[AN515-52] Laptop won’t turn on (blue power light blink)

Greetings!

Recently, I bought a few parts to upgrade my Nitro 5 laptop. The first one to arrive was a Lexar NS100 2.5” SSD, to replace the 1TB HDD. I installed it just fine and moved the OS from the old M.2 SSD, which had only 128GB. Everything was working fine.

Today I received the other part: a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD, to replace the SATA M.2. I looked it up, and my unit was compatible with NVMe SSDs...all good.

I opened it up, replaced the SSD, and turned it on. On start, it didn’t recognise a bootable drive, so I went to the BIOS. Aparently, my 2.5” drive wasn’t being recognised, and as my new SSD was empty, it seem to make sense. After researching, I saw a comment pointing to SATA Mode as being the cause: mine was RST with Optane, so I changed it to AHCI. I didn’t even close the BIOS screen or anything! I went to read another comment on my cellphone and all of a sudden the laptop turned off...and it won’t turn on again!

The power led on the side just emmits a blue light, blinks one time and turns off. Everything else stays off. The charging light turns on when the charger is connected, but when I press the power button, the power light blinks like described above. When it goes off, the charge light also turns off, lighting back up after a few seconds.

I‘ve tried removing the new SSD and putting the old one or leaving it empty. I’ve tried the small hole on the bottom of the laptop (pressing for 30 seconds). I’ve tried removing the battery. Nothing seems to change.

What can I do???

Thank you!

Accepted answers

LAlves91

This bigger, white one...in fact I took a picture when I started working on the laptop:

Now it’s working perfectly, with two SSDs and the new RAM! Crazy, how much a small detail can mess everything up hahahahha

All comments

Commodore_1995#

Does this model have this button?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/o9/plwuqadfpuf7.png

LAlves91

Unfortunately, it doesn't. Despite the shielding having some kind of elevation that perhaps should press a button, I didn’t find the overlock button anywhere in the motherboard.

Commodore_1995#

Ok! Try disconnecting the lithium battery and then disconnecting the ssd. then press the power button for 30 seconds. Then, check connect only the battery and make sure the notebook turns on.

LAlves91

Just did it...no changes: Blue power light blinks once and that's all. Once it a while, when I press the power button, the light stays on and I hear a faint noise coming from the place where the RAMs are connected, maybe right below it. When this happens,that part of the laptop starts heating underneath.

Commodore_1995#

Have you ever tried to change the ram memory?
Você tentou alterar a memória ram de slot?

LAlves91

Yes. I have two 16GB RAMs. I tried every permutation (both on, only RAM 1 or RAM 2 on top and bottom slot)

Commodore_1995#

have you checked if there are any capacitors or burst diodes on the other side of the motherboard? Is your notebook under warranty?

LAlves91

I didn't check the electrical components...I didn't feel any burnt smell all the time I was trying to fix it, so I didn't think there was a reason. I'll check it out though.
About the warranty, as I was changing RAM AND SSD after opening up the laptop when it happened, I think they won't cover me, right?

Commodore_1995#

Was there a guarantee seal? If there are none and you have not damaged any parts, then the warranty has not been breached.

LAlves91

Ohh! I don’t think there was any seal...I’ll try and get in touch with Acer tomorrow.
I really don’t understand how what I’ve done could generate such a problem...anyway, thank you!

StevenGen

Have you tried to use the power cord only, to boot the AN515-52, without the battery installed? See if the laptop reboots like that? This is very strange, as just resetting the BIOS should not be doing that, it sounds like its a hardware problem either the battery, power adaptor/supply, DC power jack, RAM or an internal capacitor (which is highly unlikely) but, the power component e.g. battery, power adaptor/supply or even the DC power jack that could have burned out or are faulty. But, your BIOS SATA Mode should be set at AHCI as with the RST with Optane you have to install the Intel software for that to work e.g. The Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) driver and the Intel® Optane™ memory-supported user interface.

To what I've experienced, its usually the battery and/or the power adaptor/supply or both that could be faulty so, try another power adaptor/supply and see if that works? Do this, without the battery installed, if it boots then its the adaptor, if that does not work then it could be the DC power jack. But, look at all those components and see if any of them are faulty.

Also, to clone your M.2 SSD drive, you cant just plug the new 2.5 SSD into its slot and do it that way, you have to get a "SATA to USB 3.0" cable (they are very cheap) and use this cable to externally plug the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 2.5 SSD into the 3.0 USB plug, then, use the "Samsung Data Migration" (btw, I've done this many times with Samsung SSD's) software (as that is what this software is for and its very easy to use) to clone your boot drive to the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 2.5 SSD first, then, turn your AN515-52 off and take the M.2 OEM SSD out and only use the "Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 2.5 SSD" as your boot drive, then reboot, this should work! As just putting an empty 2.5 SSD into its slot and trying to clone that way, will not work. Let us know how you make out? Cheers.

LAlves91

@StevenGen thank you for the response man!
I’ve tried both ways: no battery, only DC power jack, and just battery...both didn’t work. The pattern with the LEDs are really bothering me...Acer manuals about that aren’t really helpful. If you have the same model as me, can you see if when you turn it on, the power LED stays on or it just blinks and turns down like mine? I’ve never paid too much attention to it.

About the SATA Mode, my laptop came with that RST with Optane config from factory (Intel Rapid Software was also installed, and it actually recognised the 2.5” SSD after I plugged it).

Maybe my mistake was using a software to migrate my OS between drives...I’ve followed a tutorial recommending this free software, and it seemes to work fine. I was booting from the new SSD just fine.

StevenGen

No, the LED should be on all the time, without blinking. There is something wrong with your power supply, battery or DC power jack, as that is why it doesn't power on. Buy a new power supply, battery and a DC power jack and replace the DC power jack first, then try powering it on, if it doesn't work, replace the battery etc etc in a systematic way, its an easy job.

That happened to me on another Acer laptop, when I had a power surge and it did the same, that is why the AN515-52 must have turned off like it did and there must be damage to the battery, power supply or the DC power jack. In my case it was the power supply and battery, which were damaged and I had the same symptoms. That is the only option you have, otherwise there must be something damaged internally and with the mainboard, as this doesn't sound like a software problem, its a hardware problem for sure.

Commodore_1995#

it would be interesting to check the power adapter. However, it is strange that the bottom of the ram socket is heating up.

LAlves91

Greetings everyone!

I’ve decided to open the laptop up once again, to check all connections on the motherboard. I suspect there was a loose one:

Now the laptop is working! Apparently I lost all my data...but that’s okay!

Thank you guys very much for your help!

Commodore_1995#

Which cable was loose?

LAlves91

This bigger, white one...in fact I took a picture when I started working on the laptop:

Now it’s working perfectly, with two SSDs and the new RAM! Crazy, how much a small detail can mess everything up hahahahha

Nabil000988

Which white wire?
Plz explain?

Nabil000988

LAlves91 said:

This bigger, white one...in fact I took a picture when I started working on the laptop:

Now it’s working perfectly, with two SSDs and the new RAM! Crazy, how much a small detail can mess everything up hahahahha