laptop will not boot A515-51-75RW. It will show an orange charging light even when not charging

tuopi
tuopi Member Posts: 3 New User
edited June 30 in Aspire Laptops

acer aspire A515-51-75RW.

over the last year or so, its slowly been more finicky to turn on the PC, however when turned on, it functions perfectly fine. at this point, it will not boot at all.
i have tried cycling the power, i have tried manually shorting the pins, i have even reset and replaced the CMOS battery, and it just wont boot.

additionally, it will show an orange charging light even when not charging, or even at the same time as the blue light

Answers

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 17,602 Trailblazer

    Hi, this is an 8 year old laptop from 2017 and probably has a bad battery, replace the battery, then the power adapter and if it still won't boot have the power rail checked by an Acer accredited workshop near you: Battery for Acer Aspire 5 A515-51,replacement Acer Aspire 5 A515-51 laptop battery from Singapore(48Wh,4 cells)

  • tuopi
    tuopi Member Posts: 3 New User

    hey, if the battery is broken, should it not still boot without it if plugged in? it charges fully and displays that it has charged. i really dont wanna be spending over 50 dollars on a replacement battery if i dont know that it will work

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 17,602 Trailblazer
    edited July 1

    That depends entirely on the laptop power rail wiring/circuit: If the battery is wired in series the adapter power will be interrupted when the battery is bad or removed, most mobile device are like that. Some laptops are parallel wired and then you can run it without a battery. I would say $50 is still worth investing in your 2017 laptop, but it is up to you to decide that. There is also the Smart chip inside the battery that can Block Booting even in parallel-wired designs: (I copied this from a technical paper)

    "If the battery’s smart chip enters a fault state, it may pull signals low on the SMBus (I²C lines) or trigger a general power fault through embedded controller signaling.
    Some laptops run pre-POST battery health checks via EC firmware; if the EC detects a faulted or “ghost” battery (present but not responding), it can abort startup for safety. A failed battery may leak voltage or induce ripple on shared rails, destabilizing DC input sensing or power-good signals."

    So while it’s theoretically true that a parallel design allows AC-only boot, real-world behavior depends on firmware logic and component tolerances. And the A515-51’s age and observed behavior—orange light without charging, no POST, even with AC—strongly supports the idea that the bad battery is interfering, not just passively failing. I am drawing on practical diagnostic thinking: it’s not just about wiring diagrams, it’s about how modern smart batteries interact with ECs and power controllers. And when that logic gets tripped—boot gets blocked.

  • tuopi
    tuopi Member Posts: 3 New User

    is there a way i would be able to tell if the battery is series by looking at the motherboard? and i do have to ask what exactly a power rail is

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 17,602 Trailblazer

    Hi, with all due respect—you’re dealing with an 8-year-old battery here. Most lithium-ion laptop batteries are rated for around 300–1,000 charge cycles, which translates to roughly 4–5 years of useful life under regular use. After that, they don’t just “lose capacity”—they often begin to misbehave electrically, causing startup interference, erratic LED behavior, or even boot blocks due to failing smart chips or voltage instability.

    Also, regarding your question about power rail design: you can’t determine battery configuration just by looking at the board. Parallel vs. series wiring, embedded controller logic, and smart battery protocols are implemented through firmware-layer behavior and schematic-level circuitry, not visual inspection. Even qualified techs rely on boardviews and datasheets—not guesswork.

    At this point, investing in a replacement battery isn’t just a gamble—it’s the most logical step in isolating the root cause. Without swapping out a known wear component, you’ll keep chasing your tail around passive symptoms.