Laptop wont turn on, possibly dead

[Calebdm97]

I realize that this is long but I tried to include as much information that I could to try and avoid something similar to the "turn it off and back on again" fix suggestion.

 

Some pre-req info:

MODEL: Acer aspire v nitro vn7-592g-71zl

CPU: Intel i7-6700hq

GPU: gtx 960m

RAM: 16gb ddr3 (originally 8gb but was personally upgraded about a year ago)

BOOT: 250gb nvme ssd boot drive (boot drive was originally the HDD but i upgraded to the nvme drive around 2017)

STORAGE: 1tb HDD 

 

This laptop was purchased on 08/2016 and the warranty expired 3 years ago.

Around the same time that i upgraded to the nvme drive, when taking apart the laptop, i broke a tiny piece off of the sliding retainer clip for the motherboard ribbon cable connecter. Nevertheless I was able to use what was left of the retainer clip to hold the ribbon cable in place and put it back together. That retainer clip has never been replaced to this day mainly to the fact that i cant find it sold anywhere and i would have to just get an entirely new motherboard to replace it. I have just gotten used to the slightly harder task of wedging the clip back in place while holding the ribbon cable in place.

About 2 weeks ago i replaced the battery in the laptop because the current battery had gotten so bad that it would die within minutes if not plugged into power. after swapping the battery i let it sit on the charger for 24 hours and then let it run on battery playing videos until it died.(I had seen that it is recommended to do this with new batteries).

 

So about a week ago i was using my laptop at work, nothing special and all of a sudden it just shuts off. Doesn't blue screen, doesn't show the logo or say it's shutting down in any way, everything just shuts off. When i would hit the power button nothing would happen. (normally the led light strip on the hinge under the screen would turn on at this point as well as the led backlight of the keyboard, then the screen would turn on)

 

Already attempted troubleshooting:

 

After it 'died', I made sure that the power cable was all the way in the poer port on the laptop and that all connections were secure all the way to the wall. the blue led on the side for the battery would come on when i plug in the power cable but nothing else, no change.

the next step was holding down the battery reset or disconnect button on the under side of the laptop for 30 seconds, no change.

I then took it apart and and disconnected the battery, reassembled(supposedly the power button on the keyboard wont work unless everything has been put back together), and held down the power button for 1 minute, plugged the power cable in and nothing came on, no change.

I then left the laptop unplugged from the battery and power outlet for 24 hours, then reconnected the battery and plugged it into power, no change.

There was one point when taking apart the laptop to disconnected the battery that i noticed that the ribbon cable for the keyboard had come undone, but after re-securing it and putting the laptop back together it still would not turn on, no change.

 

[Meowster]

26 minutes ago, Calebdm97 said:

I realize that this is long but I tried to include as much information that I could to try and avoid something similar to the "turn it off and back on again" fix suggestion.

 

Some pre-req info:

MODEL: d

CPU: Intel i7-6700hq

GPU: gtx 960m

RAM: 16gb ddr3 (originally 8gb but was personally upgraded about a year ago)

BOOT: 250gb nvme ssd boot drive (boot drive was originally the HDD but i upgraded to the nvme drive around 2017)

STORAGE: 1tb HDD 

 

This laptop was purchased on 08/2016 and the warranty expired 3 years ago.

Around the same time that i upgraded to the nvme drive, when taking apart the laptop, i broke a tiny piece off of the sliding retainer clip for the motherboard ribbon cable connecter. Nevertheless I was able to use what was left of the retainer clip to hold the ribbon cable in place and put it back together. That retainer clip has never been replaced to this day mainly to the fact that i cant find it sold anywhere and i would have to just get an entirely new motherboard to replace it. I have just gotten used to the slightly harder task of wedging the clip back in place while holding the ribbon cable in place.

About 2 weeks ago i replaced the battery in the laptop because the current battery had gotten so bad that it would die within minutes if not plugged into power. after swapping the battery i let it sit on the charger for 24 hours and then let it run on battery playing videos until it died.(I had seen that it is recommended to do this with new batteries).

 

So about a week ago i was using my laptop at work, nothing special and all of a sudden it just shuts off. Doesn't blue screen, doesn't show the logo or say it's shutting down in any way, everything just shuts off. When i would hit the power button nothing would happen. (normally the led light strip on the hinge under the screen would turn on at this point as well as the led backlight of the keyboard, then the screen would turn on)

 

Already attempted troubleshooting:

 

After it 'died', I made sure that the power cable was all the way in the poer port on the laptop and that all connections were secure all the way to the wall. the blue led on the side for the battery would come on when i plug in the power cable but nothing else, no change.

the next step was holding down the battery reset or disconnect button on the under side of the laptop for 30 seconds, no change.

I then took it apart and and disconnected the battery, reassembled(supposedly the power button on the keyboard wont work unless everything has been put back together), and held down the power button for 1 minute, plugged the power cable in and nothing came on, no change.

I then left the laptop unplugged from the battery and power outlet for 24 hours, then reconnected the battery and plugged it into power, no change.

