So I got this laptop and it doesn't want to charge

[podkall]

This laptop is 5 years old, it used to be my family's, but since it's barely functional they wanted to get rid of it and I wanted to see if I could resurrect it.

 

When plugging in the laptop, the powerbrick didn't want to work (or just the LED indicator), however then the LED was working, however none of the laptops LEDs turn on when I plug the charger in, the laptop seems to be 0% on battery, at leas I assume it is, I did leave it plugged in for few hours with no change.

 

The laptop also doesn't seem to have direct access to the battery, and would need me to at least unscrew the bottom to do so.

 

• The laptop in question is an Acer with a Pentium processor, the model on the back reads: Extensa 2508-P272 (I'll attach images of top and bottom side with charger plugged in)

 

[problemsolver]

46 minutes ago, podkall said:

This laptop is 5 years old, it used to be my family's, but since it's barely functional they wanted to get rid of it and I wanted to see if I could resurrect it.

 

When plugging in the laptop, the powerbrick didn't want to work (or just the LED indicator), however then the LED was working, however none of the laptops LEDs turn on when I plug the charger in, the laptop seems to be 0% on battery, at leas I assume it is, I did leave it plugged in for few hours with no change.

 

The laptop also doesn't seem to have direct access to the battery, and would need me to at least unscrew the bottom to do so.

 

• The laptop in question is an Acer with a Pentium processor, the model on the back reads: Extensa 2508-P272 (I'll attach images of top and bottom side with charger plugged in)

 

If it's been sitting for a year or more with a dead lithium-ion battery, the battery probably got low enough the charging protection circuit inside the battery may not have enough voltage to work and so the battery is disabled to keep it from exploding during charging.

Remove the battery from the laptop, get a good charging brick/PSU and just run the laptop without it if you're trying to verify the laptop works.

[podkall]

@problemsolver @ImWilly is this the battery cable? and does the board look ok?

 

 

[ImWilly]

Judging from the picture that you have sent, it does seems to be loose cable connecting your battery to the motherboard

This is the picture of my laptop for reference with red circle indicating the battery power cable connected below

 

The motherboard seems ok, it's probably a good time to do a cleanup the dust stacking on the board as well, especially the fan and heatsink since the accumulated dust is visible to be clogging the exhaust fan

 

P.S.

I couldn't see the storage, have you removed the SATA slot on the left side?
I can't be sure if this laptop are using HDD for main OS and storage, but once you upgraded to SATA, you laptop will be even better than when you bought it new

[podkall]

@ImWilly I mean, it should have a storage as far as I'm concerned

 

it's still not turning on or showing sings of re-charging I with both battery plugged in and unplugged

 

may I ask, is this also battery connection, and if yes, how do I remove it? it doesn't seem to like getting unplugged:

 

 

I also did blow some compressed air all over the board and fan after I took the pictures

[podkall]

Dear @ImWilly and @problemsolver,

 

let me thank you for the help, the problem seems to lie somewhere else, I was screwing around with the charger's end and charging port, and I found out that it might be loose/broken charging port, because at a weird angle there was a blink, and then when I found the right angle, the laptop speaks:

 

[ImWilly]

15 minutes ago, podkall said:

may I ask, is this also battery connection, and if yes, how do I remove it? it doesn't seem to like getting unplugged:

 

 

I may be wrong, but I guess that could be the cable for the DVD drive on the right side

Need to make sure by looking at the wiring below 

 

Usually, there's only one battery cable connecting to the board, and that is as easy as plugging and unplugging. It's better to use some plastic handle, but I use my own finger sometime and luckily doesn't trigger some unwanted things

[ImWilly]

Just now, podkall said:

Dear @ImWilly and @problemsolver,

 

let me thank you for the help, the problem seems to lie somewhere else, I was screwing around with the charger's end and charging port, and I found out that it might be loose/broken charging port, because at a weird angle there was a blink, and then when I found the right angle, the laptop speaks:

 

Nice, sorry I couldn't help much, but miracle sometimes just happened

[podkall]

Just now, ImWilly said:

I may be wrong, but I guess that could be the cable for the DVD drive on the right side

Need to make sure by looking at the wiring below 

 

Usually, there's only one battery cable connecting to the board, and that is as easy as plugging and unplugging. It's better to use some plastic handle, but I use my own finger sometime and luckily doesn't trigger some unwanted things

would you be fine if I marked @problemsolver 's comment as solution, because he doesn't have many, and was a first responder with great troubleshoot advice,

 

but very much thank you too for the help ofc

[manikyath]

you've probably got some issue with the charge port, as for which connector is the battery connector - it's the one with multiple black and red wires. with a multimeter you should be able to read the battery voltage. if it's been sitting discharged for a long time it might be below a safe voltage to recharge it.

 

as for the charge port issue.. if the port has no physical damage it might be a cable that wore out, it's REALLY common for the charger cable to wear out just past the charger's frame, or just before the connector.

