Acer Aspire 9920 doesn't boot

Hello all.

My 1 year old Acer Aspire 9920 suddenly stopped working yesterday for no particular reason. It seems dead.
When I turn it on, the lights go on as they should but the screen doesn't at all. Then it just does nothing anymore.

I tried using an external monitor, the screen still doesn't turn on.
I also tried starting from a cd but it seems as if the notebook doesn't get into the POST far enough to do so.

Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be and how I could fix it?

Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to NBR.

Try the following: remove the battery, unplug the power cord then press the power button for good 30 seconds. Then connect all back as it was and try to power on the laptop.

By the way this "sudden death" doesn't sound good at all maybe your motherboard or cpu died...hope the above solution work for you.

 

Thanks for the fast reply.

I gave it a few tries and no luck. It still doesn't seem to get past post.
I just found a website where people described a similar (and appearantly frequent) problem but for the Aspire One. For them the problem is the bios got corrupted somehow.
I wouldn't know how this happened to me, I never mess around in there. Is there any way I can reset my notebook to factory settings without having to get past the POST?

 

Pressing the power button for 30sec with the battery pulled out and the power cord unplugged is supposed to do this. It could be done manually by short-circuiting the CMOS pins(CMOS jumper reset) but I have no idea where this jumper is located on your motherboard.

 

short circuiting, that sounds kind of dangerous
If the problem is indeed the bios, can I screw anything up by doing this?

 

Nope if you use the right pins it's not dangerous at all The laptop should be without battery and unplugged when you do that. But you NEED to know where the jumper is. You can't just short-circuit some random pins.

Hm...tried to power it without the battery? Or on battery only? I doubt it's a power issue though..

 

Yes I tried on battery alone and without battery, it doesn't make a difference.

I found some schematics
But nowhere does it say anything about cmos jumpers

 

Not sure what you've tried since these posts in December, but I have had the exact problem with my Acer 9920G. I may try and give this a go with the CMOS pins - I've already tried the reset with the battery and that was NOT the problem.

Believe it or not, I even shipped the machine to an Acer repair depot for a non-warranty repair (they charge a flat rate for a repair, regardless of what the problem is) and they sent it back to me, saying the parts they need are no longer available, so I got my dead laptop back.

If I screw up the CMOS pins, I'm not too worried, since I was going to have to recycle the machine anyway as even the manufacturer can't fix it.

On that note: if you ever try to deal with Acer for non-warranty paid repairs, my condolences. Because of the bulls**t I've had to deal with, I won't be buying one of their products again.

 

I should have included this in my previous post ... but I was distracted by the fact I'm still steaming a little from having to try and get some customer service from Acer ...

Anyway, I'd like to know more about the CMOS jumpers (how to find them and what to do with them when I locate them).

Some third-party repair information & literature would be very helpful, if anyone has some to send my way.

Thanks in advance.

(And yes, I had the EXACT problem as the above poster)

 

what makes you think , that you are smarter than ACER ?
And that ACER did not try all ready the CMOS jumpers cure , and failed on them too ?

 

It is bad that you have had such a poor experience with ACER support. My wife has an expensive Sony and also had a very bad experience with their support, so it is not just ACER, but that is off topic...
In answer to your question, the BIOS reset jumper will more often than not be identified on the mobo itself. Before attempting anything disconnect from the PSU and remove the laptop battery.
The use of the term 'jumper' or 'pins' is a bit of a misnomer as in a notebook they are more likely to be two silver or copper dots located about 3mm apart from each other and identified by writing saying something brief like "CMOS RST", CMOS/EEPROM and BIOS are often used to refer to the same thing, RST might be RESET or CLR or CLEAR.
The BIOS chip has a battery backup which is a CR2025 watch/calculator battery or similar. Often the reset pins are close to the BIOS chip or battery so I would use this to look for the pins. the battery may be socketed on the mobo (I think this is the case with the 9920) or it may be attached by wires and wrapped in tape.
On the schematic posted earlier in this thread the BIOS EEPROM is marked as 36 (U9) so start looking in this area, you might need a magnifying glass to read the print!
If you locate the 'jumper' and have the courage, just connect the two contacts together with something metal like a paper clip, this should cause the BIOS to be reset to the factory state...
If you can locate the backup battery mentioned above but cannot locate the 'jumper' you could try removing the battery for about 30mins, then replace the battery and try again. Do not touch the battery with your fingers or metal as they can short out or discharge easily, especially if old.
I must say that i am bemused that parts are not available. Is this notebook about two-three years old? What would happen if you had an extended three year warranty?
Have a look here if you are interested to see if they can get parts http://www.mk-electronic.com/Hersteller/Acer/
I would want to know from ACER what part(s) they needed to change. I assume it is the whole mobo. Sometimes thay do that as it is quicker than diagnosing the issue.

