Acer Aspire notebook stopped running off the mains, and will only run off the battery
I have an Acer Aspire 1670 that’s about a year and a half old. Basically what happens is that the machine stopped running off the mains, and will only run off the battery. The only way to charge the battery again is to turn the computer off, and then it will charge again. That began happening about 2 weeks ago. Then a few days ago the charging when turned off became really tempremental, and then it just stopped.
The power adapter says that power is getting from the mains to the adapter, but then the battery still won’t charge. Does anyone know what the problem could be?
I think it could be a bad DC jack. I do not work with Acer notebooks, so it would be only my guess. Try to plug in the AC adapter and wiggle the plug inside the jack. Can you make LEDs to flicker by wiggling the jack? Try to press on the power button while you are wiggling the power jack. If you notice that you can start the laptop when you apply some pressure on the power plug (and power jack), then most likely you have a power jack issue.
The problem you’ve described is very similar to a Toshiba Satellite A70 and A75 power jack problem. A crack occurs between the positive connector on the jack and the system board. As a result, the laptop battery charges only intermittently or doesn’t charge at all, the laptop will not run on AC power or the laptop will not turn on at all. Usually you can solve this problem by re-soldering or replacing the power jack on the system board.
I’m not sure if the power jack is a part of the system board on Acer Aspire 1670 laptop, so remember it’s just a guess.
I would also test the AC adapter itself. May be the adapter is bad even though an LED lights up.
Try to remove the battery and run the laptop just on AC power. Does it make any difference? Can you turn it on?
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:42 am
Similar problem with Acer Aspire 1640 however mine works fine off AC power. The battery would not charge. Ordered a new battery thinking it had come to the end of its life. It does not charge either. Took case apart to look at board but there doesn’t appear to be any cracks, etc. Put a meter on each of the battery contacts (at the mother board). There are about six of them. They each read about 5 volts when the adapter is plugged in. The battery output itself is about 14 volts on each of them. Not familiar with how battery charging is done so I don’t know whether the low voltage is correct (I assume it “trickle” charges the battery and does not dump the full 14V into the cell).
November 19th, 2007 at 1:15 am
It’s been almost a year since my last comment, and I’ve not been able to sort things out in the meantime.
I’ve sent my laptop in for repair about a week and a half ago and the estimate from Acer just came in: € 503! According to the service department it needs a new charger AND a new motherboard!
Needless to say this has been my last Acer product, no matter how low they price their stuff. With these repair charges you pay the higher price after all !
I’m trying to get them to reduce the costs, and will point them to this log, but I rate my chances very low …
Just to let you guys (and dolls) know.
November 17th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Luke,
If new adapter doesn’t fix the problem, there is something wrong with the power jack.
November 15th, 2007 at 6:04 am
Acer 9110 bought just over a year ago and cost enough! Exactly the smae problem – constantly having wriggle the cable in the socket to get mains power. Tried another tested (and working) adapter with same issuse.
It seems nobody has found a solution so does it look like a sending off to be fixed sort of problem?
October 19th, 2007 at 11:39 am
I have a gateway mx7515 that does what a lot of poeple seem to be describing where the battery will charge while the laptop is turned off , but not while it is on, and the laptop itself will not run on dc power alone.
October 5th, 2007 at 3:13 am
I HAVE A NOTEBOOK MODEL ASPIRE 1640, IT BECOME SOMETIME DISPLAY OR NOT, AND SOMETME GETTING ON/OFF PROBLEMB , I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THIS , IAM COMPUTER ENGINEER , I HAVE TEST OUT COMPLETELY , BUT I DONT UNDERSTAND WHERE IS PROBLEMB I THINK PROBLEMB IN MOTHER BOARD , BUT MOTHER BOARD IS OK , THAN WHERE IS PROBLEMB, I WANT COMPLETE SOLUTION , IF YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS PLESE SEND ME IMMIDIATE REGARDING ANSWER,
FOR THANKS
CHIPSET COMPUTER LTD. INDIA 09872310227
September 11th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Wow. I also have an Aspire 3000 and for me, it was pretty clear that I had a problem with the pin in the DC jack because I literally watched it fall out. So anyway, I took it to a few places which had no idea what was wrong with it (and this is Australia..). So anyway, at present I’m waiting for a replacement DC jack to come so I can replace the broken one. I’m not absolutely great at soldering but I think I can do it. I was wondering if anyone knew where to find instructions on how to dismantle (safely!) an Acer Aspire 3000 laptop?
Thanks
August 4th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I’m having the same problem, but my DC jack finally came out. Turns out it was loose in there causing my problem. Can it be replaced or should I chunk the system?
