CPU failure in aspire 5672 wlmi?

I posted this in another thread, but the problem has worsened, so I figured I'd start a new thread:

I just recently used the guide on these forums of how to apply the thermal stuff to a heatsink to replace my broken fan with a new one I bought online (thanks! It was very helpful).
That was about a month ago, but now my computer has a new problem. It was running fine (the fan running better than ever) when I left it alone for about an hour, came back and it was frozen. I restarted, came back to it a few minutes after restart and it was frozen with a ton of error messages (one from the ED power loader or whatever it's called). Now I can't restart normally, only in safe mode or with the majority of my startup programs/windows services disabled. For a while I could access the internet in safe mode, but now I can't.
Here's the weird part though: When my computer starts up, it begins to load Windows, but freezes slowly. First the mouse skips, then freezes, then the keyboard won't work and by that time holding down the power button might not even work - I've had to remove the battery just to turn it off.

I did a ram test and everything seemed to be working, virus test came up clean. I'm afraid it might be my cpu or motherboard. I've run Core Temp since I installed the fan and it never once went above 81 degrees that I saw - usually it was 65-75. Could I have installed it improperly and damaged my cpu? I'm almost certain now that this is a hardware problem and not a software problem.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.



What's happened now:
I got my computer working a little by uninstalling most of the Acer software stuff (Arcade, power management, etc etc). I enabled a few startup items so that I could get my wireless card to work again, and things were looking up. However, I did notice that when I clicked "properties" on my computer, it (only once) showed my processors as 1.66Ghz and 986Mhz, but then reverted back to both 1.66.
Well I decided to start re-enabling programs until it would freeze again. This happened when I enabled System Restore and Security Center, and disabling those two in safe mode would not bring my stable system back again.

Then something really weird happened, the last time I restarted (just a minute ago) it started this weird beeping-cycle sound that was coming from inside the computer, not out of the speakers and it was not the normal PC beep sound. It kept doing this and would not load past the ACER startup screen (pressing F2 or F8 did nothing). Pressing the power button once shut it off, and every time I restart it does this now.
My CPU temps were better than ever (around 50 degrees mostly) while my computer was working right before, so I don't think it just overheated.

 

sounds like you may have a drop of paste shorting out a couple of components. have you tried a full fresh install of windows.?
or you may have a ram problem.
seems you have already tried to eliminate software but the only way to find this out is a fresh install.
just my two pennies worth....
Best of luck,
Phil

 

What are the beeps? There is beep code for different BIOS, like for example one long beep to short beeps could mean like ram missing or something like that. What's your beep code?
It really sounds like hardware related though.

 

I opened it up and looked around, but I didn't see anything that would be shorting out, although it's possible. But the sound that happens when I turn it on is on the other side of the computer. I did a ram test and it came back ok.
I really doubt it's a software issue at this point since it won't go past the ACER startup screen. It doesn't even attempt to boot anything. Even if I wanted to re-install windows now, I couldn't.
So it's probably a motherboard problem?

 

Ok reload the page and see my post please

 

It's maybe not so much a beep as an almost drive reading attempt sound, but it's fairly loud. It's like a cycling sound of maybe 15 lower sounds (that sound a bit like a drive trying to be read) followed by a slightly higher sound and then it starts over again (it's about 5 seconds long). It's definitely coming from inside the computer, but not from the processor or fan area, from the other side of the computer. I thought it might be the hard drive, but when I opened that up it wasn't apparent if it was making the sound or not. Also, the problems I was having before didn't seem to be HD related, unless this is just some weird coincidence.

 

it does sound like the HDD is on its way out.
trying to think of a way of testing this.
you may need another hard drive/laptop to find this out

 

Wait a minute, so you can do Ram Test? From CD?.. This means you pass through POST..right?
Try to enter in BIOS. If you can, disable 'QuickBoot'. Then restart and tell me what do you see when/if freeze.

@hoggie It shouldn't freeze on ACER logo screen if it's a hdd failure..although I was thinking about that too

 

No, I COULD do a ram test, before it completely died randomly last night. Right now all I get is the ACER screen and some weird noise. Pressing F2 and F8 do nothing.

 

Ok, its hardware related for sure. CPU, RAM, Power etc..I checked the Service Manual and can't find anything related to your description of the 'beep'..
Apart from what is sounds like, its one long beep, pause, one short beep..?

