# Acer Netbook powers up, and displays wallpaper screen, but nothing else. Suggestions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111 "2013-04-07T23:24:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/1 "2013-04-07T23:24:55Z")
My daughter’s 3 year old netbook displays the symptoms described. Any thoughts how to do anything? There’s no hard drive in this thing. After being turned on for maybe 20 or 30 minutes it starts to run a “startup Repair” function but it goes nowhere. So, it has life, but won’t boot up. I guess the only way to do this is through a USB stick or something. Anyone? And I hate to ask, but if I take this back to Staples, where we bought it three years ago, how much do you think they’ll charge to repair and reload? Money’s tight. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/2 "2013-04-07T23:28:50Z")
Perhaps install a hard drive ? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/3 "2013-04-07T23:50:29Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Perhaps install a hard drive ? Well, I guess this means connecting to an external hard drive. I don’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/4 "2013-04-08T00:12:47Z")
What is the brand and exact model number of this machine? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/5 "2013-04-08T00:39:05Z")
Well, it has to have some kind of storage to run the operating system. I’m guessing that this is either an ssd drive ( which is a hard drive really ), or some kind of flash memory. You could take out that element, and replace it — and install an OS from a usb pen-drive or cd if it has a cd slot ( I’m guessing not, otherwise you could try to start it up with a Live CD operating system just to see what’s going on in there ). Or you could run it directly from another source such as, as you implied, an external hard drive, or pendrive or flash card, if you can set it in the BIOS to use those first. In any case I’d try to go into the BIOS to check all the settings there first. And after all, whatever operating system you have, and wherever it is installed, somehow it must have been installed through some media: if it was a cd/dvd for instance you could try running a repair installation of your particular operating system through the same means. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/6 "2013-04-08T03:54:00Z")
> [@astro](#): > > What is the brand and exact model number of this machine? Acer Aspire One. Model NAV50. It’s been running the “Startup Repair” function for about 6 hours now. Again, going nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/7 "2013-04-08T05:50:30Z")
[Try this](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_reformat_acer_aspire_NAV50) > [@](#): > > How do you reformat acer aspire NAV50? > > Answer: > > 1. Power on the machine > 2. At the white ACER BIOS screen, hold the “Alt” key and press the “F10” key simultaneously to startAcer eRecovery > 3. Once eRecovery has loaded, click “Restore to Factory Default Settings” > 4. Click “OK” to continue > 5. From here, the eRecovery process will update all the data on the C: drive and restore a fully functional factory image (approximately 10 minutes). > 6. Once eRecovery has run, press “OK” to reboot unit ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/8 "2013-04-08T06:03:24Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Try this](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_reformat_acer_aspire_NAV50) Thanks **astro**. I’ll try that tomorrow night. Well, I guess tonight considering it’s 2:00 AM. I can’t sleep and I don’t have the energy to start fuxing with the machine right now. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/9 "2013-04-08T06:24:18Z")
I have a lenovo laptop that freezes up at the welcome screen if I have a micro SD card in the slot. Does your netbook have an SD card slot, and is there one in it? Try popping it out if so, it might fix it! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acer-netbook-powers-up-and-displays-wallpaper-screen-but-nothing-else-suggestions/655111/10 "2013-04-09T01:09:50Z")
Well, I guess there is a hard drive in there after all. And it’s toast.