# Acer Aspire 4520 will not boot & no lcd op



## SkullMann (Jan 16, 2010)

Hello All 
Im new to your site. So, I can only hope i do this correctly........

I recently came across this Acer Aspire 4520 Laptop 
upon initial inspection the laptop looks to be in fair to good overall condition
i plugged on the a/c adapter and charged the laptops battery 
after 6-8 hours i attempted to turn the laptop on 
by pressing the power button once 
the ring around the power button itself lights up and one other light toward the 
from edge of the laptop comes on 
but nothing else happens 
no lcd operation 
no hard drive operation 
no optical drive operation 

basically 
something went wrong 
my first suspect was the ram 
so i removed the ram, hard drive, wireless modem, and battery 

using a/c adapter power only i pressed the power button 
exact same result 

i tend to believe that the processor is dead but as i search the 
internet i found lots of other people have had the same problem and fixed it somewhat easily.....
Ive attempted a couple of the suggested repairs 
but to this point i still have a non-op 
Aspire 4520 

I Greatly Appreciate any and all help you maybe able to provide 
im currently considering dismantling the laptop with my favorite Hammer 
but before getting all caveman on this thing i thought i ask a few others for some advise 



thanks again 
SkullMann


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hi SkullMann and welcome,

You may have already tried some of these, but we will go through the motions;

*One*

Check all your media slots have nothing in them, i.e. USB, CD/DVD drive and flash drives etc. Try a start with AC cord only, and no battery, then no AC with battery only, if that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Two*

1. Remove the battery and AC cord. Remove the bottom cover/covers of your laptop and make sure the cooling path is free of fluff and dust. Check the heat sink on the CPU is not loose, if so tighten the screws back down that hold it on.
2. Remove and reseat your RAM modules.
3. Replace your covers.
4. Hold down your power button for 1 minute (Battery and AC still disconnected).
5. Replace your AC power (not battery) and turn on.

This is called a hard reset. If it works COOL, then replace your battery. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Three*

Remove your HD, and try starting your laptop. If it goes through the POST, and then a black screen appears with the message _*Operating System Not Found*_, and remains at this screen, then your HD is faulty. Replace with new HD. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Four*

Next prove you dont have bad RAM. You need to identify what one is faulty. Remove all the RAM. Take one stick at a time, and swap it around the RAM slots to see if the laptop will start. You have now identified the good RAM. If each stick produces the fault, then you may have two sticks of bad RAM or a bad RAM slot. Borrow or buy known working RAM. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Five*

Make sure your CPU is seated correctly, if that didn’t work, borrow or buy new/secondhand known working CPU. If that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Six*

Next is the GPU, the graphics chipset. This is not so easy, as most are integrated onto the motherboard. If yours is a high end laptop then you may have a removable graphics card. Remove and reseat this, if that did not work, borrow or buy known working GPU.

For integrated graphics there are diverse ways to try a repair, but not now.

As you will have worked out by now, this is not a fault with one common solution, so that is why we have to follow a process of ilimination to identify faulty hardware before we can say its a motherboard fault.

So now you have to balance out the cost of sending it to a laptop tech or trying to prove the hardware faults using the above methods.


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## wgsk (Feb 5, 2010)

I have the same issue with my daughter's laptop (Acer Aspire 4520). The power button comes on when pressed and couple of blinking lights. No luck in chaning RAM/HD/etc. I bought 2 of these laptops together at Staples in Dec 2007 one is working alright as of now but the other one is not booting.

I bought this new in Dec 2007 and it's out of warranty. Acer wants $199 + shipping to fix it. 

I don't think it's worth the money to fix it?

Please let me know what could be the problem?

Thanks in advance!

I will avoid ACER from now on.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

wgsk and SkullMann

Heres an improved fault finding method to the one in post #2.

You may have already tried some of these, but read on;

At this stage you will be running blind with a black screen or a laptop that cycles through starting up and shutting down. There are many things that can cause Black Screen and Shutdown/Restarts, and trying to pin point what, is a minefield, the solutions are not consistent to one specific piece of hardware, so you will see how frustrating this will get. Remember this procedure is written for the ordinary everyday laptop user who has no access to Techy test equipment, test laptops or a storeroom full of new components. 

