Averatec 5400 wouldn't turn on. =(

Hello, I was looking for the solution for the problem I'm having and came across this nice forum. I hope someone could help me figure out what could be wrong with my sister's Averatec 5400 laptop as I have been looking for the solutions for a past few days.

Problem: The laptop wouldn't turn on.
With the battery connected and power supply connected, the orange light will continuous blinking on the icon that looks like a plug (second light from the far left). I believe this indicates that the battery is bad? Also, the battery doesn't hold the charge. When I attempt to turn it on, the "light bulb icon" (first light from the left) will sometimes flash orange once or sometimes flash green once (about half a sec) and it still wouldn't turn on.

Without the battery connected and only power supply connected, it will flash green or orange once on the "light bulb" icon and wouldn't turn on. Most of the times it flashes orange. Once in awhile, it will flash green.


What I have tried:
I have tested the power supply with the ohm meter (set at 20 DCV) and it always gives out around 19v on the meter. Could it still be bad even if I test it with the ohm meter?

I also tested both the rams and hard drive on another laptop and they are working fine. cpu should still be ok too because it was working fine before the laptop decided not to turn on. I haven't tried switching cmos battery yet, but I don't think that can cause this problem...

Also took out the motherboard and looked underneath the DC jack and it doesn't seem to have any crack on the solder joints. When I connect the battery, it's blinking orange so it seems to be getting power? (><!)


I'm starting to think it might be the motherboard, but not sure... What do you guys think might the problem? Thanks!

 

My guess is the power supply. Yes, it is putting out 19-20v according to your meter - but that's a no-load value. My guess is as soon as any substantial load is placed on the supply, it is failing.

The nice thing about most Averatec notebooks is they aren't real fussy about power supplies provided it puts out sufficient voltage and amperage. See if you can borrow a supply with adequate wattage and the same connector to use for testing.

 

Thank you! I will try to find a similar power supply to test it. The power supply for this laptop has 4 pins. I don't really see many laptops with this type of connector... I might have to order it.

 

I had a similar circumstance with a 7100. The battery turned out to be toally hosed due to a continuous drain by the laptop. Once the laptop circuitry detected the hosed battery it didn't want to power up again even without the battery on a known good power supply. (I have two).

Turned out I needed to do the infamous remove all power and hold the power button down for about 30 seconds to reset the whole shebang. That plus a new battery restored everything back to normal. That's not to say Serenity might not be absolutely correct but worth a shot. Whatever the case, it sounds like you're gonna need a new battery.

As a further suggestion, I seen enough posts as well as my own experience to recommend removing the battery on these after shutdown. Just make sure you follow the normal recommended charge discharge cycles to keep the battery up to snuff. Just don't leave the battery in it after shutdown.

Rick

 

Ah... That might be it too.. Now to play guessing game on which part to order first. I'm pretty sure that the battery is completely dead. Before the laptop wouldn't start, the battery could only hold about 5 minutes of usage when running Windows XP. I thought it wouldn't matter if I don't have the battery connect to it in order to turn it on. I'm sure wrong about that.

Thank you! and I will surely follow your suggestion about removing the battery after shut down.

 

Just a suggestion but you'll need a new battery anyway. Just look through the web. I got an exact replacement LiIon battery for mine for about $60. Less than a half what Averatec wanted.

I also found that once everything had reset, I could go back to AC only operation without the battery. Strange circuitry they have in this beast. Just hope you won't end up throwing good money after bad on this thing. Still much cheaper than replacing the lappie though if this does work.

Oops, forgot to add that I found mine on Amazon.com or DSMiller.com.

Rick