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[Dan_Lockwood]

Just thought I'd ask.

I have a PC notebook here at work that I've been given and it doesn't power up.  It's an Acer 8104 Travelmate.

When I was first given it they had sent it out for repair.  I powered it up two or three times and was all set to use it on the next work travel trip for evening e-mails.  When I got to the hotel it wouldn't power up.  I called the boss' wife, who originally bought this, and she said that was the exact same problem she had with the POS.

You can do anything you want to it and it just won't power up.  Power supply hooked up, battery hooked up, or power supply without the battery in.  Nothing works.

So it's been back several times for repair they gave up, it may need a motherboard.

I'm just wondering if anyone has worked on these or knows of some friend that does.  I'd like to see if I can get it going and use it for work and pleasure, that means logging onto CVO-Harley...

Thanks in advance.

[BigR55]

Two things to try.

Remove the battery and try with the power supply plugged in. When some batteries go bad, the power supply can not overcome the battery and power the computer.

Many of the brands, ( My HP included) have a bad design where the charger\ power supply plug in. The jack is munted to the motherboard and it breaks loose easily. Use a meter to check DC voltage with the charger plugged in but not connected to the computer. Look at the jack on the side of the computer and see if anything looks loose. Mine will light up showing the supply is working.
Anything beyond that will need t go to a repair shop. 

[Sean M Cary]

battery...  In a lot of laptops if the battery is bad, then it won't start.  (even when plugged in)

There is usually a way around this, but often not (Dell!)...

Sean

Just thought I'd ask.

I have a PC notebook here at work that I've been given and it doesn't power up.  It's an Acer 8104 Travelmate.

When I was first given it they had sent it out for repair.  I powered it up two or three times and was all set to use it on the next work travel trip for evening e-mails.  When I got to the hotel it wouldn't power up.  I called the boss' wife, who originally bought this, and she said that was the exact same problem she had with the POS.

You can do anything you want to it and it just won't power up.  Power supply hooked up, battery hooked up, or power supply without the battery in.  Nothing works.

So it's been back several times for repair they gave up, it may need a motherboard.

I'm just wondering if anyone has worked on these or knows of some friend that does.  I'd like to see if I can get it going and use it for work and pleasure, that means logging onto CVO-Harley...

Thanks in advance.

[LRebel]

If the advise above has not cured the problem, try this: 

Remove the battery then press and hold the power button for about 30 - 45 seconds.

Then reinstall the battery and try to turn on the computer as you would normally.

I had the same problem with my HP laptop and this is what tech support told me to do.

[rednectum]

If the advise above has not cured the problem, try this: 

Remove the battery then press and hold the power button for about 30 - 45 seconds.

Then reinstall the battery and try to turn on the computer as you would normally.

I had the same problem with my HP laptop and this is what tech support told me to do.

ya beat me to it. same as power supply reset on a PC. also, turn off Hibernate, lots of laptops do not want to come out of hibermnate and cause above mentioned problem.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions.

I found the "Hold down the power button" suggestion on the Acer site for troubleshooting and thought right there that the Acer might be less than a reliable laptop.  I've had several Acer products, screens etc, that have been very good quality and no complaints at all.

This laptop started doing this no powering up thing with the boss' wife.  She got tired of it doing this.  Sometimes it would fire right up and other times it may be a week before the laptop decides to allow the power button to work.  She bought an extra battery thinking maybe that was a problem, but that's no different from the original battery.  This POS laptop is about 2 years old.

As I said, our company sent it to be repaired and when it came back I powered it up several times but when I was out to Ohio I couldn't get it to start and I was down on my work emails for the duration of my work stay in Ohio.

