Aspire 5542 Booting Problems

Have owned this Laptop for about 5 years & just recently it wouldn't immediately power up from either mains or internal battery.

After a few tries using the AC adaptor it would eventually boot up.  I also found that by applying the mains to the AC adaptor for about half an hour before switching the Laptop on would be enough to get it switched on.  I also noted that the start up screen had changed.  Resetting this was saved but the next day it reverted back to the default BIOS configuration.

I concluded that the BIOS backup battery must have died but in my years of experience with PCs, I've never experienced a situation by where a BIOS battery failure would prevent switch on.

I looked & found details on how to dismantle the Laptop Video Disassembly & also determined how to strip down the Laptop to get the battery which is located inside the Laptop.

With a newly acquired CR2032 battery I successfully removed the keyboard, screen & top cover to expose the battery which was duly replaced & the Laptop reassembled.

Imagine my delight & surprise that FULL functionality had been restored to the Laptop which now boots immediately.

I have had BIOS batteries fail before with the effect that the BIOS reverts to it's default configuration with incorrect date/time but never before has a BIOS battery failure stopped the PC/Latop from booting up.

Is this an underhand ploy on the part of Acer to get you to replace the Laptop when the BIOS battery fails because for all intents and purposes it looks a though the Laptop had died.  Even a PC World Technician was of the opinion that a failed BIOS battery wouldn’t stop the Laptop from booting.

Also, why isn't the battery more accessible so that it could be easy to replace by removing a single cover as in case of the HD & Memory (although new Laptops have sealed bottoms to prevent access to these as well).

Thankfully, I persevered & was able to resolve this problem.

Thanks for reaading & I hope that this helps anyone with a Laptop tha won't boot up.