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How Do I Troubleshoot Netbook Power Issue?

M

M.L.

Flightless Bird
Hello. My niece's netbook (Acer Aspire One ZG5 AOA150, WinXP) won't
power up at all, even after buying a new DC adapter. Nothing lights up
at all after plugging in whether the battery is attached or not. She
said the problem started after seeing a spark at the adapter/jack as
she tried to connect it to the netbook. The netbook is out of
warranty.

I've not seen this issue duplicated in all my googling. Nor have I
seen sales of replacement power supplies for this netbook, and I can't
find a hardware manual for it to see how to open the netbook. We need
advice on how to troubleshoot her netbook from here. Any ideas
appreciated. Thanks.
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
In news:uodnn5h3vkc6bi2s2e3kmjutv7gmkbhjir@4ax.com,
M.L. typed on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:41:16 -0600:
> Hello. My niece's netbook (Acer Aspire One ZG5 AOA150, WinXP) won't
> power up at all, even after buying a new DC adapter. Nothing lights up
> at all after plugging in whether the battery is attached or not. She
> said the problem started after seeing a spark at the adapter/jack as
> she tried to connect it to the netbook. The netbook is out of
> warranty.
>
> I've not seen this issue duplicated in all my googling. Nor have I
> seen sales of replacement power supplies for this netbook, and I can't
> find a hardware manual for it to see how to open the netbook. We need
> advice on how to troubleshoot her netbook from here. Any ideas
> appreciated. Thanks.


Well it sounds like the jack on the motherboard might be broken. If that
isn't it, then it must be more serious problems with the motherboard.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
 
M

M.L.

Flightless Bird

>> Hello. My niece's netbook (Acer Aspire One ZG5 AOA150, WinXP) won't
>> power up at all, even after buying a new DC adapter. Nothing lights up
>> at all after plugging in whether the battery is attached or not. She
>> said the problem started after seeing a spark at the adapter/jack as
>> she tried to connect it to the netbook. The netbook is out of
>> warranty.
>>
>> I've not seen this issue duplicated in all my googling. Nor have I
>> seen sales of replacement power supplies for this netbook, and I can't
>> find a hardware manual for it to see how to open the netbook. We need
>> advice on how to troubleshoot her netbook from here. Any ideas
>> appreciated. Thanks.

>
>Well it sounds like the jack on the motherboard might be broken. If that
>isn't it, then it must be more serious problems with the motherboard.


Thanks for your reply. I tried jiggling the jack but it looks solid.
What I'd like are instructions on how to open the netbook to replace
that jack. They're fairly cheap on eBay.
 
B

Barry Watzman

Flightless Bird
The power supply is on the motherboard; so you would not be looking for
a power supply, you would be looking for a motherboard.

It would be good to determine if the problem is the jack. I have seen
the jack contact wires broken INSIDE the jack. What you need to do to
eliminate the jack (or find that the problem is the jack) is either
measure DC on the motherboard (coming through the jack) or apply DC to
the motherboard directly, bypassing the jack.

There are a few places on E-Bay that do motherboard component level
repair. Search for "motherboard repair".

Otherwise, motherboard problems are difficult to impossible to fix.


M.L. wrote:
> Hello. My niece's netbook (Acer Aspire One ZG5 AOA150, WinXP) won't
> power up at all, even after buying a new DC adapter. Nothing lights up
> at all after plugging in whether the battery is attached or not. She
> said the problem started after seeing a spark at the adapter/jack as
> she tried to connect it to the netbook. The netbook is out of
> warranty.
>
> I've not seen this issue duplicated in all my googling. Nor have I
> seen sales of replacement power supplies for this netbook, and I can't
> find a hardware manual for it to see how to open the netbook. We need
> advice on how to troubleshoot her netbook from here. Any ideas
> appreciated. Thanks.
 
B

Barry Watzman

Flightless Bird
By no means is it a given that the jack is the problem (although it
might be).

Acer Aspire One disassembly instructions are all over the web.


M.L. wrote:
>
> Thanks for your reply. I tried jiggling the jack but it looks solid.
> What I'd like are instructions on how to open the netbook to replace
> that jack. They're fairly cheap on eBay.
 
M

M.L.

