Acer Aspire 5 A514-54 laptop battery issues

Hi,

I have been having various issues with an Acer Aspire 5 A514-54 laptop, which is no longer under warranty. I have browsed the forums here and tried many suggestions but nothing has worked, so I'm hoping someone can help me pinpoint the issue, because the laptop works perfectly otherwise.

The issues:

When plugged in, battery indicator reaches 19% charge and doesn't go any higher.
When unplugged, the laptop doesn't power on, and if it is powered on when I unplug it, it immediately switches off.
When the battery is plugged into the motherboard, the laptop is extremely slow. eg. It takes a couple of minutes to start up, 30 seconds to load a webage, 20 seconds to load file explorer, 5 seconds to open the start menu. Clearly not intended behaviour.
When I unplug the battery from the motherboard and run it plugged into the wall, the laptop is extremely fast and responsive, everything is instant, it runs like a dream.

I have tried:

Replacing the battery with a new one.
Replacing the charging cable with a new one.
Disabling fast startup.
Discharging the battery by holding the battery +/- button on the back of the laptop for 30 seconds with the laptop powered off.
Holding the power button for 1 minute with the laptop powered off.
Upgrading to the latest BIOS.
Downgrading to the very first BIOS.
Toggling just about every BIOS setting.
Uninstalling and reinstalling battery and power drivers, both by allowing them to auto-install, and by downloading from ACER website.
Reinstalling Windows.
Running a different OS on the laptop (Ubuntu - same performance issues present).
Installed Acer Care Center - which doesn't seem to function at all.

Many thanks, in advance.

Accepted answers

All comments

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/713490/acer-aspire-5-a514-54-laptop-battery-issues

Don't use Acer Care Center that does not work well in Windows11. Check Windows Services if you see accSvc or AcerAgentSvc and stop these services, disable the Startup type in Properties and click on Apply. You state you downgraded BIOS, did you flash BIOS with a USB drive? This model is 4 years old, and may have a defective power rail/DC socket, have you checked the Gen3 SSD and the RAM module? You state you replaced the power "cable", does that mean the power adapter or just the AC cable? Does your power adapter have the correct 3.0mm x 1.1mm plug? If nothing helps consider bringing the laptop to Acer Services in your country, include the power adapter. They will reset the system to factory default and reprogram the EEPROM.

noha12

When swapping to a motherboard that supports XMP, ensure it's compatible with your components. First, check that the new board’s form factor fits your case (e.g., ATX, Micro-ATX). Also, verify CPU socket compatibility, RAM type (DDR4/DDR5), and power supply connectors. Lastly, confirm there’s enough room for your GPU and storage. Compatibility checks and using PC part pickers can help ensure a smooth swap.

Axxo

First. Run Windows 10 Battery Diagnostics

If your battery isn’t fully charging, the first thing you can try is the Battery troubleshooter in Windows 10.

Open Start > Settings > Update & security
Troubleshoot
Scroll down then click Power
Click Run the troubleshooter

Complete the wizard then restart your device to see if the problem is resolved.

Second:

Sometimes unknown glitches can prevent the battery from charging. An easy way to fix it is to power down your computer, hold down the power button for 15 to 30 seconds, plug in the AC adapter, then start the computer.

Third:

Working on the Update Battery Driver:

It might be the case that you need to update your battery driver. Reinstalling the battery driver will usually fix batteries that aren’t recharging. You can do that as follows.

Press Windows Key + X to open Win + X menu. Now choose Device Manager from the list.
Now click Batteries in the Device Manager window.
Next, you should right-click the Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery and select Uninstall from the context menu.
Click Uninstall to confirm.
Click Action and then select Scan for hardware changes from there.
Select Batteries and right-click Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery again. Select the Update Driver Software option from the context menu.
A window opens from which you should select Search automatically for updated driver software. Windows will then find suitable battery drivers for you.

