Acer Aspire 3 A315-41-R163 booting issues

jayhovah

Hello,

I've bought an Acer Aspire A315-41 R163 in Belgium last september. I must say I was pretty proud, due to the hardware configuration of the A315 series. But soon enough i started feeling disappointed. First the graphic card had an issue that would make the screen blurs randomly with just black and withs pixels. I updated the drivers and then it seems ok.
Lately, some more serious issue started occuring. I let the battery empty itself. The day after the laptop would not turn on. I have to run the battery reset procedure several times. It ended up booting and working fine for the last 2-3 months. I even thought it might be a static built-up issue.

However, this happens again, but this time the battery was fully loaded and the power cord was plugged in. After some battery reset procedures, it woke up again.

So, I decided to check what was wrong and went to Acer website, downloaded and update the bios to the latest version. But just 2 days after i let the laptop on overnight (to download some satellite data). When i woke up, it was turned off and would not turn on although i tried the procedure again several times. But something weird happen this time. The power button would not turn it on, but pressing on Space or Enter will power it on briefly before it will immediately turn off.

I"ve also noticed that if i keep pressing the space bar, the laptop will turn on and would stay on, as long as i keep pressing the space bar, repeatedly. When i stop, the system will shutdown after some 30 seconds.

One time during trying to power it on, i tried a windows system restore with a restore point dating 3 days back. But it failed. A system restore through Windows shutdown Menu didn't work either.
So, i am now stuck with a nice and useless laptop and would appreciate any (really useful) help. Because, i've been reading a lot of suggestions lately. And also because i don't have a special Acer service in my country right now.

Many thanks

Junior

topcat7736

Hi Junior,
I looked your machine up on the Acer site and am thinking that the problem may not be that severe. If you turn the machine over, near one of the sides is a pin hole which is used with a paper clip to open the plus side from the battery causing loss of power and machine shut off. When pressing on the space bar, you may be flexing the plastic over the switch causing the switch to go from open to closed.
So, you need to remove the bottom cover and check the area around the switch looking for something loose or broken or missing. You'll know what it is when you see or don't see it. LOL Sadly, that's the most help I can give you. 
Al

jayhovah

Hi Al,

Thanks for your reply. I looked at it and tried to check your suggestion. So, i went through all the hassle of removing the cover (more than 10 holes!) to check, and nothing seems wrong or loosy anyway.

I'm posting a picture, just in cas i might have missed something.

I also unplugged the battery and waited for sometimes before plugging it back. Just in case...

Well, as for now, nothing new. Still at the same stage.

Thanks

Jr

 

topcat7736

Does the machine run properly with the cover off? Wait....there is also a horizontal cable, on the middle left side, with blue connectors. Are the gray tabs for zero force insertion up for open or down for lock? If unlocked, insure the cables are into the connectors  correctly and lock them down. Then, see if the machine functions properly.

topcat7736

And while the cover is off, blow the dirt out of your fan.

jayhovah

Thanks for the suggestions.

cleaning the fan was among the first things I did :-)

As for the cables and connectors, i also checked them, just to make sure, since you talked about something loosy before.

Funny, the laptop is still powering with the spacebar. And is just showing a black screen...

I am desperate.

topcat7736

To the right of the gray C1804 connector is what appears to be a printed circuit trace which is burned. That's the best I can see for you in the picture. If I was working again and had my microscope and the machine, I might see more. LOL If that's not the problem, then you'll need to check near the space bar....under the battery?

topcat7736

Near the edge of the machine is a long blue wire next to a silver plate. There's a screw in the center of the plate and to the left of it is a ridge. There appears to be brown on the ridge area like something (the blue wire) might have burned. You need to check that area and possibly around there but under the battery. (Is that also where the spacebar is located on the other side?) Hey, you're supposed to be finding these things not me!

jayhovah

Actually, there's nothing burnt in the machine. It is due to the camera of the smartphone. I'm sending another pic of the connector area so you can see. It is rather black all along.

Same thing for the machine area you mentioned later. As for the spacebar, it is not under the battery. It is the touchpad instead. I've checked all this thoroughly again.

