Acer P645MG shuts down

Hello.

I got a new Acer P645MG. The notebook is working great on AC power. As I unplug the adapter the notebook runs maybe 5 minutes and then turns down suddenly without any warning. The it is impossible to start it again - I can see the the bios screen blink and it turns off again. When I plug in the adapter again the notebook starts without any problem. The battery wear is 1,98% and in windows it shows over 8 hours of runtime...

Should I replace the battery? Could it be something else?

Thank you

Bohumir

Edit: It is getting worse. The notebook was running just 30 seconds on battery power right now...

 

Very strange problem! If it were not so new, I would think the the battery life was at an end - that is precisely how an end-of-life battery behaves. Where did you get it? Are they an authorized dealer? Are you sure it's really new? Have you tried contacting Acer directly? The standard warranty on a new TravelMate is 2 years, so this should be covered. The battery is not consumer-replaceable, so if it is a bad battery, Acer would need to replace it. If it is a reputable facility that sold it, they should simply replace it if it's within a few weeks of purchase (my opinion).

The only other thing I can think of is a power setting somewhere (Start -> Control Panel -> Power Options) and ensure that the laptop is not set for some ridiculously low sleep time on battery. When in the power options window, be sure to click the link that says "Change advanced power settings" and select -> Battery -> Reserve Battery Level and be sure that it is set to something like the default of 7% and not 97% or similarly unusable parameter. Alternatively, you could simply click "Restore Plan Defaults" in the advanced menu and try again. I'm not completely convinced that will help, but it certainly could explain things, including perhaps why the system will not reboot after shutting down.

Thinking WAY outside the box, I suppose if the system is set up to "shut down" on lid closure and there is a problem with the hinge or lid switch, that could also be the issue. If this were to translate to playing the odds on a wheel in Atlantic City, I'd put more money on "bad battery" than "errant power setting." But I'd still have a small chunk of change on the latter.

 

Hello.

Thank you for your answer. The battery should be ok. When it works, it shows something between 8-12 hours of battery time. The problem is when I move the laptop. When I move it in a wrong way the laptop shuts down immediatelly in 0 seconds - also when in BIOS. Just black screen and no leds - like dead. Then I am not able to start it. I have to shake a bit and then it could work - sometimes. Sometimes it goes black in some seconds after start. Shaking helps.

I suppose it is a bad contact between battery and motherboard. But I am scared to open it and check. Some screws are tight and I am not able to open it.

I don't know what to do. I really want this specific laptop. I bought it from an ebay shop - looks like quite a big good shop. It was sold to somebody else in November 2013 and then left unused. The plastic tapes are still there, warranty book is sealed. The problem is that I am in the Czech Republic. It has 1 year traveller warranty but they told me that it is invalid since I am not the first user and I don't have the original bill from November 2013.

I have 2 options right now:
1) Send the notebook back (today is the last day I can do it). But I don't know if I will get the international import fees back. And I won't be able to find the notebook so cheap = I won't be able to buy the notebook again.
2) Keep the notebook. Maybe be send it for a repair. It can cost a little or they say that they need to replace the motherboard.. :-(

 

Hmm...
This notebook has got an accelerometer for protection of the HDD.
It could be that yours has got a malfunction.
Uninstall the drivers for the HDD protection, maybe that could help.

 

But would not the bios or flash screen still come up in that case?

This may be a clear case of "you get what you pay for". It may be a fantastic deal, but for far less than what you could have otherwise paid, you now have a laptop that is (1) unusable in its current state and (2) a big question mark as to what is needed to fix it. There may be a reason you got it so cheap, and there is a reason these situations are not addressed by warranty.

The way I see it, you may think the laptop is still a remarkable deal. But the true deal is this: you can send it back. I'd be all over that one.