Predator Helios 300 shut down and wont turn on again - LEDs don't turn on for anything

Shut down playing a game, assumed due to heat, left it alone for the night. The next day it won't turn on at all. What I've tried:
-Swapping Cables
-Holding power button down (plugged and unplugged)
-5 sec pinhole battery reset
-Removed memory hatch and added insulation tape to the part that presses the button. Can see a blatant indentation on tape to verify button is being pressend.
-Called tech support, they say it's a hardware issue and I'm out of warranty (by a few months)
I don't know the next steps but could really use some advice, feeling pretty bad that this thing might be dead.

Tagging @egydiocoelho per request.

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xapim

Bzy if you already tried everything you said above and if none of the lights light (battery/power) it can be the adapter or the worst of all somehow your mobo got fried test your adapter with a voltmeter and see if its outputting the correct voltage if it is im afraid its the mobo the battery power drain its 30s holding it down min (disconnected from AC) and let it rest for a couple of hours

Bzy

xapim said:

Bzy if you already tried everything you said above and if none of the lights light (battery/power) it can be the adapter or the worst of all somehow your mobo got fried test your adapter with a voltmeter and see if its outputting the correct voltage if it is im afraid its the mobo the battery power drain its 30s holding it down min (disconnected from AC) and let it rest for a couple of hours

30s holding down the power button or 30s with the pin in the pinhole? I'm afraid the mobo is fried as well. I will probably never buy a gaming laptop again if that's the case I could barely afford the first one and now it's probably just gone. Certainly won't buy another Acer product ever again, how can I after lighting $1300 on fire by normal use? So depressing.

I used one of those generic pen shaped volt testers (doesn't tell amount) and the box adapter part has power. The very end does not indicate power but not all cords/ends do anyways so I doubt that's the issue.

xapim

Bzy said:

xapim said:

Bzy if you already tried everything you said above and if none of the lights light (battery/power) it can be the adapter or the worst of all somehow your mobo got fried test your adapter with a voltmeter and see if its outputting the correct voltage if it is im afraid its the mobo the battery power drain its 30s holding it down min (disconnected from AC) and let it rest for a couple of hours
30s holding down the power button or 30s with the pin in the pinhole? I'm afraid the mobo is fried as well. I will probably never buy a gaming laptop again if that's the case I could barely afford the first one and now it's probably just gone. Certainly won't buy another Acer product ever again, how can I after lighting $1300 on fire by normal use? So depressing.

I used one of those generic pen shaped volt testers (doesn't tell amount) and the box adapter part has power. The very end does not indicate power but not all cords/ends do anyways so I doubt that's the issue.

30s holding the battery power drain and leave it for a couple of hours also theres not any 100% guarantee from any manufacturer that all devices no matter what will work 100% laptops or not they are all made in a mass production assembly line there will always be faults even with cars i have mine for 17 months now always on AC 24/7 optimized windows/undervolted/repasted with kryonaut and upgraded in the first week i got it disable windows updates permanently never had one single issue with it i can say i spent almost the same price of the laptop itself just upgrading the ram and ssd

If after the complete power drain still not powering up you can disassemble it yourself (because you're out of warranty) and check for any fault (burned chip or something similar) if you dont want to do it yourself just take it to a good repair shop for a proper diagnostic to really find out whats the real issue and if it worth it to fix or not this is the only option i can see here in case it wont power up also what is your full model and specs (dont post any snid/serial its not allowed)

Bzy

G3-571

Specs:
https://www.acer.com/datasheets/2017/4876/VN7-793G/NH.Q28AA.001.html

I can figure out more if that's not enough. I get that no one has 100% product quality but it's completely unacceptable to be out $1200 shortly after a year of purchase.

xapim

Bzy said:

G3-571

Specs:
https://www.acer.com/datasheets/2017/4876/VN7-793G/NH.Q28AA.001.html

I can figure out more if that's not enough. I get that no one has 100% product quality but it's completely unacceptable to be out $1200 shortly after a year of purchase.

