A slowly dying ASUS M5A99X mainboard

Initially the cause wasn't clear. The computer was in some situations very slow and caused problems while agreeing admin permissions to install applications...

First I was informed to take a check from remote, but that wasn't even possible. The other site of the line had problems installing TeamViewer, the computer hanged at the moment UAC popped up for agreeing admin permissions. At the moment nothing happened anymore. After the next restart the computer itself got even slower. A few spots on the taskbar didn't even work anymore.

Seeing the difficult child myself, I just checked the basic stuff: Hard disk is fine, booting an alternate OS by DVD worked without issues, no malware or anything like that. But the issue got worse, at every attempt even slower!

After another test I wasn't able to start the computer anymore. The screen turned on for a moment but that was it. It remained black. Removing all drives didn't make any difference.

Ok.. so what's going on? From now it was clear it's a hardware problem. I did a BIOS reset (RTC RAM), restarted and the boot screen appeared, but unfortunately the screen froze from that moment on. I could press any key for entering Setup or changing the boot order - nothing happen. I turned off and there was the black screen again.

A few other ideas:

• Removing all boot devices (HDD, DVD)
  Booting without any RAM
• Booting without graphics adapter

While doing this tests there wasn't any beeping or difference at all. The motherboard must be damaged! Else there would be any beeping alarm or a kind of warning that something's not attached.

To be sure, I ordered a new Asus M5A99X board in order to make sure it's really the issue. And I was right: I changed the board, moved the CPU, the cooler and everything else to the new motherboard and the computer started again. 

But that's not the end of the story: After a successful restart the problems didn't really vanish. The Windows system was obviously damaged, too. I knew that the hard disk was ok, so I created an image of drive C and reinstalled Windows 10, basic software and updates. Now it's all working as fine as it should be. I copied all necessary files from the image back to the user folders and that was it...

Damn motherboard, whatever happened there...

Project Acer Aspire 5742g - First can't boot, then no AntiVirus

Someone brought me a laptop recently which wasn't able to boot anymore. The issue was solved easily, but after rebooting there was more...

It's all about an Acer Aspire 5742g, around five years old. The computer stops at the BIOS boot screen with the option 'Press <F2> to enter Setup'. Windows didn't boot anymore - at every attempt.

But you could still enter the BIOS and change settings without any freezing or anything. So I took a Live-Windows and booted it from the DVD drive - and it worked. I tested some HDD tools and it was all fine, I also had access to the data, no problem. But it still couldn't boot at all.

Then I opened the laptop and removed the hard disk from its cables to take it out for a few minutes. Couldn't see anything unusual and returned the hard disk back into the laptop. I turned the laptop on again and it suddenly worked, Windows 7 was able to boot.

After a few more starts the issue didn't occur again (even weeks later no problem), but I found out that the anti-virus software wasn't running anymore. And for how long? The owner didn't know. The laptop was also filled with lots of software the user wasn't aware about.

A virus scan with Malwarebytes AntiMalware showed more than 300 infections and we agreed to save the data and reinstall the machine. Better save than sorry.

Virtual Box and 64 bit: Quick fix

By now it's also possible to install 64 bit systems within Virtual Box - as long as your computer is ready for that. But what if that's the case and you still don't see any option listed to create such a machine?

I can give you two things to check in order to solve that:

First: Go to BIOS/UEFI and check if the virtualization technology is activated. Easy, but often forgotten.

Second, check if no other Virtual Machine software is blocking Virtual Box - for example HyperV. If that's the case and you don't even need HyperV (which is included in Windows 10), remove it by going to Programs and Features.

A reboot is possibly necessary, but afterwards you can start Virtual Box, create a new VM and see also see 64 bit versions in your selection.

Enabling DVD boot for Lenovo G70-35

No matter how often you try to press F2, F6, F8, F12 or anything: If you have a pre-installed Windows 10 you need to change some settings in the BIOS/UEFI in order to be able to boot from your DVD.

First, you need to get into the BIOS/UEFI menu to change the boot order by pressing Fn+F2. As you directly notice you can't even see the DVD drive.

In the following you should select 'Boot Mode' and chose 'Legacy Support' instead of 'UEFI'.

And in 'Boot Priority' you should also change from 'UEFI First' to 'Legacy First'.


Go to 'Exit Saving Changes' and open the BIOS again. Now you can see a bit more and also the DVD drive like you were used to in the older days.

Finally you should put the DVD in the first position ahead of the HDD. Save the changes and your inserted DVD will boot.

You'll be able now to install Windows 7, 8, 10 or anything from your DVD drive.

ASUS EEE PC 1002HA and Windows 7

Usually delivered with Windows XP the EEE PC 1002HA is also able to be used with Windows 7. With the official ending of the support (April 8th, 2014) it's now the time to install a newer Windows version.

STEP 1: LATEST BIOS VERSION

But it's a long way to reach the goal: First, it's recommended to update the BIOS to the latest version. If you don't do that Windows 7 will start with a black screen and you can only avoid it by pushing the power button for a few seconds to switch to the sleep mode and pressing the power button again to awake (normal screen will appear). But it's surely annoying to do that after every start.

So, in my case the BIOS had the version 0302 and the last one available is 1004. You can check the version with the Asus Update for EEE PC Update Tool and also update your BIOS (only if you're still using XP). Either try connecting with the internet or try to find the following ROM file by yourself: 1002HA-ASUS-1004.ROM

If you don't have the tool, then you can format an USB device with FAT16 (not FAT32, won't work!!!) and copy the ROM file to it. Rename the file to 1002HA.ROM.

Note: Devices bigger than 4GB can't be used with FAT16!

After that you just simply have to boot from your USB device (with pressing ALT + F2).

Process takes less than a minute

If the process is finished, remove your USB drive and push the power button to reboot the EEE PC.

STEP 2: INSTALL WINDOWS 7

To continue you need an ISO image with Windows 7 which you have to use on the bootable USB drive. The Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool is actually really helpful to convert and copy your image to a bootable USB device (check if it's big enough!).

Before booting from the USB device make sure, you have a backup of the current drive C, in case anything would went wrong.

You also need the files from C:\Program Files\EeePC\ACPI\Driver for installing the ACPI driver afterwards (it will be missed after the installation).

Simply save anything driver and software related EEE PC stuff. The safest way would be a hard disk image.

Finally you can boot from the USB device and install Windows 7. Except ACPI all drivers will be found by the operation system. It will work with just 1GB RAM but upgrading it to 2 won't be a bad idea. Good luck!