 

Thanks for the info ayarbee!

And kiriakost, I do not think I'm smarter than Acer - however, given that their non-warranty repair fee is far lower than what the replacement parts would cost and the unimpressive service I received, it would not surprise me too terribly if the parts they said were 'no longer available' (mainboard & cpu) was their way of saying it wasn't worth their time to fix. As my laptop is now considered 'unfixable', I don't see any harm in having a turn at it myself.

Do I expect to fix it? Not likely, but I'll be happy to learn something about working on a mainboard that I didn't know before.

 

Ayarbee, this laptop isn't even 2 years old! My 1-year warranty expired only 5 months earlier. I'd wondered the same thing about what would be the case if I'd purchased extended warranty (which, for my next computer, I will do - lesson learned).

What they said they needed but could not get was:
- mainboard AS9920G (MB.AJH0B.00)
- cpu (Intel PM965 ICH8M LF)
- SATA/GIGALAN

Acer's non-warranty repair fee was around $475 US (flat fee regardless of repair).

All I can say is thank God for additional credit card insurance!

 

I think
mainboard AS9920G (MB.AJH0B.00)
- cpu (Intel PM965 ICH8M LF)
- SATA/GIGALAN
all refer to the same thing
MAINBOARD AS9920G INTEL PM965 ICH8M LF SATA/GIGALAN (MB.AJH0B.001)
the motherboard the reference to cpu is unclear to me. Do they suggest the CPU needs to be replaced too?
This would be an expensive swapout so I am not surprised they would not do it, though it is distinctly possible the parts are not available, ridiculous but not impossible.
Sadly I am not convinced a bios reset will fix it though but it might be worth a shot, and you might see something they have not bothered to look for.
Alternatively you might find an independent who repairs Acers and they might have a different opinion.

 

Well in such mixed stories , I would suggest an used motherboard from eBAY .

This is what I will do , if I got in true trouble.

From 50 - 100 EUR , you can find anything .

 

I am tempted to go the eBay route. Yes, I actually think it's all one unit but the way Acer wrote it out on the form they sent back to me explaining the lack of repair was incredibly vague (and I LOVE when they post a phone number to call if you have a question - which, when you call, tells you your computer is out of warranty, please go to the website. And you can guess which phone number the website posts ...)

If the CMOS doesn't work (and I'm fairly doubtful this will work either, but what the heck ...) and I can locate disassembly/reassembly instructions somewhere, I will see what a mainboard will cost me, if I can find one.

I went to 3 independent computer repair shops before Acer ... none of them would take on a motherboard replacement once they discovered this wasn't your standard 15" or 17" laptop.

 

Just thought I would add to this. I sent my 5103 to acer as it was dropped, all i needed was a new screen as it worked with a external monitor, but Acer came back to me and said it was the motherboard that was gone!!!

 

Hi everyone, this is my first post but I have read a fair bit on the forums, I'm hoping to fix a problem on my 9920G but no luck yet.

A few days ago I booted up my laptop but only the lights appeared and the drives span up. The screen remained black and blank. I looked through a lot of information on the sysmptoms but none of the suggestions worked. However when I removed the Nvidia 8600m and booted up the system went all the way through to the Windows music. This makes me think the GPU has died which seems to be a commone occurrence.

My question is has anyone successfully replaced the 8600m with another GPU on the 9920G? I'd rather not put the same model back. The ATI HD3650 seems a good alternative but may not be completely compatible.

The only source of replacement GPUs seems to be eBay hailing from Hong Kong or China.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, so I can "unbrick" my 2 year old laptop. I'm running on Windows 7.

 

Hi there, my first post around here - totally new to the boards!

You dont need to replace your GPU, there is a simple and cheap repair which can be carried out first.

PM me and I will help

Gaz

 

gazza321, post the solution for all users please.

 

The MXM card from the 9920 is quite specific. To date, I've found no other cards that work in the 9920.

 

Hello Gazza321,

You Said PM me, but there is no contact information in your profile.
Please could you tel on the forum what your solution for the cheap repair is?
I have also an Acer 9920 with the same problems.

Thanks in advance.

Arjan