A515-52-368R powers on but unresponsive, looking for suggestions

My laptop's warranty expired in November. Starting earlier this week, it's completely unresponsive. The battery and power supply seem fine -- when I turn it on, the blue power light comes on and stays on. And when I plug it in, it beeps and the orange battery light comes on. The battery light eventually turns blue indicating a full charge.

But other than that, and a faint fan sound for a couple seconds after turning it on, there's absolutely nothing else. The only way to shut it down is hold the power button for a few seconds. Here's what I've tried so far.

Pressing keys like F2, F10, etc. - no difference
Plugging in an external display - no signal
Plugging in an external USB keyboard/mouse - no response
Holding the power button for longer - up to 10 minutes, no difference
Holding the battery reset button (which I later discovered is labeled SWG2) - no difference
Taking off the bottom cover (hey it's out of warranty), unplugging/replugging the main battery and CMOS battery - no difference
Unseating and reseating the RAM and SSD - no difference

I've built desktop computers from parts before, but I have minimal experience troubleshooting laptop hardware. I saw another post referencing a button labeled SWG1 but couldn't find it on the motherboard. I'm willing to buy replacement RAM/SSD to see if they help, but figured I should post here first for suggestions before I start spending money on parts or service. And I figure if it gets to the point where I'd have to replace the CPU or motherboard, it might just be time for a new laptop altogether, though I haven't looked at prices yet.

So, um... any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

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JackE

Did you try to turn the screen or externall monitor on with the FN+F6 and FN+F5 toggle key combos. If yes but still no joy then, with the laptop fully assembled, press and hold the power button till it shuts off again. Then remove the charger. Then press and hold a paperclip into the reset pinhole on the bottom for about a minute while at the same time pressing and holding the power button. Then plug the charger back in. Then wait for the battery charge LED to change from steady orange to steady blue again. Then turn it on again. Jack E/NJ

PaulK

FN+F5 and FN+F6 didn't help. Neither did the procedure you described. Thanks though.

JackE

>>>Pressing keys like F2, F10, etc. - no difference>>>

Press & hold the power button till the laptop shuts off. Then press and hold the F2 key. While still holding the F2 key, turn the machine on. Don't let go of the F2 key till the BIOS menu appears

PaulK

JackE said:

>>>Pressing keys like F2, F10, etc. - no difference>>>

Press & hold the power button till the laptop shuts off. Then press and hold the F2 key. While still holding the F2 key, turn the machine on. Don't let go of the F2 key till the BIOS menu appears

How long should I wait with F2 held down? I think I did this before but trying again now.

PaulK

Well, I tried a couple more times, holding F2 for more than 5 minutes, and it didn't work. Same behavior as everything else, i.e. no response other than the brief fan noise at the start and the power light. Open to other suggestions.

JackE

>>>Starting earlier this week, it's completely unresponsive.>>>

(1) Did this happen suddenly for no apparent reason?

(2) What happens when you mash & hold a bunch of random keys with your palm. Then press the power button? Any beep codes?

PaulK

JackE said:

>>>Starting earlier this week, it's completely unresponsive.>>>

(1) Did this happen suddenly for no apparent reason?
(2) What happens when you mash & hold a bunch of random keys with your palm. Then press the power button? Any beep codes?

(1) Yes. It was just sitting on a desk, plugged in, screen off (which I initially thought was just sleep / screensaver). I unplugged the power cable and picked it up to take to another room. When I got there and tried to press a key / move the mouse to wake it up, nothing. I figured maybe it just froze -- Windows laptops do that occasionally -- so I held the power button to turn it off, turned it back on, and that's when I realized I might have a bigger problem.

(2) Nothing different.

I appreciate your continued attempts to help.

JackE

Remove the SSD & RAM. Remove the CMOS lithium coin cell and check that its open circuit voltage is at least 3.1vdc with a multimeter. With the coin cell removed, short the CMOS jumper in the RAM socket bay for about 30 seconds. Then replace the coin cell. Button the machine back up but without the SSD & RAM installed. Try to turn the machine on. Do you now hear any BIOS beep error codes?