Read the whole of this procedure and then make up your mind if you are going to give some of the steps a try, spend a little money trying to prove the fault or spend a lot of money putting it into a repair shop. Remember at the end of this it may be your motherboard thats faulty. You will at least have the piece of mind that you have proved all the major components work. 

You get good laptop Techs and bad laptop Techs, the majority are good. If you decide at the end its going to a repair shop, then you will know what works and what doesn't. This will aid the good laptop Tech and will show the bad laptop Tech you aint putting up with his BULL!

If the mobo needs replacing then you have to make a choice, ask yourself how old your laptop is, the price of a new mobo can be the same as a new laptop. I do not recommend second hand boards, this is a false economy, you don't know its history.

Only read on if you are prepared to get under the hood a little and have a go yourself. If you get easily frustrated, or are prone to vent frustration by trying to prove by demonstration that the aerodynamic properties of a laptop are very similar to a jet fighter, then STOP here.

First step is process of elimination to identify faulty hardware, before we can say it’s a motherboard fault, so a little time and patience will be required. 

*One*

Check all your media slots have nothing in them, i.e. USB, CD/DVD drive and flash drives etc. Try a start with AC cord only, and no battery, then no AC with battery only. If you can, remove your CD/DVD drive and repeat the last test, if that didn’t work then let’s move on.

*Two*

1. Remove the battery and AC cord. Remove the bottom cover/covers of your laptop and make sure the cooling path is free of fluff and dust. Check the heat sink on the CPU is not loose, if so tighten the screws back down that hold it on.
2. Remove and reseat your HDD/RAM modules.
3. Replace your covers.
4. Hold down your power button for 1 minute (Battery and AC still disconnected).
5. Replace your AC power (not battery) and turn on.

This is called a hard reset. If it works COOL, then replace your battery. Problem sorted, If that didn’t work, then at this point before we move on you need to do two simple tests.

1. Remove and reseat your CPU.
2. If you have a removable graphics card, remove and reseat this. Most lappys have an integrated graphics chip set, this will be discussed later.

If nothing has cured the fault so far, one little thing to try before we move on. If your laptops bios cmos battery is accessable (little silver coin shaped cell), then remove this for about 15 mins then put it back in. This will reset your bios to default settings, sometimes this works, worth a try. If you cant find yours, dont know where it is or its soldered onto your motherboard, dont worry, lets move on.

*Three*

Remove your HDD, and try starting your laptop. If it goes through the POST, and then a black screen appears with the message _*Operating System Not Found*_, and remains at this screen, then your HD is faulty or the OS is corrupt, then go to HDD test #1. If however having the HDD still removed and the fault is still present (Black screen or restarting loop) then move on to step *Four*.

HDD test #1
(a) Restart your laptop with the HDD still removed. Enter your bios set up using your laptops recommended keystrokes to enter the bios screen. In the bios set up screen, set the first boot device as your CD/DVD drive, save and exit your bios. Your laptop will reboot to the screen that says _*Operating System Not Found*_. Open your CD/DVD drive and insert your Windows disk or Recovery disk. Shutdown your lappy and replace the HDD. 

(b) Restart your laptop, what will happen next is the laptop will boot from the Windows CD, and give you a series of options, repair Windows, clean instal Windows etc, etc. I would try to do a repair first. If its only Recovery disks you have, then the option will be recovery. If you carry out a successful repair, recovery or Fresh Windows install, then it was only a software problem. Problem sorted. 

(c) If however you are getting an error messages like; cant perform repair or recovery or any other error, then its a good chance the HDD is faulty. Replace HDD and reinstal Windows, if all is ok, problem sorted.

*Four*

Next fault is a chicken and egg senario. The RAM or the CPU which first? As both are needed to satisfy the bios pre post test, which one do we investigate first?

The simplest test here is first to remove and simply replace the CPU in its slot as you did in step *Two* and then see what happens. If that worked then, problem solved. If not then because of the nature of operation between the CPU and RAM, which can give the same fault condition, we need to eliminate the faulty component. Lets move on.

*Five*

Next prove you dont have bad RAM. There are three reason why we are testing the RAM before the CPU, one; in the majority of cases RAM gives mor problems than CPU's, two; it is easily accessible and three; RAM is cheaper than a CPU. You could just as easily start with the CPU, its a personal decision here. If you want to check your RAM first then read on, if you want to check CPU first, then go to *Six*.

