Help! Laptop wont power on!

[abbadaba]

I have an ASUS K52F, a little over two years old. It was used last night with no issues. This morning it wont power up.

When plugged in the corresponding LED on the front lights up. When the power button is pressed the LED on the power button lights up, the "lightbulb" LED on the front lights up, the briefest flicker on the screen can be seen and then everything goes out except the "plugged in" LED.

Things I have tried so far:

removing the battery and hitting power = same result as above

reseated ram

unplugged, removed battery, held down power button for 30 seconds, installed battery, plugged in and tried again.

tried holding/tapping/wiggling the power button

Possible clues / known issues:

The system has had a slightly annoying stuttering problem for awhile which I believe to be hard drive related.

The battery doesn't hold much of a charge.

My father in law who happens to be the biggest clutz in existence who has severely damaged at least two other laptops that I know of was the last person to use the computer. He denies any wrongdoing.

I welcome any suggestions.

 

[Bubbaleone]

You've done all the right diagnostic steps, so I think you should look at a hardware failure. The K52F AC/DC connector is know to be quite fragile. If the power-pack connector is plugged in and happens to get hit hard it can easily damage that port causing poor charging, no charging, and/or no starting. You can pick one up for $5.50 at USBZilla.

 

[abbadaba]

You've done all the right diagnostic steps, so I think you should look at a hardware failure. The K52F AC/DC connector is know to be quite fragile. If the power-pack connector is plugged in and happens to get hit hard it can easily damage that port causing poor charging, no charging, and/or no starting. You can pick one up for $5.50 at USBZilla.

Thank you for your reply.

Since I made my original post the "plugged in" LED only comes on amber, it was green before. So I'm guessing you are correct. I will order the new plug and see what happens.

 

[Matt1970]

You reseated ram, but have you tried the sticks one at a time or with none at all? Have you tried booting it without the hard drive and DVD?

 

[abbadaba]

You reseated ram, but have you tried the sticks one at a time or with none at all? Have you tried booting it without the hard drive and DVD?

After further testing this is definitely a power problem and not related to other components.

After leaving the laptop alone and plugged in for awhile (almost 24hr) it did power on and we were able to use it normally for a couple nights. We left it plugged in most of the time but I did briefly unplug it and it continued to work (so the battery isn't completely useless)

During the time we used it windows did say that we should consider replacing the battery and that it is not charging properly.

Now it is not working again, when we tried to fire it up tonight: amber power LED and same results as my original post.

When i get this new power port Bubbaleone suggested will i need any specialized tools to install it?

 

[Steltek]

When you leave the charger plugged in for an extended period, does it get really hot? I'm wondering if your charger might be going out. You can get a cheapo replacement on eBay for $5 or $6. I probably wouldn't trust them for an extended period, but that would at least allow you to check to see if the issue is related to the charger.

 

[abbadaba]

I'm wondering if your charger might be going out. .

Nope, I have two compatible power bricks. One came with the ASUS laptop the other is from an old gateway but they both have the same specs/plug. Neither gets hot, symptoms are the same with either.

Answered my own question from my previous post. Looks like I need to learn basic soldering and buy a soldering kit to replace the power port myself, ugh.

 

[oynaz]

I wouldn't make replacing a power port on a laptop mobo my first soldering project. Bribe someone to do it for you.

 

[abbadaba]

I wouldn't make replacing a power port on a laptop mobo my first soldering project. Bribe someone to do it for you.

You're probably right. I have fixed computers that were pretty FUBARed before but never did any manual repairs to PCBs. I suppose I could break down the laptop and remove the daughter board that the power port is attached to and just bring that to a shop and have them solder the port then put everything back together myself to minimize the labor cost. Yeah that is a run on sentence, too bad.

 

[abbadaba]

Finally got the part (new power jack) and got around to fixing the computer. (part took almost two weeks, regular mail from hong kong) Had a buddy who knows how to use a soldering iron replace the power jack on the daughter board. Reassembled and now the computer just blinks (power button led, power led, dvdrom led) when plugged in and doesn't respond in any useful way. Which means to me mean the motherboard is probably dead, although i will have to go through and make sure I reassembled everything correctly.

 

[denis280]

Had a buddy who knows how to use a soldering iron

if too mush heat was apply to the area you should look for damage.or something else got burned.and yes double check all connection.

 

[paul878]

Try to boot up with the minimum, that means 1 stick of ram, no hd, no dvd, no wif, no lcd connected, and take out anything else you can. Try different ram in different slot, clean the ram pin with alcohol.