Travelmate notebook dead?

Hi, great site btw, i've had an acer travelmate 2700wlmi notebook for around 3 years. its had a few on and off problems with overheating and such but nothing really major that couldn't be solved by a decent clean.

about a month ago it started to only charge the battery when it was switched off, luckily i managed to continue to keep swapping the battery with my bros laptop, the same travelmate. i didn't get it checked out as the nearest computer repair place was going to charge £60 just to look at the machine, and i need my laptop every day for my school work :-(. however last week it just stopped working, it switches on, when the battery is charged, but doesn't reach any sort of loading screen, everything is blank. i know the screen is not a problem as the screen flashes quickly.

any help would be much appreciated, i would prefer if i could fix it before giving to somebody to fix, my dad is extremely paranoid about giving things for fixing.

any help would be greatly appreciated

 

need more information on this

- does it still charge the battery when switched off (you can try with your brother's laptop - is the battery charged? it sounds like it's not)
- does everything work when it's plugged in
- does everything work when plugged in and you take the battery out
- does the laptop work normally using your brother's battery (which I presume works just fine)?
- does it charge and work when you use another power adapter? have you tried your brother's?

as it is it could be many things, the battery, the power adapter, the power charging system in the computer, or the motherboard.

if it's the power adapter or battery, you can fix it yourself by buying a new one.

if it's something inside the laptop, you will most likely not be able to fix it yourself. You can try to take out the battery, unplug the machine, and push down the power button for 20 seconds. That resets something about the power manager. Worth a try as it's free, but unlikely to help

If it's none of these things, and with labor prices as they are in the UK you are probably better off buying a new machine.

 

-it used to charge when switched off, for the past week it doesn't.
-when plugged in everything works except it doesn't take power from the plug it takes it off the battery.
-the laptop works normally with my brother's battery
-i'm sure its not the charger i've swapped it with my brother's (working) and his will still work perfectly while mine will not turn on whilst using power from the plug.

the problem really lies in the fact that the system does not boot up, it won't reach the boot screen so i can't even use a windows recovery disc to solve the problem.

any ideas would be appreciated
thanks

 

I have exsactly the same problem, tho ive only had the laptop 2 years, the problem is contact resistance on the charging sockets. I got a can of contact cleaner from maplin for £3 and cleaned the conections on the charger and charging socket. This worked for a little while, now ive taken the motherboard out and am getting one of the electronics technicains at my college to replace the charging pin on the motherboard