PaulK

Confirmed the CMOS battery is low (2.94V). I have plenty of replacement CR2032 batteries at home, but getting the old one out of that assembly, and getting the new one in, looks like it'll be quite a challenge. I'll see what I can do, thanks.

JackE

>>>looks like it'll be quite a challenge>>>

Yeah. Double-sided tape is used for your inconvenience. Just pry it up slow & steady instead of fast & furious to avoid damaging the mainboard or plastic.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/8j/fu7u9ataf3jc.jpg

PaulK

I replaced the coin cell with a new one, 3.24V. There's no CMOS jumper near the RAM socket, but I tried powering up without SSD or RAM and I don't get any beeps, just the same behavior as before. I'm thinking that's probably bad news and I'm looking at CPU or motherboard issues. What do you think?

PaulK

Oh ... thanks for the diagram, I finished before I saw your latest reply.

JackE

Jumper. Best to unplug coin battery. Jack E/NJ

PaulK

Thanks. This is where my lack of laptop hardware experience shows -- I hadn't seen jumpers quite like that before. Anyway, same problem. No beeps when the RAM & SSD are missing.

JackE

(1) Download this BIOS firmware zipfile.

(2) Unzip and run the extracted EXE file on a different Windows laptop or desktop machine.

(3) An error message should appear. Don't close the error message. Leave it open.

(4) Open File Explorer and search the C : \USERS folder for 'H2O*.*;

(5) In the subdirectory containing H2O*.*, look for a file with a BIN, WPD, ROM or FD extension.

(6) Copy the file to the root directory of a FAT32 formatted USB stick with an activity LED.

(7) Rename the file to EH5AW116.fd if needed. It must be the only file on the stick.

(8) Insert USB stick into the buttoned up A515-52 with the RAM and HDD reinstalled, fully charged battery pack and plugged in.

(9) Press and hold the FN+ESC keys. While still holding the keys, turn the machine on. Look for LED activity on the USB stick before letting go of the keys.

(10) If successful, LED activity will continue for about 5 mins then automatically shut down.

(11) If unsuccessful, try another USB port.

(12) If still no joy, rename the file to EH5AWX64.fd and try it again in each USB port if needed

https://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/BIOS/BIOS/BIOS_Acer_1.16_A_A.zip?acerid=637105315571533237&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=ASPIRE&Step3=ASPIRE A515-52&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

PaulK

Well, different behavior, but still no joy.

In all 6 cases (3 USB ports x 2 filenames), the USB stick's activity light flashed once briefly when I first hit the power button, then nothing. There were no other files on the USB stick except the hidden "System Volume Information" that Windows won't let me touch.

In the first 5 of 6 cases, the fan came on full speed for 15-20 seconds, then the power light goes out briefly, and when it comes back on I'm back to the original behavior - power light and nothing else. I tried holding FN+ESC until at least 10 seconds of silence.

In the 6th case (front-right USB port, 2nd filename), the fan came on full speed and stayed on. I left it that way for >5 minutes before shutting it down.

Now when I retry a different USB port, I get the behavior from the 6th case (fan stays on).

JackE

>>>In the 6th case (front-right USB port, 2nd filename), the fan came on full speed and stayed on. I left it that way for >5 minutes before shutting it down. Now when I retry a different USB port, I get the behavior from the 6th case (fan stays on).>>>

Re-do #6. Wait for 3~5 seconds to make sure the system fan is on full speed, and then release Fn and Esc. Just let it set for a half hour or so. Walk away from it. The 5 minute flash till shutdown isn't hard and fast---only an estimate. The BIOS chip is very rudimentary and may need several tries to read the stick.

PaulK

OK, the fan is on, I'm going out to run an errand, and I'll update when I return. Thanks again.

PaulK

I'm back 3+ hours later, fan is still going full blast & nothing else.

JackE

Try it a couple more times. If still nothing, then either the BIOS chip or CPU/GPU likely failed. If the former, pre-programmed chips for this model are less than $20. They're not too hard to replace with only about 8 surface-mount solder tabs. The CPU/GPU really can't be replaced since it's a solder ball array with dozens of pins through the mainboard. I can only guess it's the BIOS chip because it doesn't emit any beep error codes. Sorry.

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