Acer Problem

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Hi guys,

My brother asked me to look at his laptop for him, its an Acer Aspire 5542.

When I switch it on, the power comes on and I can hear a fan running but no screen, I also plugged it into an external monitor (TV actually) and still nothing. I read that this could be a BIOS problem with Acer but was wondering if anyone here had any fixes for it.

Things tried: plugging into TV, taking battery out and just using power cord, took battery and no power cord and help power button in...these didn't help (obviously or I wouldn't be on here)

Any help is much appreciated

 

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Any strange beeping?

 

Nope, no beeping...no blinking lights

 

Take the HDD out and power it on, do you get a "no boot device" screen atleast? I dont think its the RAM if you arent getting no beeping. Im not the best at hardware troubleshooting tbh. Anytime Ive had this issue its given me beep codes.. So I knew it was RAM, isit possible its the CPU overheating?

@dmarsh @SimonD any ideas?

 

You say you have plugged it into an external monitor? From the off, do you not even get a hint that its working as in does it not show the bios screen on the TV? What was the laptop like before, I mean its hasnt always been like this so has anything been done to it?

Are you able to take the ram out and re seat it? Can you also try and boot to a windows disc?

Let us know what goes on

Ed

 

Nothing on the TV, took the ram out and re seated it. Put a disc in...nothing! My bro says he installed Kodi on it then closed it down and when he put it back on the screen was black.

 

Will try this tomorrow...will keep ye posted

 

Actually take the disk and ram out, then try to power it on, it should start bitching straight away about the ram not being present, never mind the HDD.

It does sound like the laptop has gone, either PSU or system board, the reason I am suggesting to take the HDD out is that if the board has blown you don't want to run the risk of blowing the HDD as well.

The good thing is that the data on the drive 'should' still be there, it may well just be a case of getting the old system board replaced or even a new laptop, if it's a new laptop then you could always stick the existing drive in to a caddy to pull the data off.

 

Took the RAM out...nothing, no beeping, no flashing lights

 

Definitely sounds motherboard related, was he trying to upgrade the BIOS for Kodi?

Either way, replace the motherboard and copy the data using a caddy (as already suggested)

 

Cheaper fixable possible issues :-

Sometimes some laptops get stuck in a dodgy mode and require a 'hard reset', on mine you have to insert a pin into a hole underneath. After that a 'dead' looking laptop boots perfectly. (I have an Acer also.)



Sometimes the power connectors on mobo, PSU block, or break in psu cable, can go making charging impossible and the battery simply goes flat.At this point you have zero power. These can be replaced but again it does cost a bit, only worth investigating on a decent relatively new laptop.

Dead Mobo

Sounds like the mobo is dead. Normally youd hear the fans, beep codes, or see the indicator lights flicker on boot attempt.

I'm not an electrical engineer, in theory you may be able to fix the mobo by replacing capacitors or coil, in reality its normally a case of throwing it away and buying a new one, cheaper and more reliable than paying for a repair most of the time.

If you decide the mobo is dead, strip the laptop for parts, take out the HDD, memory, and Wi-Fi card. Remove any media like SD cards or DVDs. Then take it to your local tip to be recycled, make sure the lithium battery gets recycled. Sometimes its worth keeping the PSU and power cable also if you stick to the same brand.

Obviously if the laptop is under warranty this can change things, as generally you are due a free repair or exchange, so in that case I'd pursue this. Its generally very important to have a decent warranty on a laptop if its expensive model.

 

Not that I know of...

 

The laptop is is a few years old, probably better stripping it for parts...