Acer 5520 power button flashing

Hi all,

I have the above laptop wich refuses to come on and boot to the bios just a orange flashing power button light.

Thank you to anyone who can help.

Regards. rob.

 

Have you tried removing AC adapter and the main battery, then press and hold power button for 20 seconds or so. This resets any logic being held in a corrupt state. Refit battery and connect AC power and try again.

 

Hi Mooly,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I have tried everything I could think of.

I have tried something a person has done on Youtube where he
put a hot-air gun around the GPU area, which I believe to be
Re-flowing, This got the laptop up and running but only lasts
for around a couple of day's (the last time I did this method it lasted a week, I have done it again today, lets see how long this lasts) and then it is back to it's almost dead state.

What I would like to ask is, would anyone know what
part in this laptop is breaking down, could it be the fan,
although this seems to be working, or could it be the big copper
heatsink that could be causing the problem or could it be some
sensor telling the laptop is running too hot.

Please someone help I am losing hair. LOL.

Thank you in anticipation of your help.

Kind regards.

Happy Christmas.

Rob.

 

Hi Rob,
Well heating the GPU area is pretty drastic but if the machine then does work each time you do this then it really rules out software/logic issues.

If it fails to power up from cold then the GPU/CPU etc can not be reaching high temperatures... from the way I read your first post it's "dead" and nothing happens, rather than it attempting to start (with the possibility of heat generation and shutdown) and then failing.

From your description it possibly sounds more like a bad solder joint etc, maybe that has become apparent due to thermal cycling... meaning if the graphics/cpu are often reaching excessive temperatures and then cooling. Gaming for instance although just guessing on that one. It might be worth removing the heatsink and having a visual inspection and making sure everything is seated properly.

If there were a cooling issue/fan etc then it would at least attempt to boot even if it failed a few seconds later.

 

Hiya Mooly and thanks again for your replys.

The laptop does start (Not completely dead) but as soon as the power button is pressed shows green ring on power button then just cycles through this state over and over until the battery has been removed. (the laptop will not force shut down even with the power button held down for several seconds).

Can I just ask, is there a way of replacing the gpu as it looks like it is intergrated within the motherboard itself?

As for the heat generation I have asked my brother to leave his laptop on (in sleep mode when not being used) as oppose to switching off completely as my thoughts are, if it is a dry joint causing the problem then once turned off and allowed to cool this could possibly be the cause (please correct me if I am wrong). As of today 12/12/2010 the lappy is still working (fingers Crossed).

Also can the long copper heatsink go wrong as it just seems like a hollow tube if I heat this tube up with the hot air gun at the end with the main chip heat does travel towards the fan end with no problems.

Anyways Iv'e chewed your ears enough for today LOL.

Thanks again for your help.

All the best.

Rob

 

You can't replace an integrated GPU, means a new motherboard unfortunately. Yes it could be faulty but I wouldn't be too quick to condemn it though. Are you sure that your not disturbing anything else that's perhaps giving a misleading impression of where the fault lies. Worth removing and reseating the RAM and the HDD connectors.

If it's a dry joint then I would have thought it would have showed up in use as well tbh. The heatsink can't fail as such but it might be possible that the components in contact with it, the CPU and GPU are not making good thermal contact for some reason... but again unlikely I think.

 

Thanks again mooly for your reply.

As far as I am aware everything is as it should be, everything is seated ok and have only put a thin layer of thermal paste on the CPU.

Today 13/12/2010 it is still behaving so hoping it carrys on like this LOL.

Thanks again mooly for all your input. this is much appreciated in all circumstances m8.

Kind Regards.

Rob.