Iconia Tab W500 Bricked

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What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Make an image of AMD-Brazos 3.2 in a usb drive
2. Boot from it in an Iconia Tab W500
3. =(

So I'm posting this as a warning to everybody out there.

I oficially bricked my W500 today. I was trying to boot from my 4GB FAT usb 
drive with an image of Android AMD-Brazos 3.2. I pressed windows and power to 
boot from USB and the windows button would light up but the screen wouldn't. 
After everything I thought of trying, the screen is still blank and won't even 
display the acer logo.

Can you think of anything? Acer support says it needs to be shipped to their 
facilities for repair.

I have a feeling that somehow I flashed the BIOS. I have the original BIOS 
files from Acer, but I have no idea how to use them.

Any Ideas?

Thanks!

Original issue reported on code.google.com by john.hen...@gmail.com on 28 Dec 2011 at 3:24

Attachments:

• BIOS_Acer_1.05_A_A.zip

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Hey everyone,

I do have a "fix". But first before you start saying anything, I just want to 
describe everything what happened so that you can decide whether your situation 
is the same or not.

First of all very big Thanks to sethi from the previous post, the hint I got 
from it fixed everything.

Prehistory -what happened- :

I used Windows 8 and saw that there is a game named Cytus on Android and got 
curious if I can install Android on Acer Iconia Tab W500. Searched a bit on the 
internet and found that there is android x86 for that tablet. Cool. Installed 
it on the SSD together with the Win8, it worked "good" but the game didn't work 
so I deleted the Android folder and the GRUB loader on the C:  Restarting 
Tablet => Acer Logo => Black Screen...

I waited and waited and nothing happened. (I noticed that there was something 
written very very small on the screen) but it really was so small i couldn't 
read it. Tried everything that was written here. I could neither boot into bios 
not into boot menu. (I had SSD as 1: Boot device in Bios (I knew it) and Quick 
Boot was enabled). So I tried every possible button combination (with and 
without SSD (Yes I did open the tablet and removed the SSD). Nothing helped. 
Tried USB Keyboards, SD Card, USB Stick, USB cdrom (I managed to burn it, yeah 
it is dead now), tried Recovery DVD. Simply nothing worked. Same situation over 
and over. Acer Logo => Black screen.

But then I searched for the "service manual" as sethi mentioned in the previous 
post. Found it and read it through !!Quote: "Just few days back got hand on 
service manual which explains the process of reflashing the bios with the bios 
available in acer website but that does not seem to work"!! Found that one.

For those who don't know.

1.Format USB into FAT32.
2.Download (I downloaded the oldest) BIOS from Acer page.
3.Copy it into the USB Stick.
4.Rename it into "EAB00x64.FD".
5.Put USB Stick into USB Tablet.
5.(Here it comes) + (Tablet is turned off + plug in AC) --  Press and Hold! 
Power Button + Volume DOWN! + Window Button(On the tablet)
6.(I am not really sure if what I did was correct) I waited for maybe 10 
minutes while holding all that. USB was flashing, Window Logo Button was blue 
BUT the Screen was all the time totally black with no Acer Logo.

I got tired of waiting (xD) I thought, screw this. (After 10 mins) Stopped 
holding the buttons. The tablet still was in the state (Blue windows button and 
black screen) But wait, what is happening? Tablet flashed that Bios file and 
suddenly I saw the "-" on the top left. Quickly Pressed "F2" to enter Bios. 
Changed boot Priority into "SSD last" and turned off "Quick boot" + turned on 
"f12 boot menu"(Yes it was turned off when I got into BIOS". 

7.So, the hardest part is over. From now on I could always enter Bios and boot 
menu. 

8. Ok now you totall can do anything you want. I plugged in an otherUSB with 
Win8 and  installed it normally.

P.S.  I got into a problem while installing Win8. Win8 Installer couldn't 
create a Partition because "SSD" was last booting device. Since I couldn from 
now on always get into bios and Boot Menu (Yes, after that "reflashing bios 
method" and changing options in Bios I could see the "-" and could always press 
"F2" and "F12") I changed the SSD into "1" Device. Only then I could normally 
install Win8.

