Acer Aspire A517-51G What is the purpose of the SWG1 safety switch?

Textbook
Textbook Member Posts: 7

Tinkerer
edited March 2023 in Aspire Laptops

Hello all!

I have an Acer Aspire A517-51G-54GK , but this applies to other models that also have this switch. I was experiencing an issue with my laptop where, only while on battery, the laptop would abruptly hard power off. The cause is a so-called “safety switch” , SWG1, located underneath the removable RAM cover on the underside of the laptop. This is a normally-open, spring-closed switch that is “pressed down” by a post/pad on the memory cover of the case. I was finally able to reliably reproduce my random shutdown issue by going on battery and then prying up on the RAM cover to deactivate the switch, and the laptop would immediately power off. It took several days of searching to find this issue, which was reported by others here as well.

Example:

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/604490/acer-aspire-a515-51g-laptop-power-button-is-not-working

The switch can be seen here:

Screenshot from 2023-03-22 21-34-41.png

What is the purpose of this switch? Why did Acer decide that if a memory cover is removed to cut off power to the motherboard? It seems like a really stupid / anti-consumer design choice and I cannot think of any good reason to have it. If anything, in my case and apparently others, all it has done has created another point of failure with no obvious upside. Am I missing something here?

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,064 Trailblazer
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/682232/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-swg1-safety-switch

    That switch is to reset the battery and has access from the underside of the laptop with a paperclip

    image.png
    image.png

  • Textbook
    Textbook Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    I am not talking about pinhole reset switch for the battery, which you have identified as SWG2. That makes perfect sense to reset the non-removable battery.

    I am talking about the safety interlock switch labeled SWG1, which is located under the memory cover. If the laptop is on battery and the case flexes just enough, it can cause the laptop to immediatly cut power to the motherboard. Imagine using your laptop on battery and not knowing if it's going to power off abruptly just because you move it slightly. Who decided that was a good idea?

Categories