Comments on: Acer Aspire notebook stopped running off the mains, and will only run off the battery

By: Daniel Brambley

Daniel Brambley — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 11:27:35 +0000

I HAVE THE SOLUTION!!!!!

ATOP PUTTING YOUR LAPTOPS ON YOUR LAPS!

WHEN YOU PUT PRESSURE ON THE POWER CORD YOU SNAP THE JACKS CONNECTION TO THE MOTHERBOARD!

YOU AINT SUPPOSED TO PUT LAPTOPS ON YOUR LAP YOU KNOW!

By: Slime

Slime — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:47:52 +0000

Same problem here… Machine charges when turned off.. Turn it on and the Charging stops, runs on battery until discharged..

Have resoldered jack on numerous occaisions and have just read something about the PSU.. Fortunately I have a variable output PSu running on 6 Amps..

So…..

I have just turned up the voltage from 19V to 20V and the laptop is hcarging again while running.. BRILL!

Must be something to do with the quality of the PSU..

By: Green

Green — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:02:20 +0000

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.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:52:43 +0000

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?

By: AntKing

AntKing — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:32:55 +0000

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.

By: Hornet

Hornet — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:05:11 +0000

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.

By: shab

shab — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:40:18 +0000

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.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:36:17 +0000

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.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:12:04 +0000

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

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:41:36 +0000

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!!