Laptop not working with Linux Mint 9 and Windows 7

[St0newash]

Been a long time fan of Linux Mint but consider myself a newbie still.
Ran into the following problem:

I made an install of Linux Mint 9 and Windows 7 (dual boot) yesterday. Updated both the Win 7 and Linux Mint 9, with no problems. Everything went smooth and I tried both OS and they worked flawlessly. Turned off the laptop after using and switching from those two OS for approx 1 day, very satisfied with the new Mint 9 release.

- Today, everytime I try to boot up my laptop, it shows the loading screen for a few (5-7?) seconds ("press F2 to enter setup"), then restarts and shows the same loading screen again and then shuts off.
- I have tried to press F2 to enter setup but it doesn't work, it just turns off again, ignoring my pressing F2.
- The BIOS was set up to boot from the dvd drive if a dvd is present. I have tried to boot it up with Windows 7 disc and the Linux Mint 9 disc, and even a AVG Rescue CD.
None of those works, the laptop/BIOS seems to ignores the discs completely.

I have had no problems, no "clicks of death" or likewise from the harddrive or any problem with other hardware before I installed Linux Mint 9.
Therefore I suspect it being something with either Linux Mint 9 or Windows 7 that is at fault.

I hope someone can help me with this and thank you for your patience.

Acer Aspire 5930G
Windows 7/Linux Mint 9 Dual Boot
Intel Core 2 Duo
Nvidia 9600M GT
3GB DDR2
320 GB HDD
DVD-Super Multi DL
802.11a/b/g/Draft-N WLAN

[oobetimer]

Sounds like a hardware problem. You could try to unconnect all net-hardware, etc, so that you can get to BIOS. USB-mouse, USB-wlan, eth-cable, CD/DVDROM, ... .

[St0newash]

Thanks for your reply.

I disconnectedthe mouse, external hardrive and net cable. Did not disconnect the dvd-drive as I do not know how to disconnect this on a laptop.

It still doesn't work, same error as before.

[St0newash]

I am now inclined to believe my problem is similar to the one discussed in this thread:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=53937

I have tried UBCD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html) which is supposed to have TestDisc included, and Dariks Boot and Nuke (http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/) to no avail.

As mentioned before there were no previous errors or "clicks of death" regarding the harddrive, the problem appeared after installing Linux Mint 9.

EDIT:
Tried GParted too (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted ... ve-stable/).
No luck.

EDIT 2:
Add Parted Magic Live CD (http://partedmagic.com/download.html) to the list.

[colyn]

Remove the hard drive from the laptop.

Boot and see if you can enter the bios. If so set to default settings then re-install the hard drive and boot again pressing f2 to enter the bios. Again set to defaults and restart. Now see if it will boot from the hard drive.

If you can enter the bios as above but not boot when the hard drive is installed you may have a bad hard drive. To see if this is true again remove the hard drive and insert the live CD/DVD that you used to install Mint from and see if the computer runs the live CD/DVD. If it runs fine then you either have a bad install to the hard drive or a bad hard drive.

Some laptops with Windows 7 installed (Dell is bad about this) have a data protection program installed which will overwrite MBR which will result in the inability to boot. But usually if this is true you should be able to boot into Windows.

Worst case is your bios could have gone bad..

Just to clarify: No operating system Linux or otherwise will destroy your hard drive. If there is a drive issue after install it was there before..

[St0newash]

I **** you not, people: It's solved, but it was not the harddisk drive.

Colyn, thank you too, for your reply.

Lacking a decent screwdriver, I did not remove the hardisk, but your suggestion inspired me to try something else - to remove the battery.
I then tried booting it up again, with just the power cord plugged in (battery still out/disconnected).
And guess what, the laptop suddenly boots up with no problems, the dual boot with Linux Mint 9 and Windows 7 works again.

So: No faulty harddisk drive in my case.

Could be a case in point to remember if anyone else have similar problems, to try booting without the laptop battery.
I am not sure if this could be an issue with laptops running Linux Mint 9 or if there is something wrong with my battery in particular?

Thanks again, guys.

[colyn]

Laptop batteries have a cut-out switch built-in that does two things. One is to cut off charging once the battery is fully charged and two is to shut off charging if the cells overheat.

The battery could have one or more dead/shorted cells which would drain the battery and cut off power to the bios by draining the bios battery even when the power cable is plugged in.

If this is the case then you'll need to buy a new battery.

[St0newash]

Of course, thank you, this could be the case.

I have found that I am not the only Acer owner with this problem though, the battery/power thing seems to be an issue with a lot of Acer laptops, dating some years back and until recently:

http://www.ozzu.com/hardware/acer-lapto ... 76457.html

On a more happy note, I'm glad to be surfin' the Mint forums with my own computer again, although I have to have it plugged in all the time.

Thank you so much for your sincere help, I'll get the battery checked out.

[Lanser]

St0newash. No idea if you have a faulty battery, but removing it for a few min is the cure for many laptop HW related problems.

Laptops ( and many desktop motherboards ) use soft switching to store HW states or preferences but sometimes these get messed up due to a sequence of SW or User actions. These states are stored in memory that requires power to keep alive. Removing the battery and waiting a few min until the system power is fully discharged, is the number one quick fix for many system lock up, or HW issues. Just remember to shut your OS down completely before removing the battery.