9. Now everything works totally fine.

Again so much thx for the service manual with the "reflashing bios with usb" 
trick. At least that helped me with the main issue of getting into Bios (where 
everything really didn't work, and with everything I mean EVERYTHING else (come 
on I did read the service manual with all the possible things to do), holding 
buttons and using every other device.)

(Solved that issue in 1 day)

Hope that this trick can help maybe everyone else. If you have any questions, 
just email me.

Best regards,
Neruell, neruelll@googlemail.com

Original comment by Nerue...@gmail.com on 13 Sep 2012 at 11:12

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Also want to remind people, that this worked for my specific situation a wrote 
about at the start of my post. 

Again be carefull while doing everything and for 100% read that manual, it 
really helped me. Check sethi's post about the manual or as sethi said " search 
for EAB00X64.fd in google and you will get the guide in mycomp.su. ". Read it 
again, because maybe I did some mistakes while writing my comment.

Original comment by Nerue...@gmail.com on 13 Sep 2012 at 11:15

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hi. 
i am new here whit a newly bricked w500.:-(
i was meesing around whit andriod. but some thing went wrong now a have a w500 
whit just a black screen. :-) no acer logo or anything just black. can some pls 
help or guide my thry to fix it pls.

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 23 Sep 2012 at 3:07

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I have the same issue. But my case is a bit different because i kinda messed 
with both the BIOS and android on SSD ...

What i did was first i installed android onto the SSD and it worked for a 
couple of restarts without any issue. Then i updated the touch firmware and 
bios. I though i was upgrading but what i really did was i downgraded the Bios 
from 1.14 to 1.05. After the next restart nothing showed on the screen. It was 
pure black. not even the backlight. But the windows logo lit up in blue.

I then tried to boot it with USB . for the first couple of turns the indicator 
on USB showed that it's detected by BIOS. But after keeping the tablet to drain 
out for 10hours , now nothing happens. not even recognizing the USB device. But 
the light and the fan seems working !!! 

Original comment by chandima...@gmail.com on 25 Sep 2012 at 5:30

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ok. so now you a total bricked w500 ??
how did you install android on ssd when it was not truning on ??
this might help me. 

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 26 Sep 2012 at 6:12

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when i turn my w500 on i just have black screen no acer logo.
when i boot fron the pen drive notting happends.??

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 26 Sep 2012 at 6:17

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maybe we should have the bios chip changed i found one in wales he can make a 
new chip for 25£

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 26 Sep 2012 at 6:19

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I installed android before w500 got dead black screen. But i'm sure that 
android has nothing to do with it. It's all due to faulty BIOS. But there 
should be a way to reset BIOS easily if somebody messed with it. Otherwise they 
won't let the end user to mess with it !. So that means i can't do anything if 
i accidently downgraded my BIOS ?? during which not a single warning came that 
i am installing an older version of BIOS !!
That sucks !!! About the USB thing , for usto recover BIOS from USB, atleast it 
should detect the USB ... But mine does not :O

Original comment by chandima...@gmail.com on 27 Sep 2012 at 10:59

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i have the same problem. i thing the only  way is to have the bios chip changed

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 27 Sep 2012 at 3:11

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Hi neruelll
Need your help. Am trying to replicate your solution. can you please advise the 
following
1. Was the usb pendrive made dos bootable as mentioned in the service manual.
2. capacity and make of usb pendrive
3. which usb port used.
4. Was Kayboard connected. stock or a diff usb one.
5. Was the Acer logo visible before flashing / during flashing.
6. Was the USB pen drive light flashing during process. Did it start from 
beginning.
7. Key press sequence.(i know they are to be pressed together but you must have 
pressed one after another and kept them pressed for 10 mins as mentioned in 
your comment.) power then vol then win?
8. screen rotation was locked or unlock.

Apologies for this long list.

