Unable to start Acer Aspire One

[wbmcleod]

I bought an Aspire One, Model # ZG5, Ser # LUS050B111846076172535. It has a 160 g hard drive, runs Windows XP Home, has 3 battery pack. The machine got bumped, or something, during travel last month, and won't start correctly. I get a big white bar running up and down approx 1/3 way from left edge. How can I get this machine to reboot correctly? I believe the source of choice is the hard drive, which is obviously corrupted. There is no disc drive. What to do? Thanks, Bill

[Detritus]

Thread moved to correct forum

[wbmcleod]

what is the correct forum? How do I go there?

[Detritus]

what is the correct forum? How do I go there?

You're there already, I moved the thread from the community forum (general chit chat) to the technical support forum.

[RayH]

What is the meaning of "bumped or something?" Try starting the computer, during the startup press F2. If you can't see the setup, then the problem is more than your hard drive. If you see the set up clearly, then it is your hard drive and it needs to be replaced and Windows reinstalled. You can get the reinstall disks from Acer or should be able...

[wbmcleod]

What is the meaning of "bumped or something?" Try starting the computer, during the startup press F2. If you can't see the setup, then the problem is more than your hard drive. If you see the set up clearly, then it is your hard drive and it needs to be replaced and Windows reinstalled. You can get the reinstall disks from Acer or should be able...

The damage happened while en route to the East Coast. Don't know why.

When I hit F2, I get the same broad white stripe top to bottom as described before

[de_day]

Sounds like your screen or motherboard/video card is damaged. If you connect an external monitor to it (making sure the right "fn" key combo has been pushed to send it to the external port) can you see a clear picture?

I had a very OLD laptop that I used like that as a desktop for years.

[wbmcleod]

I put on a monitor, got a very grainy picture without the stripe on the monitor, hit F2 and couldn't figure out what to do. The monitor picture lasted a few seconds, then disappeared, never to appear again. By the way, what is the "right" fn key combo

[de_day]

On a laptop, you will have an "Fn" key and colored symbols on the keys that represent a funtion. One of those will allow you to switch the display to the monitor, back to the LCD screen or to both at the same time. That is the fn key combo that I refer to.

This will allow you to see if it's strictly a problem with your LCD or if it's "deeper" in the machine than that.

Is there a grievience procedure when travelling if your laptop is damaged in transit on a plane, bus, etc? I don't know.