Help Please!..laptop Nay Working...

[mumof4]

It is Phoenix....cant get into Bios..password protected.........also just been informed by tesco after waiting 8 days for a recorded delivery letter with the receipt, that because of the damage to the unit it will have to go back to the store it was bought from!!AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH..My daughter was sooo pleased whe the receipt came...gonna be very upset when she gets home from school....

 

I have taken the back off the lappy..and there are stickers all over the board saying warrenty void if removed...so i havent a clue... :angry:

 

Have gone through some backdoor passwords with Bleeno..we can get into the hidden recovery drive..but the same error comes up. :lol:

 

Now i used to be able to get into Bios....But a neighbour put a copy of his XP in and since then it has become password protected..you get three attempts before it disables the machine..then have to switch off for a while before trying again..

[Guest wolfie]

what happened when the neighbours XP disc was loaded? did it try and run?

to beat the password you could try and remove the CMOS battery off the mother board for 10/15 mins or alter the jumper plugs/switches to erase the password! BUTdoing this could loose any setting made by the lap tops maker needed to run certain hardware/software they loaded!

[mumof4]

what happened when the neighbours XP disc was loaded? did it try and run?

to beat the password you could try and remove the CMOS battery off the mother board for 10/15 mins or alter the jumper plugs/switches to erase the password! BUTdoing this could loose any setting made by the lap tops maker needed to run certain hardware/software they loaded!

 

 

It tried to run but the error came up..then bios became password protected....all he did was put it into the disc drive..

 

 

Its a 400 quid laptop.....Im going to hand it over to her dad and he can now deal with it....technically it is still under warrenty...i believe i have gone as far as i can with it....now it is his turn...i wouldnt know what id be doing if i started fiddling with everything on the board..I think it is set up to boot from the hard drive and not disc.......

[AndeeeH]

Hi Maz, just read the updated thread. I know a bloke local to both of us who would probably be able to sort it for you. Let me know if you are definately giving up on it or if you would like to speak to him first. :rolleyes: Andy.

[mumof4]

i really dont know what he can do...... :blink: ..it needs the set up discs which i dont have..

[AndeeeH]

i really dont know what he can do...... :o ..it needs the set up discs which i dont have..

 

He managed to repair an old computer of mine that had been running Windows ME and, mysteriosly, :blink: :lol: when I got it back it was running XP. The repair cost

[Guest wolfie]

i really dont know what he can do...... :lol: ..it needs the set up discs which i dont have..

 

not really! just a copy of XP and away you go, it will be like building it from new, replacing the duff drive will mean a fresh install :blink: so the manufacturers recovery disc wont be any good!

XP will have enough junk/drivers on it to get the laptop up and running, what it hasnt got you can find online later

[big_kev]

Hi Maz, just read the updated thread. I know a bloke local to both of us who would probably be able to sort it for you. Let me know if you are definately giving up on it or if you would like to speak to him first. :blink: Andy.

 

Maz,

 

I think its time to admit defeat and go with Andeeh's option.

 

Let the guy have a look at it.

[NikpV]

did you ever get this lappy sorted then ? ?

[mumof4]

Not yet..been a bit preoccupied here what with my op, relatives pegging it and trying to get the move sorted!....plus on here of course. ^_^

[gregers]

typical lazy sod

[Smilge]

Gents having read the previous posts, Mazs' problem is not being able to get into the BIOS because its password protected. What she needs to able to do is to be able to boot the machine from an XP CD to run the chkdsk /p, chkdsk /r and fixboot from the repair option of the XP setup. Im 90% sure this will sort any file corruption. As Wolfie suggests clearing the CMOS will return the machine to default but vital settings may be lost. Many modern laptops store the BIOS password on EEPROM rather than the CMOS chip and therefore clearing the CMOS is pointless. I have E-mailed ACER as a secondhand buyer asking for the BIOS password but still havent recieved an answer (all backdoor passwords have been tried). Does anyone know of a person who works in the Computer world and is able to get the BIOS password for this machine. As far as Im concerned, a factory set password affects the consumers rights in this case, as it even prevents a disc recovery if you think about it.

 

Chris

[mumof4]

I have just rung Acer again, they refuse to give me the BIOS password and have informed me that i must send the laptop to them to have the BIOS flashed at a cost of

[Bigjeeze]

Maz

 

If the machine wasa bought from Tesco and you have the receipt then they should deal. Even if they don't have the XP sticker it doesn't matter. They sold it with the Operating system on it- somewhere they and or ACER will have the records of what XP key went with that machines serial number. Even if they say that the damage is due to physical abuse that's fine but you still need to know what the Key is and the Bios passwords. As Nik says under the SOGA the goods have to be in a merchantable condition and last for a reasonable period of time - in this case at least one year.

 

If they say the damage is chargeable, fine but the rest of it should be under warranty. You can provide your own hardware but not without access to the numbers.

 

So tell them you don't want any of the physical damage repaired but you do want the software keys etc provided.

 

Give it a go. BUT BEAT UP TESCO - THEY SOLD IT!! Its up to them to fight with ACER

[NikpV]

If it came with the bios password set then you should be able to get a copy from ACER if it didn't (most likely) then someone, you, your daughter, he father have set the password and ACER cannot be expected to know and unless they have another 'backdoor' password set (and even if they had I wouldn't expect them to tell you) if not the only way that they can access the laptop is to replace or reflash the bios. The Xp key is irelevant even if you knew it it would not help repair the machine(see below)

 

If I were you I would be writing a recorded delivery letter to tesco explaining that you would like them to honour their warranty under SOGA since it hasn't lasted a year, the loss of the xp key is irrelevant (as BJ says) they sold the lappy with the operating system and should know the key. Explain that you are giving them 14 days to make a satisfactory response or you will take the matter further, it will speed up the process if you explain that you have taken with the receipt but the warranty was refused on the basis of a missing number (the key). Note the damage sustained may arguably explain the problem with the computer but until it is examined tesco cannot refuse to deal with you (if they do the chances are very high that you will get an award in the small claims court - incidentally the case would be heard at your local court - its up to tesco as a business to accomodate you, I would be extremely surprised if they will contest this if they think you are serious and the condition of the lappy leaves any doubt as to the cause of the problem - it will cost them more than a new machine, they may well test your resolve however. If you go down this route you must keep a record of all correspondance. Tesco are probably reying of the fact you can't be bothered to pursue them over this.

[mumof4]

They wouldnt touch it because the power cable had been cut and repaired...i havent been able to find another power cable to match.

[NikpV]

They wouldnt touch it because the power cable had been cut and repaired...i havent been able to find another power cable to match.

 

umm must have missed that thought it was the xp sticker- usually though you don't send off all the bits so how would they know that