Update: it's now just after 9pm (9.5 hrs charging) and both lights are orange and flashing slowly. The one nearest the A/C port is bright orange and the one closest to the USB ports is pale orange (though I think it's just reflecting the other's light & not lit on its own). No change on the 30% charge & battery is still cold. I'll leave it overnight and hope the house doesn't burn down.

I do know when a computer is powered on (worked in hardware for over 20 yrs). The laptop was completely shut down. When I plugged in the power cable, the LED nearest the power port went orange. 9 hrs later, the light started its slow flashing. As I said, it looks more like the other is merely glowing from the light from the first LED. In fact, with this unit, you must hold a button on the underside of the motherboard in order to boot up at all.

So, it's now the following day, same blinking is happening. Can you speak to the posts at this forum and elsewhere relating to a BIOS flash fixing the not-charging battery issue? I just wish I had a UPS. It would be my luck to have a freak power cut just at that moment (I'm near Perth and it's not uncommon). 🙄

"If the new battery couldn't be properly conditioned before even trying to use it in the laptop for the first time --- meaning it was plugged in and charge LED turned from blinking orange to solid orange to solid blue --- then it's more likely that it was in a very low critical state of charge to begin with. This can happen with a battery sitting on vendor's shelf too long without being charged.."

That's exactly what I think.

However, Acer's "own" certified parts company for Australia (infinitycomputer.com.au), have stated I must pay to ship my entire laptop and their dead battery, to the other side of the country, for testing. "If" they find it bad, I'm still out the shipping (which is insanely expensive here and takes weeks). That's assuming they're honest about it. Otherwise, they're going to charge me $25 to return ship (they get the shipping discounts, I don't) + $50 for diagnostics. I'm thinking I'll just report them to our ACCC for no warranty on a dead battery that's already 2.5 years old. Insult to injury, it cost triple what I could have paid on Ebay-- AND I would have gotten free return! 🤬

My gripe is that the authorized parts seller for Acer is selling 2-3 yr old, dead batteries and then trying to shirk the warranty. On top, when they receive it they can literally say anything, and I'd have no leg to stand on. I know this laptop is pristine because I recommended the purchase and was the only person who ever looked at it + the old lady was just not interested so it sat, basically unused. They charged $123.50 for a dead battery for a low-end laptop. Any more money tossed at it now is money in a hole.

I was hoping an Acer rep might show up to offer something before I file a formal complaint. This is ridiculous. Imagine you buy a car battery and it fails to turn over immediately. You go back into the shop, and they say they'll need to tow your car across the country so they can test it (at your expense, both ways).

I understand this is a user's forum, and I appreciate your time & effort tremendously.

It doesn't excuse Acer, as a company, at all. This is merely more of the, "frog in the pot", imo. Expect less and less and be grateful. I wholly disagree.

If Acer were a reputable, decent company, they WOULD assign reps to these forums. It reminds me of "free" and unpaid elderly workers at any number of shops here and elsewhere. The fact that they don't check in to help here and the fact they employ places such as infinitycomputer.com.au to try to back out of AU warranty is shocking.

And yes, I'll be lodging a complaint. If it only makes them work harder at their shirking, so be it. I hope it costs them more than the cost of this laptop.

Thank you very much for your attempt to help.