Fourth:

Finally, entirely draining the battery and fully recharging it might also do the trick. So leave the laptop on until the battery has completely run out. Then leave the laptop to fully recharge for a few hours.
Hope it works. Good luck.

—————————————————————

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful.

neildoyle92

Don't use Acer Care Center that does not work well in Windows11. Check Windows Services if you see accSvc or AcerAgentSvc and stop these services, disable the Startup type in Properties and click on Apply. You state you downgraded BIOS, did you flash BIOS with a USB drive? This model is 4 years old, and may have a defective power rail/DC socket, have you checked the Gen3 SSD and the RAM module? You state you replaced the power "cable", does that mean the power adapter or just the AC cable? Does your power adapter have the correct 3.0mm x 1.1mm plug? If nothing helps consider bringing the laptop to Acer Services in your country, include the power adapter. They will reset the system to factory default and reprogram the EEPROM.

Hi, thanks for your answer!

Good to know, I thought that might be the case with Acer Care Center, I've disabled the accSvc service now.
I tried upgrading it to the latest BIOS version first, and when that didn't fix the issue, I downgraded to the first version. That didn't fix it either so I'm back on the latest BIOS. In each case I flashed with a USB stick.

I've run chkdsk on my SSD and there are no issues. The laptop performance is completely fine as long as the battery is not connected to the motherboard so that would point to it not being SSD related. This model has a built in RAM module and I've installed a further 8gb. Memory diagnostics detects no problems and the issue reproduces whether the 8gb stick is connected or not.

Yes, I replaced the entire power adapter, and the new one has the correct plug.

I think it must be a hardware problem that I'm not equipped to identify, so my only option might be to bring it in for service. It's not under warranty any more unfortuantely.

When swapping to a motherboard that supports XMP, ensure it's compatible with your components. First, check that the new board’s form factor fits your case (e.g., ATX, Micro-ATX). Also, verify CPU socket compatibility, RAM type (DDR4/DDR5), and power supply connectors. Lastly, confirm there’s enough room for your GPU and storage. Compatibility checks and using PC part pickers can help ensure a smooth swap.

Hi, I'm not sure you've replied to the correct thread here? I haven't replaced my motherboard!

First. Run Windows 10 Battery Diagnostics
If your battery isn’t fully charging, the first thing you can try is the Battery troubleshooter in Windows 10.
Open Start > Settings > Update & security
Troubleshoot
Scroll down then click Power
Click Run the troubleshooter
Complete the wizard then restart your device to see if the problem is resolved.
Second:
Sometimes unknown glitches can prevent the battery from charging. An easy way to fix it is to power down your computer, hold down the power button for 15 to 30 seconds, plug in the AC adapter, then start the computer.
Third:
Working on the Update Battery Driver:
It might be the case that you need to update your battery driver. Reinstalling the battery driver will usually fix batteries that aren’t recharging. You can do that as follows.
Press Windows Key + X to open Win + X menu. Now choose Device Manager from the list.
Now click Batteries in the Device Manager window.
Next, you should right-click the Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery and select Uninstall from the context menu.
Click Uninstall to confirm.
Click Action and then select Scan for hardware changes from there.
Select Batteries and right-click Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery again. Select the Update Driver Software option from the context menu.
A window opens from which you should select Search automatically for updated driver software. Windows will then find suitable battery drivers for you.
Fourth:
Finally, entirely draining the battery and fully recharging it might also do the trick. So leave the laptop on until the battery has completely run out. Then leave the laptop to fully recharge for a few hours.
Hope it works. Good luck.
—————————————————————
If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful.

Hi, thanks for your answer.

Battery diagnostics didn't find anything useful, it just changed the screen off and sleep times, which didn't fix my issue.

I have tried holding the power button for 30 seconds, it didn't fix the issue unfortuantely.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling battery drivers using this method before and it didn't help. I've just tried it again and no luck.

The laptop does not power on unless the power adapter is plugged in, and it immediately powers off if I unplug the power adapter, in so I can't drain the battery this way.

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