There was one point when taking apart the laptop to disconnected the battery that i noticed that the ribbon cable for the keyboard had come undone, but after re-securing it and putting the laptop back together it still would not turn on, no change.

 

I'm no expert with laptops but does the charge LED still light up with the charger in place? If of course it has a charge LED

 

[Calebdm97]

4 minutes ago, Meowster said:

I'm no expert with laptops but does the charge LED still light up with the charger in place? If of course it has a charge LED

 

So the 2 leds on the side are a battery indicator and power indicator. The only light that turns on is the battery indicator which turns blue when you plug in the power cable, indicating that the battery is fully charged.

[Meowster]

9 hours ago, Calebdm97 said:

So the 2 leds on the side are a battery indicator and power indicator. The only light that turns on is the battery indicator which turns blue when you plug in the power cable, indicating that the battery is fully charged.

So that indicates that the charging port thankfully isn't broken. When it was disassembled, did you put back all the screws including the center ones? I heard there is a switch that cuts off power if the back isnt secured.

 

 

[Meowster]

2 minutes ago, Meowster said:

So that indicates that the charging port thankfully isn't broken. When it was disassembled, did you put back all the screws including the center ones? I heard there is a switch that cuts off power if the back isnt secured.

 

 

EDIT: Its the screws next to the little battery icon that matter the most

[Calebdm97]

5 minutes ago, Meowster said:

EDIT: Its the screws next to the little battery icon that matter the most

So, with my laptop being kind of banged around a little bit the plastic stand off pieces, or pegs, that the screw goes through to fasten together the middle of the laptop have been broken off for a while. less than a year but I don't know when it actually broke off. I do have all the screws and when i was putting it back together each time I was make sure everything was tight but it still wouldn't turn on. do you know if its like a pressure switch that has to be 'pressed' once all the screws are put back in for it to turn back on?

[Meowster]

17 minutes ago, Calebdm97 said:

So, with my laptop being kind of banged around a little bit the plastic stand off pieces, or pegs, that the screw goes through to fasten together the middle of the laptop have been broken off for a while. less than a year but I don't know when it actually broke off. I do have all the screws and when i was putting it back together each time I was make sure everything was tight but it still wouldn't turn on. do you know if its like a pressure switch that has to be 'pressed' once all the screws are put back in for it to turn back on?

Yes, its a pressure switch that has to be closed to activate the switch, and therefore activate the battery power to the system.

[Meowster]

@Calebdm97So, any luck? Did anything change??

[Calebdm97]

On 4/5/2021 at 7:38 AM, Meowster said:

@Calebdm97So, any luck? Did anything change??

So, I found the switch and i was able to move a support pin from the back where it didnt seem to be needed to right next to where the switch is located and put it back together making sure that the support stayed in place and it still was refusing to turn on. In between my last attempt and this one i had left the laptop taken apart with the cmos battery and the regular battery disconnected. when i plugged it in i would get an amber flashing light on the battery indicator for about 10 seconds and then it go off and not turn back on unless i unplugged the power and plugged it back in.

[Meowster]

22 hours ago, Calebdm97 said:

So, I found the switch and i was able to move a support pin from the back where it didnt seem to be needed to right next to where the switch is located and put it back together making sure that the support stayed in place and it still was refusing to turn on. In between my last attempt and this one i had left the laptop taken apart with the cmos battery and the regular battery disconnected. when i plugged it in i would get an amber flashing light on the battery indicator for about 10 seconds and then it go off and not turn back on unless i unplugged the power and plugged it back in.

I'm no expert with mobile devices but it seems like maybe the motherboard could be the issue. But before we go for the latter, have you tried a different RAM DIMM? Those could also be the issue

[Calebdm97]

I have not. I do have both slots filled and only one extra available. i could try that though.

[Calebdm97]

1 hour ago, Meowster said:

I'm no expert with mobile devices but it seems like maybe the motherboard could be the issue. But before we go for the latter, have you tried a different RAM DIMM? Those could also be the issue

I have not. I do have both ram slots filled and only one extra stick of ram available. So I wouldnt be able to swap them both out but i can try that and see what happens.

[Calebdm97]

On 4/7/2021 at 9:29 AM, Meowster said:

I'm no expert with mobile devices but it seems like maybe the motherboard could be the issue. But before we go for the latter, have you tried a different RAM DIMM? Those could also be the issue

So that did not work. I even tried down grading it back to 8gb but it still wasn't wanting to turn on so I think I'm just going to scrap it.

[Meowster]

18 hours ago, Calebdm97 said:

So that did not work. I even tried down grading it back to 8gb but it still wasn't wanting to turn on so I think I'm just going to scrap it.

I agree. It looks like the actual motherborard is the culprit. You could sell it for parts if its in alright condition and earn some money for it

[Calebdm97]

13 minutes ago, Meowster said:

I agree. It looks like the actual motherborard is the culprit. You could sell it for parts if its in alright condition and earn some money for it

lol naw it looks like its been through hell