[podkall]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

you've probably got some issue with the charge port, as for which connector is the battery connector - it's the one with multiple black and red wires. with a multimeter you should be able to read the battery voltage. if it's been sitting discharged for a long time it might be below a safe voltage to recharge it.

 

as for the charge port issue.. if the port has no physical damage it might be a cable that wore out, it's REALLY common for the charger cable to wear out just past the charger's frame, or just before the connector.

what do you mean by below safe voltage? or is that just simply issue that affects the battery's longevity and other healthy cells?

 

the charging port from the inside seems to be moving and shifting slightly,

 

another question I have if I may is, the ribbon cables for keyboard and trackpad seem impossible to clamp down, do I have to secure the connections when the laptop's barely closed or should I secure it with like a piece of paper and a tape?

[manikyath]

5 minutes ago, podkall said:

what do you mean by below safe voltage? or is that just simply issue that affects the battery's longevity and other healthy cells?

lithium batteries should (at extremes) be kept between 2.8-ish and 4.2-ish volts per cell, when the laptop is left discharged for a long time, it might have some slight parasitic draw that over time pulls the battery below that point, which can then damage the cell, turning it into a potential fire hazard if you then decide to try and fully charge it and/or put a heavy load on it.

[podkall]

Just now, manikyath said:

lithium batteries should (at extremes) be kept between 2.8-ish and 4.2-ish volts per cell, when the laptop is left discharged for a long time, it might have some slight parasitic draw that over time pulls the battery below that point, which can then damage the cell, turning it into a potential fire hazard if you then decide to try and fully charge it and/or put a heavy load on it.

do you have any input on laptop's ribbon cable question? I wanna close it up and move it from the living room

[manikyath]

22 minutes ago, podkall said:

 

another question I have if I may is, the ribbon cables for keyboard and trackpad seem impossible to clamp down, do I have to secure the connections when the laptop's barely closed or should I secure it with like a piece of paper and a tape?

there's usually an order of operations and some finesse involved, it's different for every laptop so it's difficult to say how exactly. but it's been put together by humans, so your human hands should be able to get in there just the same.

[problemsolver]

9 hours ago, podkall said:

would you be fine if I marked @problemsolver 's comment as solution, because he doesn't have many, and was a first responder with great troubleshoot advice,

 

but very much thank you too for the help ofc

Haha, don't mark mine as the solution if it isn't! It doesn't help those referencing these problems in the future. (That's what marking things as solved is for, so future people can find the solution easily and so that people don't keep replying to solved threads.)

 

It sounds like you've got a defective charging port on the laptop, (assuming your PSU is actually good and it's not damaged).

[podkall]

21 hours ago, ImWilly said:

P.S.

I couldn't see the storage, have you removed the SATA slot on the left side?
I can't be sure if this laptop are using HDD for main OS and storage, but once you upgraded to SATA, you laptop will be even better than when you bought it new

 

To be honest your eye has caught another interesting thing, the HDD indeed isn't there, which is a bummer, but at least I know how to turn on the laptop and have W11 on a USB drive ready.

[problemsolver]

20 hours ago, podkall said:

what do you mean by below safe voltage? or is that just simply issue that affects the battery's longevity and other healthy cells?

 

the charging port from the inside seems to be moving and shifting slightly,

 

another question I have if I may is, the ribbon cables for keyboard and trackpad seem impossible to clamp down, do I have to secure the connections when the laptop's barely closed or should I secure it with like a piece of paper and a tape?

• If it seems like the only reason you have issues is because the charging port can move around inside the laptop, that probably means the plastic tabs broke that hold the DC input in place.
• If that's all that's broken, than you can very carefully glue it back in place with something non-conductive like JBWELD.
  • You'll need to make sure you don't get the epoxy inside the port, or anywhere except on the outside of the port and that it doesn't work its way inside the port. Follow the directions and make sure you actually let it cure per the directions.

 

• On the ribbon cables, if I understand you correctly, the easiest way to flip down the connector on those tiny things is with a wide flat-head screwdriver where you can put even pressure across the whole tiny flip down bar. It's also good to have someone (or use another hand) to apply gentle pressure to the ribbon cable inward towards the connector so that it stays up against the stop while you're flipping down the locking lever. Otherwise, the ribbon cable can be partially slid in, but not all the way to the stop.
  • Obviously make sure there's no power, as a normal screwdriver can destroy all kinds of stuff if the electricities are running.

[ImWilly]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:39 PM, podkall said:

would you be fine if I marked @problemsolver 's comment as solution, because he doesn't have many, and was a first responder with great troubleshoot advice

Sorry for late reply, I don’t mind actually

And as mentioned, it’s better to mark the solution that actually answers to your query so that other people could relate when looking out for solution

 

On 12/25/2023 at 5:46 PM, podkall said:

HDD indeed isn't there

My eyes don’t deceive me after all! What a relief!

It’s quite a shame the storage is missing. But on the good side, it means you will have more reasons to upgrade your laptop

Cheers!