windows OS will stop talking to the wireless adapter hardware and NetStumbler can talk to it instead. Guide here.

 

When you're done, just restart that service. You may need a reboot as well, but you should be fine.