Acer Aspire HDD compatibility issue

[cppmonkey]

Hi,

Recently I had an Acer V5-573P laptop for repair. The hard drive wasn't functioning very well, so I ordered a 500GB Seagate Thin to replace the 500GB Toshiba that the BIOS kept reporting as frozen.

Unfortunately the Seagate wasn't detected by the laptop at all. The drive works just fine in my desktop.

Are Acer locking down there hardware to specific venders? Can I only change a Toshiba HDD for another Toshiba?

Toshiba drives aren't the most avalaible. SCAN don't have any 7mm Toshiba drives!

I did eventually manage to reinstall windows on the Toshiba HDD, but it has been nothing but problematic.

Have I inevitably spent £35 on a new drive and wasted many hours for nothing?

I've been a part time IT technician for 14 years and this is the first time I've come across some comparability issues like this. I known Xbox 360 require WD drives with specific firmware, but an Acer?

I don't recommend Acers at the best of times, I sure as hell aren't now.

I'd like to return it to my customer but I can't in its current state. It's a complete piece of junk with its current HDD!

Has anyone else experienced similar issues?

[shaithis]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pymo82zg2s976j0/Bios.rar?dl=0

Can try that, it has the whitelist removed....although I thought it was only for Wifi adapters.

[cppmonkey]

I'd forgotten about white lists for WiFi adaptors. My HP DV6104EA was limited to its HP Broadcom WiFi adaptor. Thankfully I found a HP branded Atheros WiFi adaptor in my collection that worked with both Linux and the laptops white list.

Why do manufacturers do this, is this all part of incentive programs when negotiating supply contracts? Why have standardised connectors if we're going to be aberrantly limited by the manufacturers to which components we can use? I didn't know Acer Inc. was another name for Apple Inc.

At least it is well known Apples SSD's are bespoke custom versions that only work in Apple devices. An Intel chipset should work with any SATA device, not just the ones Acer 'certify' as compatible.

Thanks Shalthis, I will have a look at the BIOS file in due course

[BobF64]

Why do manufacturers do this, is this all part of incentive programs when negotiating supply contracts? Why have standardised connectors if we're going to be aberrantly limited by the manufacturers to which components we can use?

If not that, more likely because they know what works correctly. Less support issues from numpties who replace things that then dont work or cause damage to the supplied hardware.

Same reason most pre-built manufactures have, or maybe had, support policies that meant they would only help if it had the supplied, or supported, OS still installed on the laptop or desktop.