Laptop keeps powering down at startup

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BobS56

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Sep 28, 2013
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I have an Acer Aspire 5750Z-4830 laptop that will not boot up. When you press the power button, it boots up to the Acer screen for a couple of seconds, you hear a whirling sound (hard drive?) and then it shuts down. I have tried it with and without the battery installed. I can hit PF2 and get to the BIOS screen for a second before it powers down. Running Win 7.
 
Solution
How old is this laptop? It sounds more like something to do with the MB and the way the power is distributed through the system than it does with the HDD. You should be able to enter the BIOS without interference from the HDD because BIOS comes from the motherboard itself not the HDD. If it's turning off when you enter the BIOS, then it might be time to consider a new laptop, as bad as that sounds

tator_80

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Jun 3, 2011
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you can power it on without the harddrive to see if thats the issue. Not sure on the specifics of taking the harddrive out of that model, but it shouldn't be to difficult. If it stays on longer that has been, theres your issue but i dont think a defect harddrive would shut it completely down, it would just keep it from booting up correctly, but it shouldn't turn it off
 

BobS56

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Sep 28, 2013
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OK I tried booting without the hard drive and it went just a bit further. I got a message about media missing (I think - it was there for a second) and then shut down again. I reinstalled the hard drive and I'm back right where I was to begin with.
 

tator_80

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Jun 3, 2011
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How old is this laptop? It sounds more like something to do with the MB and the way the power is distributed through the system than it does with the HDD. You should be able to enter the BIOS without interference from the HDD because BIOS comes from the motherboard itself not the HDD. If it's turning off when you enter the BIOS, then it might be time to consider a new laptop, as bad as that sounds
 
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Solution

BobS56

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Sep 28, 2013
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It's a couple of years old now. I did a hard reset and removed and reset the RAM modules. Tried booting with 1 RAM module at a time as well - same thing. While it's on, I have tried to get into the BIOS but it shuts down just as I get to the BIOS screen. What's really bad is my daughter has 2 papers on the HD that she needs for school - one for Monday. Of course, they're not backed up. I'm now trying to remove the CMOS for 10 minutes and see if that works.
 

tator_80

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Jun 3, 2011
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What kind of connectors are on the HDD? Sata? If it is, and you have a desktop that has SATA connectors you can get the information off that HDD, I've done that numerous times. Of course, i have spare SATA cables laying around everywhere.
 

BobS56

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Sep 28, 2013
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It does have an ATA drive. Fortunately, my other laptop also has an ATA, so I was able to swap drives and get the papers onto a flash drive. So the immediate issue has been resolved. Guess a new laptop for a replacement is in the future. :(
 
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