Acer Aspire X1301 BIOS update crashed

Hum sorry to hear that gerry mate I don't know where you live but have you considered doing a new build like you say the cost of repairing this one doesn't make sense.

Myself I had a machine that was prebuilt that had a dual core Athlon 240 and DDR3 ( I now notice your machine has DDR2) and it worked like a demon. That machine I slipped a 260 into plus a SSD more RAM and shipped it to my brother in the UK and the thing flies so the extra core you talk of well for me is really not necessary - depends of course what you want a machine to do. .

Personally I would not have any more AMD stuff I'm sticking to Intel.

So what exactly do you use the machine for? I am just looking at options for you my friend. You have a decent case the PSU and CPU are ok so basically what you need is a motherboard and some RAM. Now personally I would go a board and that supports DDR3 RAM and a 64bit system. The CPU's listed for your board / machine appear to support 64bit but you can check here CPU-World: Microprocessor news, benchmarks, information and pictures > search out your CPU and see.

Looking out here for a normal day to day usage machine that could be done for around Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 Motherboard [GA-970A-D3] - $99.00 : PC Case Gear > board and Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 [CMX8GX3M2A1600C9] - $45.00 : PC Case Gear so all up $150 and you are back in business.
Mate if large amounts of storage was not an issue to begin with an SSD is the go
Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD Retail Box [MZ7PC128B] - $99.00 : PC Case Gear (you can back up most data to an external.

But this is just me and a suggestion it does depend on just where you are for prices.

Ooops forgot you can even go an OEM for the OS or maybe download the ISO and use the COA on the machine's sticker.

gerrygr said:

Thanks, but I figure a new MB, plus HD will still cost me $250 all in vs $400 for a new PC. This is not a high performance machine, just managing our household.

That's right if you buy a new mobo, but mobos that accept that processor are relatively old (electronics get "old" and lose price quickly, so "old" is a relative term, what matters is that they dramatically lost price), so you'll find one for 40$ or so (here an example list). You have both processor, RAM, case and PSU so that's cash you don't need to pay again.

You need to look for motherboards that have socket AM2+, which is the connector for the CPU. A brand I personally recommend is "AS Rock", as I keep finding tons of their mobos that still work after 5+ years. Also the Motherboard must support the kind of ram you have, either DDR2 or DDR3, in case you don't know, this image will help you figure out the kind of ram banks you have.
Don't forget to buy a good thermal paste to put between the processor and heat sink. Must state "non-conductive", so even if it oozes on contacts it won't short-circuit (=fry) anything. THis is a good one, but you don't need so much, try to find smaller containers.

In case you don't know how to remove the processor or RAM (and reassemble and apply thermal paste properly, you can find tons of videos by just googling for "remove/replace AM2+ processor" or similar.

Plus, would I be able to reinstall Win 7 if it's not a MB specific for the Aspre 1301?

The licence is valid only for the specific motherboard that is now dead (so either you find the same motherboard or it won't work). The name of the motherboard is printed on it, so if you open the computer you should see it near the banks of RAM.
Still, quite a few people with similar issues and a OEM windows 7 used the phone activation, and explaining their issues managed to get a new activation anyway. I suggest to call them BEFORE deciding if buying replacement parts, because if they refuse to give you the code, you need to pay another 80-100$ for a OEM windows 7 (that costs less than a retail version but has the same one-motherboard limit as your old win 7)

So total would be 150$ (plus shipping) if Microsoft is kind and gives a new activation code, or 250$ (plus shipping) if you have to buy a new code.

In any case, decision is up to you.

Silly question though, this is a triple core CPU, but new units I'm seeing are double core. But I imagine the newer ones are still better.

Not necessarily true, only benchmarks can shed some light on what is more powerful.
But mind me, "better" is more "best suited for the job", than "powerful".
Really you can go out and pay up to 1000$ in a 8-core CPU but if all you want to do is office applications, web browsing, very light games and maybe some movies you don't need a better CPU.

Yeah Bob I guess another option would be an Ebay buy or just advertise locally.

Unlike your choice though mate I prefer Gigabyte or Asus and I suppose if push came to shove what about going Intel? There has got to be a cheaper solution than $250? For example for me a cheap everyday sytem Intel Celeron G550 [BX80623G550] - $45.00 : PC Case Gear and Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D2V Motherboard [GA-H61MA-D2V] - $59.00 : PC Case Gear or ASUS P8H61-MX-USB3 Motherboard [P8H61-MX-USB3] - $59.00 : PC Case Gear or
ASRock H77M Motherboard [H77M] - $79.00 : PC Case Gear

Gerry just where are you if the prices are that high? I have a friend in New Zealand and I know the prices there are on average $100 more than I pay here and then again I pay more than US prices My supplier PCCG about the best here and say Newegg are yards apart price wise.

Mate to be quite frank if you do go a new machine I would seriously consider Intel in thta instance as well. I am not saying AMD are no good but the choice for RAM as an example is made so much easier to find with an Intel driven system than AMD.

Oh meant to add that is a Celeron the i3 is a bit more but would beat the Celeron hands down
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=21350

gerrygr said:

Thanks for all the help guys.

I decided to take the easier, but more expensive route. Since a new MB & HDD would run me $200-$300 anyway (I checked eBay and Acer 1301 MBs are $90-$150), plus the Win 7 license - I decided on a refurb HP. I know glutton. This way for an extra $100 or so, I have a better processor, more memory & expandability options as the new one is not a slim PC.

So now, it's trying to move the files off the old HDD before it dies ... Fingers crossed.

Many thanks for the help.

Oh well at least you are up and running gerry but just out of curiosity mate just where do you come from because the cost of boards and stuff you quote are really very expensive to what I can get for an everyday machine. Because mate you could have stuck any brand board you liked in it it didn't have to be Acer just as long as the CPU and your RAM was compatible

I reckon I could build one even getting my stuff retail for approx $400!

Still now you have it up and running just check out the bloat mate as I knkow HP is full of it and don't forget the Bible - Optimize Windows 7[2]=Performance Maintenance
Do let us know how you go as you have had a bit of a trial with this one eh? :)

Gerry I don't know if you know mate but mobos are standard fitting holes you can put whatever brand you like in there plus a CPU that would suit you mate and just get an OEM cos you would be installing on a new board.

So sorry mate I was just assuming you knew that. Not only do the holes for the mobo fixing line up in any case - so do the I/O ports. Unless the I/O is very different on your machine mate.

If I wanted to I could fit any of the boards you have into this machine.

Time to do some reading up Gerry on builds - lots of refs in Google.
Take a look in here
Newegg.com - PC Components, Computer Parts, Computer Hardware
There is this
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

and I think you have store called Tiger which is similar - stacks of Youtube vids mate and look once again really sorry about the fitting business
Motherboards between $50.00 and $99.99 at TigerDirect.ca

But be VERY VERY careful with Ebay stuff.

Let us know how you get on

John