Would like to highlight one thing to everyone which i got from my ACER service 
center in Delhi, India that W500 does not have crisis recovery mode for 
complete bios failure (total blank screen) like Acer one has (as shown at 
various places on web - Fn + Esc). W500 does have a bios recovery which 
Neruelll was able to do if your BIOS is not able to boot completely i.e. if 
acer screen is shown and then no response. If the Bios is dead then there is no 
solution. ACER changes the motherboard in these cases as BIOS is soldered. 
Unfortunately mine is with complete bios failure. but still hoping to find a 
solution some day...:)

Has anyone tried resetting the CMOS. ie removing backcover , heatsink and 
shorting the CMOS reset jumper.

Original comment by sethi.ma...@gmail.com on 27 Sep 2012 at 5:57

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yes i have tried that no good. :-(
his acer was nott totaly dead as ours he had some small thing writning on his 
screen

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 27 Sep 2012 at 10:11

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Usually the BIOS chip comes with two parts. The PROM and the EPROM.Every change 
we make goes with the EPROM where PROM just stand there with default 
programming when the EPROM gets into trouble. There must be a way to recover 
BIOS. I just don't know how !. I have ACER warrenty. I am covered ! But inorder 
to claim it i have to ship it which will cost me about the half of what i spent 
on w500 :(

Original comment by chandima...@gmail.com on 28 Sep 2012 at 4:08

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you can bye a bios chip for 25£ 

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 28 Sep 2012 at 6:30

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Hey, sorry for the late response but I was just a bit busy. 

1.Not really sure what you mean here, but to be honest I just took a random usb 
drive I still had.
2.I used "intenso usb drive" but to be honest I am not sure what the capacity 
was because I have 2 of them, they look almost the same, but 1 is 4gb and the 
other 8gb. Thats why I am not really sure which it was.
3.That one is tricky. I took USB male to female (I hope it is the right name 
for it) and connected the tablet with keydock keyboard. I connected the usb 
port from the bottom middle part into the top middle part of the keyboard. 
(Basicly like it normalle would be connected but with a cable between them). I 
plugged the usb drive I used to flash BIOS into the keyboard usb, NOT into the 
tablet itself.
4.I used a Acer keydock usb keyboard, which I got with the tablet.
5.No. This thing works like this. When you press the 3 buttons, the Screen 
DOESN'T go on. It stays totally dark. You can maybe call it "fail start" 
because the screen doesn't turn on, BUT the blue window key does go on. Nothing 
else.
6.Yes it did flash, BUT as I wrote before, I did wait some time, not sure how 
long, maybe 10 mins, maybe less or maybe more. But at some point it just 
started to blink. So again, first I waited and nothing happened but then it 
started flashing/blinking like you see when you write something on the usb 
drive for example.
7.To be honest I tried to press them at the same time all the time. It is hard 
to tell that, maybe i pressed some button 10 milliseconds before the other, but 
I ALWAYS tried to press them at the same time (It is a bit tricky and hard to 
do that and the case of tablet was open (I tried removing SSD before, but it 
was plugged in again when I did that)). Just to be sure you are in "that mode" 
your screen shouldnt turn on but the window key/button must turn blue.
8.Sorry about that, but I don't remember. I think maybe it was turned off 
because I tried some other thing mentioned in the service manual. BUT I don't 
remember for 100%.

By the way, someone wrote already about resetting the jumper the clearing the 
CMOS and it DIDN'T work for THAT person.

Original comment by Nerue...@gmail.com on 30 Sep 2012 at 10:13

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Once again I will explain what worked and what didn't for me.

I installed Android, everything worked fine + Rebooting EVERYTHING worked FINE.

I didn't like Android => Went into win8 => Deleted the folders with Android AND 
"Bootloader for it"

Step by step:

1. After deleting the folder IN Windows 8 I pressed "restart" button IN Windows 
8 (Like normally you would restart a PC).

2. Restarting... => Acer Logo => Black screen......

3.I waited several hours till the Battery went down and itself shutdown the PC.

4.Plugged in the charge cable. Started   => Acer Logo => Black screen......

5. (1 very important thing maybe, that "black screen" wasnt "completely black" 
I did notice that something was "gray" on the very top of it. I noticed it with 
a LUPE. Even then I couldn't read it. It was soooooooo small.

