I have an Acer Aspire M1641 desktop machine running Vista. Had a power failure, now machine wont boot. Switch on, Hard Drive spins,but no dos or any other messages come up. the curser arrow, comes up on a black screen only, Tried to run my restore disc that came with machine, but no change. Help! Any ideas please.

First - re-seat the harddisk and reboot the computer. If the computer does not boot up then reboot andgo into the BIOS configuration to see if the BIOS detects the hard drive. If itdoesn't detect the hard drive then it could be faulty.Then the hard drive needsto be replaced in the computer/laptop, Windows installed and the computer orlaptop's device drivers plus your programs etc. to get a functioningcomputer/laptop again.

try reseating your memory or video card, or check the connection of your hard drive.

Vista has been corrupted by an update that went badly. You will have to perform a Repair install.

Is this the model with switch on the front panel?... take front cover off and most likely the plastic switch is either broken or dislodged.

Power Supply. Weak voltage power rail.

Has enough power to light LED lights, maybe spin fans, (Or spin a few times, and stop), but not enough power to turn the Processor on.

1) ALL of the LED lights combined use less than 1 Watt of power.

2) EACH fan uses 2 to 3 Watts of power.

3) A typical Processor can use 51 to 125 Watts of power.
Depends on what Processor it is.

Acer Aspire M1641-U1521A?
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 (2.0GHz)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_microprocessors#.22Allendale.22.2C_.22Conroe.22_.2865_nm.29

Can use up to 65 Watts. (TDP)

The Power Supply used is a 250 Watt unit. Acer isn't known to use high quality power supply's. It's a generic low quality Power Supply.

[ However in all fairness to Acer, if the inside of the computer, AND the inside of the Power Supply, isn't cleaned out on a regular basis as needed, this can cause Power Supply failure also.

Use a can of compressed air for computers, with the plastic 'straw' attached. Hold onto the can with one hand, use the other hand to hold onto the straw, shoot air through the ventilation holes of the Power Supply's case. (Computer unplugged from power)

Come around to the back of the computer, use the air to clean the Power Supply's fan blades, center hub, and surrounding cage. (Shroud)

When the cooling components for the Power Supply, (Fan and Heatsinks used inside), become clogged with dust, dirt, etc., the cooling capacity drops tremendously.

The Power Supply overheats.
Heat = Wasted Energy

The Power Supply strains to keep up with the call for power, but eventually cannot, and fails.
Components inside the Power Supply fail ]

Replace the Power Supply.

CPU dead! replace the board with a new CPU would be cheaper. it will be hard to find a 775 Duo Core.

try re-installing but this time on your BIOS settings select "boot from disk drive". best of luck!

reinatalled window

http://www.drivershq.com/drivers/Acer/Aspire-Desktop/M1641/23419/38180/53791/Drivers.aspx try this. Here you will find all available drivers for your pc.

HI,
SOME PLUG AND PLAY DEVICES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH VISTA EVEN SOMETIMES IT SAY'S THEY ARE CONTACT THE MANUFACTURER FOR AND POSSIBLE DRIVERS THAT WILL WORK WITH VISTA.