Acer Aspire R 11 R3-131T not charging/booting - charging port dead?

Good day,

I have an Acer netbook (see Subj line) and yesterday I encountered a very strange problem with it. Before it was working fine, although slow (it has an old system because of non-expandable hard disk). But yesterday, without any apparent reason, it just refused to turn on. It doesn't seem to charge at all. No lights on the side, as it should be. I thought it's a battery issue (once it had something like that, but the battery light was orange). At that time I just rest the battery using the button on the bottom. This time, nothing works. I even opened it, disconnected the battery and tried to wait and then reconnect - no result. I even tried to plug it in without battery connected - still nothing, even though the power should be going to the computer regardless of battery. The maximum I was able to get from it was blue and red lights on the side slowly blinking after each other. It doesn't start and the battery light isn't coming on. This reminded me of the situation when my wife's phone was accidentally plugged into a fast charge port (which it didn't support) and the charge port controller burned out, so it didn't react to any chargers. Can the same happen to this laptop? I really hope that in this case this controller is replaceable, not soldered into the motherboard, because I'm not good at this at all. Has anyone seen anything like this?

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romankasp

Oh, I forgot to mention, I tested the charger, it is working and outputs 19V just as it should. So this isn't the issue.

William_mk2

@romankasp

I am really sorry for the inconvenience. I don't think so it has damaged any of the controllers. It is completely a different issue. Let us do the basic steps first to make it to work.

Doing the power drain and bios defaults will really help. Kindly follow the steps given below:

Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices or any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down. On the bottom of the laptop, you can find a pin hole. It is a tiny hole. You can a find a battery symbol indicator next to the hole. It is like a + and - sign symbol as though somebody is trying to shift the battery out. Insert the pin on to the hole for 30 seconds. Remove the pin. Flip the laptop. Connect the charger cable, turn on the computer. Only on laptops where the battery is inbuilt you can find the battery reset hole on the back of laptop.

If you dont find a pin hole on the back of laptop then you might be using removable battery. There is no need to unscrew anything to remove the battery. Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices and any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down. On the bottom of the laptop, please look at the top or bottom depending on the way you look at it. You can find a long door. It is a battery removable door. Just below that you can find a latch. If you move the latch you can remove the battery door. Once the battery is removed, flip the laptop. Open the top cover, press and hold the power button for 1 minute. Connect the battery back on the back of computer. Connect the charger cable back and then turn on the computer.

If you don’t see a reset pin hole on the back of laptop or if you are not able to remove the battery (if it is inbuilt ) then please unplug all the cables and devices out of laptop. Hold the power button for 1 minute. Connect all the cables back and restart the computer.

While turning on the computer, tap f2. It will go to bios. Press f9 once. It will show load bios defaults with a yes or no popup. Press enter. Popup screen will disappear. Press f10 once. It will show save changes popup with yes or no. Press enter. Computer will restart and it will load into windows.

It might also be the issue with battery, charger or power outlet. Try to use the charger in a different room on a different power outlet. Try to bypass the surge protector and connect it directly to power outlet. Try to use an alternative charger if possible. Try to turn on the computer without the charger and check it ( as long as the battery is not drained out )

romankasp

@William_mk2

Unfortunately, the problem is much deeper. Battery reset, as I said, doesn't work. I know where this pinhole is. The laptop doesn't turn on at all. No difference with charger connected. And I made sure the charger works, tested output voltage. I don't have another one, but if it outputs 19V as it should, it can't be the issue. It's not connected via a power surge protector and I tried different outlets. Nothing changes. Even with battery out and plugged into an outlet, it still doesn't turn on. It seems like power simply isn't coming through, doesn't reach the battery or computer.

William_mk2

@romankasp

Try to use an alternative charger and check. You can turn on the computer without the charger as long as the battery is not drained out.

romankasp

@William_mk2

I need to get another one then, I only have one charger. But I don't think it's the issue. I tested it, output voltage is 19.2 volts. So I don't see how is it possible that it's bad. The laptop doesn't turn on whether it's connected or not.

William_mk2

@romankasp

Please don't miss any of the steps which was mentioned earlier. Try to do it once again whenever you are free.

It might also be the issue with battery, charger or power outlet. Try to use the charger in a different room on a different power outlet. Try to bypass the surge protector and connect it directly to power outlet. Try to use an alternative charger if possible. Try to turn on the computer without the charger and check it ( as long as the battery is not drained out )

Try to check with an alternative charger.

If it is still not working ..

If your laptop is in warranty you can contact the warranty dept. Go to the website support.acer.com - chose your country. On the new page - scroll down - click on "contact support". Scroll down. You can find the phone no to contact the warranty dept.

If it is out of warranty, please contact local store or

Go to the website support.acer.com - chose your country. On the new page - scroll down - Click on "Repair My Acer" - Request to have your Acer product repaired. There will be charges for repair.

Additional info to contact Acer Store: Please visit the website - support.acer.com - chose your country - click on shop. You can buy desktop, laptop, monitor and accessories. Alternatively, on the top right corner you can find the phone no to contact Acer store. For the parts which are not available on Acer store, you have to contact local store.

Easwar

Hi @romankasp,

It looks like hardware issue. Contact acer tech support,

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact

OR book the unit for repair service,

https://customerselfcare.acer.com/CS2/#/

romankasp

Thank you, but acer support won't take questions from non-warranty customers. Their site refers you to this community.

I replaced the battery, but it still doesn't turn on. But what I see is that I get red battery light then blue "power light" next to it, and they slowly keep changing each other: red, then blue, then red again and so on. Couldn't find what it means anywhere. Will try a different charger. I really doubt that the charging port just quit working without any reason.

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