6. I tried everything to maybe get into BIOS. But NOTHING helped. Only the 
method with the usb bios flashing. (I had the latest BIOS from Acer Page 
installed).

7. I took the "oldest" BIOS I could get from Acer main page and with that 
method I flashed the very oldest BIOS onto the tablet and ONLY THEN it went 
AUTOMATICLY into BIOS and the first thing I did was to turn off the "fast boot" 
and I did put the "SSD as lowest boot priority".

8. Then I could boot from an other USB to install Win8 again.

(As reminder, when you press the 3 buttons, the Screen DOESN'T turn on (NO ACER 
LOGO, NOTHING)! but the blue WINDOW KEY does turn BLUE!)

Original comment by Nerue...@gmail.com on 30 Sep 2012 at 10:24

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Also 1 important thing, the Android WAS installed on the SSD TOGETHER WITH 
WINDOWS 8.

In simple word.  

C:\   =   Windows 8 + Android 4.0 + Bootloader (from the android installation)

Original comment by Nerue...@gmail.com on 30 Sep 2012 at 10:28

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Also read my description carefully, The most "difficult" part was when I 
pressed the 3 buttons, because then I was only waiting for "nothing". I waited 
approx. 10 mins. I got tired of waiting and only after a long time I stopped 
holding the 3 butttons (I was holding the 3 buttons ALL THE TIME!) after I 
stopped holding them for "a long time" the usb drive started to blink! MAYBE  I 
could stop holding earlier, MAYBE not. I am not 100% sure!

Original comment by Nerue...@gmail.com on 30 Sep 2012 at 10:34

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Hi Neruelll

Thanks for your revert. Will try the steps you mentioned.

Original comment by sethi.ma...@gmail.com on 1 Oct 2012 at 9:41

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hi sethi did you have any luck??

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 2 Oct 2012 at 6:16

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hello to all. i just got me a new w500 
and i am going to install android on it again so i need some help whit that.

i need a idiot proff guide for that can some help me whit that i have win 8 
installed on it now.
Pls. i do not want another bricked w500 eno is fine. :-(
thx to all

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 3 Oct 2012 at 8:47

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dude! w500 is not made for android. If you needed android , you should have 
bought a500 instead. But if you really need to install android i strongly 
recomend you to do it on an external device such as a USB drive or on a super 
fast SD.

Original comment by chandima...@gmail.com on 6 Oct 2012 at 9:58

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thx for info. 

how can i run duel boot on w500 then??

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 6 Oct 2012 at 3:36

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See the following post for Win 8 + Android 4.0 RC2 dual boot instructions

http://code.google.com/p/android-x86/issues/detail?id=993

Original comment by rsha...@gmail.com on 6 Oct 2012 at 8:23

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Thx m8 :-)

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 6 Oct 2012 at 9:06

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hi m8

i did all what it says on the guide but still no luck may be you can upload a 
video on youtube or if there is one then pls. ad the link. 
Thx 

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 10 Oct 2012 at 6:33

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there is some thing missing in the guide.
when you choose the partion it ask you format the partion yes to that.
after that i am lost. ?? 

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 12 Oct 2012 at 4:01

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Count me in as the next victim of this no display showing up on the w500. As 
usual, the windows light is on as is the power button on the side but no 
display. The usb optical powers on but none of the combination of button 
presses I've tried so far works. Also, tried the usb flash drive method. 

I reinstalled w7 from the provided discs with no issues, then, and I think this 
is were I done goofed was tried rebooting the device while it was updating. I 
was trying to install win8 and prematurely rebooted. Will this cause any 
problems? I wasn't trying to flash the bios at all, just installing win 8. 

Anyone with any thoughts on this?

Original comment by taru...@gmail.com on 17 Oct 2012 at 6:11

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Also want to ad that I tried letting the battery die down as well...no go.

