Aspire 5 a515-54G won't power up (SOLVED)

Puraw
Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer
edited September 2022 in Aspire Laptops

After I reinstalled Intel UMA display driver (VGA_Intel_26.20.100.6911_W11x64_(UMA)) downloaded from Acer (OK, no issues) I turned off the latop. The next morning the power button no longer responded, I fully charged the battery (new battery) and tried to power up again, no luck. I then reset the pinhole at the back, no luck, I then pushed the pinhole 3 seconds and that worked.

It's OK now, I can power up with only the power button, the 3 seconds pinhole pushing down did the reset OK.

Best Answer

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    Update 15 Oct. 2022

    It happened again last week (would not power up). This time I took out the battery and started with my adapter only: No issues!

    I then put back my original Murata battery AP18C4K Acer part no.: KT00304012 AP18C4K(3ICP5/81/68) 93005226B101 and now still run on it without any issues. 1 cell (of 3) is dead but still 66% remains good for 3 hours. I am ordering the same model battery as the AP18C8K I installed before is not working properly with my latop (Acer Philipines and shops state that both Murata C4k and LGC C8K are tested on Aspire5 a515-54G and are identical. I disagree🤬

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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer

    Congratulations. Give yourself 15 points for the solution if possible. 🙂

    Jack E/NJ

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    Thanks, never had this happen in 3 years, maybe this laptop needs a power reset after a major driver is uninstalled with DDU and then reinstalled with windows 11? Or I had just bad luck, was about to open up the back to check the memory module connection.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer

    When strangeness like this happens, I usually unplug the charger and go for a 30 or 60 second battery pack disconnect with the pinhole or actually disconnecting the battery pack from the mainboard if no pinhole.

    Some of the new Predators and Nitros without a pinhole now have a feature that simulates disconnecting the battery. Unplug charger. Then press & hold power button for 10-30 seconds depending on the specific series number.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    Lucky my model has that pinhole as opening the back cover (to disconnect the battery) is a pain with 12 screws (5 already don't work anymore). I wonder why Apple Ipads never have these power issues?

    BTW, I agree with your assertion (Intel GPU driver thread) not to replace the OEM driver "VGA_Intel_26.20.100.6911_W11x64_(UMA)"

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer

    >>>I wonder why Apple Ipads never have these power issues?>>>

    Maybe they do.

    Google search keywords Apple Ipad power issues. 50 million hits.

    Then google search acer laptop power issues. Only 11 million hits.

    If one were a statistician, one might wonder why Apple Ipads seem to have so many more power issues than Acer laptops. 🙂

    Jack E/NJ

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer
    edited September 2022

    Maybe not if you exclude all the Apple adapter/battery issues, but I was referring more to the Power Button/supply problems of Acer's laptops....

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer

    OK.

    Google search Ipad power button issues. 30 million hits

    Then Google search Acer laptop power button issues. 7 million hits

    If one were a statistician, one might wonder why Apple Ipads seem to have more than 4 times more power button issues than Acer laptops. 🙂

    Jack E/NJ

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    I am not into the Alphabet crowd and avoid Google as much as I can😶, use exclusively Webcrawler.com when browsing and judge my opinion more on personal experience: Toshiba laptops in the mid 90s had a similar issue wth a pinhole that you had to reset almost daily. Had also several HP note and netbooks but those had external batteries that were easy to detach when power failures, not bashing Acer laptops just an observation.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer
    edited September 2022

    Hi @JackE

    I have spoken to early; unable to power up for 2 days in a row now without the pin reset routine. Looks like the power button is completely dead, only combinations push the pin down while pressing the power button at the same time works after 30 seconds. Only the pin pushed down up to 1 minute does nothing. Tried plugging/unplugging the adapter, nothing, battery is full.

    I changed 2 months ago to a new battery MURATA AP18C4k (31CP5/81/68) 11.4V 13.05V 4200mAH, 48WH was the original Acer replaced by a slightly more powerful AP18C8K Full Charged Capacity: 50299 mWh (Manufacturer Name: LGC, Unique ID:7056LGCAP18C8K).. The a515-54G manual states both batteries are OK: AP18C4k (31CP5/81/68) or AP18C8K. Could this be the cause of my problem? But why now after 2 months working with that new battery? I tried different power plans, the power button function to sleep or shut down, Fast Startup and Normal full boot, nothing works.

