My Acer Swift 3 SF315-52G is dead.

Naresh_5131
Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
edited November 2023 in 2020 Archives
I disassembled my acer swift 3 sf315-52g for cleaning the fan as I live in a dusty environment. I removed the heatsink and fan (and the fan header of course)(I did not remove any other component at this point). When I reassembled and turned it on it wont turn on. No beep codes no LED lights, just dead. I tried out using the battery kill switch as mentioned by jackE in the community but nothing worked. Even the charger LED doesn't work. But I hear a clicking sound every 7 seconds or so near the fan header. Naturally I disconnected all the headers and connectors from the motherboard and the battery and pressed the kill switch for 30 seconds and then reconnected everything but still the same result.I must mention that the sound stops after the battery is disconnected or when the kill switch is being pressed. I'm also out of my warranty period and it was a perfectly fine system until now. Any help would be much appreciated.

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    I'd like to be able to see the status of each ribbon cable and their connectors. If one of the more important ones is cocked at an angle you could get those symptoms. Can you open it up enough to take some pictures?
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    Would this be sufficient?
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    Yes, I think so. You are missing one of the screws holding the thermal module to the CPU, which will lead to overheating, but that shouldn't stop it from running. The eDP cable by the hinge might be in a little crooked, which could give a black display symptom, and the power connector between battery and motherboard might not be seated completely, which would give a no power up symptom. Other than that it looks good to me. Reseat those two...
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    Unfortunately it's plugged in properly...I did put the screw and reseated those two and others. It's still dead. Does this has anything to do with bios?
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    Nope, it's not getting to the point where it would even try to run the BIOS.
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    So the issue is with the battery connector right? But I didn't even remove it the first time..
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    I wonder if the clicking sound is the fan trying to start moving, but the voltage is too low to drive it. Can you put a multimeter on the fan wires to see what voltage is provided when you turn things on? If there's a significant power problem then the symptoms could be essentially nothing as you are seeing.
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    19.2 on DC Voltage 200V and 0.01 or 0.02
    I don't know how to exactly use the multimeter
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    19.2V would be correct for the incoming power from the supply. 0.0xV for the fan would be 'off'. It should be either 5V or 12V at the fan.
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    Sorry. I forgot to mention that the measurement is from the battery header. When plugged in when the multimeter set at DC 20V it shows 0.07 - 0.14 and 0.00 - 0.02 when unplugged for the battery header
    Nothing on fan header...and 19.30 on adapter alone
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    Is that with the battery disconnected from the MB? Essentially zero voltage from the battery is a definite sign the battery is bad...
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    Those measurements are with battery connected to the motherboard
  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    I meant Charging adapter plugged in
    Naresh_5131 said:
    Sorry. I forgot to mention that the measurement is from the battery header. When plugged in when the multimeter set at DC 20V it shows 0.07 - 0.14 and 0.00 - 0.02 when unplugged for the battery header
    Nothing on fan header...and 19.30 on adapter alone

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    What's the voltage for the battery while disconnected?
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    I can't measure them properly but at DC 20V it's at 0.00 - 0.01
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    So the battery says it should be giving you between 15-17V at the cable while disconnected. If it's not then the battery is bad...
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    I don't understand...can you elaborate?
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    Lithium Ion batteries have some smarts on them to keep you from charging when the battery has fallen too low to charge safely. That is in response to the battery fires you may remember from several years ago. The battery when in normal state will output between 15V and 17V on that connector to the motherboard between the red and black wires. If you are measuring close to 0V on those wires then the battery has fallen to too low of a level and is no longer able to be charged, so needs replacement. If you measure somewhere in the 15-17V range on those wires the battery can likely be charged using the 19V the charger generates.
    I believe the goal here is to get you back up and running and the symptoms appear to be that the voltage from the battery is not enough to get the fan to start running, which would also be too low to allow any of the rest of the system to start up. I don't see any issues with your system as connected right now and you have said you measured a very low voltage at the battery connector...
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  • Naresh_5131
    Naresh_5131 Member Posts: 15 Troubleshooter
    Got it...I'll take it to a service centre and see what's the issue...I also forgot to mention that I accidentally pressed the battery kill switch the first time I disassembled the laptop(only removed the fan header at the time).....Does that have any relevance?
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer
    No, that switch isn't a kill switch, it's a reset switch. It basically disconnects the battery from the motherboard as long as it's pressed. If it's disconnected for longer than something like 15-30 seconds then the battery resets it's internal counters. Very helpful when those get corrupted...
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