Huge 5920G Startup Prob, Need Help!

Hi guys. I'm going to get right to it.

Without going into too much detail, I got the machine a few weeks ago and it runs smooth. I have the RAM maxed with additional 2GB put it, and everything runs smoothly. So about a week ago, I was in a rush and closed the lid on the machine so that I could resume later on.

With my old Acer, the machine would go in to sleep mode and if juice ran out, it'll hibernate. Nonetheless, when I returned it will wake/resume where I left off. Now with this new machine, I was hoping it would do the same. However, the moment I opened the lid again, it shutdown. I tried restarting and it shutdown again right away after a few flicker of lights. After a few attempts, it started up normally and nothing since.

However, today I had a huge problem. The same thing occured. I would press the start button, the blue lights would flicker for a second, then it'll shutdown again. After what seemed like 20 attempts, I finally got into startup repair mode and after a fix, it booted up normally.

What on earth is going on here? The only problem is with the boot, nothing else seems to be effected. Could it be, the system still thinks it's in hibernation?

I managed to grab the repair log from today's events too incase if anything can be noticed in there as to what the problem is.

I've rang up Laptops Direct (UK) and they said they could replace it but it'll take a few weeks with there being a low stock. Being a student, that isn't an option right now.

I'm also going to add, the problem only happens when I start the machine after I shutdown completely. And strange as it seems, after I've left the machine for like a period of 6 hours or more too. I just shutdown right now after all the hassle, and it started normally. Gave it an hour, shut down again, and it started up normally. It only seems to happen in the mornings after I've shut it down for the night. Again, something tells me it's with the settings to do with the battery and hiberation or something. Tell me I'm just being daft here?

I'm going to put the system into hibernate from now on rather than shutting down and hopefully it'll work as a short time (maybe longer) fix.

Once again, I'd really appreciate any help I can get regarding this.

Thanks!

 

I think some bad driver cause the problem.I got the same kind of problem after i updated to forceware 169.25 modded driver.(Some times it will freeze @ boot screen & never show anything.It will work well after i run startup repair)....So I'm guess driver might be the problem.

BTW try to restore your system using acer recovery DVDs

 

hmm, weird, I updated to the 169.25 modded driver too, but never had such problems.
I would also try recovering your system with the dvd's or do a clean OS install. Doesn't sound like a hardware problem.

 

Agree with the above. Most likely a software problem. Back up all your data and restore to factory default using eRecovery.

 

Thanks for the reply guys.

It took me like 15 minutes to get it booted today. This is a serious problem.

Anyway, to bring more details into it, I forgot to mention, every morning at around 9-10am, the system tries to boot itself but I hear it shutting down right away. The same sound it makes when I try booting it myself hours later. I can honestly say this happens every morning. It tries to switch itself on. I am now certain whatever is making it do this, is the root cause of the problem.

Any ideas?

I think I shall wait for a reply on this and then I think I still have the eRecovery program installed and give that a go.

Once again, many thanks.

 

Just to get another quick reply, should I use the eRecovery program located in the Start menu or use the DVD's provided? Or wouldn't it make a difference.

 

use DVDs to recover your system.

 

I was going to say remove those extra 2 GB's of RAM.

But now that you mention it's starting up by itself I'm thinking spyware.

Can you go into BIOS and check under the "Main" heading - is Network Boot enabled? Mine is so that's not a bad thing on its own.
Now, under the "Boot" heading, do you have any weird bootable devices, like LAN? I don't, just the HDD, optical drive, and some USB options.

Man, the BIOS on my 5920-6470 sure is basic

Sometimes it can be a simple "Wake on LAN" setting in BIOS but I don't even see such a thing, so your situation may not be BIOS-related. But if the PC is trying to turn itself on, that's a command originating from somewhere in the guts of the PC, if you know what I mean.

If nothing looks weird in BIOS, I'd try turning it on in Safe Mode, running a HiJackThis scan, and asking for help in deciding whether you've got some sort of nasty spyware.

Re-installing the entire OS would probly fix if it is spyware.

 

FYI you can also access the recovery partition through eRecovery.

 

Nvidia updated drivers help lessen the problem, however for me it was always still present. Vista SP1 RC1 however, has totally removed the problem. No problems shutting the laptop screen now, or leaving laptop to hibernate.

