[SOLVED] Recovery problems with Acer Aspire 5100

peppertherj · 06-14-2008, 11:48 AM

I'm having problems with running the recovery CD. The problem first started when the computer (Acer Aspire 5102WLMi w/ XP SP2) wouldn't recognize anything in the computer when it booted up. Instead it tried to network boot, giving me this message:

"For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.13 (020326)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM."

I disabled it and after several alt control deletes it suddenly recognized the hard drive and dvd drive and finally booted. I've had to do this several times just to get it to start up. Now it's started something else in combination with this. First, when it boots to the hard drive, it says

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file"

So I figured I'd just run the recovery and reformat it. There's nothing important on it anyway. I stuck in the recovery disc and just set bios to run the recovery disc automatically so that if it didn't recognize the drives I could just alt control delete til it did. I got the recovery to start and it starts loading then all of the sudden, it'll just shut off on me out of nowhere while it's still loading the recovery disc.

I've checked all kinds of forums and sites and have found nothing that could help me. Does anyone have any ideas?

**TriggerFinger** · 06-14-2008, 02:37 PM

do you mean your laptop cannot consistently see the the hard drive or the CD drive? this could mean a bios or motherboard problem. reset the CMOS. try reseating these devices. also try to reseat your RAM modules. i also suggest you test your hard drive and CD drive on another computer just to be sure they are still in good working condition. if ever they test OK in another computer, then you could be having problems with your motherboard or bios.

peppertherj · 06-15-2008, 12:25 AM

Reset the cmos, now the computer is booting fine and loading the recovery disc all the way to copying the partition. The random rebooting was being caused by the computer overheating and bios shutting it down. The recovery is running now and is going well. Thanks much for the advice!

**TriggerFinger** · 06-15-2008, 08:12 AM

so it was overheating? i did not see that in the posts. i just thought the error pops up every time (even at first power ON of the day).

good for you that you found this out. i am glad you got it working again.

peppertherj · 06-15-2008, 05:22 PM

Yeah, I didn't even know it was overheating. It turns out that's why it was shutting off every time i turned it on. The power cable for the fan was loose and wasn't running so I plugged it back in and away it went. Resetting the cmos seems to have helped the problem with it not reading the hard drive and optical when it turned on. I've restarted the computer several times after reinstalling programs and it hasn't messed up once. Thanks. :-)

06-14-2008, 11:48 AM	#1 (permalink)
peppertherj Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Toledo, OH Posts: 15 OS: Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 My System	[SOLVED] Recovery problems with Acer Aspire 5100 I'm having problems with running the recovery CD. The problem first started when the computer (Acer Aspire 5102WLMi w/ XP SP2) wouldn't recognize anything in the computer when it booted up. Instead it tried to network boot, giving me this message: "For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.13 (020326) PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM." I disabled it and after several alt control deletes it suddenly recognized the hard drive and dvd drive and finally booted. I've had to do this several times just to get it to start up. Now it's started something else in combination with this. First, when it boots to the hard drive, it says "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll Please re-install a copy of the above file" So I figured I'd just run the recovery and reformat it. There's nothing important on it anyway. I stuck in the recovery disc and just set bios to run the recovery disc automatically so that if it didn't recognize the drives I could just alt control delete til it did. I got the recovery to start and it starts loading then all of the sudden, it'll just shut off on me out of nowhere while it's still loading the recovery disc. I've checked all kinds of forums and sites and have found nothing that could help me. Does anyone have any ideas?

06-14-2008, 02:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,847 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Recovery problems with Acer Aspire 5100 do you mean your laptop cannot consistently see the the hard drive or the CD drive? this could mean a bios or motherboard problem. reset the CMOS. try reseating these devices. also try to reseat your RAM modules. i also suggest you test your hard drive and CD drive on another computer just to be sure they are still in good working condition. if ever they test OK in another computer, then you could be having problems with your motherboard or bios. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE

06-15-2008, 12:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
peppertherj Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Toledo, OH Posts: 15 OS: Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 My System	Re: Recovery problems with Acer Aspire 5100 Reset the cmos, now the computer is booting fine and loading the recovery disc all the way to copying the partition. The random rebooting was being caused by the computer overheating and bios shutting it down. The recovery is running now and is going well. Thanks much for the advice!

06-15-2008, 08:12 AM	#4 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,847 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Recovery problems with Acer Aspire 5100 so it was overheating? i did not see that in the posts. i just thought the error pops up every time (even at first power ON of the day). good for you that you found this out. i am glad you got it working again. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE

06-15-2008, 05:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
peppertherj Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Toledo, OH Posts: 15 OS: Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 My System	Re: Recovery problems with Acer Aspire 5100 Yeah, I didn't even know it was overheating. It turns out that's why it was shutting off every time i turned it on. The power cable for the fan was loose and wasn't running so I plugged it back in and away it went. Resetting the cmos seems to have helped the problem with it not reading the hard drive and optical when it turned on. I've restarted the computer several times after reinstalling programs and it hasn't messed up once. Thanks. :-)