HELP! Regarding laptop

My daughter's laptop is an Acer 5100 series. Purchased last year.

When she went to turn it on, it shows the Acer Logo, then the black screen which continues to flash 2 messages.

One about the cables regarding the harddrive. (Sorry I'm at work and don't have the exact error message)

In Bios, there is nothing next to SATA or HDD.

Does this mean her harddrive is fried? We took the back off the laptop, unscrewed the harddrive and re-inserted in case the "cables" were loose....

but same thing happens.

Any suggestions please??

thank you so much
sora

Find the exact error messages and Google them.. or post them here then I might be able to help you (me as in my hubby... LOL)

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting PXE ROM.

We goggle both, and did as suggested taking the harddrive out and re-inserting incase of it being loose.....

Thank you for any suggestions you (your hubby :D) may have for us!

love,
sora

Go into the BIOS....

Where you can specify boot order, go in and make sure the hard drive is not disabled (usually you hit the spacebar...and if it's enabled, there should be a check next to it, I believe)

If that doesn't work, when in the BIOS...there should be a key combination to reset the BIOS to defaults. Probably can find the shortcut at the bottom of the screen in the BIOS...

If that doesn't work, it does sound like the hard drive is DOA. About the only other thing you can try...is try using the restore disk that they probably provided for you...see if it will reload the OS. That one is a long-shot, but worth one.

Go into the BIOS....

Where you can specify boot order, go in and make sure the hard drive is not disabled (usually you hit the spacebar...and if it's enabled, there should be a check next to it, I believe)

If that doesn't work, when in the BIOS...there should be a key combination to reset the BIOS to defaults. Probably can find the shortcut at the bottom of the screen in the BIOS...

If that doesn't work, it does sound like the hard drive is DOA. About the only other thing you can try...is try using the restore disk that they probably provided for you...see if it will reload the OS. That one is a long-shot, but worth one.

Dan,

In Bios, next to Sata and HDD its blank...........

Yes, we trying resetting to factory defaults.....still nothing. And, we specify the boot order trying to reboot from a disk......it only shows reading from CD...which takes a while...then blue screen shows and the cursor arrow.......and nothing else......

I have the same laptop as hers, bought at the same time. I thought we would take my hardrive out of mine and insert into hers.....wouldn't that prove whether or not its her harddrive is dead or not??

If its dead........when I purchase a new one.......what happens? It won't have an operating system on it right? Can I use my restore disks on a new hardrive?

Thank you for your help Dan!

sora

Yeah, if you swap the hard drives....that should be a good "test"...that's what alot of us end up doing to eliminate one thing or another...

Do you know if the laptop is still under warranty? If it is, I'd contact Acer.

If you purchase a new one...you are correct, it will not have an Operating System on it. However, you SHOULD be able to use the System Restore disk. That should apply the Operating System to the new hard drive just as it was when you got the original.

And if you have to buy a new hard drive, I would probably suggest buying online...at a reputable place like NewEgg.com That is where I buy all my parts (and recently bought a laptop hard drive for 60 dollars.

Thank you sooooooooooo much!!

You guys are the best........

I'll let you know the outcome!

sora

Looks like you got some expert help :D

Hope everything turns out well!!!