Original comment by taru...@gmail.com on 17 Oct 2012 at 6:14

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Well from what I wrote, it was more or less as detailed as I could from my own 
issue. I am not really sure if it is a 100% cure to any problem or not, at 
least it helped me. Sry can't do a video or more or less I don't want to. 
Recreating the same issue again with the risk to totally break the tablet... no 
thx. Too scared of that. If I "missed" something in my steps above then it 
means that I simply didn't remember what I did because I tried tons of stuff. 
Try everything you can from that support guide from the internet. Maybe some 
solutions will work there.

Original comment by Nerue...@gmail.com on 17 Oct 2012 at 10:25

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wanted iconia tab w500 dead/faulty. if u dont mind sell it to me. do u know 
w500 never be android. the operating system windows 7 starter is fix if change 
or replace os the system not accept.just can uprade to windows 7 ultimate or 
windows 8 only

Original comment by astaraba...@gmail.com on 18 Oct 2012 at 3:35

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After 4 months of misery, finally i have rectified by w500. 

my condition was as follows
1. installed android on ssd, bricked the tab. no acer screen. only windows blue 
button.
2. opened tab...did every thing possible.... cmos reset, cmos battery terminal 
cut - re-soldered, ssd tricks, battery tricks, OS tricks(with ssd - sata 
converter),bios crisis recovery tricks .....no result.
3. gave tab to Acer auth service center...they declared mb issue/dead. told me 
to order new mb. was not willing to do repair. said...not policy/possible on 
w500.

Solution (done at my own risk) 
- ordered new bios chip from ebay. tookout mb, got the old chip replaced with 
this new chip, assembled back the tab. 
- press window button + Vol up + power -> 2 sec of blank screen. 
- saw the cursor
- press f2
- Finally inside bios.

The tab is been working from last 2 days flawlessly. 
Thanks for all of your ideas. was a regular reader of this fourm.
Have attach the bios location pic as it was difficult to find(even the bios 
seller didn't knew abt it)

Original comment by sethi.ma...@gmail.com on 7 Nov 2012 at 7:43

Attachments:

• [Iconia Tab W500.JPG](https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-attachments/android-x86/issue-589/comment-134/Iconia Tab W500.JPG)

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what is the link of the BIOS Chip?

Original comment by rolandoj...@gmail.com on 12 Nov 2012 at 4:50

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http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNLOCK-ACER-ICONIA-TAB-BIOS-PASSWORD-CHIP-A100-A200-A500
-A501-A510-W500-W500P-/160776456894

   I wonder if this is what he bought?

Original comment by josh...@gmail.com on 12 Nov 2012 at 5:52

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Yes. This is the one. 

Original comment by sethi.ma...@gmail.com on 12 Nov 2012 at 6:58

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I have the same problem. Now, I took the motherboard out. But the bio chip is 
too tiny on a metal corner. How can I solder it? Please give me advice on the 
tools that I need to buy. Thanks.

Original comment by emilyand...@gmail.com on 21 Nov 2012 at 2:32

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Any luck? I also have a 'bricked' W500 (acer logo then black screen) anyone get 
anything to work? I've tried battery and ssd tricks, nothing works.

Original comment by MrGinger...@gmail.com on 3 Jan 2013 at 5:23

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not easy to repair it, the system root is damage. let it go .....and
buy new one. u can get better tablet. i'm buying faulty, broken, dead
tablet any brand for parts. just let me know the price tq

Original comment by astaraba...@gmail.com on 10 Jan 2013 at 10:08

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So definitive solution is to change  Bios? I have one with the same problem 
totally black screen unresponsive to all exept for a litle sound of the 
hardware whend it is turned on and the cooling fan functioning i dont know why.

Original comment by freddysi...@gmail.com on 18 Jan 2013 at 10:37

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i had the same problem if you jave warranty send it acer they will replace the 
mainboard. 

Original comment by sajjad.s...@gmail.com on 19 Jan 2013 at 7:03

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Hi!, I bought right now 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNLOCK-ACER-ICONIA-TAB-BIOS-PASSWORD-CHIP-A100-A200-A500
-A501-A510-W500-W500P-/160776456894 and I waiting for this, I hope have the 
skill to remplace this chip (I have faith). Thanks Sethi and Josh, and 
everybody.

