Acer TravelMate TM7750G laptop has started bleeping intermittently for no obvious reason

Laptop: Acer TravelMate TM7750G (also known as 7750G)
Processor: Intel Core i5-2450M 2.50GHz
BIOS: InsydeH20 Rev 3.5 V1.16
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit Version 21H1 Fully up-to-date (Windows updates)
OS build: 19043.1288

The laptop is several years old; Old enough to be purchased with Windows 7 pre-installed and upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.

Description of the bleeping sound problem coming from inside the laptop:-

About every 4 to 7 minutes, a series of about 5 to 7 short 1 second loud bleep happens very roughly about 4 to 14 seconds apart in that series of bleeps. The bleep sounds are very basic, similar to that heard when pressing the wrong key in the BIOS. The bleeping has only recently started for no apparent reason. It seems very much like the bleep sounds are coming from the laptop internal speakers however I guess it's possible the basic bleeps might be coming from a separate sounder soldered on the motherboard or hardware inside the laptop.

Laptop history just prior to the bleeping:-

Prior to the start of the bleeping, no new software, Windows updates, driver updates, firmware updates, BIOS updates had been installed. No viruses, a fairly clean machine. No new hardware installed or devices connected. No user controlled high CPU / hard drive usage software was running that might cause heat build-up inside the laptop.

When is the bleeping heard:-

- When in Windows 10, it makes no difference if logged in, logged out or in the process of a 'do not turn off your computer' major system update. Bleeping had been heard in all those situations.

- Bleeping is also heard when in the BIOS, therefore eliminating it to be directly due to Windows 10.

When does the bleeping stop:-

- Muting the speakers using the Windows 10 system speaker click button (located bottom right corner of the screen) sliding the bar to mute with the touchpad. To me, this suggests Windows 10 has some control of the bleeping sound, however bleeping in the BIOS suggests the problem can't be controlled by Windows 10?

- Plugging mains powered external speakers into the laptop 3.5mm audio/ headphone jack socket stops the bleeping. No bleeping is heard on the external or internal speakers. I'm guessing this suggests the problem is somehow hardware related?

- Powering off and on the laptop stops the bleeping however only temporarily.

- Powering off, unplugging the power adapter and removing the laptop battery for over an hour stops the bleeping however only temporarily (same as powering off and on the laptop).

- Restarting the laptop using Windows 10 does not stop or delay the bleeping at all.

Any ideas on the possible causes of the bleeping sound please?

Accepted answers

billsey

The lithium-ion batteries used these days, due to the issues with Mac batteries exploding and catching fire, have some smarts onboard. That disables charging if the battery gets too low, so the lithium crystals can't grow enough to penetrate the cell walls and short out. There are often subtle bugs in the code they run that corrupts the battery status data. Disconnecting the battery for a period of time clears the data and allows it to start again with good data. Many newer machines have battery reset switches behind a pinhole on the bottom of the laptop so you can potentially disconnect the battery and bleed off any residual power from the motherboard then follow that with a full charge cycle to get things back to workable. It's essentially what you did, you just had to physically disconnect the battery to accomplish it.

BTW, now that the battery itself is likely looking at good numbers, you can recalibrate in Windows so it shows better estimate for time remaining. With the battery fully charged and the laptop running, disconnect power and run it until Windows forces a shutdown due to the low battery. Plug in and allow it to get to a full charge, then turn it on. Usually 2-3 times through that cycle gets you with good numbers. Each calibration cycle will get it more and more accurate. On my machine I do a calibration cycle about every 6 months...

All comments

Easwar

Hi @myquestion,

Try to do power drain,

1. Shutdown the unit.
2. Unplug the cables connected to the unit.
3. At bottom of the unit there will be a small tiny pin hole with a battery symbol close to it. Take a pin or a paper clip insert into it you feels like pressing a button hold it for 20-30 seconds.

myquestion

Thanks for your reply. The Acer TravelMate TM7750G has a removable battery rather than an internal battery. Couldn't find a pin hole on the battery. It seems from here that the pin is only found on machines that have built-in internal battery:
https://community.acer.com/en/kb/articles/75-acer-internal-battery-reset

Also, found nothing about the battery pin hole in any of the 7750G documents on the 7750G support webpages:
UK: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/support-product/3630?b=1
or
USA: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/3476;-;AS7750G

Due you think the cause of the bleeping is due to the battery? What does the bleeping mean?

billsey

There is a possibility the beeps are related to battery charging. If you are in the BIOS and disconnect or connect the charger, so you get a single beep? If so the issue might be either the battery telling the system about charging status or the motherboard monitoring charging status. If the system still runs on the battery for a normal period of time then I'd suggest living with it until you are ready for an upgraded laptop.

myquestion

Thanks for your advice, I've fixed the issue, at least temporarily.

Firstly, I removed the battery, powered on and the machine stopped bleeping, both in Windows 10 and in the BIOS. I then let the machine run in Windows 10 for about 6 hours and had no bleeps. I then powered off and reinstalled the same battery. I powered on and no bleeps! It has now been through a few power off/on cycles and on for several hours with no bleeps!

To me, it seems like the problem is the laptop battery maybe needing some kind of internal discharge? Or maybe somehow related to the components/ firmware inside the machine that rather than the battery?

Note that the battery is a generic replacement rather than the original supplied with the machine. The original no longer holds much charge. The generic replacement has however been used for over 2 years without any problems or bleeps.

What caused the bleeps and why would removing the battery for 6 hours with the machine on, have stopped the bleeps?

billsey

The lithium-ion batteries used these days, due to the issues with Mac batteries exploding and catching fire, have some smarts onboard. That disables charging if the battery gets too low, so the lithium crystals can't grow enough to penetrate the cell walls and short out. There are often subtle bugs in the code they run that corrupts the battery status data. Disconnecting the battery for a period of time clears the data and allows it to start again with good data. Many newer machines have battery reset switches behind a pinhole on the bottom of the laptop so you can potentially disconnect the battery and bleed off any residual power from the motherboard then follow that with a full charge cycle to get things back to workable. It's essentially what you did, you just had to physically disconnect the battery to accomplish it.

BTW, now that the battery itself is likely looking at good numbers, you can recalibrate in Windows so it shows better estimate for time remaining. With the battery fully charged and the laptop running, disconnect power and run it until Windows forces a shutdown due to the low battery. Plug in and allow it to get to a full charge, then turn it on. Usually 2-3 times through that cycle gets you with good numbers. Each calibration cycle will get it more and more accurate. On my machine I do a calibration cycle about every 6 months...

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