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    Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

    I've just received this piece of junk, erm, awesome netbook. Original problem was broken SSD ribbon. The owner accidentally added a new one - he wasn't looking so he managed to plug the USB stick into the network port and short it. Since then it would not display anything anymore.

    The NIC chip was getting fairly hot so i removed it from the board, but it didn't change anything. CPU gets power, fan spins, LEDs light up, but no display. No beep codes either, and no output on external monitor. Internal LCD is good as it blinks when it is disconnected from power. It can be turned off from the power button.

    I'm thinking chipset failure but i'd like a second opinion. I don't have BGA tools so new motherboard it'll be in that case.
    Originally posted by PeteS in CA
    Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
    A working TV? How boring!

    #2
    Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

    USB connectors manage to fit into RJ45 ports perfectly, when you're not paying attention to what you're doing.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

      Tell me something i didn't know please. Anyway, by the sound of the fan (slow, fast then slow again) it seems to also be getting thru POST. I'm quite sure it's the chipset now.
      Originally posted by PeteS in CA
      Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
      A working TV? How boring!

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

        Sorry.

        So I don't suppose plugging in a USB keyboard results in any lights flashing at boot?
        Is there a chance that the port itself has a short? Does it still have any effect being on the board, with the controller removed?

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

          I don't have a USB keyboard with LEDs... Lights on the Aspire itself do flash at power up, but i don't know exactly what that means. 5v and 3.3v are okay, and AFAIK the network port goes straight into the controller so it can't be affecting anything anymore.

          I'll run the board thru the oven tomorrow just to make sure, but i doubt anything interesting will happen. Nothing special with the RAM removed either, but again, it does have some RAM chips onboard so it wouldn't bleep anyway.

          Edit: I just read something about BIOS corruption and a procedure to force a BIOS update even if the screen is blank. Since there's nothing left, i'll try that. If it fails as well, tough luck. Either way, i won't be too keen to put that NIC chip back in place. Besides, everyone has wireless nowadays.
          Last edited by Th3_uN1Qu3; 11-01-2010, 03:04 PM.
          Originally posted by PeteS in CA
          Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
          A working TV? How boring!

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

            Well what'd ya know... IT'S ALIVE!!! The BIOS flash worked a treat. Funny things these EEPROMs. Tomorrow will be a really boring day at uni, i think i just found the perfect companion. I'll just put some Pendrive Linux on that 4GB Kingston and enjoy.
            Last edited by Th3_uN1Qu3; 11-01-2010, 03:43 PM.
            Originally posted by PeteS in CA
            Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
            A working TV? How boring!

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

              Day two. I've started to come to terms with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, got power management tweaked, and general performance of the netbook is good. I'm starting to like it.

              I also resoldered in the Realtek NIC today - no go. I then remembered that two extremely tiny caps flew off the board when i was removing it. I sourced two similar ones from a dead motherboard (they turned out to be 100nF), put them in place, and... eth0 up folks.

              Now i just have to find an appropriate ribbon cable and fix the SSD.
              Originally posted by PeteS in CA
              Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
              A working TV? How boring!

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                What do you measure those tiny caps with - ESR meter?
                Is there any way to work out what cap should have been there, if it's missing?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                  An ESR meter obviously measures ESR only. My UT60E multimeter also has a capacitance meter. 100nF is a pretty standard value for a decoupling cap, you can make an educated guess by finding a datasheet of the chip or checking the voltage. In my case it was 6.4 volts (not sure where they got that from but oh well), so it was obviously the place for decoupling caps.

                  If it were very low voltage it would be some sort of signaling, and chances are those will work fine even without the cap.
                  Originally posted by PeteS in CA
                  Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
                  A working TV? How boring!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                    I don't think my cheap meter has a capacitance function.

                    I have an MSI X58 board with missing small surface mount caps - just can't work out what to replace them with.
                    I guess I need to try to test others of the same size and see what they measure, perhaps measure the voltage across them, if the board will power up.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                      I couldn't solder a ribbon cable directly to the SSD nor attach new connectors with the hot air gun (they melt, probably used infrared at the factory), so i asked the owner to buy a SDHC card.

                      Next up, installing and running XP from a SDHC. I'll also solder in a small USB drive of 128 meg or so to hold the bootloader, since the BIOS has no provisions of booting from the card reader. As the bluetooth mod already showed how to gain access to the unused USB port from the wireless card, all three external USBs will still be available.

                      This'll be fun.
                      Originally posted by PeteS in CA
                      Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
                      A working TV? How boring!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                        i need help with my zg5 how did you flash bios im having the same problem but can you use a memory card reader 1gb to flash bios or must it be a usb? i have a usb but its 16gb does size matter help me thanks

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                          It must be a USB flash drive. Any size will work. The way to flash the BIOS is described here: http://macles.blogspot.ro/2008/08/ac...-recovery.html
                          Originally posted by PeteS in CA
                          Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
                          A working TV? How boring!

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                            hi Th3_uN1Qu3 and other members,
                            how do you force a BIOS update? pl. can you guide me here or post a .pdf file i can follow thur'? thnx much. My Acer ASPIRE One NAV50 is oda on startup.-thnx much - sim san.

                            Originally posted by Th3_uN1Qu3 View Post
                            I don't have a USB keyboard with LEDs... Lights on the Aspire itself do flash at power up, but i don't know exactly what that means. 5v and 3.3v are okay, and AFAIK the network port goes straight into the controller so it can't be affecting anything anymore.

                            I'll run the board thru the oven tomorrow just to make sure, but i doubt anything interesting will happen. Nothing special with the RAM removed either, but again, it does have some RAM chips onboard so it wouldn't bleep anyway.

                            Edit: I just read something about BIOS corruption and a procedure to force a BIOS update even if the screen is blank. Since there's nothing left, i'll try that. If it fails as well, tough luck. Either way, i won't be too keen to put that NIC chip back in place. Besides, everyone has wireless nowadays.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                              Hi, this link is a blogsport that does not work.
                              Sorry to say but maybe a spam link too. best - sim.


                              Originally posted by Th3_uN1Qu3 View Post
                              It must be a USB flash drive. Any size will work. The way to flash the BIOS is described here: http://macles.blogspot.ro/2008/08/ac...-recovery.html

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                                search this at www.youtube.com

                                bios update acer aspire one

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                                  Have fixed a couple others with the same problem since then. BIOS going bad seems to be fairly common on the Aspire One ZG5. Fortunately, it's easy to recover.

                                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ0iVk67oTI
                                  Originally posted by PeteS in CA
                                  Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
                                  A working TV? How boring!

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                                    @Th3_uN1Qu3, just wanted to ask if flashing the bios like what you did could also fix the issue on my aspire one zg5. It shutsdown between 25-35 seconds even in bios. I already removed the hard drive and replaced the memory, regardless of what the OS I have still turns off. Heatsink and fan are all clear and have done this even I removed the motherboard from the case. Thanks
                                    Last edited by lezsimply; 10-31-2013, 08:56 PM.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                                      Replace the fan.
                                      Originally posted by PeteS in CA
                                      Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
                                      A working TV? How boring!

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Re: Acer Aspire One ZG5 - no display

                                        Replacing the fan solved my problem, never knew it was the fault because it was normally spinning. Maybe the fan sensor got shorted or something. Thanks Unique! ciao

                                        Comment

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