# My Acer X1200 has no power



## JustFiona (Feb 6, 2011)

Hi,

I have a refurbished Acer X1200 (mini tower) which has worked great for the past year. 

I switched it off around Christmas and tried to start it up today and it wont start up. I don't get any power to it at all. It's as if it's not plugged in. I'm wondering if there's a way to know if this is the power supply, the switch, or if it could be something else? I have opened up the case and don't see anything wrong and there's very little dust. I've tried holding down the power button for 30 seconds as recommended in another post, but nothing happened. 

This has been a great computer and my only complaint would be the power button. It's angled plastic and difficult to tell if you're pressing it properly. It looks cool but that's about it. http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/itemdetails/a180-5200/a180-5200-call03-sp.jpg

Any help would be really appreciated! Thank you ray:


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## wizard. (Jan 23, 2010)

Hello and welcome to TSF 
Have you tried unplugging and plugging it back in? Sometimes it just needs a little spark to get the power going (usually a problem if plugged into a power strip)


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## JustFiona (Feb 6, 2011)

Hi Tyran and thanks for the welcome 

I have tried that and plugged it directly into the wall this time too. One thing I didnt mention is we did have a power surge throughout the house just before I tried starting it up, however I had it plugged into an APC battery backup surge protection box along with my other PC which remained powered up.

When I've been trying to test it with the power button, it's so difficult to tell if I'm even pressing it properly because of the way it's designed. I wish i could feel a "click" and I dont even remember if I felt one before (it's been a few months). I wonder if anyone else has this particular model?


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Actually the test to do is a little more than that where you unplug the tower and then press the power button for 4 seconds, then let it sit for about 20 minutes and plug it back in and try again.
The other thing I would try is remove every plug from the board blow off the board and the plug with "a can of air" or sutable compressor and then replug snugly to board and all components. If you still get nothing at all, well you need at least a new power supply.
Acer owns eMachine and Gateway, home to the poorest quality psus ever put in towers in the history of computing, though no brand name pc gets "4 stars" for the psus they use either, so the fact it's gone after a year is not surprising. The hope is when and if it blew, it did not take out anything else. BTW, having an APC is great but what many people miss is to plug their cable or phone line into it and then out to modem as those are the most frequent carriers of system ending surges if not so plugged.


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## JustFiona (Feb 6, 2011)

Thanks Rich. I just tried that and had no luck. When you say unplug everything from the motherboard, do you mean all the wires or other things too? I'm not really that comfortable with this unless it's just a few things (so that I can remember where the heck to put them back later lol). 

Silly question but is it pretty easy to replace a power supply and is there much/any harm I can do while doing so? I'm 50/50 about taking this to a pro or buying a new PSU and attempting it myself. 

Thanks


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Not everything just plugs and cables only. Ram sticks and pci cards also. Psu is really only 4 screws that hold it but there are plugs into every electrical component as well. If you are concerned, take it to a reputable shop because you could bump something else while doing this and add more issues to the problem.


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## JustFiona (Feb 6, 2011)

I think I'm going to give it a go myself and be very careful. I can get a mini tower size PSU plus the mini case for about $20 more than the PSU alone. I wonder if this would be a good idea in case it's the power switch that's gone on my Acer. I'm assuming that I could first try to remove the new PSU from the new case and try it in my Acer. 

Another n00b question... is it ok if the new PSU is more powerful? The one I have now is a Liteon 220V.

And one more lol... if I did take my pc to a shop, can they test the PSU to see if that's the problem, or would they likely try a new one?

Thanks again for your help! ray:


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

More powerful, yes it needs to be more powerful.


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