Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

In fact the problem returned. I'm waiting for the ICs from Ali to replace it.

[mcplslg123]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Yes, I too faced it but on Lenovo where this RTS chip was located on a separate board with headphone jack. This iC has USB-C connections and i beleive its a USB-C controller. Re-soldering the IC fixed it in my case too but dont know how long will it last. I've it in stock now as i feel,customer will come back with same symptoms. Its almost 45 days and still working. I could'nt get a datasheet.

[mon2]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Interesting. Perhaps poor rohs solder joints. If it works, great. In the meantime you can order spares from AliExpress or ebay for insurance.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Thank you sir. Can you believe it that I soldered the chip back and it still works?

Good job!

US $3.00 | 5pcs/lot RTS5170 RTS5170-GRT RTS5170-GR QFN-24 In Stock
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPXBuuc

[mon2]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Good job!

US $3.00 | 5pcs/lot RTS5170 RTS5170-GRT RTS5170-GR QFN-24 In Stock
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPXBuuc

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Removed the Realtek chip and the problem is gone.

[mon2]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Are you confident on the placement of the interconnect flex cable from this paddle board to the main logic board?

Confirm the pin #1 orientation. Sounds like a short when connected.

The board is very inexpensive and appears to under $10usd. Worth to replace it. See it on eBay and AliExpress. Or if you wish, replace the active parts on this board to rule out the sd card reader IC, etc.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

It's not the RAM, cause right now it is on Windows login screen, with the power/card reader daughter board disconnected. So the problem is isolated to this board.

Every time I connect the board it turns on and off after two seconds. Every time I power the laptop on by shorting the pwr + ground on the main board (with the daughter board disconnected) it powers on fine.

Let me attach a few photos.

EDIT: So far I've tested the power button by ensuring there is no continuity when not being pressed, and that there is when pressed. The Realtek chip is a card reader chip, and I don't know if it can cause the issue. I checked for short to ground on the capacitors around it and they aren't short to ground. I can't find datasheet of the IC to be able to eat least measure the resistance around it. Again, not sure if this can cause the issue, but I am assuming that it can.

[mon2]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Check your ram. Is it removable? How many sticks of RAM?

Remove it all and confirm that the unit boots everytime but likely will do the post beep code for missing ram.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

I got a new board and the same problem occurred. Reaches the POST, brings up the logo, and shuts off. After installing the new mobo the system worked for a minute and was able to boot to Windows and shut it down, before connecting everything else. I wonder if it's the battery or the Power Board that's causing this.

EDIT: Yep, it powered on by shorting the power button pins on the connector of the power board.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

The voltage regulator also seems to be slightly warm, but not hot. I can't check the schematics properly, because the schematics I have seem to have a dedicated regulator IC for 3V and 5V separately. The board I have seems to have one for both. The capacitors around the IC seem to have very low impedance (92 ohms - probably low impedance is the wrong term at this reading), resulting in beeping when checked in continuity mode. Not sure if this is expected or not.

Edit: During the original issue, when the system powers off on its own, after power off... both the 3V and the 5V from the 3V/5V regulator IC are fluctuating on and off. This only happens when it turns off on its own. 3V and 5V seem fine when it stays on (although no display).

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Another point that's worth mentioning is, that if the battery is plugged in, the system powers on automatically when the DC/adapter is plugged in. This does not happen if the battery is disconnected.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

I honestly can't tell cause the board is not too big and my hand was all over the place, I was just holding the board in place in the chassis.

I can give it another shot, but it's quite random. Can't see any pattern of when it switches off in seconds vs when it stays on.

EDIT: I just powered it on now, inside the chassis (not screwed in place). It stayed on with the cooling fan on (seems like high fan spin to me). CPU is warm but not hot. Coils around it are quite warm (almost hot, but not too bad). This is the area of PL5001 and PL5201.

What area were you feeling around on the board? Perhaps a dry solder joint? Try that again to see if some area needs to be reflowed.

[mon2]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

What area were you feeling around on the board? Perhaps a dry solder joint? Try that again to see if some area needs to be reflowed.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Just bumping the thread before getting a new board.

I am also wondering if it could be a corrupted BIOS?

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

So just received the replacements. The measurement between the S and D out of circuit is the same. The measurement of the new mosfet is also the same out of circuit, so I am not sure if it has anything to do with the fault :/

I went ahead to measure between the S and D of the other mosfet (PU4301) and it has the same reading. This means, my original reading of PU4301 in one of the earlier posts... was wrong. I replaced PU4401 anyway, and will give it a shot. I've ordered some other components that are in the power/charging circuit, as you suggested, in case we'd find anything odd.

EDIT: So the situation right now is, it powers on, stays on... CPU is hot, fan starts spinning when CPU gets hot. At one point I was feeling around and it turned off (this was around 60 seconds on). Powering on again won't work. Powers on for around 3-5 seconds, and then turns off again. Nothing to do with the CPU temperature as at that time it was cool. Still nothing on display.

As a suggestion, consider to order spare mosfets to rebuild the entire charger circuit - including the charger IC. The total BOM costs are very low if sourcing from Aliexpress so that you are 100% covered.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

Good idea.

As a suggestion, consider to order spare mosfets to rebuild the entire charger circuit - including the charger IC. The total BOM costs are very low if sourcing from Aliexpress so that you are 100% covered.

[mon2]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

As a suggestion, consider to order spare mosfets to rebuild the entire charger circuit - including the charger IC. The total BOM costs are very low if sourcing from Aliexpress so that you are 100% covered.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

The power button on this laptop is not on the keyboard, but a dedicated board. It has the power button, power and charging LEDs, a card reader, and two other buttons. It's connected to the mainboard with a flex cable. It's quite a wide flex cable.

Images

It is also powering on without pressing the power button (even with this little board disconnected), when the battery is connected. So it powers on the moment you plug the DC jack. Only if the battery is connected, otherwise without the battery connected you have the press the power button yourself (and in most cases, it will just power itself off after 5 seconds). With the battery it stays on with a high fan spin. Keyboard is always disconnected. You can feel the warmth on the inductors around the CPU, and the CPU itself.

A lot of weird power issues on Acers are usually keyboard related, as power button is integrated. Original fault fits what I’ve seen. Disconnect keyboard and power on by shorting the 2 end pins of the connector with tweezers (usually pin 27/28) to rule it out.

[DanFen]

Re: Acer Spin 5 - Turns on and off after a few seconds

On order from AliExpress.

Replace the noted mosfet and test again.