Flightless Bird

>> Hello. My niece's netbook (Acer Aspire One ZG5 AOA150, WinXP) won't
>> power up at all, even after buying a new DC adapter. Nothing lights up
>> at all after plugging in whether the battery is attached or not. She
>> said the problem started after seeing a spark at the adapter/jack as
>> she tried to connect it to the netbook. The netbook is out of
>> warranty.
>>
>> I've not seen this issue duplicated in all my googling. Nor have I
>> seen sales of replacement power supplies for this netbook, and I can't
>> find a hardware manual for it to see how to open the netbook. We need
>> advice on how to troubleshoot her netbook from here. Any ideas
>> appreciated. Thanks.


>The power supply is on the motherboard; so you would not be looking for
>a power supply, you would be looking for a motherboard.
>
>It would be good to determine if the problem is the jack. I have seen
>the jack contact wires broken INSIDE the jack. What you need to do to
>eliminate the jack (or find that the problem is the jack) is either
>measure DC on the motherboard (coming through the jack) or apply DC to
>the motherboard directly, bypassing the jack.
>
>There are a few places on E-Bay that do motherboard component level
>repair. Search for "motherboard repair".
>
>Otherwise, motherboard problems are difficult to impossible to fix.


Thanks to everyone who replied. Netbook motherboard/power supply
repairs appear to be beyond my technical reach. However, I found a
laptop repair shop nearby that claims to fix power supply problems for
$125, with free diagnosis. It is now up to my niece to decide how she
wants to follow through.
 
M

~misfit~

Flightless Bird
Somewhere on teh intarwebs M.L. wrote:
>>> Hello. My niece's netbook (Acer Aspire One ZG5 AOA150, WinXP) won't
>>> power up at all, even after buying a new DC adapter. Nothing lights
>>> up at all after plugging in whether the battery is attached or not.
>>> She said the problem started after seeing a spark at the
>>> adapter/jack as she tried to connect it to the netbook. The netbook
>>> is out of warranty.
>>>
>>> I've not seen this issue duplicated in all my googling. Nor have I
>>> seen sales of replacement power supplies for this netbook, and I
>>> can't find a hardware manual for it to see how to open the netbook.
>>> We need advice on how to troubleshoot her netbook from here. Any
>>> ideas appreciated. Thanks.

>
>> The power supply is on the motherboard; so you would not be looking
>> for a power supply, you would be looking for a motherboard.
>>
>> It would be good to determine if the problem is the jack. I have
>> seen the jack contact wires broken INSIDE the jack. What you need
>> to do to eliminate the jack (or find that the problem is the jack)
>> is either measure DC on the motherboard (coming through the jack) or
>> apply DC to the motherboard directly, bypassing the jack.
>>
>> There are a few places on E-Bay that do motherboard component level
>> repair. Search for "motherboard repair".
>>
>> Otherwise, motherboard problems are difficult to impossible to fix.

>
> Thanks to everyone who replied. Netbook motherboard/power supply
> repairs appear to be beyond my technical reach. However, I found a
> laptop repair shop nearby that claims to fix power supply problems for
> $125, with free diagnosis. It is now up to my niece to decide how she
> wants to follow through.


It seems that you've discovered what a lot of people don't realise; Netbooks
are essentially a disposable item. They're priced low and, when the warranty
expires, unless you're a tinkerer if they go wrong you just throw them in
the landfill and get another from China.
--
Shaun.

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's
warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchet, 'Jingo'.
Nota bene: 'Return to' email is very rarely checked, if at all. It's spam
city but is a req. of my NNTP providor.
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
In news:hlkliv$prk$1@news.eternal-september.org,
~misfit~ typed on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:21:43 +1300:
> Somewhere on teh intarwebs M.L. wrote:
> It seems that you've discovered what a lot of people don't realise;
> Netbooks are essentially a disposable item. They're priced low and,
> when the warranty expires, unless you're a tinkerer if they go wrong
> you just throw them in the landfill and get another from China.


Bull! It is the same with laptops. I like netbooks that allows upgrading
the RAM and the drive. Some of them do. And with laptops, if the
motherboard is bad, you either need to have it repaired or replaced. It
is the same with any computer, laptops, netbooks, or desktops.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2
 
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