My Acer 5102 finally breaks down.....

Ok, so I've had my notebook for less than a year now and havent had any trouble till now (it still qualifies for its limited warranty). It finally broke down after a freak power outage (and yes I was using a surge protector). Basically the computer gets to the Acer loading screen but never gets to the Windows boots screen (the screen displays a blinking underscore instead) - I'm guessing its a hard drive problem? If anyone can come up with any other suggestions, I'd be very grateful..
Well, this is my first time experiencing computer hardware relates problems so I'm brand new to this whole thing.
So I'm at the U right now wondering how Acer's technical support is and what thier policies are like concerning repairs. I left all my documents at home and the global acer site doesn't seem to be working for some reason.... Can anyone tell me a bit about their experience with Acer? I'm in Canada (Vancouver), do they cover shipments, inspection etc. ? Sorry, I'm just a bit worried because all my work is on there... It's especially painful because my classes are all technical/computer/design related... no I really regret not buying the retail store's special warranty. Anyway, I'm guessing that I won't be getting it back for at least a couple of weeks if not a month... Great, a couple of F's are on the way for me.... I'm laughing and crying at the same time, lol
Thanks in advance

 

if its the harddrive which broke, you can pretty much kiss your information goodbye.

Tho im in norway and covered by a 5 year warrenty law, so im afraid i dont know how they operate in Canada.

 

Yea, I'm not all too worried about the info on the HD, more worried about the actual repair. Well, I'll have to reinstall all my dam design programs - dreamweaver, photoshop, illustrator, premier, flash and all that crap. Anyway, it gives me and excuse for my subpar grades lol. Well, I'm not too sure wat I'll be doing during my free time until its gets fixed; no more PC gaming for me for a while. I guess I should get some exercise... it might help me get over this..

 

hmm that sucks..

makes me appriciate the consumer laws here

5 year warrenty on all electronic which are ment to last more then 2 years.
if the repairs take more then 1 week you have the right to a loan replacement while they fix it, if the repairs take more then 2 weeks you have the right to demand a cashback on the price you spendt buying it.

 

heheh,
My notebook miraculously came back to life... After turning it off and on around 15 times in desperation, and error screen finally appeared (it was better than the blank screen with the flickering underscore at least). Anyway, the problem was the HD; no info was given about the problem however (which really leaves me frustrated). Well, after running the ever-so-slow disk check, everythings running just fine.... apart from a few missing programs and files which I again find very strange. Anyway, I'm happy its still working and that I will not have to test my luck with Acer's technical support. Yay me.

 

Did you check for bad clusters? If you have any bad clusters, things will go back to being bad very soon.

If it does have bad clusters, Have acer support replace your HD.

 

Yea, I think i should defrag my disk soon. Having to go through a disk checkup 3 times a week (after my computer displays 'one of your disk needs to be checked for consistancy') cant be a good thing...

 

OK, so it's down again. Now I'm gonna have to go through the entire repair process. The error seems to be connected to the HD; its says the win32 file (or something like that - its only flashed for a sec) is corrupted --> again, once turned on, the computer only gets to the Acer boot screen, and then stays at a black page with a blinking underscore_? Does anyone know of this problem? Is this covered by Acer's limited 1 year warranty; how about shipping? It's really strange because 1 min i was enjoying a nice game (Soldier Front), and before I knew it, the computer turned itself off and the problem was back...
Any help on this would be much appreciated. I mean, if this isn't covered by the warranty and I have to pay for any repairs/replacements, I'd really just save myself the trouble and get a more reliable laptop.

 

A quick format and re-installation of windows should fix that.

It doesn't seem like it has to do with hardware, but if the laptop went through a power outage I'd really look into sending it in for a look and hopefully a replacement.

 

Ok, so i did a reformat and replaced MCE with XP Pro. However, an error screen saying 'HD failure' did turn up once right after i had installed the new OS. Anyway, the error hasnt turned up again and everything seems to be workgin silky smooth. If the error screen turns up again, i guess i should send it back to Acer and have them replace my HD as its probably a defective HD that is the problem. Well, i still have 6 months left of warranty so everything should be fine...
One thing though, I couldn'r reinstall two drivers for sum reason....
1)the ATI driver for the Xpress 1100
2)eDataRecovery application

I downloaded the latest driver from the ATI site for the Xpress 200M (which i hear is basically the same) and everything worked out. However, isn't the X1100 better than the X200M? Would it make a difference if i used the X200M's drivers instead of the X1100?
As for the eDR app, i think that because i deleted the second partition on my HD, the app will no longer work. Is this right?

Well, thnx for all the help everyone!

 

I feel bad for you, I am still in the middle of my episode with acer and so far am not impressed.

Note* call Acer in the morning, you will be on hold for less time, the attendants are in bertter modes, and Acer Tec Center will be 3 hours ahead of your time, (not 24hour).

they are open I believe At 8:00am central (5:00 pacific)
till 8:00 or 10:00 central 5:00 or 7:00 pm

Note* there canada support number is 1 800 816 2237(I have called them so many times I actually memorized the number

Oh and for interest sake they use Purolator for shipping

It's not like I don't have anything to do, my system is driving me nuts all because there S**t support.

good luck, need any more info.