PH16-71 330W Power Brick + Docking Station Charging Causes Startup Issues

On my PH16-71 (bios 1.16), if I plug in my 330W power supply AND a 130W docking station it causes issues to start from a start menu shut down. The reason for the docking station isn't for the charging but to hook up dual monitors and other things.

So starting fresh, if the computer is on and both 330W brick and Docking station are plugged in, if i Start → Shut Down → wait for it to shut down. Then hit the Power button, it won't turn on. I have to unplug everything, press the power button for 60+ seconds. Release power button, then press power button again for a long time (sometimes 60+ seconds) it'll turn on again. Doing a Start → Restart it restarts just fine.

I've tried unplugging the docking station before Shutdown. Unplugging docking first, doing a restart, then doing a shut down. Ultimately it all leads to having do a long power button press to get it to start.

And it appears to deteriorate after a few cycles having to press the power button longer and longer.

I've also done a clean windows install from the cloud. I've deleted the Battery drivers from Devices. It got so bad I opened up the laptop and unplugged the battery, removed ram, put it all back. But same issues after plugging in the docking station.

Anyone have any ideas how to fix this? I'm worried it'll brick at some point.

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StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/721607/ph16-71-330w-power-brick-docking-station-charging-causes-startup-issues

This is an EC chip and its program problem. it could be that the EC chip or chipset is freezing, do a hard reset and see if that fixes the issue. otherwise you need to take your laptop to Acer tech support or a technician that is experienced in these modern laptops. it could also be that the hub is not compatible with the PH16-71 laptop and is causing these issues. Good luck and hope this helps you out

Hard Reset - Remove ten (10) screws from the base cover, carefully pry up the base cover from the upper side to release the latches, continue to release the remaining latches on the left, right, and bottom sides. Then remove the base cover from the system.

Disconnect the main battery cable from the MB and take the main battery out. then disconnect the RTC/BIOS battery and then short the batteries + & - pins at the mainboard plug (as shown at A below) and then take the ran out.

Leave the laptop like that for at least 1 hour (preferably overnight) and then reconnect everything, if you have 2x ram modules, only connect 1x ram module and alternate the two ram modules and see if its not the ram that is faulty, as the laptop should turn on and boot properly.

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

Jonathan00

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1328759#Comment_1328759

So i've updated the dock drivers/firmware, the thunderbolt drivers, and set the computer to NOT do a fast boot. That didn't work ultimately. The first 2 times it shutdown and started up correctly. Let it sit overnight on, and then shut it down and it wouldn't boot properly.

I have now taken out the battery and just using power supply it booted up correctly. I am going to let it run on only power supply and docking station for a bit then try again. I will update later.

If this doesn't work, i might try the hard reset.

Jonathan00

So the battery removed didn't work. After shutting down and trying to start back up, the power button didn't do anything. So I did a hard reset.

After putting everything back, the BIOS seemed to have reset it's defaults. The startup sound which I had turned off, turned back on. Windows said it had issues with my pin, and I had to reset it.

I think for now, i'll just try to never shut off my laptop if I don't have to. Getting this fixed might be too much of a problem or costly to be worth the trouble.