Nitro 5an515-53-52A only the fans and light turning on, black screen.

i have the Acer Nitro 5 an515-53-52A. There is possibly a chance i messed something up since i was changing the thermal paste because my laptop had been over heating. the only thing is i was very careful and i have done it multiple times before with no problem. i made sure the battery was disconnected. i used alcohol and cleaned and dried thoroughly, making sure not to touch anything else with my fingers. when i finished and put everything back together i turned it on and it was fine. it booted normally and i logged in a left it alone turned on. i can back a few minutes later to find my screen glitching out (picture is attached). i forced shut it off and now when i try turning it on only the keyboard backlight and fans turn on and off and on and off indefinitely. any suggestions? thank you.

Thread was edited to add model name to the title

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Unknown

(Update, possibly useful information) i removed both ram sticks and tried turning the computer on. same thing with the black screen, but instead of the fans and keyboard turning on and off again continuously, they only came on only once and stopped. i then put one stick of ram back, same thing, spun once and stopped. then when i put both sticks back and started it up, the fans and keyboard went back to turning off and on continuously. so possibly something to do with the ram?

JackE

>>>i removed both ram sticks and tried turning the computer on. same thing with the black screen, but instead of the fans and keyboard turning on and off again continuously, they only came on only once and stopped. >>>

Repeat except this time try to toggle the screen on with FN+F6 or FN+F5 combos. Jack E/NJ PS: What kind of paste?

Commodore_1995#

When reassembling the heat sink, did you check that it is correctly aligned and that it is not touching any part of the main board? This image of yours may indicate a problem in the gpu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph2ibK79zd8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPUCYUiGWZQ

JackE

Good point @egydiocoelho . The other concern would be a metal-based paste (for example silver, copper, aluminum) that oozed on to mainboard contacts. Jack E/NJ

Easwar

Hi,

# Power drain,

1)Unplug the AC power adapter.

2)Press and hold the Power button down until the unit goes off.

3)Search for a pinhole on the backside of your laptop, insert a small paperclip in the battery reset pinhole, press and hold it down for 25 seconds. Then release the paperclip and try to turn on the unit and check.

Unknown

JackE said:

>>>i removed both ram sticks and tried turning the computer on. same thing with the black screen, but instead of the fans and keyboard turning on and off again continuously, they only came on only once and stopped. >>>

Repeat except this time try to toggle the screen on with FN+F6 or FN+F5 combos. Jack E/NJ PS: What kind of paste?

thank you so much for responding, i tried it today but no luck. the paste i used was the one that came with my noctua cooler for my desktop.

Unknown

egydiocoelho said:

When reassembling the heat sink, did you check that it is correctly aligned and that it is not touching any part of the main board? This image of yours may indicate a problem in the gpu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph2ibK79zd8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPUCYUiGWZQ

ah i see that might have been an issue since i noticed some of the pads were deformed. and in a previous job that a friend did thermal paste spread to far like the example in the video. you think the gpu is fried? thank you so much.

Unknown

Easwar said:

Hi,

# Power drain,

1)Unplug the AC power adapter.
2)Press and hold the Power button down until the unit goes off.
3)Search for a pinhole on the backside of your laptop, insert a small paperclip in the battery reset pinhole, press and hold it down for 25 seconds. Then release the paperclip and try to turn on the unit and check.

i’ve tried this multiple times with no success. i even disconnected the battery with only the ac connected but nothing happened.

Unknown

JackE said:

Good point @egydiocoelho . The other concern would be a metal-based paste (for example silver, copper, aluminum) that oozed on to mainboard contacts. Jack E/NJ

that might be the problem, as i said before in a previous botched job there was some paste that spread too far, i do remember noticing some on the motherboard and tried clean it off but i might have accidentally worked it into harder to recharge in the board.

JackE

Might be worth trying to remove all traces of the paste in these areas with cotton swabs (Q-Tips) moistened with rubbing alcohol. Jack E/NJ

Commodore_1995#

JackE said:

Might be worth trying to remove all traces of the paste in these areas with cotton swabs (Q-Tips) moistened with rubbing alcohol. Jack E/NJ

It was what I would do too.

Easwar

Hi,

It looks like hardware issue. Contact acer tech support,

https://www.acer.com/worldwide/

Or

Book the unit for repair service,

https://customerselfcare.acer.com/CS2/#/

Unknown

JackE said:

Might be worth trying to remove all traces of the paste in these areas with cotton swabs (Q-Tips) moistened with rubbing alcohol. Jack E/NJ

for sure that is what i will try to do today. i noticed that at the ends of the motherboard traces there are tiny tiny little pinholes and i think some paste might have gotten in there and the swab can’t reach, any recommendations?