acer aspire a515-54 won't boot unless display is disconnected

Last week, I put my laptop to sleep, and when I went to wake it up the next day, it would do nothing. No LEDs, no fan, no beeps, just totally dead.

Tried all the normal stuff. Pulled battery, discharged, cleared cmos. Reseat memory/ssd. Tried starting without power adapter (battery was full charged when it was last used). Tried starting it with power adapter but no battery. No luck

Tested charger, outputting 19v

Tested power input on laptop, getting 19v

I removed the display so I could get at the power input. After testing, but before putting the display back on, I hit the power button and it started up. I had reconnected all the cables and reseated everything, figured one of those things fixed it. So I put the display back on and buttoned it up. Hit the power button.... dead.

Pull the back off and disconnect the display connector... it starts.

Short of getting a new display, Is there any way to determine if it's the display or if it's the connector/motherboard?

Accepted answers

All comments

Puraw

see my Posts: 289 Feb. 5, 2023

sctdan

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1178852#Comment_1178852

Not sure which post you're referring to, I don't see any of yours that seemed to apply.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1178888#Comment_1178888

I have the same laptop and also experienced the start failure after I replaced my battery for a slightly more powerful one (LGC). when I put the original MURATA AP18C4k battery back in the problem was resolved. Unless there is a loose contact or hardware failure with the power button/supply the following is the most like cause for power startup failures:

One is related to static electricity on the motherboard that needs to be discharged sometimes and the discharge of capacitors in the power adapter if not properly grounded by the electrical wall socket (3rd pin of the adapter power cord plug). When you cannot power up your laptop (nothing happens after pressing the power key), unplug your adapter from the laptop, wait 30 seconds then plug the adapter back in the laptop port all the time leaving the adapter connected to a properly grounded wall socket, and try to start your laptop. IMO the fast charging technology of modern laptop batteries also affects this starting problem.

The other problem with failing to start may be the battery, a too powerful battery (not the battery that was tested and recommended by Acer) can cause the laptop power supply to fail likewise an incompatible battery model, to test if this is the case, unplug the power adapter from the laptop, open your laptop, disconnect the battery plug, replace the laptop cover without screwing it and plug in the power adapter. Now see if the laptop will start without a battery and try this for a few days, if no power failures you need to get a new battery ($50) with the exact Acer part number for your laptop model. If still power issues, try a different wall plug with a good ground, check the voltage of the wall plug with a multimeter.

sctdan

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1179034#Comment_1179034

To clarify, the laptop will boot, but only if the 30-pin connector from the internal display is disconnected from the motherboard. So it'll boot, but I have no display. It will output over HDMI though, so I know it is indeed booting up into windows. Plug the display connector back in and it goes completely dead again.

sctdan

I found the issue. I removed the display bezel and found that the cable sheathing had worn through, exposing a wire.

AnhEZ28

@sctdan that display cable need to be replaced as it is shorting everything and causing burn marks on the cover. You will also need an external monitor or a TV to test the laptop to see if it still works.