Older Acer Problem..... HELP!

[Matt L]

Count me among the lucky but this is the first time I've had to deal with an Acer system.
Background --system crashed due to AOL ver6.0/virus/ HW failure --not sure. System will not boot from a Win 98 Start disk, either hangs at the install of the CD or stops after text in non-CD command. Tried booting from the repair disk and from Win 2000 full version, the system reads boot info from CD and then does an immediate reboot. Looked all over for a jumper to clear the CMOS, no luck. Removed the battery and shorted out the terminals, no luck. One time saw a memory error message, replaced memory, no luck. Seem to get frequent mouse or KB error message on boot up too. I was able to FDISK and Format with an old Win 95 boot disk, one interesting thing, it reported the HD size incorrectly, 2.4g instead of 6.4G, system shows correct. I also tried a different CD, mover the CD to Pri. slave and Sec. Master with no luck either. I was able to get into the Bios if that helps any.
I have to believe it's a MB problem. Can anyone point me in a direction to track down the problem?

 

[Pederv]

Can you boot from a floppy with scandisk on it? If so do a surface scan, eliminate the hard drive as the problem. Since it looks like you can't get into windows or use the cd, how about digging up a version of MSD and try running it? If there's a motherboard problem MSD shouldn't run.

 

[Matt L]

Well, I pulled the HD and loaded Windows98 on it using another system. Popped it back in and it gets to the splash screen and freezes. The MB has integrated Video and I wonder if it is the cause. Looked around and can't find a way to disable it either. Took away it's IRQ in BIOS and put in a Video card, get an error about the IRQ but still no load. Since the HD is fine, CD is fine, I have to believe it's the MB. Looks like it's proprietary, uses a riser with the PCI and ISA slots so I don't think I can find an easy replacement, I would hate to get another Acer board.
Still in need of help......
Matt

 

[JesseKnows]

Sure sounds like a fried MoBo. How old is the computer? Could you write it off and move the working parts to a new bare bones?

 

[Matt L]

From what I gather it's about 3 years old. I might look for a decent Socket 7 board and move the Proc. and equipment over. Thanks......