My Acer in one moment made a bios sound (the little speaker), but when I try to 
Neruell trick, this tablet die forever.. but maybe I don't waited the time 
required.

Original comment by gferr...@gmail.com on 21 Jan 2013 at 2:49

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Va salut pe toti, am nevoie de ajutorul vostru...si eu detin un tablet iconia 
W500 si am aceleasi probleme pe care le-au avut si altii,w7 a dat mereu 
probleme,cu timpul devenea din ce in ce mai lent,era practic imposibil de 
folosit,am folosit de cateva ori         
recovery system cu cele doua dvd din ambalajul tabletului,de fiecare data se 
repeta aceiasi istorie...am incercat sa folosesc 
android-x86-4.0-RC2-amd_brazos,dar dupa instalare am inteles ca majoritatea 
aplicatiilor nu functionau...am incercat sa folosesc o alta versiune de 
android-x86-4.0-RC2-tx2500,dar in timpul primului acces a ramas fara imagine , 
am incercat toate metodele pe care le-am vazut in acest forum,dar fara succes;  
nu am secventa de bios,nu pot conecta pe hdmi , practic imposibil de facut ceva 
cu el....va rog sa-mi spuneti ce pot face in acest caz .Va pot da ceva detalii 
:se alimenteaza,dar cind apas butonul de pornire nu am nici-o imagine , se 
aprinde ledul de windows si ramane asa , nici-o alta reactie .Am scris in limba 
ROMANA (ROMANIA)   Astept cu nerabdare un raspuns din partea voastra! VA 
MULTUMESC!!!!!!!!!!!  

Original comment by ciciha...@gmail.com on 6 Feb 2013 at 4:03

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Hello everyone, I bought an Acer Iconia W500 from ebay and I didn't use Android.

 Recently, I have been tinkering with OSes on the tablet and I cannot use my tablet because when I boot the tablet there is only a Blue windows icon that appears.

I have dismantled the tablet and tried to see if any internal components were 
not attached, but I soon realized that everything is fine, it was the BIOS that 
was messed up/corrupted.

I also noticed that nothing was functioning at all, the cpu fan was not turned 
on, nor was anything else except the blue light that appeared. 

I did not drop it to where it would be the problem. The problem is the BIOS.

Would the BIOS cause all the internal components including itself, to not work?

Here is a link to the BIOS chip:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNLOCK-ACER-...item256f060abe

Here is a useful link that I have used to find any information to fix the 
tablet.
http://code.google.com/p/android-x86.../detail?id=589

The operating systems that I installed were Mac OS X 10.6.2 and Windows 7 X64 
running chameleon RC4 bootloader and chocolate_kernel. I decided that I didn't 
want Windows 8 so I uninstalled it and installed Windows 7 X64 and when I 
booted up the computer after it installed, a troubleshoot option came up. The 
options were to reboot, continue, and go into the BIOS. I selected continue for 
the option and the tablet rebooted and all I saw was a black screen and here I 
am now. 

Please someone help me. Thanks

Original comment by tanner...@gmail.com on 3 Mar 2013 at 2:55

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Tanner i have a solution for your iconia w500, i have had mine since it was new 
and have ran into this problem myself. what happens is when you format/erase 
the partitions on the ssd(solid state hard drive) the bios is deleted because 
it is partially stored on the ssd(in the bmr) and not a normal bios rom chip.

The solution is hard to find online so i will lay it out in as much detail as i 
can. These are the same steps needed if you wish to upgrade the internal ssd to 
one of higher capacity and w/r speed which i have also done with excellent 
results. 

In the future to keep this from happening again if you repartition the ssd set 
the begining of the partition to start after the first 32BMs so the bios does 
not get corrupted/deleted from the ssd and never format the whole drive just 
individual partitions.

