Acer Aspire E1-531-4461 Intermittent Power Problem

I have an Aspire E1-531-4461 notebook that keeps thinking it's unplugged and then plugged back in. With it just sitting on the table plugged in and the laptop on it will beep and the screen dims and the icon in the system tray changes to battery just like you umpugged the power cord while it's running except without touching it. Then a second or two later it will beep again and the screen brightens up and the system tray icon changes back to being plugged in just like it would if you plugged it back in. Sometimes it will do this constantly and sometimes it's several minutes or hours between occurences. Once it thinks it's unplugged though it only takes a few seconds to think it's plugged in again. I've already tried different outlets and a new power cord. I'm thinking the next step is to take apart the laptop and check the dc power jack inside and the connections to it. Anybody else have any ideas?

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Ryanrr

What you are describing does not sound like normal behavior. It sounds like you have ruled out the power cord and that is good. The only two things that I can think that may cause this kind of behavior is a bad battery, the battery is fluctuating, or as you said the DC jack.

To determine that its not the battery, remove the battery and keep it plugged in and see how it reacts. If the problem disappears then it might be the battery. However, if the problem persists, please contact technical support for further assistance as it may require repair.

iridemybike

I took it apart a few days ago and found that the DC jack was a bit loose in the case and when plugged in there was a good bit of play in it. If I wiggle the cord it will sometimes reproduce the problem. I put it back together and found that the problem was continuing so I ordered a new dc jack that showed up today. Oddly enough the last day or two it's been behaving. Since it seems so loose at the jack when it's plugged in I'm thinking the solution may be to replace the jack and make sure it's shimmed into the case a little tighter so it can't get loose to begin with. It spends the vast majority of it's time plugged in on a desk. If it starts acting up again I'll try it without the battery and see how that goes! Thanks!

iridemybike

Well I've replaced the dc jack, shimmed it tighter into the case, double checked all the connections, replaced the power cord. I've also tried removing the battery. The problem persists. Nothing has worked!

litanies

Did you ever find a solution? I am having this exact problem on an Aspire E1-572-6484.

iridemybike

Nope, we just plug it in, wiggle the cord until it works and try not to mess with it. I've replaced every power componet between the wall outlet at home and the system board in the laptop and it didn't help. Good luck!

litanies

Thanks for your response, especially after more than a year from the original post.

Has it gotten noticeably worse over time or stayed about the same?

Basically I'm arguging with myself over whether I should go way out of my way trying to chase down a solution I might never find

iridemybike

It hasn't gotten any worse but I don't tend to take it places with me anymore either. Now it pretty much just stays on the desk and I don't move it around. Doing that it seems ok. That said, if you plan on carrying it around you may have other issues. I suspect it's more of a design flaw than anything since I've replaced everything but the system board. If I'm going to go that far I might as well just get a new laptop.

Karp-Acer_Retired

First we would like to apologize for the power problem inconvenience.

After testing the power cord and different outlet and problem persists, please contact technical support for further assistance as it may require repair.

fjrabbit

The ground connection is bad because of the ground tabs loosing their spring. I took a dental pick and pulled the triangular tabs towards the center of the plug. Now there is a good contact with the power cord.

20170126_133851.jpg

SedaRay

I'm having the exact same problem, same model. Had WIN 10 on it, then "refreshed" it back to WIN 7 since it would never charge enough for more than a 1/2 hour of (new) battery operation. Same problem in WIN 7. Did the dental pick thing, will try it again but in my case wiggling the charger has no effect. Just saying this seems to happen with this model, I guess.

billsey

Does it help to put a little bit of sideways pressure on the power plug? Is it the original power supply or a replacement?

billsey

It is the charging circuit helping to keep you from an overcharge. When the battery reaches full charge the charging circuit disconnects until the battery drops a little, then it fires back up.

Note that this is a community support board, so you don't reach anyone from Acer (except the moderators) here. To get an answer directly from Acer you need to go through their support process.

SedaRay

Still having this problem. It now will not boot from battery even for a while - battery is new and charged to 100%. The manual I have says power supply should be 65W/90W but doesn't indicate voltage or amperage. I wonder if all this time I had the wrong power supply? It does run without a battery just fine, (tho it's the slowest computer I've ever had.)

What should be the voltage and amperage? My power supply doesn't even have a wattage rating. Is VxA always = W? 19v x 3.42A = nearly 65W but the battery says 10.8V, 4200mAh/48Wh

I'm only keeping this computer because of one app I need, dang.

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