Acer 6920 - BSOD or Black screen with mouse pointer

No, the laptop is not normally hot.

Have I reached the end of the line?

no, safe mode with command prompt does not work, it crashes on windows\system32\drivers\CLASSPNP.SYS - This is shortly followed by a BSOD.

I don't have any spare memory. I am not very confident about messing around with the hardware inside the laptop. If it is definitely a hardware problem I would rather take it to the shop.

Nothing to be gained from trying anything else? I trust the guys at the acer shop about as far as I can throw them.

Why does the data partition precede the OS partition? This is not the way it came from Acer. If you created a separate D partition for data why would you place it at the front of the drive moving the OS away from the disk reader to deliberately make it slower?

The reason I ask is that normally the first large partition would be the OS. Do you know for sure it's not?

99% of the time a user cannot boot the Installation DVD or System Repair Disk it is due to user error. You need to try to get the disk booted to do the repairs. If you can boot memtest but not the Win7 DVD then you need to burn another one or write it to flash stick from Steps 1/2 from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 or make a System Repair Disc - Create from another PC with the same bit-version.

How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD

But first you need to resolve the memtest which failed. Run the tests for 5-6 passes to completion following the steps in RAM - Test with Memtest86+ to test both sticks and slots. First make sure the disk is booting into the test. If so and it fails then access the RAM from it's door underneath to carefully remove a stick, then swap stick, then swap slots. Clean the sticks and check for debris in slots.

Here is a video showing how to access your model's RAM:



If overheating is a problem check for dust to clean out accessing your fan similar to this:



If these prove fruitless and you want to skip to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7
to see if it resolves the problem then boot PW CD to Wipe the HD, which should force the installer to boot itself to reinstall following the steps to get a perfect reinstall in tutorial.

Have you tried running Acer Factory Recovery to see if it will run?

Brilliant greg, thanks very much.

I came back to check this thread after watching the first video on you tube! It gave me the confidence to open the laptop up and remove the ram.

I shall decide how to proceed tomorrow.

Thanks again for the replies.

Be sure to guard against static shock by touching other metal on the case before touching the RAM or any other electronics, not doing the work on a carpeted floor.

Do you know for sure Windows 7 is on the third partition? How did the large second partition get in its way? This had to be done after it came from factory.

Either way you need to boot the Win7 DVD or REpair CD to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times, and if you can't and Factory Recovery won't run then you can wipe the HD to see if forced reinstall will work. Acer Support: Restoring a system to factory load