Long delay before Acer welcome screen

Englischdude

Hi All,

have just made the changover to Linux and am having some problems. I hope someone here can shed some light on this for me.

Just bought a new laptop last week, an ACER Aspire 7741G, i5, 64 Bit, 4Gb RAM etc.. The first thing I did was to make the Win7 recovery cds, after which I installed linux UBUNTU 10.04 overwriting all partitions. UBUNTU works wonderfully, all hardware was recognised immediately without any problems. Here however is the situation I now have:

1- When powering on the laptop there is a delay of about 2 minutes before the ACER welcome screen is shown where I have the chance to get into the BIOS. After this the computer bots I would say normally. As this happens before I even get to the ACER welcome screen I can only assume that it has nothing to do with the OS but rather the BIOS. UBUNTU seems to have overwritten something here.

2- It is not possible to install windows from the recovery cds i made. It starts the installation but then just hangs. Have seen a few threads on the web where people have had the same problem.

Problem 2 is not so important for me, the priority is getting problem one solved, the elimination of this agonising 2 minute wait when booting.

Please try to keep any suggestions or explanations as simple as possible to avoid any confusion.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Martin

mfillpot

Martin,
Welcome to the site and thank you for moving the discussion here from our e-mail conversation, publicly working through this will help other who encounter the same issue.

The information below is exactly what I e-mailed to you, I posted it here so others know what I recommended.

I have been thinking further about your issue, it is definitely not associated with the operating system, installed another OS will not effect the issue in any way. Can you please tell me when this problem started happening and if any event is attached to the start of the issue?

The first things that you should do to attempt to find and correct the issue are:
[ol][li]Run memcheck from the ubuntu installer disk to test your RAM and see if it is corrupted or flawed.[/li]
[li]Get the 1.09a BIOS update and install it, there should be an option to install it from a USB driver or some other similar method, if the option does not exist then most likely it has an installer program that run in Windows.[/li]
[li]Enter the BIOS setup page and look for the options and fastboot and memory testing/verification and change the settings from the current settings.[/li][/ol]

Englischdude

Hi there, thanks for the quick response. Just a few comments on your points:

1- Running memcheck is no problem. Will do that first and will advise of the results.
2- BIOS Update. I have already downloaded the BIOS update from the ACER website, but have absolutely no idea how to install it. An idiots guide here would be appreciated. I now only have UBUNTU 10.04 on the laptop, no windows.
3- Sorry, did not understand this at all.

Thanks
MArtin

Englischdude

Update on the Memcheck.

I started from the UBUNTU 64 Bit install cd, but unfortunately there is not an option for Memcheck. The only two options I have are to try UBUNTU (live option), or a complete install.

Waiting for instructions on the BIOS update. The update 1.09 which I downloaded from the ACER site is titled windows. There is a readme included which says I should doubleclick on the .bat file included.

Regards
Martin

mfillpot

I found a blog post where someone was able to update the bios without
having windows installed, check out
http://chunkmedia.co.uk/2009/09/23/acer-aspire-one-update-bios-using-linux/
for information.

Ok, since memtest is not an option in 10.04, it may be an option in
the grub bootloader prompt that is already installed on your system,
if not then you may want to checkout ultimate Boot CD
(http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/), that disk contains memtest and many
other utilities that can help you to diagnose and potentially correct
many hardware issues.

Englischdude

Hi All, got alot to report, but still no solution. I can say what has NOT worked until now:

- since my last post I also had a response from ACER support. They told me this laptop does not support dual boot, or booting over an existing OS. They told me to use fdisk and completely delete all partitions, and reset the mbr. Did this, but has not helped.

- have upgraded the BIOS successfully but has not helped

- tried the ultimate boot cd, but cannot carry out a memory test. tried, but the computer reboots before the test is finished. tried this with all 4 different tests available on the cd. Have also tried a Memtest from Opensuse install dvd, same shutdown problem.

- looked in the bios, but there are no settings for starup selftest options to play with.

Still in the same boat im afraid. Any suggestions?

Thanks & Regards
MArtin

mfillpot

Martin,
This is very odd, it sounds like the computer manufacturer has incorporated something into the BIOS to restrict compatibility. I have never seen or heard of anything like this before, but it is not really a surprise.

I believe the mbr reset that they were referring to is in windows by booting the install disk and running "fixmbr".

In this case I am not too inclined to push for full dual boot capability, but you may be able to reset the mbr, install windows on the entire disk, then install ubuntu via the wubi installer within the windows partition.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Englischdude

been doing alot of research on the web, and it seems that these problems have occurred before. Most of the solution seem to suggest a problem with the PSU built into the computer. I have passed my findings so far onto ACER and will wait for a response.

Thanks for all your help.
Martin

mfillpot

I do not see how this could be in reference to the PSU, unless there is a heating or voltage fluctuation issue. Can you please share links to some of sites that make references to the issue? My curiosity is killing me on this and more than anything I want to understand what is happening.

Englischdude

so here are a couple of links to stories of similar problems, both seem to be connected to the PSU:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1726597
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/158497-12-sn41g2-strange-power-behaviour

And the windows installation hanging problem:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/2064-63-windows-install-hangs-starting-windows-screen


Regards
Martin

mfillpot

Your PSU links do sound good, I have never seen that happen before, but does sound logical and it would also explain the reboot issues you are having in memtest and the windows installation.

Englischdude

so, the situation is now out of my hands. brought the laptop back to the store today and it was agreed that it must be a hardware fault. got a new laptop )

Shame I wont ever find out what the real problem was. Thanks for your help anyways.