August 1st, 2007 at 12:18 pm
this is so funny cuz. . .i had the same problem with my Aspire 3000 and it was really weird so im gonna go get it checked out soon
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 am
actually i bought the laptop in jan 05 !
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:28 am
Hi,
I bought my acer 1672 in jan 04 and am having the exact same problem as the others..a few months ago, my laptop battery stop charging and the battery light always blinked green..however it was working fine with the AC power plugged in. A couple of days ago, the Laptop stopped running on AC power all of a sudden! So the laptop wont power up if the battery is removed, and the battery wont charge when the laptop is on! the battery only charged for a little while when the laptop is completely turned off but then after 10 mins or so, i start getting a blinking green battery light again. When i turn the laptop ON at this stage, it gives me a warning saying that the battery is out of charge. The laptop runs for about 10 mins or so and then completely dies down again !!
Please help !!
July 8th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Hi,
I have a small problem. I have an Acer 5570-2792 and it works fine. I am running Windows Vista Basic. I have 2 user profile. One for me and one for my wife. My user profile and works fine, no problems at all. My wife, after unplugging the power cord from the laptop, the wireless internet disconnects. She needs to press the wireless button again to locate and connect our wireless connection.
Everything from both profiles are identical. I have no clue what could cause this.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:17 am
Shane -
That sounds very much like a Power Good failure, although it can be a bad cpu.
The cpu has to tell the power supply that it has power or the ps will turn itself off. This all takes around 1 second. On desktops, you have to pull the power cord, wait about 15 sec, plug it in and watch the ps fan as you hit the power button. If the ps is sending power, but not receiving the power good response, you will see the fan jerk.
On a laptop, you will usually see the power light blink.
I am not an Acer fella, so I can’t tell you if you need to replace the MB or the power supply module…..if, indeed moden laptops even have such a thing.
I’ve been at this for over 20 years, but mostly to servers these days.
Mark
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
I have an acer Laptop aspire and today it just stopped working. it will not boot with power connected i have tried a various ways with battery in and out. when i push the power button lights on the front flash but nothing else starts. computer is a year and a half so no warranty damn. So if you have any ideas would appreciate it.
April 7th, 2007 at 11:18 am
hi i have an acer aspire 1670 which will not run on ac.
The computer runs fine on the battery but will not charge when the computer is turned on.(will charge when turned off)
Also will not turn on with the battery on, it turns on for A split second then turns off.
i have tried replacing the jack and the ac adapter works fine on another acer notebook.
any help would be great as acer want to charge me to tell me what iv just told you.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I have an Acer 5002 and just encountered a problem with the AC Adapter. It’s plugged into the wall socket and into the laptop, but won’t recharge the battery. This occurred suddenly and without prior problems. I wiggled around and it began to work and recharge the battery, but hasn’t worked since. I went out and bought a brand new Kensington Universal AC Adapter ($120) and Acer plug ($10) and it worked fine. So I’m guessing it has something to do with the metallic connectivity in the AC Adapter (the male end that plugs into the laptop). Any suggestions? I would like a cheaper alternative to $130 Kensington Universal Adapter.
February 24th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I have a acer 3000. I have never had a problem with it previous, I’ve had it for little over a year. I was placing it down on a table from my lap when suddenly it went out. I had been using it for about 30-45 minutes, batter was at 100% and the ac adapter was in. Now the ac adapter flashes when I plug it in to the laptop. It will not power on. There was no wiggling to make it work, no warning- just went out. I have had it plugged in and it will not come on with the ac adapter and battery in, the battery out and adapter in or just the battery. It would be nice to at least have it die on me after this semester.
Any thoughts?
February 20th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Ozzywadd,
I think you are not alone. Unfortunately I cannot help you at this point because I don’t have a lot of experience with Windows Vista either. I published your comment here so more people can see it and share their experience.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I too have an aspire 1670 and i am having problems with vista. I cannot use my lanexpress wireless card as vista cannot use its original drivers can anybody help me out with locating drivers that will support the card with vista. Vista also takes a dislike to the mobility radeon 9700 and will not use the unsigned drivers needed to use the card :S Please leave comments on similar problems or any ideas for fixing these. Any help is much appreciated.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Hi,
I’m having the same problem with my Acer 1670 laptop. It’s about 18 months old and I am about to call Acer to send it away for repair for the third time. It’s the same problem every time – works fine for a while, then begins to switch to battery even when it’s plugged into the mains. Wiggling the wire makes it work for a while, then it all stops working.
I’ve had 2 AC power adapters and 3 internal power supply units so far, about to get the 4th. I’ll advise them to check the software drivers as well as just replacing the hardware.
