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    Problems with my Aspire 5050

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by ACSplyt, Apr 29, 2007.

  1. ACSplyt

    ACSplyt Newbie

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    Hey guys

    System Specs

    Acer Aspire 5050
    AMD Turion 2.0 GHz
    ATI Radeon Xpress 1100
    120GB HDD
    DVD-Super Multi double layer DVD+RW
    1GB DDR2
    Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

    Alright so here's the problem. My computer randomly started rebooting on its own two days ago. It rebooted on me twice yesterday then it went kaboomp.

    For realtek RTL8139(x)/8130/810x PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.17 (051202)
    PXE-E61: Media Test failure, check cable
    PXE-MOF: Exiting PXE ROM
    Operating System not found

    That showed up. I went searching around the forum to see if anyone had that problem and thankfully someone did. Well the only thing is I don't have my windows xp media center edition 2005 cd to reinstall it (idiot me left it back in Florida). So I try using my e-recovery backup disk and it goes to an error at 55% when it's at the microsoft .net framework or something like that. I wind up installing Windows Vista Home Premium Edition and

    For realtek RTL8139(x)/8130/810x PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.17 (051202)
    PXE-E61: Media Test failure, check cable
    PXE-MOF: Exiting PXE ROM

    That still pop ups except for the part where the OS is not found when I turn on my computer. Everything loads up fine after that pop up, but now my wireless card isn't being read. I can't connect. Only thing I can do is do a wireless network setup but I can't even do that. Is there anyway to fix this? I know it sounds confusing but it's a little hard to explain.
     
    ACSplyt, Apr 29, 2007
    #1
  2. vestige

    vestige Notebook Consultant

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    It looks like either:

    1) You have the LAN card set as as the first boot device in the BIOS.

    2) Your OS no longer exists.

    3) Your Master Boot Record is erased and/or damaged.

    4) Hard drive starting to fail? (Not too sure about this one, but its a possibility)

    Check to see if the LAN device is set as the first boot device in the BIOS, if it is, put the Hard Drive as the first device.

    If you could get a hold of some Windows Media Center Edition disks then try running the Recovery Console and fix the Master Boot Record.
     
    vestige, Apr 29, 2007
    #2
  3. Evolution

    Evolution Vox Sola

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    Good advice however doing this would overwrite acer's special MBR that allows for ALT+F10 to access the recovery console at boot up.

    My advice would be to try the other options suggested first and then do this as a very last resort, but if it turns out that your MBR is corrupted then you have no choice.
    I can give you information to get back Alt+f10 functionality later if you want it back.
     
    Evolution, Apr 29, 2007
    #3
  4. blur_139

    blur_139 Newbie

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    Dude, same exact deal here. Same laptop, same errors, everything.

    Anyone ever figure this out?

    I've gone through 3 HDD's so far, Acer is telling me they don't have any idea what the problem is except that the HDD is no good.

    They were shipping them to me 1 for 1 and now because I have reached my limit I have to send the computer back to them and pay for a repair that is supposed to be in warranty.

    I have had it for 3 months and like I say working on my fourth HDD. Same exact errors. Try to reinstall the crappy Vista OS, gets to various points during install, hangs and quits.

    Any ideas...
     
    blur_139, Dec 10, 2007
    #4
  5. fvdb

    fvdb Newbie

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    Same problem here, same laptop.
    Also 3 disks tried
     
    fvdb, Mar 2, 2008
    #5
  6. blur_139

    blur_139 Newbie

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    Finally got my 5th HDD reinstalled by ACER. Had it for about a month, no problems... yet. Now, my dvd drive is bad. Pulled it out yesterday to ship it to ACER. Let's see, 5 HDD's, 1 wireless antenna, new keyboard and a new dvd player (if it even fixes the problem). To beat it all, the tech that ACER had fix my laptop the last time broke my bluetooth button (the one to enable and disable it). It's actually a dummy button b/c my pc doesn't have bluetooth. But it's still the fact that they broke it and this damn things been a nightmare since I bought it.

    Maybe if it was deemed "unfixable" by ACER, problem with the mobo or something. I could get it replaced. Replacements couldn't be much worse than this one...
     
    blur_139, Mar 2, 2008
    #6
  7. fvdb

    fvdb Newbie

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    is this "special" MBR perhaps the problem to all faults??
    I replaced it by a standard MBR........ for now it boots ok.........

    allthough the disk seems to be corrupt, it's a MBR problem, after repartitioning the disk is ok,even after stress tests.
     
    fvdb, Mar 3, 2008
    #7
  8. penrynTech

    penrynTech Notebook Guru

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    Its a fault with the IDE controller on the mainboard. Its starting to be a common fault with this model. It either affects the HDD or the optical drive. Either way they usually require a new mainboard. Hope this helps
     
    penrynTech, Mar 17, 2008
    #8