Acer Laptop

[fry_lover]

Hi All

My girlfriend has an Acer Aspire 5612WLMi laptop. It's about 3 years old now. About 6 months ago her original Acer charger stopped working. The cost of a new one is about £60 so she tried a generic (cheaper) charger off e-bay that was listed to work with this model.

It worked fine for a few months but only works sporadically now. A sign sometimes comes up saying the laptop does not recognise the charger and it will have periods of charging and not charging.

The answer may seem simple.... get a proper Acer charger BUT.... we've noticed that if you slightly manipulate the charger lead directly at the back of the laptop it will charge but this is a pain in the behind to constantly have to do.

Because it's now the 2nd charger she's had problems with, we are wondering if it will be just £60 down the drain if she get's a new Acer laptop if it turns out its the actual laptop thats the problem and not the charger.

I would have though a charger either works or not, and doesn't need to be physically manipulated at the back of the laptop to get a charge?

Is it just a matter of getting a new Acer charger and hoping for the best, or does anyone here actually think it's likely that the laptop's the problem?

Cheers

 

[Darkstar]

Firstly, you have my condolences for owning an Acer...whatta crock of **** they are.

Sounds more like a loose connection at the back of the laptop, whether it's caused by wear and tear or just bad build quality (it's an acer remember) only you can tell. I wouldn't bother buying another power supply until you know what's causing it to drop the connection....have you played around with it to find out where the issue is...i.e. on the power supply connector or the power port on the laptop.

I would have though a charger either works or not, and doesn't need to be physically manipulated at the back of the laptop to get a charge?

You'd think so wouldn't you, however that's not the case...I've experienced this issue several times (and i mean several!)...most of the time I just buy a new charger which solves most of the problems, sometimes a bit of tape to wedge the connector in will solve it...

However, if you do buy a new charger....as much as I hate to say it, get an acer one. The generic ones off ebay are generally crap, chinese made and often completely wrong voltage ratings too. Like anything else, you get what you pay for.

 

[fry_lover]

Firstly, you have my condolences for owning an Acer...whatta crock of **** they are.

Sounds more like a loose connection at the back of the laptop, whether it's caused by wear and tear or just bad build quality (it's an acer remember) only you can tell. I wouldn't bother buying another power supply until you know what's causing it to drop the connection....have you played around with it to find out where the issue is...i.e. on the power supply connector or the power port on the laptop.

I would have though a charger either works or not, and doesn't need to be physically manipulated at the back of the laptop to get a charge?

You'd think so wouldn't you, however that's not the case...I've experienced this issue several times (and i mean several!)...most of the time I just buy a new charger which solves most of the problems, sometimes a bit of tape to wedge the connector in will solve it...

However, if you do buy a new charger....as much as I hate to say it, get an acer one. The generic ones off ebay are generally crap, chinese made and often completely wrong voltage ratings too. Like anything else, you get what you pay for.

Thanks for that. I'm not sure where the issue is to be honest. Another thing is that on the odd occasion my girlfriend can get a charge once the laptop is ON it stops charging which is obviously a pain. It all seems to be where the power cable meets the port on the back of the laptop. However the more she manipulates the connection manually the more wear and tear she could be doing to the port?

I'm wondering if an electrics / computer shop that sell the actual Acer chargers will allow my girlfriend to bring in the laptop and try one of their Acer chargers, if a charger plugs in and works fine then I guess she is better placed to spend the £60

 

[rabbut]

A few shops may well let you do that. Considering the fact it's an Acer, and going on the sound of the symptoms, it's more likely to be the socket on the main board that's at fault. It you aren't a techy type, I'd take it around a few local computer shops and get a few opinions from a few professionals. If it's the charger at fault they will be happy to take your £. If it isn't they won't state so as if a new charger doesn't fix it you'll be entitled to go get your money back, and nobody likes that... Likewise with the port on board issue.

If it's the charger, it's £60 to fix. If it's the main board's socket, you have a write-off unless you are good with computers and a soldering iron and feel like an afternoons DIY computer repairs... The socket will be about £5 maximum, but there is at least 3 hours work to do it properly, and at the going rate of £60 an hour in computer shops round this way on a computer that was worth (almost literally) £100 new...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[betta fish]

I had the exact same problem with my laptop! and I've had it for about the same amount of time! mine's a Sony Vaio though but my partner found that it was the charger at fault and I so I got a cheap one that stopped working after a while so he fixed the old one! he basically soldered the plug end as the connectors had come loose in there hence the sporadic charging when touched, it now works fine but has had to be redone a few times it has a fair bit of electrical tape on the end now too and does look a bit dodge! sooner or later I will probably have to buy a new one but we have managed to hold it off for a few months! why are they so expensive? it's ridiculous!

