Chromebook R13 Flip Charge Port Repair

kenai76

Hi,
The charging port on my Acer R13 Flip Chromebook no longer works. At first I thought it was a faulty charger (if I wiggled the lead it would start charging) but that didn't resolve the problem. 
No it no longer charges at all. Approached a local laptop repair store & they said they couldn't source the type C charging port to repair.  Same thing happened with another repair company locally.
It's out of warranty now as I have had it 3 years. But still in excellent condition & I love this Chromebook.
Any ideas of who can repair this model would be very much appreciated as it's very frustrating.  
I was thinking of taking it into PCWorld (where I bought it from) as they still sell this model but reviews I have read online say the service there is terrible.  Any advice / help appreciated 

kenai76

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm in the UK - the R13 model is CB5-312T

billsey

Likely they don't have surface mount tools or skills rather than not being able to source the connector, it's a pretty standard connector after all. There are four through hole pins for the physical mount and the data and power lines are all surface mount. To replace you'd have to first clip the four then heat until the rest come loose. Once it's off they'd suck out the four holes, add solder paste to the pads, place the new part and apply heat once again. Finally solder the four mounts in place. It's really unusual for one of these to fail, however. Have you verified it's not the power brick? It should be 45W, 20V @ 2.25A...

kenai76

Thanks for your reply,.
Yeah I would of thought it was too difficult  but then I'm no expert in electronic / motherboard repairs.  One of the local repairers removed the back & showed me the soldering around the USB connection was cracked but resoldering failed to repair it & he could source a replacement type C USB for that model ??
Yeah the charger is 45W I replaced it thinking this was the issue due to me having to wiggle lead for it to charge  But did same with the brand new genuine Acer charger -  so now I have 2 fully working chargers. A bonus I guess 
I've sourced a repair guy outside of my locality who has said it should be no issue to repair & source a USB type C part  So I'm speaking to him tomorrow. 

kenai76

Just an update, I got the Chromebook repaired (well kinda) ...it now charges since a replacement usb type C unit was installed. 
However, the ONLY way it chargers now is with my OnePlus 6 phone charger? As I receive the "low power charger" message, I simply leave it over night to charge. 
I have 3 45Watt chargers (one brand new bought yesterday) not one of them chargers or responds when plugged into my  R13.
The  repair guy believes it could possibly be the "power regulator" but as it's part of motherboard he couldn't fully test it.
Although I'm thankful it atleast charges now, even if slowly. 

billsey

It could be the regulator, and fixing that fully is liable to be a bigger job than the laptop is worth. It's also possible he didn't get all the leads fully soldered. There is a sense connection that tests to see if the charger can do fast charging, I'd guess they are failing that test... As long as it's working though I'd leave it alone.

kenai76

Yeah I'm just leaving it be. 
Considering cost it's not worth bothering with. Im going to be buying an upgrade to this Chromebook this year anyway.  I've gotta say though this R13 Chromebook has been brilliant (apart from this charging issue) for the past 3 yrs - I'll actually miss it
Anyway, thanks for the advice 👍