Regards
Martin

mfillpot

It is good to see that someone else recognized the problems. I still think it was a faul in your RAM. Keep up posted if you experience any issues with the replacement when it arrives.

marc

Englischdude wrote:

so, the situation is now out of my hands. brought the laptop back to the store today and it was agreed that it must be a hardware fault. got a new laptop )

Shame I wont ever find out what the real problem was. Thanks for your help anyways.

Regards
Martin

I take you installed linux again and everything worked ok, right?

Englischdude

[/quote]

I take you installed linux again and everything worked ok, right?

[/quote]


Na, gonna stick with a decent windows OS.......... NOT! :laugh:

Am in the process of burning the W7 recovery dvds now, and soon as this is done ill be putting Mint on there.

Will keep you informed.

Englischdude

HHHHHEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!

What I feared has happened. even now with the replacement laptop exactly he same! At least we know now it is not a hardware problem, and we know what has NOT worked up untill now.

UBUNTU 10.04 installed no problem, all hardware was recognised. Like a good boy the first thing I did was to look for updates which of course many were found. There seemed to be a problem however installing the up-to-date kernel and the system told me to reboot. This is then when the problem started.

So, the symptoms we know already, what can I do?

Regards
Angry in Austria

Englischdude

Friends,

thanks for your support on this issue. It seems that I have found the problem. it is so simple that it is almost embarrasing to post here, considering all the hassle I went through with this.

Everyone who wants to know the solution say aaaiiiiiiii..................

mfillpot

aaaiiiiiii

Please share, your issue has been a paint for many of us and the information will help others.

Englischdude

So,

even though I upgraded the BIOS, I read a couple of posts on the net on different forums, that people had had problems resetting the BIOS, and so had removed the CMOS battery for 30 minutes or so. I figured I would give this a try.

I removed the power cable and the main laptop battery and proceeded to remove all the screws on the base of the unit. Once I started to see circuit boards it became apprent that the only way I was going to get to the CMOS battery would be to break a "garantee seal" which would have invalidated the garantee.

I therefore put all the screws back in, replaced the main battery and voila. Started and booted to desktop within 20 seconds!!!

It seems that since the Linux install over the WIN7, some memory was cluttered up somewhere which could only be cleared by disconnecting the laptop from all power sources, including the main battery.

All that hassle, and all I really needed to do was to take out the battery for 10 minutes.

Is swearing allowed in this forum????

Thanks all
Martin
:cheer:

Englischdude

CONFIRMATION


Went back to the shop today to see if they still had the original laptop I bought or if they had already sent it in for "repair". Luckily the laptop was still there. We removed the battery, pressed the power butto a few times to discharge any residual power, connected the power supply without battery and hey presto, it booted like a charm. I got my original laptop, the shop got their show unit back, and the Linux community has learnt a little........... happy campers all round!

This post can now be closed..

marc

It's confirmed it's a hardware issue then.

Happy you get your laptop up and running

Englischdude

And another thing, ACER customer support obviously needs some training! Although they told me that dual-boot was not supported with their hardware, I have Linux-mint and Win7 successfully installed on the laptop using just standard installation procedures.

marc

Englischdude wrote:

And another thing, ACER customer support obviously needs some training! Although they told me that dual-boot was not supported with their hardware, I have Linux-mint and Win7 successfully installed on the laptop using just standard installation procedures.

That is just a *LIE*. Every personal computer is able to dual boot. Hell, even windows itself installs a bootloader!

I hate the damn monopoly. I really *HATE* it.

mfillpot

I was thinking the same thing, that all computers should be capable of dual booting. Since the issue was resolved by pulling the battery from the board, it seems as though there may have been some kind of hifdden bios setting that was triggered and is removed whe nthe bios is reset.

Northcobb

I bought my 7741G a few day ago and I ran into the same problems after installing Ubuntu.
I also found out that removing the battery was the (simple) solution.

Ubuntu seems to work OK but my battery had run-out after 1hours & 30 minutes.
I haven't checked the specs but this seems to be a very short autonomy...
I also noticed that the fan is running at a high speed all the time, which isn't the case with windows7.

Anybody has experience in optimizing power consumption ?

saqman2060

Can you change power throughput in the bios. Perhaps the your systems power was regulated with windows7 and those changes were reseted when you install ubuntu.

mfillpot

Northcobb wrote:

I bought my 7741G a few day ago and I ran into the same problems after installing Ubuntu.
I also found out that removing the battery was the (simple) solution.

Ubuntu seems to work OK but my battery had run-out after 1hours & 30 minutes.
I haven't checked the specs but this seems to be a very short autonomy...
I also noticed that the fan is running at a high speed all the time, which isn't the case with windows7.

Anybody has experience in optimizing power consumption ?

I had the same issues on my laptop with ubuntu (now other distros had the problem), but the delay resolved itself about a week ago after a kernel update. The reasons for the delay can vary, the best way to determine the cause is to disable silent and splash modes in your bootloader so you can review the messages to determine where it is feezing.

As for the power consumption, ubuntu and all linux distributions usually tie into the cpu-frequency scaling system at boot time to reduce power consumption (I have confirmed one system with a 1 1/2 hour battery running for 9 hours). However some laptops have the frequency scaling capabilities disabled in bios (such as mine) which cannot be enabled until a suitable bios update is issued. As a note I confirmed my lack of scaling support with an intel kernel engineer and all tools confirmed the bios is blocking scaling.

As for the fan, the OS is built to automatically control the fan to maximize the cooling, the fan may always be on in ubuntu because the cpu is running hot, but windows is throttling the fan to preserve the image of the system. I also have this issue on my laptop, checking the cpu temps in windows7, ubuntu and slackware confirmed that the cpu runs quite a bit hotter in windows because of the lack of cooling.