You sure the fan is working? If not the cpu overheat immediately.

 

I'm sure the fan is working, it's been working better than ever. However, I installed it myself about a month ago (using the guide on here) so I could have messed up somewhere. I ran Core Temp since then and my cpu never went above 81 and since it had been messing up so much recently it barely went above 70.

I'm going to record the sound (not so much a beeping) to see if someone can identify it.

 

its a strange one.!
instant CPU overheat means a short circuit.
power board short they are sometimes intermittent.
just a thought has the laptop been dropped ?
one short beep two long beeps that's an award bios
anything else its the ram.
phoenix use a four beep system on acers.

 

Ok, here's the best recording I could get of it (didn't pick up well on my mic)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/xjlwy0

It makes this sound for about a minute and then stops. Nothing else happens that I can tell besides the fan turning on.

 

See, the initial problem happened when I was away from my laptop for a little bit, so it could have overheated, but like I said I never saw it go above 81 degrees, and it was always around 70 when idle. When it completely died last night CPU temps were around 40-55 degrees according to Core Temp.
I haven't dropped the laptop (at least not any time recently, I did once shortly after I got it but not too hard).
I was hoping it was the RAM (easy enough to replace), but like I said the ram test I ran off a boot cd came up fine.
Is there a way to see (at this point) if it's a motherboard problem, cpu problem, or HD problem (or some combination of the 3)? Should I just break down and send it somewhere for repair?

 

i've listened to it about five times now and slowed it down to count the beeps.im lost.
but without another HDD it does sound like HDD failure.

time to break down and cry me thinks

 

Thanks for your help

Do you know if a HDD failure would cause it to not boot up at all? It seems like I'd be able to access the BIOS or boot from a CD without a hard drive.

 

its sounds like 1-1 to me..apart from the buzz sound. If you left it like this, its going over and over again right ?
Do you have USB devices attached ? If so, remove them.

 

It makes that that sound repeatedly for about a minute, then nothing.
I have nothing attached, and it does this running on battery or not.

 

if you clean out the buzz it does sound like 1-1.
CH000607 have you ever seen this code ?
thats a motherboard issue.

at last a problem to get stuck into..love it

 

how would I go about fixing/replacing a motherboard? Is it not worth it, too expensive, to hard to do etc?

 

If it was a desktop I'd say - PSU. But laptop..Try to run it without battery..then try to run it with batter only without the AC adapter..
If nothing change, remove the RAM and try again(with battery and AC adapter ) see if something change.

 

my brother just read this thread and said I quote " Had a power surge lately ?"

 

you will need to google the the code on the ram bay socket.
there should be a sticker with a long number. this is the service code for your laptop

 

That's why I said PSU(power supply unit) But this is a laptop!

In most of the cases: it's not..I mean replacing..

 

good night gentle man. i will be back to this one later.:SLEEP:

 

Ok, I tried some of the suggestions above, no changes. Took out the ram, no change, put it back in, no change. Then I removed the hard drive, and the noise stopped (seems to be coming from it) and it loaded past the ACER screen and gave me this:

Broadcam UND1 PXE-2.1 v. 8.2.6
Copyrights....
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcam PXE ROM
Operating System Not Found

obviously because I removed the drive... but this means that it is a hard drive failure, right? The sound must be it trying to read with no luck.

But this is still confusing.... the stuff that was wrong with my computer before doesn't seem to be related to the hard drive; I could run programs, play games, run video, etc, after I got my limited computer startup to work and the hard drive wasn't making noise or being slow. Is this a problem onset by the previous problem or am I just doubly unlucky???

 

if the lappy went further in the POST (power on self test) with the HDD removed,,, i think it's fair to say that you have found the problem...

now hope the problem is with the HDD and not with the HDD CONTROLLER on the MAIN BOARD...

you can buy a CHEAP USB enclosure (under $10 at geeks.com) place the laptop HDD into the enclosure and then plug the HDD up to a different PC via the USB plug... and see if the drive works.. if not you have a bad drive

if the HDD works inside an external enclosure then you have a more serious problem.... most likely a faulty motherboard

hope that gives you another option before buying a NEW HDD...
but i hope a new HDD solves it for you..

bigO

 

thanks bigO, I'll try that. I guess right now it's my only option...

 

I seen cdrom that failed and cause lockup at bios screen also i seen hard disk


if you remove you hard disk does it try to boot ?

