Acer Aspire 7736 stuck in system setup loop

[DJnRF]

Acer had decided that due to a sudden problem where they could not
find why the PC could not find an OS that the HDD must be bad. They
sent new setup discs, and suggested a new HDD be installed and setup.
When a new drive was purchased and installed the setup discs were
used to install the Windows 7 OS. It appeared to go through the setup,
and did show as finished, but with the reboot process it first gave a
notice that setup could not complete with the installed hardware and
needed to restart. With each successive trial to reboot it would ask
to reinstall the setup discs. Each time now it says setup could not
complete, and would restart again. Each and every time of a restart
it does the same thing.Entering into BIOS setup and insuring the settings
are correct will still restart to the same screens to install setup again.

In the attempt to format the new drive to start again with installation,
and insuring that the CD drive is first boot, will not change the entrance
into the same screens for system setup. The PC still attempts to boot
from the HDD even though it has been selected to be absolute last
in the boot process, and the CD/ DVD first. Not even HDDeraser.exe
CD is 'seen' in the boot process in the CD drive.

Is there some other hardware or software issue that would cause this,
or a problem in the Acer firmware?

 

[Tmagic650]

Pull the hard drive out of the laptop. Does the laptop try to post at all without the hard drive installed?

 

[DJnRF]

This is Acer Aspire laptop Model 7736Z. It has a 320 gb HD, 4 gb RAM, 2.2 Mhz CPU.
The OS is the home version of Windows 7 that they used in these laptops.

Other than a new HDD purchased when Acer support could not find the reason
that all of a sudden the PC kept showing a message that there was no OS, and
suggested that a new drive be purchased as the original was bad. That was the
reason for the new drive. (the same WD 320 gb as the original) There is no
other change in hardware in the PC, and since it was a new HDD there was
no software yet. (still isn't)

As for trying to see what happens with a boot up after removal of the HD, I
have yet to try that. I will check that as soon as I can and post the results.

 

[Tmagic650]

Okay, if the laptop doesn't show anything on the screen with the hard drive out, the motherboard or memory may be at fault...

 

[DJnRF]

Okay, if the laptop doesn't show anything on the screen with the hard drive out, the motherboard or memory may be at fault...

With the HDD out of the laptop it does try to load. It shows a media failure and Broadcom shuts down.
With the HDD installed the BIOS does show the drive, but it just goes through an endless loop to install
the OS when the computer attempts to boot. When it can't start Windows (7) it immediately shows
Starting Setup Services, and the whole process begins again to where it can't install Windows and must
be restarted to begin the installation process all over again.

 

[Tmagic650]

Those setup discs might be for the wrong model laptop or they might be corrupt. Can you do a full format before the Windows 7 install starts?

 

[DJnRF]

Those setup discs might be for the wrong model laptop or they might be corrupt. Can you do a full format before the Windows 7 install starts?

It will not come out of the 'loop' to setup installation. I can't even get it into DOS. I have tried using my XP Pro disk
to do a complete format to no avail. All it does after loading is to stop at a blue screen saying that Windows has
been shut down to prevent damage. I don't know how else to get it to format. I have even tried using a hard drive
eraser, and it won't work either. The PC still goes into the setup/ installation mode.

 

[Tmagic650]

Since this is a laptop, this might be a motherboard issue. If you have 2 memory modules installed, try it with only one

 

[DJnRF]

Finally! One of the memory modules was bad, but that wasn't all the problem.
After removing the bad memory stick I noticed that even though the installation
program seemed to install the HD didn't show anything. The end result was
found to be a bad, brand new HDD. It was a simple exchange with the company
as it was new. With a new HD installed, and the bad memory stick removed
the installation went smooth.

Thanks much for the memory jogging for me.

 

[Tmagic650]

Okay good