Aspire problems... verdict please ?

Hi all, new here..

The story so far...

The machine is a 2 and a bit year old Acer Aspire 1692, been perfect until recently, I turned it on and the screen didn't illuminate, at all. After a bit of research and fiddling I replaced the inverter and the screen started working again.. but all is not well...

The first problem is that you don't see the BIOS splash screen, or the post screen, you also don't see the windows xp loading page.. the screen stays blank until it has booted and can display the login screen... which looks like:


If I attempt to sign in the machine hangs or turns off.

If I plug in a monitor I do see the BIOS splash/post screens etc.. however it still does a similar thing to the above on the login screen. I have had it running in safe mode on an external monitor and it was fine, display looked ok, machine was stable. I can't get it to run in safe mode on its own screen because I can't see the boot menu after I press F8 (screen stays blank during booting remember!). If I go in to the BIOS setup using an external monitor it looks like this:


ignore the dark horizontal lines, thats just byproduct of taking pics of a CRT screen - its the vertical red dotted lines I'm more concerned about.

I'm guessing that when the inverter went pop its spiked something and caused the problems displayed here.. I've had a look inside and I'm 99% certain that the graphics stuff is all on the mainboard, which I'm guessing will be an expensive repair and probably not worth it ? The machine has an ATI chipset for graphics and dedicated video memory, but this also appears to be on board.. I've looked for a service manual but have been unable to find anything.

Any suggestions/thoughts ? I did think it could be software at first and was going to try a reinstall.. but the stuff with the red lines in BIOS setup and the non display of the splash screen has thrown that arguement..

Thanks

 

I agree that it is probably not software. I think it is the video chipset on the motherboard in which case the motherboard will have to be replaced. Keep searching for a manual.

 

Thanks for the reply..

Oddly enough I just came across a PDF document ( http://www.informatico.eti.br/forum/manualtecnico/notebook/acer/aspire1690e_3510.pdf)
Its not really a service manual, but does show the mainboard layout for the machine, which confirms that the VRAM is onboard, so the graphics chips are as well..

I'm guessing that a new mainboard is gonna cost $$$$ and I'm probably better off replacing it than fixing it ?

 

"I'm guessing that a new mainboard is gonna cost $$$$ and I'm probably better off replacing it than fixing it ?"


Yes, that'd be money better spent with new laptops being so inexpensive nowadays (unless you need a high-end one).

You'd probably pay big bucks (labor alone) to fix your 1692 and still have a 2+ year old technology-wise laptop.

-- John D.

 

There are four types of mainboard for this computer. And the cost is about 430 $ to 500 $ -- only repair flow, this means you have to buy a repaired used board, not recommended