 

[rebrn]

It might be the battery itself, have your battery tested, any computer shop should be able to do this. Laptop batteries, like cell phone batteries, do not last forever and occasionally need to be replaced, and 2-3 years is usually around how long they last, so you are right at that point. If the battery is fine, it might be a motherboard issue, not communicating with the charging port, or the port itself may be the issue, coming loose this happens with normal wear and tear on any laptop. I had an HP do the exact same thing, it turned out to be the motherboard, luckily mine was under warranty though. If it is the motherboard or the charging port, and your computer is no longer under warranty you are probably better off to buy a new one, it most likely would be at worst the same price (but you would be getting a new computer). The bottom line is that truthfully, most laptops, even the really good ones, generally only last 4-5 years tops before problems start creeping up. Although personally I don't have a problem with acer laptops, I have never had issues with mine and they have all outlasted the more expensive brands, it is a cheaper make and less likely to last as long. I have never had a laptop make it to its 5 birthday, acer, dells, hp, gateway, you name it I have owned or worked with it, and they all dye at around 4 years tops (my acers lasted the longest at just over 4 years). But this sounds like the perfect excuse to upgrade and get a new one, even if it is a simple fix, you are still looking at tops 1 year before having further, and probably more expensive, problems.

Good Luck

Edit: Sorry just realized you are in the UK, I have no idea how much laptops or laptop repairs are there (in the US it would be cheaper to buy a new one). Check at you computer shops to see which way would be cheaper, buying or repairing. But I would still recommend buying a new one, even if it is a little more, trust me a 3 year old laptop, this is just the start of your problems.

 

[fry_lover]

Thanks for the feedback peeps. I've been doing some reading around and it would appear the most likely culprit (but who know's for sure right now, can't be 100%) here is the power jack being faulty. Looks like the part is cheap but it's fixing it that's the issue. Neither myself or my other half have the experience or IT savvy to do this even with what looks like some quite detailed instructions available via Google.

The more and more I read about this type of issue the more and more I'm thinking it's not the actual charger (as this happened with two different chargers now, the first being the original Acer charger the next being a cheaper generic E-bay charger).

I didn't expect to find so many similar stories on Google actually.

I guess at the end of the day, my girlfriend has had this laptop for between 3 and 4 years. I would imagine that any repair or purchase to get it running again that's much over £80 or so won't be worth it, as she'll still be left with a laptop thats not far off being 4 years old.

I would imagine that if the cost is going to be somewhere over £80 she'll be better off putting that money towards a new laptop. Seems you get decent one's new for £300-£350 if your not too fussed.

I've had my Dell Inspiron for about 3 years now and it's never given me any problems despite daily and long usage and a similar Dell laptop with better spec than mine is about £350 direct from Dell.

 

[rebrn]

That is exactly what I was thinking. If you can get a new dell for around 350 pounds then that might be your best bet. While some laptops do last longer, generally, 4-5 years is the max. My husband is an IT person, and I have seen him replace the jacks relatively quickly, if you know someone who can do it that would be you cheapest bet, that is if the motherboard isn't involved as well. That is the problem, you could replace the jack and then find out that the motherboard is also playing a part, that is when it becomes pricey. But if you don't know someone who can fix it, then even for just the jack replacement you are looking at the cost of the part and most likely anywhere from $100-150 to install (depending on where you go - at least that is the rough charge here in the US, UK pricing I am sure will be different), but I would guess you are looking at around 100-200 pounds all total, part and repair, if the motherboard isn't involved.

If you can get a dell for cheap, that would be the best. Dells last a long while, mine generally last about 4 years (but I travelled a lot with mine, so that is a little harder on them). My sister has had my old dell for about 3 years now, I had it for about 1 year before that and it is still going strong, but she doesn't travel with it. It basically goes with her around the house, so my guess is she will get at least another 2 years out of it (putting it around 6 years). The rougher you are with them the shorter the life span, as with anything. But a dell for around 350 pounds is definitely a good deal.

 

[fry_lover]

That is exactly what I was thinking. If you can get a new dell for around 350 pounds then that might be your best bet. While some laptops do last longer, generally, 4-5 years is the max. My husband is an IT person, and I have seen him replace the jacks relatively quickly, if you know someone who can do it that would be you cheapest bet, that is if the motherboard isn't involved as well. That is the problem, you could replace the jack and then find out that the motherboard is also playing a part, that is when it becomes pricey. But if you don't know someone who can fix it, then even for just the jack replacement you are looking at the cost of the part and most likely anywhere from $100-150 to install (depending on where you go - at least that is the rough charge here in the US, UK pricing I am sure will be different), but I would guess you are looking at around 100-200 pounds all total, part and repair, if the motherboard isn't involved.

If you can get a dell for cheap, that would be the best. Dells last a long while, mine generally last about 4 years (but I travelled a lot with mine, so that is a little harder on them). My sister has had my old dell for about 3 years now, I had it for about 1 year before that and it is still going strong, but she doesn't travel with it. It basically goes with her around the house, so my guess is she will get at least another 2 years out of it (putting it around 6 years). The rougher you are with them the shorter the life span, as with anything. But a dell for around 350 pounds is definitely a good deal.

Thanks for your feedback. I've had one quote of £99 to fix it (if it is indeed the power jack). I'll shop around some more and try and find a company that won't charge much to take a look and see what's wrong then give a quote.

 

[rabbut]

If you have had the opinion verified by someone else, you can always phone up and ask for a quote without getting them to look at it. I'd be surprised if the cost came down much on that quote however, that would still be dirt cheap up this way for that type of a job