Thanks for helping anyway.

topcat7736

Were the connectors on that cable open or closed? No quitting. We must find out what's under that space bar. That means opening the TOP cover next. 

topcat7736

If the connectors were open it might explain pressing the spacebar and having the power come on. There's a chip which detects 1,3.3, 5, 14 and 18V. If any are missing (or shorted) it will turn off the machine. We have some voltages but the power to the screen (maybe 14) is missing. A short on the 5, which would be in the USB ports powered through that cable near the C1804 connectors, would prevent the screen from powering up. Although something is being un-shorted when you press the space bar, and the machine begins to power up, we're still not getting power to the screen. We are getting the input 18, 1 and 3.3 so the 5 and 14 are the suspect ones.

topcat7736

Right in the middle of the board is a chip which says ene on it. That is your super I/O chip which controls the functions of the computer. Toward the bottom of it is a piece of black tape covering a black cable. The black cable is from the keyboard. One of the boards power supplies is located to the right of the super I/O chip. See if you can press the space key while looking in the super I/O area and see if something flexes. The problem is somewhere near that area. Nothing more I can do. Sorry.

jayhovah

Your last message helps a lot. Because, i'm still trying to figure out how i could check the "open connectors" issue you mentioned earlier. If you know any way i could. I checked if the cable was correctly connected, but i don't know about the open/close zero force insertion. So if you could show it on the pic, i'll be grateful.

I'll try the ENE chip tomorrow (it's 10PM here) and let you know.

Thanks you once more

topcat7736

Are the pins around the super I/O chip white or was it just the flash. White would be corrosion and could cause a shorting of the pins. If white, it might be gently cleaned off with lighter fluid or alcohol and a soft toothbrush.

topcat7736

The cable which goes to the USB board on the left of your first picture connects via what is called a zero force entry (ZFI) connector. There is a small gray tab which lifts up and the cable can be inserted without needing to push it in. Once all the way inside, the gray piece is closed to lock the cable in place. If not locked, the cable can easily move in, out and sideways. Because the pins are so close together a small movement would cause a short and the super I/O chip would turn off the machine to protect it. It appears in the picture that the gray tabs are up which would be unlocked. Look at other ZFI connectors on the board and you'll see what I mean. Another day and you'll be a computer tech without having had to pay any tuition. LOL

The upper right corner of the first picture is where the cabling to the screen is located. There is also another power supply in that area.

jayhovah

Hi Al,

i'm back again. It was not easy, but i managed to find some ZFI which i checked. And i think none is to blame. The connectors on the usb cable were not ZFI. And they were pretty well attached. Nothing is moving there. The 3 others under the ENE chipset were all closed. I even opened and closed them just to be sure. Included the one linked to the keyboard.

I'm sending the picture.

I also checked the power cable on the 2 sides. The one going to the screen and the one of the A/C cord.

Since i've never opened it before and it has been working fine for a while, i would've been surprised if anything was off though.

Thanks.

jayhovah

And yes. I also tried the spacebar with the cover off. Trying to see if anything happened around the ENE chip. But there was anything i could detect.

Now i'm getting worried. Could it be the Bios update ? Or even the motherboard that would need replacement...

topcat7736

Acer has very poor BIOS updates. They pack a lot of different ones together but never tell you the specific one for just your machine. They warn you about installing the wrong one. I noticed that there are different names on the ones listed for my computers. I must go to my BIOS and look at the name in it and then go back to ACER for the update.  There might be a A199 smith 060219, B195 jones 050119, C101 green 040119, D095 Lemon 010117 listed on their site so a normal person would believe the A199 smith 060219 was the proper new update for their machine. But in the bios they have V060 Lemon 010115. So the correct updating BIOS would be D095 Lemon 010117 not the new smith one. They have a utility which comes with their machines to check all the drivers and bios and that should be used to determine updates not going to Acer directly. But powering up with the space bar is not a function of the bios. The mosfets near the charger input must be turned on by the multi i/o chip and that's done by depressing the power on switch which has 1.2V going to it all the time. So, something is being shorted when you depress the space bar. Did the motherboard flex at all when you press the space bar?

jayhovah

UPDATE

I've removed the keyboard cable, clean it and put it back. In the meanwhile i removed the battery and left it for a while. And put everything back and try to turn it on.

As for now, the spacebar didn't turn it on (so far). But i have to hold the power button to turn it on. But the screen remains black. And the laptop is quite silent. Like, i don't even hear the hard drive or the fan noise. But it seems the fan is turning (i could feel the hot air). But nothing else.

topcat7736

In your first picture, on the side of the battery toward the middle of the motherboard, go all the way to the right side and there is the little switch used to disrupt the battery power using a paperclip through a hole in the bottom cover. Give it a bunch of presses and releases and feel if it is opening and closing properly. Then try the power button.

jayhovah

I just tried again. The power button seems to be responding now normally and the spacebar didn't turn it on (so far. - I am pessimistic).

But the screen remain desperately black