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I've got an old Acer Travelmate 7740ZG. Recently it broke somehow and now it refuses to boot. I know tons of users ask about booting problems again and again but there's something that seems really strange to me:

  1. Trying to boot an OS results in a black screen with a flashing cursor
  2. Pressing F2 during startup opens BIOS settings, it works perfectly
  3. I am able to select the boot device (either by changing the boot preference or in the boot menu during startup), however the system never succeeds to boot. Here's a video: http://1drv.ms/1y46ySI

That means it's not an broken boot sector. Also it's not a motherboard or CPU failure as BIOS works fine (even with USB keyboard).


I've tried to boot the following:

  • Windows 10 TP on HDD
  • Windows 10 TP on a flash drive
  • Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on a flash drive
  • Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a DVD

But all of them failed instantly (no loading etc.) and only a console-like screen (see #1) appeared.

Thanks for advice :)

m93a
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  • Is there any RAM in it? – Andrew Morton Apr 02 '15 at 19:16
  • Yep. BIOS says `Total Memory: 4096 MB` – m93a Apr 02 '15 at 19:22
  • If the BIOS has some option ilke "Load safe defaults," have you tried that? – Andrew Morton Apr 02 '15 at 19:28
  • Sadly, that helps neither. – m93a Apr 02 '15 at 19:34
  • "console-like screen appeared" …Pictures might help, even just from a phone-cam posted to imgur, flickr etc & link added to your question. – Tetsujin Apr 02 '15 at 19:36
  • @Tetsujin There's pretty much nothing to see. Just a black screen with a blinking white underscore cursor. http://1drv.ms/1NEJSdf – m93a Apr 02 '15 at 19:44
  • hmm… that's the 'found something, but can't figure out how to boot from it' sign. The "I'm still thinking but haven't yet made up my mind" logo. Drive is seen, boot is determined, but boot isn't happening. I'd suspect the drive/OS, except that you say it does it with *any* boot device. I'm stumped, sorry. – Tetsujin Apr 02 '15 at 20:01
  • @Tetsujin Yeah, that's the weird part. It does not accept CDs which it used to before. – m93a Apr 02 '15 at 20:09
  • Tried pulling the CMOS battery for 10 mins? [if it has one] – Tetsujin Apr 02 '15 at 20:11
  • Still nothing... :( – m93a Apr 02 '15 at 20:25
  • As @ Tetsujin, the battery might be be an issue; it might need to be replaced (they also power the clock, so if time is *way* off in BIOS setup, that's an indication it's the battery). – DrMoishe Pippik Apr 02 '15 at 20:33

0 Answers0