 

since it does try to boot off the network card....

gave me an idea.. i think you should try to boot off of a CD that is bootable

that should tell you if the HDD controller is working!

 

hello ken all right mate.
we did have some fun with this one last night.
it does sound like HDD or the controller, but if it was the controller the HDD wouldn't spin-up.
if you listen to the recording it sounds like the HDD is spinning up but the read head/arm is locked in park mode.

maybe a caddie is a good option and if you get a multi format caddie they are a dame good piece of kit to have about
laters,
Phil

 

Well this is something that never happened to me, not passing through POST because of hdd failure..will remember this.
I think @hoggie is right, it sounds like the hdd is spinning..
The best way is to try it on another computer as @BigO suggested.

 

ok, I removed the drive and booted TRK ( http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1&front_id=12).
It worked, whatever that means. Is there a way to test my motherboard with a boot cd?

Yeah I'm pretty sure the HDD is broken but attempting to work. I will try what BigO said, but is there a way to repair a HDD in this state (without having to reformat it)?

 

the controller is trying to access the drive at post then freezing.
can you still get in to the bios with the HDD still in place?
and is the HDD showing in the bios?
just something i need to know for future reference

 

Yeah, I can't get into the BIOS when the hard drive is still plugged in.

 

now is the hard drive showing in the bios if it is then the controller should be ok and power is getting to the hard drive.
but it does sound like the drive is shagged

 

"shagged",, gotta love that british take on things... u made me laugh with that response there hoggie

 

I'm not sure what to look for to see if it's the controller or just the drive that is messed up. If I remove the drive (in order to boot) is there a way to test everything else?

 

If the controler is screwed, you wouldn't see the hdd in BIOS.
Here's a thought: remove the hdd, power on the laptop, enter in BIOS and remove the ACER logo screan(Quick/Quiet Boot OFF), then attach the hdd, power on and see if any kind of error msg pops up.

 

good thinking batman

 

I got the USB enclosure, it still makes the same repeating clicking sound that it made inside the computer and the computer does not read the drive.
So now I know the drive is dead, how can I test the motherboard and other parts?

I called a computer repair place in town and said I was getting a clicking sound from my drive and if there was a way to repair it, and he said there isn't a way to repair it unless you want to pay $500-$5,000 for the repair. Is there any place that can actually repair this for cheap or do you think I can maybe possibly fix this myself?

If there's a risk of killing the drive completely in repairing it myself but it would cost more than $500 to fix it anyways, I guess I would try that because there's no other options...

 

By attaching a new hdd..I can't think of nothing else.

This repairs are always extremely expensive as far as I know. And I believe it's extremely complicated to repair it yourself..
I'd post a thread in the HARDWARE forum about repairing that hdd.

 

i'd bet your motherboard is fine...

since the drive is not readable in the enclouser,,, and the drive was preventing the PC from booting.... just buy a replacement drive of what ever size you want... and reinstall your OS of choice...

chances of the HDD and the HDD controler both being bad are rather remote

if you really wanna test the MOBO you may try to loacte this program somewhere
http://www.pc-diagnostics.com/pc_diagnostics_tools/pc_diagnostics_pro_kit.shtml

or choose one from this list
http://www.google.com/search?q=moth...-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

 

The Hard Drive in my 5672 died back in Dec. Had the clicking sound, I bought a new 250GB drive and installed it in the 5672, works great. I'll also tried installing the old drive in a usb enclosure, no dice. I lost all the data on the drive. My lastest back up was from the previous January so lost about a years worth of data. Which reminds me, I need to make another backup.

 

glad you got your laptop back up and running....

now if we all could remember to keep that inportant data backed up,,, we'd be a lot less upset when failures such as this occur

later,
bigO

 

I had the same problem, but on a desktop computer, when i started it, the computer said (by voice) *system failed memory test*, and then those beeps came along. Unfortunetly, it was the CPU

 

always make two back-ups external HDD and dvd.
and have noticed with vista restore points take-up loads of room. so i clean out that as well.

laters, this was a dame good thread,with some great ideas going back and forth. nice one lads

Phil

 

thanks to all the ACER supporters who posted here.... the ideas and THOUGHTS of others are a very good way for us all to learn...

glad i took the time to read and post here... because i too learned a few things

bigO

 

You're welcome

 

:laugh: