Member Avatar for xoso

I have an Acer 3620 series laptop
Model No: MS2180
Aspire 3624WXCI

I power it on and goes through POST. It takes a long time for it to finish, when it finally does it makes a long, loud, and continuous beep noise and never boots from a disc (cd rom or hdd). I can make it POST quicker by pressing escape key twice during the POST and then it quickly goes on to make the loud noise. HOWEVER, I can make it boot from disc or from hdd by pressing F12 and going into boot options and then pressing escape, then it will successfully boot into windows or from cd-rom.
Why is that? How can I fix it.


Here's a pic of the POST-------------------------
Before I press escape key:
[img][/img]

After i press escape key twice:
[img][/img]

Here's a video explaining what I just wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqJNRzNNu8w

thanks in advance for any help :)

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Dani AI

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described a useful symptom set: the machine completes POST, emits a long continuous beep, and refuses to boot — yet if you invoke the F12 boot menu and then hit Esc it boots normally. That pattern strongly points to a BIOS/firmware POST check that is failing or timing out, but which the boot-menu path clears or bypasses. It is not a typical Windows issue (POST happens before Windows), so focus on firmware and a short list of hardware suspects.

Practical diagnostic sequence (do these in order, powering down and removing AC/battery before any internal work):

  1. Identify BIOS vendor/version (press F2 or view the splash). Look up that vendor’s POST/beep codes — continuous beeps have different meanings per BIOS.
  2. In BIOS, look for any “Halt on” / “Halt on errors” or POST-related options (Quick Boot, POST messages) and temporarily set to skip or ignore nonfatal errors. If that removes the beep you’ve confirmed a failing POST test.
  3. Reseat the keyboard ribbon and the power-button board cable. A shorted or dripping key row or a bad ribbon often causes odd continuous beeps and hangs; disconnecting the keyboard (if comfortable) is a clean way to test this.
  4. Replace the internal CMOS coin cell if it’s old; corrupted CMOS can make POST behave strangely.
  5. If the BIOS is older, consider updating the firmware using the exact Acer model/MS2180 BIOS package and the vendor instructions (AC power connected, do not interrupt). Backup important data first.

If those steps still leave the laptop beeping, the boot-menu workaround (F12 then Esc) remains a data‑backup path, but the root cause may be an embedded-controller or motherboard fault and likely needs professional repair or board replacement. Mentioning , and : those ideas helped narrow things; the next move is to isolate firmware vs. a shorted keyboard/cable before replacing major boards.

Recommended Answers

All 10 Replies

Member Avatar for Xlphos

Have you checked the boot order?

Member Avatar for xoso

Have you checked the boot order?

of course I have, you can see the boot order in the video, i've tried changing it to cd-rom first, and then hdd first, something in its POST check is causing it to not boot and make that loud beep

However, it doesnt do it when i go into boot menu first and then escape out of it, I wonder why...

Member Avatar for Xlphos

Have you tried fixing XP using the XP CD?

Have you tried counting the beeps, or are they continous?

Member Avatar for xoso

I don't think its a problem with xp or xp booting, the problem occurs before it goes into the boot sequence during POST

I made a video, watch it. I also wrote earlier that yes its a long continuous beep.

Thanks

Member Avatar for thepastimer

You said in the video that the POST says 'fixed disk 0' That makes it sound like you might have a bad sector on your hdd. Have you tried booting it with a different drive?

Member Avatar for xoso

yes, that still doesn't make the noise go away
I think it just may mean that the disc is non moving.

Member Avatar for Xlphos

You said in the video that the POST says 'fixed disk 0' That makes it sound like you might have a bad sector on your hdd. Have you tried booting it with a different drive?

I believe the term 'fixed disk' means hard disk. fixed being in a fixed location.

Have you tried restoring the defaults in BIOS.

Member Avatar for thepastimer

I believe the term 'fixed disk' means hard disk. fixed being in a fixed location.

Have you tried restoring the defaults in BIOS.

You're probably right with the fixed disk thing.
Usually laptops have a reset button at the bottom.
Can you enter the bios, or does it just do the continuous beep every time?

Member Avatar for xoso

*woops

Member Avatar for PcTestCard.com

I would suggest try check the keyboard if there is any stuck key(s).

You may also try remove all removable devices like DVD, external KB/MS, PC cards, AC adapter, battery..etc.
Then holding down the power button over 15 seconds, this will discharge and reset the laptop.

Next is connect the AC adapter only, and power on the laptop, if same problem, you can try use just 1 RAM(if there is more than 1 ram on your laptop), and use each ram on each different ram slot to boot the laptop.

No idea how old your laptop is, for some laptop with semi faulty capacitor on the mobo may have the similar problem as well.

If you have a known good HDD, try use on your laptop and see if you can install XP, if so, the problem is the HDD.
Hope this helps!
Bill

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