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?
July 26th, 2010 at 10:02 am
I too have a power problem with an Acer Aspire One notebook. It works fine elsewhere, but in one particular house it will unaccountably switch over to battery power while plugged in. Then when the battery is drained it shuts down. And here’s the really strange part: it will not start up again while still connected to the same wall outlet. But… if I plug into a different outlet it boots up fine and starts charging.
March 1st, 2010 at 12:52 am
Hello. Im having problems with my acer aspire 3680. After turn it on and after the acer logo screen, it doesn’t do anything else it doesn’t start windows all i got it’s a black screen with a blinking dash can you help me?
December 9th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I experiences this same problem on an Acer Aspire 3000. After reading your fine posts, right before I tossed it in the parts closet with 22 other laptops I’ve burned through, I disassembled it and inspected the power jack solder points. I’m a software engineer and found it easy to take apart.
The connections looked solid under a magnifying glass, no wiggle, no black marks. I cleaned everything with alchohol and built up the existing solder with a fine point 15-watt pencil and .015 silver bearing solder. I put a dab on top of all powerjack connections too.
I reassembled it and it runs perfectly. Even the battery I though was depleated now holds about an hour of work time. It took about an hour and a half and cost just over $15 for the low-watt soldering pencil and super thin solder.
You can say whatever about Acer quality, but it’s the only brand not represented in my junk closet. If any of you want help, or want to sell an Aspire with this problem, I would be interested.
June 7th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Hi,
Had the same problem with Acer Aspire 1670.
The socket that the mains adapter plugs into has a 1.5mm central connector that inserts into the centre of the adapter.
This overtime separates from the mother board and creates an intermittant connection.
To prove this, remove the battery and start the laptop.
If the laptop starts wiggle the mains adapter connection.
If the connection is intermittant the laptop will die.
If the laptop does not start put slight upward pressure on the connector and turn on again. If it starts there is a good chance you have this problem.
If this is the fault its a pain. I am an electronics engineer and its not easy to dissasemble. I removed the socket from the mainboard and broke the centre pin to create a wire connection to the motherboard to stop this happening again.
When this was connected I resoldered the socket to the motherboard.
You will need a decent soldering iron, a hobby one wont do it.
Please dont attempt it if you are not confident.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:40 am
I have had the same problem with my Acer 1670 laptop. Hence, it being switched off for nearly a year. I have bought a new charger and that still hasn’t solved the problem. It sounds strange but I turned the laptop upside down and put it on charge and it is now charging. I am sure that there is a manufacturing fault with these Acer laptops.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:36 am
Bought an Acer 5920 less than a year ago. Seemed to get the same problem as described here…
1.Plugged in to mains and working as normal.
2. Laptop stopped using mains power for no reason and started using battery power.
3. When battery becomes exhausted laptop shuts down (while still plugged in to mains).
4. Eventually after unplugging it, leaving it for a while and then plugging it in again, the laptop would boot and start working normally using the mains power and start charging the battery again.
I removed the battery from the laptop and used only mains power for a couple of months. I reinserted the battery over a month ago and the problem has not reoccurred since. Not very scientific I know but this has definitely worked for me.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I have searched high and low for an answer and I can’t seem to find one and usually I can troubleshoot these problems myself, but this one has me puzzled. first off I should mention that the lid switch went out some time ago, so I don’t rely on that. Ok here’s the problem, most of the time I can’t just push the power button and power down when the system hangs, I have had to unplug the power and remove the battery to get it to power down, then when I go to power up it won’t start at least not right away for months I have thought that the power button is faulty but just the the other day, I reset my power settings and then it was working just fine like it should, but then the other day the core temperature was high and there was some overheating and it started again, I don’t know if there is a connection with that. So I really don’t know what is causing this and would like to figure it out before it gets much worse.
Thanks
March 7th, 2009 at 3:41 am
Acer Travelmate is doing exactly the same, bought a brand new battery and brand new power pack. The laptop charges perfectly when switched off but as soon as i switch it on the power light begins to flash and battery power starts dropping pretty quickly. So same issue that it won’t run off the mains!!
I’m guessing i must be right in saying the battery is required for a mains connection as it makes up the circuit?! Only the laptop is totally dead with the battery out and the mains plugged in.
These CRAP Acers!!
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 1640, it’s been off for a few months because the power connector snapped. Now it’s been fixed it won’t power on. The power light flashes orange but nothing happens. The adapter has a light on it and it gets warm.
Any help appreciated! I miss my machine.
