Laptop won't start at all - please help!

tessasmum

Hi everyone,

I've come home to find my elder daughter's laptop seems to have "died" as she puts it. There is no glimmer of power, when we put the mains lead in or the battery. I have tried the lead from my laptop as they are both Acer and it fits, but again, no power gets through. I have tried advice from a website about taking out the battery and the mains lead and pressing the power button down for 30 seconds before putting the lead back in and trying to turn it on, but again, no luck.

Does anyone have any experience of this that they would be able to share to help us? It is an Acer Aspire 5920, running Windows Vista Home Premium and is nearly 2 years old.

Thanks.

The_Grandmaster

Not sure what the problem is but when you connect the other adaptor do make sure they are the same voltage etc. or you'll damage the adaptor (I think).

tessasmum

Thanks - they are the same.

Basil1234

is it possiable the power socket could be loose or damaged thats usually a favorite? have you tried provided both batterys are the same voltage and size, try swapping your charged up battery and sticking in the non working one that would answer a few questions.

Hammyman

Probably a dodgy solder connection, commonly known as a dry joint, on the charge socket in the laptop. It usually requires the laptop taking to bits to get access to the underside of the circuit board where the charge socket is in order to resolder it. I charge £30 to repair them including supplying a replacement if needed as a new socket is £2 tops and it never takes more than an hour. The board rules don't allow me to give you contact info but you can use my price as a guideline.

tessasmum

Thank you - will have to find someone locally to have a look at it, in that case. Thanks for the advice.

macman

Hammyman, the world should beat a path to your door, as most laptop repair shops woud charge around £30 just for the diagnosis, and another £70 for the repair (say £100 all in). As you say, it's the time rather than the parts involved.

Hammyman

macman wrote: »

Hammyman, the world should beat a path to your door, as most laptop repair shops woud charge around £30 just for the diagnosis, and another £70 for the repair (say £100 all in). As you say, it's the time rather than the parts involved.

LOL. I just can't bring myself to charge that for what is basically putting the soldering iron on a few contacts and adding a dab of solder.

tessasmum

Advice please, folks! I took the laptop to the local pc shop in town and the chap had a look at it after we explained what had happened and what we have tried. He tried a new charger and lead, and that didn't help, so then he took the back off and took some bits out of the back (RAM? not very technical, I know - sorry!) and then plugged it back into the socket at the wall. Nothing happened, so he said that the motherboard was broken because it didn't beep because it couldn't find the missing RAM so it was not worth replacing, so I'd need to buy a new laptop. I'm not technical - but wouldn't the motherboard need power from somewhere to be able to beep??

I am looking for someone here to tell me that that is a viable way to check what's going on and that I haven't just been brushed off?! Given that the new laptop he was recommending was £450, I'm sure he wouldn't lose out on the sale, but if this one could be repaired, my bank balance and I would be much happier!! I will have to go elsewhere for a second opinion, and I did say to him that I was hoping that it was something as simple as a dry joint as suggested here earlier, but he brushed that idea aside very quickly!

fiddiwebb

so he said that the motherboard was broken because it didn't beep because it couldn't find the missing RAM so it was not worth replacing, so I'd need to buy a new laptop

Gosh, just sounds like PC World.it wasn't was it :eek:

tessasmum

No - it was a little independent where I hoped to get honest service and to be fair, he had been recommended by a neighbour.