At that time if I had the battery in and the power adapter plugged in, the amber or green charge light would come on.  When I would push the power button the blue light on the front next to the battery charge light, would light up momentarily and then go right back off.  I brought it back and we sent it back to the guys for review.  They finally told my boss that it's a POS and that it's now a throw away item.  When I try to plug in the power supply now, I get zip, nadda, zilch, zero, you get the drift.  With the battery in or out I get no front panel lights.  So it's worse now since they looked at it a third time.  I'm really thinking mother board.

So if I can fix it or get it fixed, it's mine and I'll have a good, better, laptop than the HP laptop I have now from the company that's about 7 years old.  I know when I did have the Acer fired up at my desk, it picked up our wireless network without any problems and my old HP with a Belkin wireless adapter I can't ever get a signal.  The old laptop wireless capabilities are what drives me nuts when on the road.  Most all hotels now are wireless and I have to setting right in a hot spot to get a decent signal.  I remote hook to my desktop at work and using some our programs make the work go very slow.  I'm not a fast typer, maybe 35 wpm, but I can out type the speed of the connection and it drives me nuts as the slow speed sometimes.  I've spent a half hour before just doing one simple email reply.

I see on e-bay that there are mother boards listed but most are in China and they look like an all together laptop, not what I would think a mother board would look like.

I've built PC's in the past and I'm quite good with mechanical things, so tearing down the laptop and replacing a mother board is not that big of deal, I think.... I now that the screws are a bitch and I've read where you should diagram all the screw locations and note what size and length of screws came from where.

So with the added information, am I pissing up a rope into the wind??

Thanks again for all the help.

[Sean M Cary]

you can get an HP or Dell for 3-400...not worth it.

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions.

I found the "Hold down the power button" suggestion on the Acer site for troubleshooting and thought right there that the Acer might be less than a reliable laptop.  I've had several Acer products, screens etc, that have been very good quality and no complaints at all.

This laptop started doing this no powering up thing with the boss' wife.  She got tired of it doing this.  Sometimes it would fire right up and other times it may be a week before the laptop decides to allow the power button to work.  She bought an extra battery thinking maybe that was a problem, but that's no different from the original battery.  This POS laptop is about 2 years old.

As I said, our company sent it to be repaired and when it came back I powered it up several times but when I was out to Ohio I couldn't get it to start and I was down on my work emails for the duration of my work stay in Ohio.

At that time if I had the battery in and the power adapter plugged in, the amber or green charge light would come on.  When I would push the power button the blue light on the front next to the battery charge light, would light up momentarily and then go right back off.  I brought it back and we sent it back to the guys for review.  They finally told my boss that it's a POS and that it's now a throw away item.  When I try to plug in the power supply now, I get zip, nadda, zilch, zero, you get the drift.  With the battery in or out I get no front panel lights.  So it's worse now since they looked at it a third time.  I'm really thinking mother board.

So if I can fix it or get it fixed, it's mine and I'll have a good, better, laptop than the HP laptop I have now from the company that's about 7 years old.  I know when I did have the Acer fired up at my desk, it picked up our wireless network without any problems and my old HP with a Belkin wireless adapter I can't ever get a signal.  The old laptop wireless capabilities are what drives me nuts when on the road.  Most all hotels now are wireless and I have to setting right in a hot spot to get a decent signal.  I remote hook to my desktop at work and using some our programs make the work go very slow.  I'm not a fast typer, maybe 35 wpm, but I can out type the speed of the connection and it drives me nuts as the slow speed sometimes.  I've spent a half hour before just doing one simple email reply.

I see on e-bay that there are mother boards listed but most are in China and they look like an all together laptop, not what I would think a mother board would look like.

I've built PC's in the past and I'm quite good with mechanical things, so tearing down the laptop and replacing a mother board is not that big of deal, I think.... I now that the screws are a bitch and I've read where you should diagram all the screw locations and note what size and length of screws came from where.

So with the added information, am I pissing up a rope into the wind??

Thanks again for all the help.

[Keithincda]

if all else fails hit it with a hammer the run over it with your CVO, then if it works you should get to keep it...(and send me my fee )