Aspire M5-481T-6488 - Does not recognize AC is plugged in. Does not charge battery.

Laptop is about 2 yrs old. Running on the origninal Windows 8 that came with it. Had the same issue when it was first bought. Sent it in to Acer. Came back with no report/ details. Worked okay. Until recently.

Noticed that orange light comes on when it feels like charging and stops charging at 35%. Charging is a hit and miss thing, mostly miss.

Tried:

Sticking a pin in the "battery reset" hole on the back

Uninstalling the "Microsoft API" battery

Removing battery to see if it'll work without it (it has an internal battery)

Of course Acer will not help now since the warranty has expired.

Please advise. Thank you.

Accepted answers

gundminet

Power plug was checked, gave out 19V.

Charged laptop briefly, then lost charging capability. Checked power again, 0V.

AC power adapter is bad.

All comments

philetus

Have you verified that the power supply is putting out the correct voltage? Two years of running plugged in most of the time,with the battery connected, will degrade the battery a lot. Indication is the battery will not charge past a certain point, usually low.

gundminet

Usually do not have it plugged in with battery. Only when battery is low.

Had same issue with charging when unit was first purchased. Acer never gave an answer to the issue. Now issue is back and worse.

philetus

The battery is still two years old. How many times do you think it has been charged?

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries typically have a lifespan of between 300 and 500 cycles. With moderate use, Lithium-ion batteries can be expected to deliver around 80% of their original capacity after 300 cycles or about one year of use.

gundminet

Definitely less than 100 times. Laptop was hardly used.

Just drained the battery out completely. Plugged the AC power in. Does not charge. When power button was pressed briefly, charging indicator blinked 5 times in orange. Appears to be a code for something?