Hi everyone, my laptop decided to die overnight and now it does not work, It is a pretty wierd problem that I am not familiar with and I was wondering if anyone could suggest a possible solution 🙂

Ok, the laptop in question is Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG (windows 7). It was working fine until one morning when instead of the logging in screen (the one with all the user accounts) nothing at all was displayed. Restarting did not solve the problem, it was all the same, turn on – acer logo – windows logo – black screen.
I booted it into safe mode and everything worked absolutely fine. While in safe mode, tried system restore = nothing. Then went into those booting options at start up and chose the boot in the last successful configuration thing – still the same problem.

After that I decided to do a full format and reinstall windows, I used the recovery dvds that i burned after purchasing the laptop (about 2 years ago) which always worked fine (i did a couple of full formats over the last 2 years lol). So the reinstall of the windows goes fine UNTIL the second restart, when instead of setup screen, the screen goes completely black and the same thing happens again 🙁 If the screen goes black and i press the power button to turn off the laptop an interesting thing happens. After turning it back on the screen stays completely black and nothing is displayed, you can only see the flashing processor lights. However, when the laptop is still on and i force the shut down (by removing the power cable) the display works again, the laptop turns on fine by going into one of those screens when it says that windows was shut abnormally, and that there is a possibility of turning it in safe mode. However, you can’t install windows in safe mode 🙁

except that tried doing further 3 formats, 2 from the dvds and one from the hard drive, still same problem.

So, any ideas anyone?

It could be related to memory. Try taking out one of the modules and try re-installing again.

I had a problem with a Desktop PC that wouldn’t even load the files to start the install until I changed the memory!

have done that already and still the same thing 🙁

I’ve seen this a few times, and it’s always been file corruption; a chkdsk fixes it.

If it’s doing it on a rebuild, it might be new hard disk time? I’d try doing a full (not quick) format on it first though.

After turning it back on the screen stays completely black and nothing is displayed, you can only see the flashing processor lights. However, when the laptop is still on and i force the shut down (by removing the power cable) the display works again,

Ah,

Is it overheating? Blow the dust out of it maybe?

Acer black screen of death rings a bell. Are you on the latest BIOS version?

Ah,

Is it overheating? Blow the dust out of it maybe?

never had any problems with it 🙁

Very unlikely to be the issue, but since you are getting desperate…

When the screen goes blank as it boots into windows, have you tried the function + F key that toggles through display, display + external screen, external screen only?

I’m sure it would have reset during restarts/reinstall, but you never know…

Very unlikely to be the issue, but since you are getting desperate…

When the screen goes blank as it boots into windows, have you tried the function + F key that toggles through display, display + external screen, external screen only?

I’m sure it would have reset during restarts/reinstall, but you never know… just tried it, nothing happens 🙁

Acer black screen of death rings a bell. Are you on the latest BIOS version?

how do i check that? iirc i have never updated bios.

I’ve seen this a few times, and it’s always been file corruption; a chkdsk fixes it.

If it’s doing it on a rebuild, it might be new hard disk time? I’d try doing a full (not quick) format on it first though.

will try the chkdsk thing, thanks! 🙂

Sounds like a graphics card switching issue. Yours has 2 graphics cards – the integrated Intel one and a separate ATI card. I might have this the wrong way round, but when the laptop boots it’ll be using the ATI card, and will try to switch to the Intel card when it gets to Windows to save power. Which is when you get the black screen.

First thing to try is to reload the BIOS defaults and try again – a setting my have got screwed up somewhere. If that doesn’t work, see if you can find a setting in BIOS to disable one of the graphics cards so it doesn’t allow the operating system to switch them. Not sure what that setting will be, but have a poke around, there should be something

Thanks for all of your help guys, now I’m 90% sure that I found what the problem is. Its the dedicated graphics card which appears to be dead. In my BIOS there are 2 options regarding the graphics card used, discrete which just uses the the dedicated ati radeon graphics and the switchable mode which uses both the discrete and integrated graphics. The default mode is the switchable mode, however after changing the settings to just the dedicated one, nothing at ALL is displayed. Switching the BIOS back solves the problem but up to the certain point mentioned in the first post. Ah well, need to repair my gpu now! Lol

Have you tried waving your fist at it and threatening it in a hushed undertone?