Acer Laptop - no BOOT.ini, network boot ONLY

Started by mroedesigns, June 13, 2011, 10:30:17 pm

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mroedesigns

I have an ACER laptop that's all kinds of jacked up apparently. I went to start it, and it says there's no boot file, nothing to boot on. I tried entering the BIOS to boot of a USB drive (no disc drive), but the only boot option I have is Boot from Network, which I have never done before, so I don't know how it works.

I tried hitting network boot and booting off a usb drive but that didn't work either.
Any ideas?

WhiteRose

It sounds like the BIOS is messed up. When did the computer start acting like this?

mroedesigns

Today. Worked fine last time I used it. I'm assuming it got dropped or something and nobody wants to tell me  :roll:

ForeverZer0

Download Ubuntu and burn a Live CD and boot off that. From there you can actually get into the file system and see whats going on and make any needed repairs. The USB boot will only work if your motherboard supports it, which most modern PCs will, but burning a disc image is much easier than creating a bootable USB. You have to format it in FAT and also partition a bootable sector on it. The Live CD is much easier, simply burn the image on the disc and pop it in, select the disc drive as first in the boot order and fire it up.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
I am done scripting for RMXP. I will likely not offer support for even my own scripts anymore, but feel free to ask on the forum, there are plenty of other talented scripters that can help you.

mroedesigns

I don't have a disc drive like I said, that's why I was trying the USB. And I do have ubuntu, that's what I'm running. That's what I used to make the live USB

WhiteRose

Quote from: ForeverZer0 on June 13, 2011, 10:46:24 pm
Download Ubuntu and burn a Live CD and boot off that. From there you can actually get into the file system and see whats going on and make any needed repairs. The USB boot will only work if your motherboard supports it, which most modern PCs will, but burning a disc image is much easier than creating a bootable USB. You have to format it in FAT and also partition a bootable sector on it. The Live CD is much easier, simply burn the image on the disc and pop it in, select the disc drive as first in the boot order and fire it up.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download


He said that he's unable to boot into anything except Boot from Network, which leads me to believe it's a problem with the BIOS.

If you didn't flash the BIOS or anything like that recently, the only thing I could think of that would be causing an issue like this would be a broken motherboard.

mroedesigns

 :O.o:

I sure as hell hope not.

If that's it, short of taking it apart, would there be any way to confirm that?

WhiteRose

Quote from: mroedesigns on June 13, 2011, 11:11:35 pm
:O.o:

I sure as hell hope not.

If that's it, short of taking it apart, would there be any way to confirm that?


I would say to listen to the POST beeps, but I don't think laptops beep during POST testing anyway. Come to think of it, I'm not sure newer desktops beep during POST testing either. Maybe my knowledge is just outdated. Depressing, considering I'm still in school learning it.

mroedesigns

I don't think mine did. Even before when it was working fine I don't remember it beeping like it went through POST, and there's no beeping now.

ForeverZer0

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742501.aspx

For Windows 2000, but XP and it are pretty much the same when it comes to this. Sorry about stupid response in previous post, after I read yours a second time, I realized I missed some vital info in there... :P
I am done scripting for RMXP. I will likely not offer support for even my own scripts anymore, but feel free to ask on the forum, there are plenty of other talented scripters that can help you.

G_G

Who's failing now. >:U
Quote from: ForeverZer0 on May 10, 2011, 07:30:12 pm
Quote from: Pedomon on May 10, 2011, 07:11:54 pm
I found a very informative post. It tells you how to get up to 20 GB (actually 19 GB since on of the offers has expired).

http://maxyourdropbox.blogspot.com/


ForeverZer0

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was the "Act like Another User" thread. I was going for the double fail of posting in the wrong topic. I thought I did you petty well. Your turn. :V:
I am done scripting for RMXP. I will likely not offer support for even my own scripts anymore, but feel free to ask on the forum, there are plenty of other talented scripters that can help you.

mroedesigns

So I finally got it to boot from usb.. but I'm pretty sure the hard drive is broken. Hence the BOOT.INI issue. My ubuntu installer is telling me I dont even have 4.5g of free space  :'(

Blizzard

If you are running Windows XP:
Put your Windows CD into the drive, make sure to run the installation. After some time a screen should appear that will offer you to install Windows XP, open the repair console or abort. Open the repair console and once you are inside, enter "chksdk /p". After it is done, enter "fixboot". Finally enter "exit". After the reboot, it should work. If it didn't work, repeat everything until you get into the recovery console. This time type "chkdsk /r" and after it is done "exit". Be aware that chkdsk (especially with /r) will most probably some time to scan and fix your HDD.

I'm not entirely sure how it works in Windows 7, but I'm pretty sure it's very similar to get into the recovery console.
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Blizzard

Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

mroedesigns

bahaha, thanks tho bliz! I'm pretty sure the HD is broken.. finally got it to boot off USB, and my ubuntu installer says there's not enough room.. min requirement is 4.5g  :O.o:

G_G

I know taking apart laptops is kinda messy, but maybe what happened is the cord that hooks the HDD to the motherboard (or whatever part, not too smart hardware wise) is loose. That happened a once to my old desktop. Dunno how but the cord was loose, I just plugged it back in and wa-la. ._. Though I remember now that the error was "No bootable media drive" or something like that. D:

mroedesigns

Hmm.. That could be too, i didn't even think about that. But I don't know much about taking laptops apart... anyone have an offhand guide to taking apart an acer aspireone? haha