Strange problem with laptop

Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
edited February 2016 in Science & Tech

Here's an odd one (for me at least). My friends laptop is an Acer Aspire V5-531 and he gets the "Operating system not found" message after the splash screen. The weird part is that when I put a Windows CD in and ignore the prompt to "press any key to load from CD/DVD" it boots into his original install. We tried re-installing Windows and that went without a hitch - but as soon as we remove the disc from the drive and try to boot, we get the OS not found message!!

Also - just to make it even more perplexing - we can't get into BIOS with the requested F2 keystroke, just completely ignores it. I know the keyboard is being recognised though because the Pause function is working (and have tried with a USB keyboard to - but no luck). Have tried all the function keys BTW and to no avail......anyone got any ideas?

Comments

  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member

    OS is Windows 7 64 bit

  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian

    Is there anything else plugged into the laptop when you try to boot? Any external drives/USB, etc?

    If yes, disconnect them all and try to boot. If it boots, then go into the bios and make sure the internal HDD is first boot.

  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member

    No other peripherals plugged in Ryder - and the laptop point blank refuses to go into BIOS.......I've tried jumping the CMOS to reset BIOS too, but that doesn't appear to have worked. I could try stripping it down and removing the CMOS battery maybe? I do remember that the time and date was set back to 2012 when I got it to boot with the Windows 7 install disc in the tray.

  • RequitRequit That one guy Somewhere over there, I don't know Icrontian

    If it's booting from the CD and not the HDD itself, it's possible the Windows MBR is corrupted.

    As per this article:

    Put the Windows 7 media in the DVD drive, and then start the computer.
Press a key when you are prompted.
Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard, or an input method, and then click Next.
Click Repair your computer.
Select the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
Type Bootrec.exe, and then press Enter.

    Once you've done that, try using the command /fixmbr and restart. If that fails, redo the process and attempt to use /fixboot

    primesuspectTushon
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member

    I have no option to "Repair my Computer". I know it should be there but his disc does not offer this as an option! Is there any thoughts on why the system won't allow me into BIOS? Could I rectify maybe by updating or flashing? I reckon if I could get in there to change boot options or even restore to default I might be on my way to solving the issue.....

  • MyrmidonMyrmidon Baron von Puttenham California Icrontian

    +1 for MBR being busted. You could always install grub2 (assuming you have secureboot turned off)! :D

    I've seen Win7 media without any repair stuff before. You might need to make new media... the iso is still floating around on the web, right? However, your Win7 media should have a way to get to a command prompt, which is all @Requit really wants you to do.

    No idea on the bios, off top of my head.

  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian

    Have you tried pressing "F8" while booting with the disc?

  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian

    @Mt_Goat said:
    Have you tried pressing "F8" while booting with the disc?

    F8, F12, DEL are the usual suspects and I would try one or all of them and see if you can get a boot menu out of it. Not being able to access the BIOS is pretty disconcerting if true though.

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian

    Do you have a USB keyboard you can plug into the thing and try to get into the bios that way?

  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian

    @Byron172 said:
    Also - just to make it even more perplexing - we can't get into BIOS with the requested F2 keystroke, just completely ignores it. I know the keyboard is being recognised though because the Pause function is working (and have tried with a USB keyboard to - but no luck). Have tried all the function keys BTW and to no avail......anyone got any ideas?

    re function keys, it got me thinking: Usually, if function key are defaulting you on, you have to press the Fn button+ your desired F# button to actually get the F# keystroke. So, if you want F2, you need to press and hold Fn+ touch F2 a few times during that boot sequence and release once you get a BIOS screen.

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