 

Update on the problem.

I'm cautious to say, but I think it's been fixed. I ran the eRecovery yesterday, good for me the system was lightweight and so it only took 9 minutes, I ran through all the custom settings, and made sure I configured the power plans first. Ran the machine as normal all day.

Today morning, switched on, and it booted first time without as much as a hitch. Didn't hear it trying to switch itself on either all morning too.

I think with it being "too smart for its own good Vista", there must've been some weird configuration that took place when I first put the computer to sleep. I'm assuming after looking at the error log, that there must've been some confliction in settings between the lid closing and sleep and hibernate modes. And that switching itself on could've just been the machine trying to put itself into hibernate after a night on battery even though it was shutdown and not in sleep mode.

Anyway, should the problem not occur again, I would like to say a big thank you to you guys for helping out.

 

And it's back.

This time I have no idea how it happened. I haven't had any updates, nothing installed or removed, no configurations of any sort, just yesterday afternoon, pressed the power button, whirs for a second then shuts down.

I tried taking it back a few days using restore points that seem to make themselves every week, still the problem is present.

I am now seriously looking to take a cricket bat to its silly behind.

I know it fixed when I did a system restore last time, but I have no intention of doing it again. Not forgetting to think this could occur every 1-2 months, not very good to say the least.

Before I go ahead and settle with a desktop again (I can feel the hole burning in my pocket already), are there any other things I can try?

One last attempt to solve the issue or shall I just retire it into becoming a dust collector?

 

Intermittent behavior like this makes me think of power supply or bad RAM. You can run memtest from a Linux LiveCD or by building a CD from the memtest download.
I'm new to laptops so not sure how power is regulated. If this was a desktop I'd say try swapping the power supply for a few weeks. With a lappy, you've got the external power brick, plus there must be some sort of circuitry inside for further regulation?

Maybe it would be best to return the thing...

 

Just got off the phone with Acer tech, and one of the chaps suggested it could be the RAM.

When I mentioned to him that I'd had the RAM upgraded from 2GB to 4GB on purchase, he immediately said it most likely is that. Went on to say that Acer only recommend certain manufacturers and that I should check to see what make the RAM is by removing the panel underneath. Then carry out a test using a compatible RAM chip and if the problem doesn't occur, then fix completely.

Also went on to say that with me having Vista 32bit, the machine will only pick up 3GB of RAM and I should either consider getting 64bit Vista or sticking with 2GB of RAM. Is this true?

I don't know how to fiddle with machines, so just before I go about doing this little check, removing the RAM and replacing it with another stick won't cause any issues and nor would I need to configure anything? It's like a plug-and-play situation, correct?

 

Update to the problem.

I think it was the upgraded memory. Acer tech told me yesterday that certain memory makes aren't compatible with the machines that cause a number of problems and one of them was Kingston.

When I finally managed to open the casing up, I find a 1GB Hynix (original mem chip) and in slot 2, one of the upgraded 2GB from Kingstom (should've been another Kingston chip too since I opted for a 4GB max RAM but thank God they screwed up and left an original 1GB chip inthere). I removed the Kingston, screwed the casing back on, let it settle over night, today morn, booted it up, working smooth on 1GB of RAM.

No noticable problems or causes for concern so far and performance hasn't been hampered either by the way things are running.

 

Could You tell me which Kingston memory module did You add?? Was it KVR667D2S5?? On Kingston site I found that only kac-memf/2g is compatable and recomended both by ACER and KINGSTON.

 

Wasn't me who added it but I asked for an upgrade so yes, the KVR667D2S5 was the added chip.

 

mine would wake-up and shut down with for no reason. until i found out that auto updates was the offending software.

 

This is really uncanny. The problem has returned.

Again, out of the blue yesterday morning the machine went bonkers again and kept shutting down evey time I tried booting it up. No changes have been made and it just started happening all over again.

However, I have just noticed something really really strange. My first post was created at the beginning of Jan. The problem returned and my post (#12) is again at the beginning of Feb. And now the problem has returned once more and would you believe it, the date is the beginning of March.

I am now guessing this is a monthly cycle and something ticking is causing this problem. I hope this would shed more light and those people who know more about machines than I do can see something here and point a finger or two at what might be causing the problem.

Big thanks!