3820T, doesn't charge nor power up

unknownpleasures81

Hi guys, I searched for a similar issue but seems nobody asked before. My TimelineX, very nice notebook still good for what I do, stopped working. 
I was using it with an universal power adaptor (a good one), and it worked ok until I heard a very tiny click, and the notebook stopped charging, but was still on (no smoke and no typical smell of disaster). I did not notice anything until the battery drained out and it turned off and never turned on again. I thought about a charger issue (its light was flashing very fastly, like a condenser that's burned out). With the multimeter, it spits out 19.something Volts, which is fine. I tried with other two chargers and they do the same thing: their LED starts flashing like crazy when I plug them on the notebook, which still won't turn on or show any LED light (seems like dead). The chargers are working fine, I can use them with another notebook (a very old but still working good ol' tank Sony Vaio). I don't want to throw it in the garbage, I love the TimelineX design. 
Anyone any idea? Thanks and cheers from a badly virus-spreaded Italy! 

billsey

The 3820T has a set of wires that go between the power input jack and the motherboard. There is also a power board that looks like it might just be the power button and LED. I'm guessing something went south in one of those.

unknownpleasures81

Thanks for the answer mate!
Yes, I disassambled the various parts. Cables seem ok. I'll check if there is continuity between the socket and the motherboard. Where should I look exactly? One thing I can do is try to recharge the battery externally (I don't know exactly how, actually) and see if everything else works. I may try to find another motherboard and change it, but before doing this I would like to repair, if I can. Maybe just the power part: if there is a dedicated board, I can change only that. What do you think?

StevenGen

Firstly, the Acer 3820T TimelineX is known to require and to need a 90-watt capacity charger, because and under heavy use, the laptop consumes 79 watts (without charging the battery) and the battery has a high capacity battery of 6,000 mAh so, make sure that you have an appropriate charger and the battery is not faulty too, as testing your laptop with anything weaker or an old battery that is on the way out, will not charge and/or power your  Acer 3820T TimelineX and that is why you are having these problems. It could also be that your "universal power adaptor (a good one)" is caput and not working. Buy a new charger of an output of DC 19V 3.42A 90W capacity and a new battery, as I'm sure that your old charger is caput as is your battery. 

Note: that laptop chargers and power supplies have to be of exactly and the same capacity as OEM and in your case its an output of: DC 19V 3.42A 90W capacity, anything lower will cause problems like you have! 

unknownpleasures81

Thanks for the answer. I understand that the 3820T is always hungry, and I can understand that it requires full 90 W (4.something amps) when fully working. The problem is that I face this issue even with the laptop off without battery inserted, so, theoretically, the only thing that requires power is the stand-by relay switch. But the LED on the charger flashes like crazy even with the laptop turned off, with and without battery or power consumption!
Anyway, my old Sony Vaio charger has more than enough Watts to erogate (and the universal -a good one, yes- goes up to 85 Watt... tried even and old Compaq charger-this with max output of 60 W, so ok, maybe not enough, but same problem-).