I’m sure a lot of you have run into problems with the Acer Aspire Netbooks. I’ve personally now seen 6 of the Acer Aspire Ones develop a problem where they will light up their little LEDS but nothing will come on the screen. So far I’ve sent these units to Acer for repairs. But I think I’ve found the solution.

Acting on a hunch that this was a BIOS corruption I searched the net and found this helpful tidbit:

The AA1 has a built-in BIOS recovery routine, making it possible to flash the BIOS even if the system doesn’t boot anymore. It’s only meant for emergencies and may void your warranty, so use at your own risk.

Follow every step carefully!

First format an USB stick with FAT.

Download the latest BIOS, and put both FLASHIT.EXE and the BIOS file in the root directory of the stick. Rename the BIOS file to ZG5IA32.FD, that’s important. Do not remove the USB stick.

Turn the AA1 off, make sure both battery and AC adapter are connected. Press Fn+Esc, keep it pressed and press the power button to turn the AA1 on. Release Fn+Esc after a few seconds, the power button will be blinking. Press the power button once. The AA1 will now initiate the BIOS flash, do not interrupt it under any circumstances. After a while the power button will stop blinking, and the AA1 will reboot shortly after. Wait patiently.

The BIOS has been flashed and all settings reset to default.

If for some reason you made a mistake during the procedure and it doesn’t reboot by itself wait 5 minutes before turning it off, just to be safe that it isn’t still flashing the BIOS.

I have not tried this yet but I’ve decided to post it on the site so that I can update this post as soon as I try it out. If anyone gets a chance to try this please comment below.

Source: http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/acer-aspire-one-bios-recovery.html

Looking for drivers for your  Acer notebook/desktop? Finding them hard to find? Unfortunately the official Acer sites are not very forthcoming with drivers for every unit especially if the unit is a few years older.

Fortunately there is always a second option if you look hard enough. The Acer Europe site hosts a FTP server that has the Vista and XP drivers for a variety of notebooks and desktops. Following are the links.

Drivers for Acer notebooks:

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/

Drivers for Acer desktops:

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/desktop/

Acer proprietary software:

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/utilities/VistaET/

Thanks goes to Christopher for the great tip! Note that there are many other folders filled with BIOS flashers and drivers for devices such as bluetooth devices and manuals for cameras. Unfortunately all Acer units are not here. Does anyone have the link to another FTP or site with those drivers? Feel free to contact me and I’ll put it up.

Hope this helps you guys. What sites do you use when you’re looking for drivers? Let me know.