Bzy i completely understand your frustration but also i can see by your model as u said its one year in your hands but might be much more older while it was in stock/shelved as this model its even older than mine (it was one of the first H300 to come out as far as i know and they had been perfecting them since) and mine its also very old now my advice to everyone if they are buying a gaming laptop unless you are sure you want that one go for a newer model instead as with a newer theres a better chance the issues in the old ones were already all taken care off so sometimes buying an older model its a bad choice and as i stated in another thread always get extended warranty that should be the first thing to do when investing in any expensive device

Commodore_1995#

The colleague xapim is correct. However, there is something else you can do in addition to checking if there is any component burned on the motherboard. You can disconnect the lithium battery and press the power button for thirty seconds.

Bzy

egydiocoelho said:

The colleague xapim is correct. However, there is something else you can do in addition to checking if there is any component burned on the motherboard. You can disconnect the lithium battery and press the power button for thirty seconds.

Any video or photo of how to disconnect?

Commodore_1995#

Yes, watch this video:

https://youtu.be/Ph2ibK79zd8
Disconnect the battery and press the power button for thirty seconds. Take advantage to check if there is any component burned, as said colleague xapim. Do the entire procedure carefully and without damaging anything.

Bzy

xapim said:

my advice to everyone if they are buying a gaming laptop unless you are sure you want that one go for a newer model instead as with a newer theres a better chance the issues in the old ones were already all taken care off so sometimes buying an older model its a bad choice and as i stated in another thread always get extended warranty that should be the first thing to do when investing in any expensive device

If a product has defects to this degree it shouldn't be sold, doesn't matter if they fixed it in the current iteration, the previous one shouldn't have ever been released without honoring beyond warranty.

A perfect anecdotal experience: my Honda had a cracked engine block due to a bad cast, after my warranty was up, issues arose due to this. They replaced my engine with no charge. A year later Honda actually released a recall for my car for this issue and everyone got it fixed for free. Same situation applies to airbags etc. They probably have more scrutiny for class action lawsuits, but the underlying principal still applies. Don't sell it or own up to it after the fact regardless of warranty.

Now maybe my instance was a freak occurrence, and that's different. But suggesting to buy the latest model to avoid a motherboard frying is ludicrous and there's no way I could ever trust/buy Acer if that's their stance as well.

Obser

I had the exact same problem last week, while playing it went dead in a instant. I tried everything I could before send it to warranty with no luck. In the acer center they said there were a short in motherboard, and replaced it. It came without gtx drivers and since it got back I'm trying to install this gtx with no luck and I'll be sending it again.
But for you I suggest to take off you motherboard and go to a place with a ultrasonic cleaner and try to clean it. A lot of shorts in motherboards are solved when cleaned in ultrasonic cleaners.

Bzy

egydiocoelho said:

Yes, watch this video:
https://youtu.be/Ph2ibK79zd8
Disconnect the battery and press the power button for thirty seconds. Take advantage to check if there is any component burned, as said colleague xapim. Do the entire procedure carefully and without damaging anything.

@egydiocoelho

Hi, I finally am back at this. For the 30 sec power button, does the SW2 (black trigger by the memory) need to be pressed? I was hoping to attempt to start this without assembling everything back together since the step after will involve tearing it all down again to look under the fan/heatsink.

I took some photos I will load a bit later, nothing visibly fried.

I just need a specific step by step for once i've disconnected the internal battery (photos were taken before i unplugged it but i got that part done). Should I wait for awhile, am i supposed to plug it in without the battery attached etc.?

[e] here are the photos. It almost looks like that's melted/cooled thermal paste oozing out but I'm a bit out of my element here.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/w6/qw72l8keh2ta.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/x4/872klyhy9zm8.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/34/oh3lwpbx4xv9.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/o7/6ngbure7krl9.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/4d/fdcptxiqlj2f.jpg

Commodore_1995#

It would be interesting for you to remove the sink and check it here:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/62/52dbtu7h0yxx.jpg

Bzy

Yea that's exactly the spot that I thought the paste might have oozed out. Can you give me battery instructions first? I'd rather not reseat it until after I try the easier option.

Commodore_1995#

On the battery, check this video from 04:25:

https://youtu.be/Ph2ibK79zd8

Bzy

I know how to disconnect, I wasn't sure if I'm supposed to hold down the power button w/ or w/out SW2 pressed and/or if I am supposed to try to boot it without the battery connected/if I'm supposed to let it sit with the battery connected/plugged in etc.