I have an Acer Aspire 5050 3371 Notebook and I'm about to burn it at the stake. Can somebody please help me? I know nothing about computers. Okay, so my Notebook has issues with authority. It seems to only seems to turn on when it wants to. Usually I will hit the power button and nothing on earth happens. Every once in a while it will turn on, but for the most part it stubbornly sits there and refuses to turn on. I have two indicator lights on the front of the machine. One recognizes power coming to it from the outlet it is plugged into, the other recognizes battery power. The one for the battery is on when its plugged in, but the outlet one is never on. It is a brand spankin new battery, so that is not the problem. I don't know what to do. Can somebody please help me?

It sounds like a fault with your power/charging circuit from where i am reading it. How old is the battery? I'm wondering if the fault could be within the battery itself. Did the machine power up ok when it had the original battery installed?

Well the problem is definately not the battery. It did the same thing with the previous battery. It was suggested to me by a friend that i replace the battery and see what that did but it just does the same thing. It does turn on sometimes, but most of the time it just sits there. How would I check the power/charging circuit? I don't even know where to begin.

OMG ... i was completley distraught. i bought my ACER ASPIRE LAPTOP 6 months ago when i was trveling in italy ,im in austarlia. I use it to run my online game and has all my files.

When i got the black screen o death i first am here to the boards finding nothing i was further distraught..


I AM HAPPY TO TELL YOU MY FRIENDS, that i am typing this on my lil baby

Heres what you do....

* you need usb disk drive
* a second computer with internet access (can be work cafe friends place)
* a file you can download from acer or search yourself called ZGIA32.zip


Format your drive in fat (*note i tried fat as directed in a number of manuals though then tried fat32 and it worked then though suggest you try fat first *shrug)


open zip file and copy 3309.fd and the fla.exe to the usb stick

rename 3309.fd to ZGIA32.fd


Turn off your laptop making sure that both battery and power supply is plugged in and attach the usb stik/drive.


hold down FN and ESC keys and press the power button, continue to fold FN and ESC keys for 7-10 secs then release - at this point the power light should be blinking and you should still have the black screen of death.

press the power button once while its blinking - this will initiate a bios update * DO NOT PUSH ANYTHING AFTER THIS

After 2 mins the aspire should reboot itself , wait for about 7mins if it dosent before rebooting manually

Took me three attempts as i just wasent doing something right though TA DA!!!!!

and i still have my files. yeah team take this and run, hope you havent spent money yet

and voulla , your black screen of death is gone

, thought this might save you all some time ;)

Thanks for a great response on how to resolve this.

Okay, have been known to not see the forest through the trees, but I've searched and can't find the ZGIA32.zip file anywhere - even an ACER site.

Would you have the link you used or direct me 'through the trees'?

Thank YOU!

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