I bought the extra 5 year cover – thankfully! But this is their final attempt at fixing this problem. Any more, and I’ll expect a replacement or my money back – or we’ll go to court. I paid good money for this computer and it’s been more hassle than it’s worth. Next time I’ll fork out a bit more and go for a decent name…
February 13th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Don,
You can prevent overheating if you blow off the heat sink one-two times a month. You can use canned air widely available in any computer store. I run my laptop 24/7 without any problem.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I’am buying a new laptop for the first time.Should I leave it on 24/7 or shut it off every night. Worried about it over heating .
February 7th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Desire Woi,
I think you’ll have to replace the fan. If it started making noise, cleaning will not help.
It’s very likely that your mouse/touchpad/DVD drive problem is software related. Try booting the laptop from a bootable CD or DVD (Windows OS, recovery DVD/CD, etc…). If you can boot from it most likely there is nothing wrong with the drive itself and reinstalling the operating system will fix the laptop.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Hey everybody,
I have a Acer Asprire 3003 LCI, for a year and half and since the last month, my computer is going crazy. First the fan started to do a strange noise like it’s goin’ to explode.
Second I cannot used my mouse touch pad anymore. Suddendly it stops working anymore.
Third I cannot read anymore DVDs, CDs by using my combo reader.
January 16th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Jean Bastien,
I never unplug the adapter at home either and do not see anything wrong with that. The battery cannot get overcharged.
If your laptop suddenly stopped booting try this before anything else: remove the battery, unplug the AC adapter and hold the power button down for about 30 seconds. After that try turning it on again. In some cases this trick works very well.
January 16th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Stacy,
Plug in the AC adapter and gently wiggle the AC adapter plug inside the notebook, can you get the power LED on the notebook flashing when you wiggle the plug?
I guess you might have a problem with the power jack, very common for Toshiba Satellite M30X, M35X, A70 and A75 notebooks. More information regarding the power jack issues.
January 16th, 2007 at 9:47 am
I have a Toshiba A70 laptop. I shut it off last night and heard a high pitched whine for a few seconds. This morning I turned it on. The power LED (blue) came on, but NOTHING happened. I couldn’t turn it off. I held the power button for about 15 seconds, still nothing. I tried CTRL/ALT/DEL, nothing. I even called the ‘tech’ at Staples. He didn’t have a clue. I eventually just pulled the power-pak (battery in bottom), put it back in, hit the power and the computer works fine. What happened?
I always leave the charger plugged in when using the laptop at home. Can the battery get over-charged and cause a freeze-up??
January 15th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Hi,
I have Acer Aspire 3000 series laptop. My charger pin was having some problem. I replace the pin with new one. Now after that replacement my battery is not charging. IT always shows the battery charger status as 7% remaining. I have tried it with a new charger but faced same problem. Also, sometimes my os also hands, i format and install it again but face same problem of hanging. Please suggest a solution.
Thanks
Gurdev Singh
January 15th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Hey, I have a HP zd8000 laptop. One day, out of the blue, comp stopped running off of AC power, would only run off the battery. When turned off, I would unplug and re-plug in the AC adapter, it would then charge battery. Also when comp was on, the AC light would not light up or anything. The light would come on if the comp was not running. I assumed I had a bad AC adapter. I got a new one. Now the new one…The light comes on, but it does not power up the comp. I thought it would be the software, I flashed the BIOS, but it did not work, I went into device manager, I uninstalled the AC adapter and the battery and restarted the comp. Did not work. Out of curiosity, I uninstalled the battery only to see what the AC adapter would do, the comp stayed running, It said in the taskbat that it was running off of AC power……then when the battery went dead the comp shuts off….I also tried taking out the battery and it won’t start up on AC power only. If I take the battery out the comp shuts off even when the AC is plugged in. I hope I am not rambling, I just wanted to list everything I have tried. Thank you in advance…..
January 13th, 2007 at 7:27 am
I have the same problem with my Acer Aspire 1670. I have put it in for repair at my local computer shop, but to be honest they don’t seem interested in resolving the problem, just telling me that it ‘may be’ the battery. Obviously I don’t want to buy a new battery if this is not that case, and they don’t have any in stock for me to try.
I’m about to get it back and see if I can check the drivers as other people, like Sean, above, has, but when I submitted it for repair it wouldn’t charge at all, and as the battery had run down, I didn’t have any way of turning it on.
Should the unit run on AC power normally even when the battery is dead or removed? Mine won’t.
Any advice gratefully received, as the computer shop have been so unhelpful!
Thanks