January 24th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Hi ther, i have an acr aspire 3680 WXMI, this computer has been a devil ever since i got it in December 2007,
This happned YESTERDAY
i turned the laptop down, normally.
in the moring, i went to switch it back on, nothing, held the power button for about 20 seconds, nd i left it standing for about half an hour, cam back to it and things had changed,
1 the battery charge light was green(normal)
2 the power up light was on (also normal)
3 the switch light as on (again normal)
4 there was no noise coming from the system (no fan, nothing)
5 th LCD light was on, but no display.
i have researchedthe internet and have found that i am one in approxamtly 1,449 people who are alsm dissapointed acer aspire 3680 users
the person who can come up with a soluion to this will have saved 1,500 acer users douments and settings, not to mention their laptops,
Please, of anybody has a solution, let it out, WE NEED YOU
Regards to all
January 6th, 2009 at 3:26 am
i have a acer aspire 3630 and can not make it up working. the battery led seem working , when u try with or without battery to turno on it just flash half second the power led.
i suspect hard disk but seem wired that no life signal on the monitor.
forget acer is the second time….
i already replaced hd and original memory unit….
December 18th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
hello, I have a qosmio g25 with a power issue. It was on a tv table while plugged in and it was knocked over and onto the plug. The plug snapped, but fortunately it still worked with the battery. I bought a new transformer with the exact same volts and amps, pluged it in and no charge, and no run. As you must know, the qosmio battery dies very quickly, so no laptop for me. I thought that it might be the power adapter knocked loose from the mboard, but after opening, i see that it doesn’t connect directly to the mboard, it has 4 wires to another connector. Is there a fuse or other part that would likely be the culprit? The PC works perfectly from the battery (which now has absolutely no charge)
November 4th, 2008 at 11:37 am
hi i have an acer aspire 3000 i removed the battery to clean the computer and when i plugged it in again it turn the notebook on but the screen is black and a yellow led is blinking, when i press the power botton it turns off the notebook but when i press it again to turn it on, the same thing happens the screen is black the fan is on and the yellow led is blinking any help
October 7th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Hi,
the same problem with Philips (Twinhead J12S based) not running off the mains.. It started running only off the battery, even when the power cord is inserted.. Power led is dead unless i shut down (sleep) notebook, then it’s orange while charging and green when completely charged. Wiggling the jack/cord results nothing, removing the battery shuts the power off (whith the cord inserted!).
1. It worked fine for a couple of days after stripping it down by a guy who fixes electronics, but he couldn’t find anything obvious to fix.. He said, although it’s working fine now (he did nothing, just stripped it down and assembled), the problem will occur again and it did..
2. I’ve noticed once how the power LED started to blink in a chaotic manner as if there was some fault contact problem, but stayed OFF (LED, not notebook) after 15 secs of blinking..
3. When the battery is removed and the power cord inserted, pushing the power button makes the power button LED (blue one sircle shaped, just around the button itself, NOT the power LED) blink once for a part of a second and then nothing happens..
Can anybody help, please? Thanks in advance..
P.S.: FREDDY, could you explain what is the problem you’ve found the solution (cleanind dust from fans and heatsinks) for????
September 16th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I have a DELL 9400 Inspiron.
I had recently purchased a 130 watt AC Adapter, replacing the 90 watt that sparked and suddenly burned out. When i plugged in the 130 watt there was an error
that stated I could use the laptop,but the battery would not charge.
Anyone have any ideas
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Acer Aspire 1670, this ac mains drop off problem has been nightmare for a while now but at last I may have found a solution which does’nt result in added expenditure or the need for the ultimate stress busting action of throwing my laptop at the wall which had almost become a reality.
I came upon this by accident, like most I’ve bought extra power supply adapters which did’nt really make much difference, checked my mobo for damage, especially around the input socket (dry solder/ loose connection ) nothing wrong there.
But a strange thing happened in the proccess of stripping and cleaning the fans, heatsinks and mobo. My AC adapter has resumed it’s function and now runs on mains…Weird!!!! And this is not an isolated case I have mentioned this to other peeps whom have had simular problems with and the result is the same.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:11 am
We have two Acer Aspire 5102 WLMi at home and both are the biggest crap we have ever owned. Slow, don’t shutdown properly, you get black screens sometimes, things just don’t work.
Just today we have both experienced black screens, and one of those two machines is not even used very often.
I will never ever buy any Acer computer again.
