Acer laptop locks up randomly

CooK1E · 23 Nov 2010 at 13:23

Hello,

I've got an Acer laptop with an interesting issue:

Randomly the trackpad / usb slots / system will stop working / lockup. This can sometimes be during boot or just when using the system.

I've formatted it, along with replacing the RAM and HD. All drivers are installed and its had SP3 installed

Anyone got any suggestions as to what this could be? I've had the whole laptop apart and its not overheating. The battery has been checked, the charger has been checked.

My final thought is that the board could be knackered - is there any sure way to check this?

beermonster · 23 Nov 2010 at 13:58

If you've changed the ram and HD it can only really be the system board with those kinds of issues. Having said that I would just try taking out any other bits such as the wifi card and optical drive just to be sure.

CooK1E · 26 Nov 2010 at 17:10

Tried removing the intel wireless card, no difference tbh.

C64 · 26 Nov 2010 at 18:00

Have you tried it without the battery in ?

Bubba · 26 Nov 2010 at 18:01

I would say a faulty battery.

Try running it on mains only without the battery.

What model is it, 4-5 year old?

CooK1E · 27 Nov 2010 at 11:14

It won't run without the battery - I've had the battery tested along with the mains charger and its outputting the correct voltage. However it won't run without it in.

Its around 5 years old, however when it actually works its pretty good, plus its a slimline version, so It would be nice to get it fixed.

I'll have a look at a replacement battery unless anyone has any further suggestinos

beermonster · 27 Nov 2010 at 15:36

If it won't run without the battery that would indicate a fault with the mother board.

IceWind · 28 Nov 2010 at 09:46

Sounds like a problem with the power strip in the laptop actuly. I have come acrros a lot of laptops with the same issue. The issue is that the power strip is not feeding enough juice to everything. Some laptops have the option in the bios to actuly turn on/off the usb ports, speakers etc. If you have this option try this to start with to see if you get a clean boot and useability out of the laptop. If you have no issues its your power strip, if the problems continue then its your motherboard, in which case on a laptop that is 4-5 years old you might as well just get yourself a new laptop.

CooK1E · 28 Nov 2010 at 16:32

BIOS options are very limited and there certainly isn't any chance of being able to disable anything. I did get a volt meeter out and check the power from the battery and the plug, both of which seemed ok. Although obviously things would be different when actually in use on a lappy.

I think I may end up leaving this as a lost cause.