Acer Aspire 3300s Service Guide

							55Chapter 3
8.Remove the four screws as shown here then detach the floppy disk drive from the frame.
9.Disconnect micro switch cable from the FDD and DVD frame.
Removing the Intrusion Alarm Cable
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51
2.See “Removing the FDD and DVD Frame” on page 53”
3.Detach the intrusion alarm cable from the FDD and DVD Frame. 
						

							Chapter 356
Removing the USB and Audio Board
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51
2.See “Removing the EMI Audio Cover” on page 52
3.See “Removing the FDD and DVD Frame” on page 53
4.Disconnect the USB board cable and audio board cable from the USB and audio board.
5.Remove the two screws as shown here then detach the USB and audio board from the lower case.
Removing the Hard Disk Drive
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51
2.See “Removing the FDD and DVD Frame” on page 53
3.Disconnect the IDE cable and HDD power cable from the hard disk drive.
4.Remove the two screws as shown here and then hold the hard disk drive frame. 
						

							57Chapter 3
5.Slide the hard disk drive frame to the right and then gently move it inward to detach it from 
        the lower case.
6.Remove the four screws as shown and then detach the hard disk drive from the frame.
Removing the DIMM
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51
2.See “Removing the FDD and DVD Frame” on page 53”
3.To release the system memory, press down and out on the levers on both sides of the DIMM socket.
4.Gently pull the DIMM out of the socket. 
						

							Chapter 358
Removing the Power Supply
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51.
2.See “Removing the FDD and DVD Frame” on page 53”
3.Remove the two screws as shown here.
4.Disconnect the power cable from the main board. 
5.Gently remove the power supply from the system.
Removing the RTC Battery
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51
2.To remove the RTC battery from the holder, gently remove it from the holder by hand. 
						

							59Chapter 3
Removing the Processor
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51
2.See “Removing the FDD and DVD Frame” on page 53”
3.Disconnect the fan sink cable from the main board, and then release the two levers on both sides of the 
fan sink.
.
4.Put the two levers back to the original position, and then remove the CPU fan sink from the main board
5.Lift up the socket lever, pull the CPU out from the socket carefully and then put the socket lever back to its 
original position. 
						

							Chapter 360
Removing the Main board
1.See “Opening the Housing” on page 51
2.See “Removing the FDD and DVD Frame” on page 53
3.Remove the six screws as shown here then detach the main board from the lower case. 
						

							61Chapter 3 
						

							Chapter 462
This chapter provides troubleshooting information for the Aspire 3300S: 
TPower-On Self-Test (POST)
T Index of Error Message
TIndex of Error Symptoms
TUndetermined Problems
Chapter 4
Troubleshooting 
						

							63Chapter 4
Power-On Self-Test (POST)
Each time you turn on the system, the Power-on Self Test (POST) is initiated. Several items are tested during 
POST, but is for the most part transparent to the user.
The Power-On Self Test (POST) is a BIOS procedure that boots the system, initializes and diagnoses the 
system components, and controls the operation of the power-on password option. If POST discovers errors in 
system operations at power-on, it displays error messages on screen, generates a check point code at port 
80h or even halts the system if the error is fatal.
The main components on the main board that must be diagnosed and/or initialized by POST to ensure system 
functionality are as follows:
TMicroprocessor with built-in numeric co-processor and cache memory subsystem
TDirect Memory Access (DMA) controller (8237 module)
TInterrupt system (8259 module) or APIC (advance program interrupt controller)
TThree programmable timers (system timer and 8254 module)
TROM subsystem
TRAM subsystem
TCMOS RAM subsystem and real time clock/calendar with battery backup
TOnboard serial interface controller
TOnboard parallel interface controller
TEmbedded hard disk interface and one diskette drive interface
TKeyboard and auxiliary device controllers
T I/O ports
TTwo RS232 serial ports
TOne parallel port
TOne PS/2-compatible mouse port
TOnePS/2-compatible keyboard port
NOTE: When Post executes a task, it uses a series of preset numbers called check points to be latched at
port 80h, indicating the stages it is currently running. This latch can be read and shown on a debug board.
The following table describes the BIOS common tasks carried out by POST. Each task is denoted by an 
unique check point number. For other unique check point numbers that are not listed in the table, refer to the 
correspoing product service guide.
 Post Checkpoints List: The list may vary accordingly depending on your BIOS.
CheckpointDescription
CFh Test CMOS R/W functionality
C0h Early chipset initialization:
       -Disable shadow RAM
       -Disable L2 cache (socket 7 or below)
       -Program basic chipset registers
C1h Detect memory
       -Auto-detection of DRAM size, type and ECC.
       -Auto-detection of L2 cache (socket 7 or below)
C3h Expand compressed BIOS code to DRAM
C5h Call chipset hook to copy BIOS back to E000 & F000 shadow RAM.
0h1 Expand the Xgroup codes locating in physical address 1000:0
02h Reserved 
						

							Chapter 464
03h Initial Superio_Early _Init switch
04h Reserved
05h 1. Blank out screen
2. Clear CMOS error flag
06h Reserved
07h 1. Clear 8042 interface
2. Initialize 8042 self-test
08h 1. Test special keyboard controller for Winbond 977 series Super I/O chips.
2. Enable keyboard interface.
09h Reserved
0Ah 1. Disable PS/2 mouse interface (optional)
2. Auto detect ports for keyboard & mouse followed by a port & interface swap (optional).
3. Reset keyboard for Winbond 977 series Super I/Q chips.
0Bh Reserved
0Ch Reserved
0Dh Reserved
0Eh Test F000h segment shadow to see whether it is R/W-able or not. If test fails, keep 
beeping the speaker.
0Fh Reserved
10h Auto detect flash type to load appropriate flash R/W codes into the run time area in F000 
for ESCD & DMI support.
11h Reserved
12h Use walking 1’s algorithm to check out interface in CMOS circuitry. Also set real-time clock 
power status, and then check for override.
13h Reserved
14h Program chipset default values into chipset. Chipset default values are MODBINable by 
OEM customers.
15h Reserved
16h Initial Early_Init_Onboard_Generator switch.
17h Reserved
18h Detect CPU information including brand, SMI type (Cyrix or Intel) and CPU level (586 or 
686)
19h Reserved
1Ah Reserved
1Bh Initial interrupts vector table. If no special specified, all H/W interrupts are directed to 
SPURIOUS_INT_HDLR & S/W interrupts to SPURIOUS_soft_HDLR.
1Ch Reserved
1Dh Initial Early_PM_INIT switch.
1Eh Reserved
1Fh Load keyboard matrix (notebook platform)
20h Reserved
21h HPM initialization (notebook platform)
22h Reserved
CheckpointDescription