August 31st, 2008 at 4:57 am
Ive got Acer Aspire 5310 a couple of weeks ago i had my laptop plugged in while i was using it then the battery light which was amber starting flashing and next minute my laptop shut down. I started back up but within a couple of minutes it shut off again. I had 80% battery so i thought ill try and run it just on the battery so i unplugged it and the laptop wouldnt start up at all on the battery and still doesnt now. I even took the battery out and plugged my laptop to the mains to see if it works without the battery its was working fine then it shut down again. I dont know whats wrong with it help!
August 26th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Short sum, it’s quite a drawbacks kinda laptop though! Yes, it’d might be selfish to say this but it’s true. Every ACERs laptop user I bumped into were in such rambling state about theirs’, myself too! I’ve been using this ACER Aspire 5572 NWCXi with Centrino Dual Core for two months time, and I’d say that sticker ‘DUO’ is crap. My sounds system too giving me headache and if this still persist to run on longer time, sure it will kills me. My colleague alone made his personal record of keeping his ACER laptop reformatted … for 10 times in two months! Hell it did.
August 11th, 2008 at 3:56 am
dear all,
last nite, my acer aspire 5572 suddenly shut off by itself. on that moment, i was still using the power jack to recharge my battery and simultaneously doing my work. i think just after ten minutes, it just went off…and can never be switch on again until now.
no water were spilled on it..nothing at all, the laptop wasn’t even hot as i just started to do my work and i’m exactly in a very cold temperature (AC ..i mean)…
this has never happens to me and this is truely my first time experiencing this kind of issue.
please help me with this…..
thanks and regards,
zul
March 24th, 2008 at 5:12 am
Hi everyone I beg you for help, I have acer Aspire 3000, so I try to clean up, so after cleaning it up, I put all back but I forget to put the Hard Disk back then I try to turn on the power in a few second the laptop turn on and then black out. So later I put back the Hard disk and when I try to turn on the laptop can not power on nothing happen but only the Light of the power blinking as green.
Any one idea that what is the main cause of this.
thank
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 am
Hi, I have a Toshiba Tecra 9000 laptop. Was working perfectly then wouldn’t boot up after plugging in Ac adapter. Noticed first 2 indicator lights light were blinking amber. I unplugged adapter and light kept blinking amber. I removed battery to stop the blinking light, then put the battery back in and tried start up without plugging in adapter. It works perfectly running on battery alone. I had a spare compatible ac adapter and tried using it, again I got blinking amber light. Original ac adapter worked fine on my other laptop. I plugged in adapter and booted laptop on battery power, as soon as I turn power on at wall laptop shuts down. I assume from all that its not the battery or ac adapter. Can I assume since it works ok on battery power its not the system board (motherboard)? Would appreciate any help or suggestions you are able to offer. Thanks, Ray
March 7th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
my computer is turning off it started about 3 weeks ago its not getting hot and i’v seen in side its clean and the fan was drity but clean now and the fan in working fine so i would just like to know what else it could be
January 4th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Well i had the same problem with my acer 4152.. it only charged when it is turned off.. and while chargin turned off it used to turn off charging for a second and then again start charging..and if i take out the battery and turn it on ac power it only runs for 5 seconds and then turn off.. i borrowed a charger from a guy and the pc worked fine so it means it was the charger problem.. i opened the whole charger used hammer here and there squeezed some stuff,, hahahaha after putting it back together it still didnt work but after an hour its working fine now,, perfect
December 5th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I have an acer 3000 series laptop. The power won’t turn on at I’ve purchased a new AC adaptor same thing…its not under warranty anymore. What can I do?? Is it worth fixing??
November 27th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Hey Tanner,
Thank you for a great comment, I published your comment as a post (see the link above). This way it will not get lost between other comments and more people can find it and benefit from your experience.
November 27th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I’ve had similar problems recently, I have a Aspire 5102
The power plug would need to be fiddled with in order to work, once you found the right spot it would work great.
For about a week that worked, then it got harder. It’d take twice as long to find the sweet spot, then it would last 5 minutes to 12 hours and suddenly it was no longer charging.
I looked around online, and was told by a repair shop that it is definately the power plug, Acers & Toshibas seem to have a problem with the power plug being crappy, he said to send it in & for $100+shipping he’d have it taken care of.
Here’s how I fixed this problem myself: Acer Aspier power plug problem
November 25th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I have acer Aspire 3000 if I on it, it will on d power but not display on d screen
November 24th, 2007 at 11:51 am
I have a acer laptop – aspire 3680. Has been working fine for approx a year, but now although the battery is showing as 100% remaining, when I take out the power lead, it just turns off straight away. Have I changed a setting accidently or is there a problem?
Thanks