Solved Acer Laptop freezes on the Desktop only on Power Supply

[TVeblen]

I'm trying to help someone with an Acer 5820T laptop remotely.

The problem is that if he starts the computer from a full shutdown condition with the power supply plugged in then Windows will freeze as soon as it gets to the desktop - no mouse or keyboard response. This does not happen every startup. It happens about 50% of the time according to the owner.

If he starts the computer from a full shutdown condition with only the battery connected then it loads Windows fine.

Sometimes the laptop freezes after running Windows for a while, but only on PS.

The battery charges.

What we have tried so far:

• Reset the BIOS (remove battery & PS - drain power - restart)
• Ran SFC (it found errors and corrected them)
• Disabled the "[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery[/FONT]" device in Device Manager from Safe Mode.

No joy.

The owner says it has done this since the laptop was fairly new. He does not remember if it always did it. He 'seems' to recall that it did not when it was brandy new.

I'm going to be seeing these folks tomorrow. Any of you guys have any ideas of what else I could try while I am there?

What do y'all think about a defective or dying battery? Ever seen that cause this problem? Bad power supply?

Edit: also, running the most current BIOS on this machine.

TIA for any ideas.

 

[maxie]

Hi there .. Could be power supply or a mechanical problem (as opposed to software corruption, etc.) A bad/shorting connector which is very possible ...

 

[TVeblen]

Thanks Maxie. That would good to check if I can. I'm not sure if I want to dismantle the laptop right there. Maybe I will be able to bring it back here to do it.

 

[Golden]

A similar problem?
Acer Aspire Timeline X 5820T - Power/freezing issues - Tech Support Guy

Acer Aspire 5820t-6401 power/freezing issue - Acer Community

Sounds like a hardware issue.

 

[TVeblen]

Thanks for those links Golden. Yes it is looking more and more like a hardware problem, and the MB to boot. I'll test a few more things to completely rule out OS issues, but not holding my breath.

 

[TVeblen]

Well, I ran every test I could think of, even had another power supply with the same voltage to try, and the problem remains. So I have to concede to an internal hardware issue.

The owner also noted that it happens during cold startup (first thing in the morning from full off) almost always, much less often once it is warmed up. After the first hour I was doing tests and restarting over and over, it never did it again the rest of the day.