Laptop help

[RACKnRAIL]

I just traded a desktop PC I had for an Acer Aspire 5315 laptop. I knew it had viruses on it and the freakin' thing did fire up when I got it, but now it's dead.

My question is how can I tell if it's the battery that's dead and not the laptop itself (motherboard)? I can replace the battery for a reasonable price, but if I'm wrong, I'm out that money too.

Like I said it did work with the exception of virus activity when I got it. Now, when I press power on, I just get one light (*) on for about two seconds and then nothing, just 100% dead.

So do I buy a non-refundable battery?

[El Comandante]

No power cord (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=211871199&listingid=53973403)? The cord is a lot cheaper than the battery (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=213691280&listingid=66910463).

[RACKnRAIL]

No power cord (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=211871199&listingid=53973403)? The cord is a lot cheaper than the battery (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=213691280&listingid=66910463).

I guess I should have been more specific. It does have a power cord. I'm guessing they don't burn out as often as a battery. Could it actually be that simple?

[moneoa]

Does the power cycle when you hit the power button as in a loop *green light, shutdown, reboot green light*?

Does the Acer Spash screen appear?
Can you hear any noise from the HDD?

[RACKnRAIL]

Does the power cycle when you hit the power button as in a loop *green light, shutdown, reboot green light*?

Does the Acer Spash screen appear?
Can you hear any noise from the HDD?

The light on the front of the laptop comes on for a split second, nothing else, nada, then nothing, as if you never even pressed the on button. No sounds, no HDD, no nothing...pardon my grammar.

[mountain_rage]

If you get split second activity its probably the battery.

[moneoa]

If you get split second activity its probably the battery.Negative it is not the battery. If it was the battery the splash screen would still come on and it would boot on AC power, minus the battery.

RnR it sounds like you have 1 of three things 2 of them are fixable. Luckily I have owned 2 acers and just had this issue with my 5600

1) Dead Motherboard - Would cause this, a fried mobo would boot and then die in under 4-5 seconds. (lol I reread the post too and you did mention this as a possibility)
2) Dead HDD - if the HDD has been fried it would crash the computer on boot and sometimes would send my acer into a reboot loop
3) Damaged/Fried Bios - if the bios has been damaged it would also act like this.

I would say start with the bios, do you get any activity from peripherals? plug in a usb drive and check out the cd drive, do any of them power when you hit the button

(sorry if some of this sounds repetative but in trying to isolate what may be wrong it may happen once or twice that I ask similar questions)

[mountain_rage]

Negative it is not the battery. If it was the battery the splash screen would still come on and it would boot on AC power, minus the battery.

Mark it sounds like you have 1 of three things 2 of them are fixable. Luckily I have owned 2 acers and just had this issue with my 5600

1) Dead Motherboard - Would cause this, a fried mobo would boot and then die in under 4-5 seconds.
2) Dead HDD - if the HDD has been fried it would crash the computer on boot and sometimes would send my acer into a reboot loop
3) Damaged/Fried Bios - if the bios has been damaged it would also act like this.

I would say start with the bios, do you get any activity from peripherals? plug in a usb drive and check out the cd drive, do any of them power when you hit the button

(sorry if some of this sounds repetative but in trying to isolate what may be wrong it may happen once or twice that I ask similar questions)

My assumption was it turns on with the power cord, but I guess rereading the comments that isn't the case. My thought was that he was booting strait from battery and getting a light flash. But I guess that is not the case.

[Broccoli]

Take out the battery, plug it in with just the power cord. Does it power on or do anything different then?

[RACKnRAIL]

Yeah, I tried that. It won't even flash the light for a second without the battery installed.

[moneoa]

I am leaning towards motherboard, if you google "acer boot issues" you will see Acer has a small issue with these types of breakdowns. It is definately not the battery because if it was then the laptop would boot on A/C (should anyways) with no issues. I assure you if you buy a new battery you are only wasting 80 dollars.

Any chance of it being bios or HDD related are pretty much gone with the fact that it only does something with the battery inside and even then not very much.

Last thing:
Ram that is not mounted properly can also make the laptop not power properly, try unmountig your ram and putting it back in. Also sometimes electrical charge can build up on the mobo and interfere with booting (seriously, google it) Unplug the battery and power cord, light a joint and hold down the power button until your done smoking. This will release any built up charge that may disrupt booting, plug everything back in and have another go

[mfgbypooter]

light a joint and hold down the power button until your done smoking. This will release any built up charge that may disrupt booting, plug everything back in and have another go


best advice ever

*

[moneoa]

best advice ever

*lmao "If you have found my post useful please show it by using the add rep button on the top right hand of this post"

[mfgbypooter]

lmao "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to moneoa again"

*

[El Comandante]

Negative it is not the battery. If it was the battery the splash screen would still come on and it would boot on AC power, minus the battery.


I agree.

Your Acer is designed to run on A/C power only (sans battery). My money is on a dead mobo. It could also be a short (which is usually a pain to diagnose). Look to the soldered power connection to the mobo for a possible physical disconnect/short.

[RACKnRAIL]

If that's the case, I guess I got burned.

[RACKnRAIL]

I got the guy at my local puter store to test it. The motherboard is definitely dead. I got burnt.

Good call, Moneoa. You pegged it.

[mountain_rage]

Time to ebay for a broken laptop with a functional mobo is my advice.

[RACKnRAIL]

Probably not a bad idea.