Parts: you will need to buy two hdd adapters the links below are the best 
prices and the exact same hardware i use.

http://www.amazon.com/Syba-mSATA-2-5-Inch-Adapter-SY-ADA40050/dp/B007PPZ2I8/ref=
pd_cp_pc_0

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Adapter-Converter-Optical-External/dp/B001OORMVQ/ref
=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1362883742&sr=1-3&keywords=usb+to+sata

Software: you need hdd clone. 

http://redobackup.org/ this is free, its a live cd you burn and then boot from 
a pc.

you also need a full ssd clone image(.img) taken of a working tab w500 ssd 
which you will restore to your msata drive.

You must open the w500 and remove the msata ssd. place the msata ssd into the 
adapter and then plug the adapter into the sata to usb adapter. 

Plug the usb device into the computer you will use to run the clone software.
Place the .img file on another external hdd (it will be to big for most usb 
thumb drives)once you are setup simply boot the live cd and follow the 
on-screen instructions to restore a hdd image. Repeat the steps to place the 
msata ssd back in the iconia w500 and close up the back, if you wish to test 
without closing the back cover you must depress a small switch in the top left 
hand corner or the tab wont turn on. All done!

If you would like more help or to send it in for repairs i run a small tech 
repair service and would be happy to give you a good deal on fixing your 
tablet. You can contact me at bootdsc@gmail.com with the subject line ocean-pc. 

Original comment by boot...@gmail.com on 10 Mar 2013 at 3:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi everyone,

I have same issue, blue light, fan is working, and nothing else.
I installed Win8 succesfully, tested Android from USB flash without any 
problems, then i downloaded all Win8 updates from official website including 
BIOS update
when i started the INSYDE windows application, it showed a message: DO NOT TURN 
OFF YOUR COMPUTER.
then the computer restarted but without screen.

it was working on Win8 without screen.
I hardly took a screen shot for device manager with help of Narrator,
and viewed it on another computer to see that the screen driver is not 
installed, i updated it from internet, but no chance, the yellow sign beside 
Disply Adapters still there.

I thought that the bios update is not copatable with my graphics card, so it 
wasnt installed correctly, so I tryed flashing bios using USB pendrive, and the 
oldest BIOS file.

followed the steps mentioned in the service guide.
first and second try, the pendrive was flashing but nothing happened.
third time, no flashing.... W500 is dead,

but i'm not sure that I'm doing it in the righte way.
here is what service manual says:

This feature provides an opportunity for system that cannot boot up. With a USB 
flash,
the system can be perform crisis recovery.
To perform crisis recovery, do the following:
1. Prepare a USB flash with BIOS file inside and rename BIOS file to 
EAB00x64.FD,the USB
flash must be bootable and Fat32 format.
2. Before power on the system, please make sure that the usb flash has been 
connected to
the system and the rotation lock switch is locked.
3. Make sure AC adapter is powered and plugged-in.
4. Press Power Button + Quick Button(a key with windows logo on the top side) + 
Volume
Down Key at the same time.
5. After POST, release Quick Button + Volume Down + Power Button.
6. The system should boot from USB flash and perform crisis recovery action.

can any one help me?
what i have to do with the USB pendrive to make Bootable as the manuall said?
Ialready have a bootable one, but did not work.
any special needs or specs. in the flash drive?

Thanks for you all.

Original comment by wabog...@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 4:22

[GoogleCodeExporter]

my tab also same,install android and turn out no bootable device,so i fix it by 
remove the battery and bios battery i think around 10 minute,and open it 
finally can saw bios boot option.so remove battery mean open cover take ur 
risk... 

Original comment by LingC...@gmail.com on 25 Aug 2013 at 1:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for your advice

Please help me locating the BIOS battery.

If you can send a picture showing the location on the board, i appreciate this

Original comment by wabog...@gmail.com on 25 Aug 2013 at 2:15

[GoogleCodeExporter]

#101 Nerue...@googlemail.com

thanks for your help, your way of dealing with the problem really works, I just 
fixed my iconia tablet w500,only I hold the button for 15 seconds and then 
release it and wait about 10 minutes to tablet wake up.Thank you again :D

Original comment by vlaov...@gmail.com on 25 Aug 2013 at 3:27