Laptop taking time to get power
2014-07
Fanj
I have a 5 year-old Acer laptop: it was working fine until about a week ago. The problem is that once it's connected to power it takes 2-3 minutes for the battery light to power and for a weird reason while it's off, the power button doesn't work.
Why is this happening and what can I do to fix it?
Tonny
This is usually a sign that the battery is in really bad condition.
I presume the battery life is also getting quite bad.
A 5 year old laptop battery can't be in decent condition.
These things usually last no longer than 2 years and should be considered expendable.
(I always tell my friends: If you decide to buy a laptop you will have to calculate the replacement cost of the battery into the purchase price. The laptop usually has a life-cycle 2 to 3 times longer than the battery.)
Time to replace the battery it seems.
(That might be expensive for an older laptop and it can be really difficult to find a replacement.)
If you don't want to replace the battery:
Try to run the laptop from mains power WITHOUT the battery installed.
Most laptops will allow this and it has the added benefit of saving electricity, because it is not continuously trying to re-charge the broken battery.
The laptop will also get less hot, which is nice too.
Reece45
Several (6-7) months ago, my laptop power supply cord got a cut in it and stopped working. Having gotten cheap (and short) power supplies in the past, I decided to buy 2 brand new ones from the manufacturer (ASUS).
Now, I used my laptop a little less than usual between February and March. During that time I noticed a few times that the power supply, even though plugged in, did not provide power. Often the computer would just off on me. I figured it was just that one power supply being bad. I had left the alternate at my parent's house in another state and asked them to ship it to me.
Now, at work the other day I wanted to get a file off the of hard disk. So I booted it up, knowing that it had a low battery, plugged it in. During the first 2 minutes of use, I was told that the battery was low and I should plug it in. I unplugged it, inspected the end (Being plugged in, this was suspicious), and decided I shouldn't plug it back in-- the plastic on the tip was melting from the heat of the metal on the tip.
The computer had simply booted up and I had the file-manager open. It had not been on for more than 10 hours.
Now I know that computers tend to get pretty hot. However, the melting point of plastic is usually above 200C.. so that's much hotter than the computer should be generating.
I went and bought a THIRD power supply. This time a universal one from Best Buy (it was very fast to buy and test). I tried it out on the computer and it's tip is melting as well. My older laptop that uses the universal power supply uses it perfectly (has been about a week and a part of use now). I have tried using the computer without the battery, with the same effect.
Obviously, this is not a problem with the power supply. My room mate and I being trained computer techs were contemplating taking the computer apart and desoldering and resoldering on the power tip. (The computer is about 6 months out of its 2-year warranty).
We're hoping that will correct the issue as I would prefer to devote my money on a Good Desktop rather than yet ANOTHER $1200+ laptop. Is there any thing I'm missing here that might cause the the tip on the power unit to melt?
petersohn
You probably have problems with the power connector of your laptop. It somehow has higher resistance than the normal, and laptops tend to consume high currents, it generates a lot of heat. Just bring your laptop to a service, and tell them your problem. They will change your power connector.
ssvarc
Your power jack might be bad or some other components (fuses, etc.). If you have some soldering experience and can use a multimeter, jump in and see what happens.
I use this Kobalt multi-bit screwdriver and a magnetic tray (Lowes - tool section or Walmart - car section) together with a digital camera to take apart laptops. I place the screws in counterclockwise circle in the tray in the order that I remove them. You can rub a magnet in one direction (not in circles) on the tip of the screwdriver to magnetise it (which does not harm computers [reference Scott Mueller's materials] - people who say otherwise are ignorant).
To find precise directions for your laptop Google the terms "[YOUR LAPTOP MODEL] disassembly" or "breakdown". Read through it thouroughly, but never trust it entirely. You can buy a new DC power jack off of Ebay or use Google to find another provider.
I would estimate the cost of the tools and jack at around $40-60 without a soldering iron. A soldering iron (and materials - solder, flux, desoldering braid, etc.) runs $20-120 depending on what you buy. If you haven't soldered before you might want to consider passing on this and taking it to a computer repair shop.
Hope this helps!