    I will put the old battery (AP18C4k) back in to see if that helps, also will try to power up without any battery installed, just the adapter to see if the power button has a bad contact. Will also check the 2 RAM modules and any lose contacts. The web talks about residual (static) electricity detected on the MOBO, we live in the tropics so that is possible, I suspect that the battery is too powerful, 0% wear level after 2 months still exactly at 50299 mWH when fully charged after 2 months daily use?

    If you have any other ideas please let me know. We live remotely 12 hours driving from an Acer Service point and I need the laptop for my work (shipping will take weeks).

    Thanks

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    @JackE

    I got it to work again without using the pinhole: Configured the Power Button to Sleep when pressed, pressed the power button several times and each time system went to sleep and woke up, so the Power button is working OK.

    Next I went to BIOS (UEFI) to see if there is a power setting somewhere, found nothing and exit without saving.

    I shut down with the Start menu, waited till the blue light went off (I am on Fast Startup), then lightly touched the Power Button and it powered up OK like nothing happened.

    I will try it again tomorrow.😀

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer

    >>>(I am on Fast Startup)>>>

    I'd probably disable fast startup in Control Panel's power button app. Because it involves hibernation which can and often does carry over unwanted processes and driver issues from one session to the next until it's disabled. Not worth accepting these risks just to save a small amount of boot time claimed.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    OK, I agree, however Fast Startup in my case (slow HDD meahanical drive) it cuts off 90 seconds from my boot time, not worth the hassle not being able to power up at all. It started up this morning OK (barely touched the Power Button), so no idea what is going on. Decided not to open up the back cover to replace batteries. I have a faster (also SATA mechanical HDD) new drive recommended by Acer Support that I may also swap with the old battery in case the power failure happens again. I do get Hardware problem reports in Reliabilty history: LiveKernelEvent (see attached). Will follow up on that on elevenforum, may point to Fast Sartup issues?


  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer

    You could try turning fast startup on again after disabling for a few cold slow boots. It'll generate a fresh hibernation file that may be OK for a while.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    I did that already in the past once a week and after any updates or system setting change I would boot fully to get all the events recorded, I agree after a week without power up issues I will try Fast Startup again as 2 minutes boot time is a bit annoying. I also published my hardware Problem report on elevenforum (General topics) and MS Feedback.

    Thanks for your comments

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    @JackE

     The Power Button failure happened again so I reset Fast Startup and uninstalled Acer Care Center as I am afraid that background program interferes with the Power Button environment. I booted just now twice OK and have not yet changed the battery. What about the CMOS battery after 3 years would that cause a dead Power Button or the fact I can power up with the pinhole rules out a CMOS issue?

  • @Puraw


    The date and time on the computer will not be working if the CMOS battery is gone bad. It will indicate a wrong time. Even after changing it to right time it will not work properly if the CMOS battery is gone bad. It will not cause the dead power button. It might last for 2 to 10 years from the manufacturers date and depending on the usage of computer.

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  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    @JackE @William_mk2

    Anyone knows what this is? I attached the details

    After this I had no more Power Button failures, coincidence? maybe....

  • @Puraw


    Let me explain you the cause of the issue.


    It is related with quick access program and power service. It reset the policy scheme. I am glad your problem is fixed.


    When you press caps lock or number lock key it will show a caps lock indicator or num lock indicator on the screen.


    The quick access program installed on computer is responsible for the indicators which is shown up on the screen.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful 

    Click on "Yes" if it answers your question.


    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    B  Thank you and have a BLESSED AND HAPPY DAY  B


                                         ★★ WILLIAM - MRK ★★

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer

    I doubt it's a CMOS button cell issue. Your earlier event text file suggests a relatively benign integrated GPU vRAM address space issue. The memory space might messed up by the hibernation file loading during the dark screen period between the BIOS POST and the Windows login GUI.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,194 Trailblazer

    I fixed it (I think), changed the Power Plan in Windows 11 to "Best Performance" and that changed a lot of power settings and other (keys/lid) things, also Acer tweaked (unknown/BIOS) settings on the background with QALSvc service , and no more Power Button issues! The problem was my Balaned Power Plan, possibly also residual (static) electricity on my MOBO that finally discharged.😀