You received a new laptop but it refuses to charge.
You received a new laptop but it refuses to charge.
This laptop is five years old and was once part of my family's collection. Because it’s only working so poorly, they decided to dispose of it, but I wanted to try bringing it back to life. When I connected the power brick, the LED didn’t light up (or just showed no signal), though the indicator was functional. When I plugged in the charger, none of the LEDs on the laptop activated. It appears the battery is off—probably at least 0%. I left it plugged in for a short time without any change. The device also doesn’t seem to connect directly to the battery; I’d need to remove the bottom panel to access it. The model is an Acer with a Pentium processor, and the back label reads: Extensa 2508-P272 (I’ll include photos of the top and bottom with the charger connected).
After sitting for a year or more with a dead lithium-ion battery, its charge level is likely too low for the internal protection system to function properly. This can prevent charging and stop the battery from discharging further, which helps avoid potential explosions during charging. Take the battery out of the laptop, use a quality charging brick or power supply, and operate the laptop without it if you want to test its functionality.
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
@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
Hi @ImWilly and @problemsolver, thank you for your assistance. It seems the issue might be elsewhere. I was experimenting with the charger's end and charging port, and noticed it could be loose or damaged—there was a strange blink at an odd angle, but once I adjusted to the correct position, the laptop responded.
I might be mistaken, but it seems the cable for the DVD drive on the right side could be the one I’m thinking of. Checking the wiring below helps confirm. Typically, there’s just one battery cable attached to the board, which is straightforward—just plug and unplug. Using a plastic handle would be better, though I sometimes use my finger; it doesn’t seem to cause any issues.
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
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.