So I recently got an Acer Travelmate 5530 with windows vista to see why people hated it so much. It was working fine for a few days, but today it would not work right. The power light would come on and the fan would run, and they would all stay on, but the display wouldn't do anything, not even show the BIOS. Does anyone know what could be wrong with it?
Do I need to be more specific? or does no one care? Here's what happens: I plug in the laptop, running it on external power. It powers on. The fan runs, the lights stay on, and I even left it for an hour and it was still running. But the screen didn't show anything. I tried taking out the ram, and switching slots, but nothing worked. I also took out the hard drive and put it back in. Nothing worked. Last resort: Take it to a computer repairman. I really was hoping I could fix it myself, that's why I posted this thread.
Plug an external display in, most likely the screen is broken. And that may be beyond abilities of your repairman
The GPU went AWOL. You're screwed, since there really is no way to add a GPU to laptops. EDIT: I don't really know anything about the matter, since I never bothered working with laptops. Looks like someone else is having the same issues: http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/88415-35-acer-travelmate-5530-black-display
well iv'e heard that sometimes they come with a lose screw lodged beneath the board and causing shorts. have you opened it up? --- Post updated --- it could also be excess static, try removing the battery and holding down the power button (cant remember whether or not you should have it plugged in)
Which often costs more than replacing the laptop when you consider labour fees if you can't do it yourself
not worth replacing the motherboard, just get a new laptop, you still have all your files on the laptops hard drive, you can put it in a USB enclosure and so can use it as a usb drive
First take battery off, try without battery, then put battery back in and try again, if that does not change anything put your fist on H-key push with some force (don't crack it broken though but push quite much), then try to start it again, is there a change? Some of those Vista era Acers are known to eat motherboards, symptoms you have are exactly the same. I think body of Acer laptops is too flexy and motherboard gets bent a bit, which makes cracks, but I never bothered to investigate any further, we got new ones from warranty and I got whole batch free after they run out of warranty and motherboards, one actually still works when I keep it around freezing, so that is on un-insulated warehouse running security system, works fine in that as it is not touched. Update: If you are adventurous, you could pop it open and have a look around with magnifying glass, maybe you can spot a crack or cracked solder, all you need to do is heat up soldering iron and put some solder to right place, unless it is component failure of course, but what there is to loose?
