Acer R13 (R7-372T) not powering on. Any idea on how to repair this or if this can be repaired?

Teubell

Hello,

I have an Acer R13 that used to run perfectly fine until it suddenly turned off. It just does not power on anymore. When the AC adaptor is plugged in, the charging LEDs do not turn on. I have tried the following already without success:

• Reset the battery by pushing the battery reset button on the back of the laptop for 5 seconds
• Pushed down the power button for 30 seconds
• Opened the back of the laptop and manually disconnect the battery
• Redid all the above with another Thunderbolt power adaptor 

When the back of the laptop is open and a power adapter is connected I hear a constant low-frequency buzzing noise. I can almost pinpoint its precise source to somewhere around center of the motherboard.
The buzzing noise when the power adapter is connected makes me think of a bad capacitor so I have started tracking those down but it is definitely not a trivial task.

This laptop is 2 years and 4 months old, so it is 4 months beyond the warranty period. I am not particularly eager to send it back to Acer since if the entire motherboard needs replacing it will end up costing as much as a new one.

Does any of you have an idea on how to repair this or if this can be repaired?

Jack22

@Teubell
Yes it should be something to do with hardware issue.It might be fixable if you send it to Acer because if the problem is with the motherboard they can get it and change, but since its out of warranty you can call and check how much would it cost

billsey

Your R7-372T has a small daughterboard that holds the DC-In Jack. Is there any chance that has come undone or maybe a pinched wire? If you aren't getting a good connection on that you'd get these same symptoms, I think.

Teubell

billsey said:

Your R7-372T has a small daughterboard that holds the DC-In Jack. Is there any chance that has come undone or maybe a pinched wire? If you aren't getting a good connection on that you'd get these same symptoms, I think.

@billsey
You mean the part circled in red on the below picture?
I disconnected it and reconnected it, the problem still persists. I also disconnected that board and connected a Thunderbolt adapter on the port circled in blue, that does not go through the daughterboard, with still no success. The buzzing sounds like it comes from the main board.



@Jack22
I had indeed contacted Acer about this. They confirmed it would be a out-of-warranty repair. If the motherboard needs replacing they mentioned something in the range of 400-500€, plus the shipping out of the laptop, approx 80€. This is the price of a new laptop hence my willing to try and diagnose it first before going that route.

billsey

No, the DC-In is at upper left I believe, under everything else:

Teubell

Ah indeed, it was on the lower right on my first picture. I see the DC-in from your picture:

It goes all the way to the white connector on the main board. Disconnecting it still makes the same buzzing. 
Do you think there actually is another daughterboard, on the flip side of the mainboard? I can go on and dismantle everything at this point.

billsey

Do you have a VOM that you can use to test voltages getting through to that connector on the MB? If the power supply is bad it might be under performing and not able to drive the charging circuit. I wouldn't tear it down more yet until we've double checked everything is ok though the simple stuff...

Teubell

I have checked the voltages going from the output of the power supply to that connector on the MB already, the 19V (that's the output of the power supply) are present all along to the connector on the MB.
In order to eliminate the possibility of a bad power supply I had also tried with another power supply that I know is working and on Thunderbolt port, that does not use the same connector to the motherboard as the regular one. 

Where should I check next, from that connector on the MB?

billsey

Boy, it's getting tough now... It depends on how they designed the circuit between the power input port and the battery connector. Anything that's wrong there is basically a MB swap for repair. I'm leaning more toward it being the battery and the MB design is such that the charging circuit only charges the battery, and the battery then provides all power for the system. If the battery were bad you'd get no power. I don't have a spec for that battery connector on the MB, other than the red and black likely being the main power and ground, the four wires in the middle perhaps charge current and charge sense, or perhaps just a serial connection to the smarts in the battery.

Jazzy707

So is your issue solved now?

Yu4xp

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/597798/acer-r13-r7-372t-not-powering-on

hi there. I have same problem. did you ever managed to get your R13 laptop working? i really like this 2in1 laptop and want to get it working.