Acer 4404 - [weird] goes to standby by itself then goes dead (but not completely?)

This morning after 4 hours of use laptop suddenly decided to go to standby.
Since then there are two scenarios:

1. I boot Windows

It gets to desktop and no matter if I surf on web or play the NFS after 30 seconds - 10 minutes it goes to standby by itself.
I can get back to windows BUT the screen stays blacked out (in fact it shows the picture but it is so dark that on the first glance it looks like it is off). When I use FN key combination to turn the touchpad on/off the screen blinks with normal picture for half a second but that's all. What's more, even if I get out of standby windows goes back there after (usually) few seconds or (rarely) one minute.

2. I boot linux from bootable CD (Damn Small Linux). Instead of standby only screen goes black (as before - there is still a picture, just so dark that the screen looks like off).

Also, the second scenario happens when I am in BIOS.


It happens both on AC power (with and without battery inside) and on battery.
I changed the bios, unplugged almost everything (including keyboard, touchpad, HDD, memory and LCD.

If I manage to turn off the laptop after it returned from standby, it will not go on again. There is no reaction on pressing the power button. I tried on AC, on battery. The only way I got it up again is (I presume) by some combination of consequent switching it between AC and battery.


Mind lending me a hand with that?

 

This happens quite often with Acers. You will find a lot of information using the search option of the forum. Search for: Acer standby problem. That should provide you some information

 

I have this issue with my one year old TM8204.

The problem is the switch that detects when the lid closes. I started having the same problem - Screen would go black (backlight shuts off) then goes into standby when the lid would flex slightly or sometimes when i was typing. Either the switch (on the upper right hand top corner of my machine) is flaky or there is an intermittent solder problem to that switch on the main board.

As a temporary fix I opened ePower management, went into advanced settings, clicked on the 'Power Button and Password' tab (this is the old ePower version 1.8.10 on WinXP) under 'When I Close the Lid' select 'No Option'.

You don't experience the standby problem in Linux because in that OS you do not have any functionality set for the condition of closing the lid in any power management utilities that are used in that environment.

SO now it won't go into standby on it's own but sometimes the screen would still black out, or sometimes when i would open the lid the screen didn't seem to turn on. I would just use a pencil and flick the switch a few times and it would come back. After messing around with the switch like that, it got to the point where now the screen only blacks out maybe every few months.

I decided that this issue wasn't important enough for me to send this machine for service. Given all the horror stories that i have heard from people sending their computers and other electronics in for service where they either come back in worse shape or damaged in some manner. I always repair my own electronics and cars. I do much better work than 95% of people out there. I'd decided to wait until my machine is out of it's extended warranty to open it and fix it myself.

For me, having the screen occasionally go black and losing the functionality of automatic standby when i close the lid is a tiny price to pay for keeping my machine in otherwise healthy and happy condition. You may choose differently if your problem is worse.

Hope that helps

 

I tied search before I posted but found nothing relevant to my case. If you know something more, would you please shade some more light on it?

As for the lid switch - I don't even have it connected to the mainboard but I will try disabling the option anyway. However, did it happen to you even in BIOS? Seems quite strange.

 

the screen will blank any time including POST. It is a hardware issue, not dependant on operating system.

 

I see. But the problem is my laptop does not turn on after it switched off. I press the power button but nothing happens and I dont know when it will decide to turn on again. Last time it was on the next day.
Did you experience the same thing? Seems more inconvinient than just blacking out lcd.

 

It is quite likely that there is a solder problem to that area of the circuit board. On my machine and maybe on yours, the lid closure button and the power button are right beside each other. In my 8 years of electronic service to the music, recording and film industries and then electronic design and manufacturing, i found that 70% of problems in electronics (especially intermittent ones) then and these days were caused by poor solder connections. Sometime there isn't enough solder paste on a PC land, or that corner of the board was some how shielded from the heat or removed from the heat too early during the soldering process, or a part wasn't quite placed flat enough, there could be any number of reasons why solder in that area is flaky. It just needs to be taken apart and the connections to the switches (or other areas where the circuit traces from those switches lead to or have in common) re-flowed. Not a major job.

I have no problems with my power button or powering issues.

 

I took it apart and checked the lid switch thoroughly. It looks perfectly ok to me. No visible cracks, missoldering or anything. Also, lid switch is quite far away from anything else. I dont think it could have been affected by some tensions.

I am thinking now of buying refurbished Toshiba M70-337 (360£ now and try to get Acer to fix it or just sell it in this condition on ebay. I had so many problems with both Acer's laptop and support that I am trying to get away from it as far as possible.

 

Solder problems are never visible and always look OK