You need to identify what RAM stick is faulty. Shutdown the lappy, remove all the RAM. Take one stick at a time, and swap it between the RAM slots to see if the laptop will start. If it starts you have one good RAM stick and RAM slot. Problem solved. Try the same for the other stick. If that stick produces the fault, throw it away and replace it. If each stick produces the fault, then you may have two sticks of bad RAM or bad RAM slots.

Now here's the rub, it could still be a CPU fault, as I said above, both can give the same fault, so we need to eliminate the fault, no easy way here. *Whats your lappy worth to you? *You now need to borrow known working RAM (bonus cos it costs nothing). Use a friend/family member with the exact model of lappy that uses the exact type of RAM to borrow or for testing (slim chance), get a laptop Tech to test it ($$$) or buy known working RAM (you needed to upgrade anyway). Like I said, *whats your lappy worth to you?* If it turns out to be a RAM fault, then you will have a running lappy with upgraded memory. Problem sorted. If that didn’t work, then let’s move on.

*Six*

You are here because (a) you are checking the CPU before the RAM (b) step *Four* did not cure the fault or (c) step *Five* did not cure the fault. This procedure is very similar to proving a RAM fault.

You now need to borrow a known working CPU (bonus cos it costs nothing). Use a friend/family member with the exact model of lappy that uses the exact type of CPU to borrow or for testing (slim chance), get a laptop tech to test it ($$$) or buy a known working CPU. Like I said, *whats your lappy worth to you?* If it turns out to be a CPU fault, and your lappy is now working, problem sorted. 

If the fault is still there and you have not checked your RAM, go to step *Five*. If you have proven your CPU and RAM and the fault is still there, lets move on. 

*Seven*

Next is the GPU, the graphics chipset. This is not so easy, as most are integrated onto the motherboard. If yours is a high end laptop then you may have a removable graphics card. Remove and reseat this, if that did not work, borrow or buy known working GPU.

For integrated graphics, as they are an integral part of the motherboard, there are diverse ways to try a repair. This requires the motherboard out the lappy. At this stage you are most likely to have a motherboard fault.

As you will have worked out by now, this is not a fault with one common solution, so that is why we have to follow a process of elimination to identify faulty hardware before we can say its a motherboard fault.

So now you have to balance out the cost of sending it to a laptop tech, the manufacturer, buying a new motherboard or trying to prove the hardware faults using the above methods. As I said,* Whats your lappy worth to you?*


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## Diannadeniece (Jun 17, 2010)

Hey! I've searched the internet to find a solution to my particular problem and was lead here. So, my problem is similar and I've tried some of the possible solutions you have listed. I've found similar instructions in a few other places. So far, no cigar! My particluar problem is as follows:

* When plugged into power supply and with battery, my battery light shows orange ( as if it were charging ) then quickly to green ( as if fully charged ).
* When I push the power button, the aforementione,green light,goes off. Then from orange to green again. You can imagine my frustration 
Specs:
* Acer Aspire 4520
* Windows Vista
* Battery usually only charged when my cord was in a certain position. I had perfected the technique of charging it by learning this particular postition.
* My power cord was sucked up in the vacuum my my bestie and now has exposed wires that I covered with electrical tape. That was about a year ago and it has never given me a problem.
The measures I have taken :
* Replaced electrical tape!
* Removed back covers. Airdusted. Reseated HD. Tightened loose screws.


Please, oh, please tell me you know the problem and a cheap easy way to fix it!! I'm very patient !
Sincerely, Dianna


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## Diannadeniece (Jun 17, 2010)

Oh my, I almost forgot the most important detail. It doesn't turn on!


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Hi Dianna and welcome to TSF



> Battery usually only charged when my cord was in a certain position. I had perfected the technique of charging it by learning this particular postition


What I see here is the broken power cord intermittently charging your battery and you have been lucky enough to keep this "technique" going for so long, until now. The laptop has probably been running more on battery power rather than the power adapter.

So, what has happened now, those wires have now parted and your battery is not charging and also because they are broken you have no power feeding the laptop. The battery has got to its critical power level (assigned only for hibernation) and this is why it will not start.

If you know someone with a voltmeter they could check the dc at the plug end which should be about 19volts dc, or borrow one to prove that it is 100% the problem. My money is definitely on a dead power adapter (murdered by your vacuum cleaner) lol. 

You need to get a new power adapter girl. ($18-$20 US £20-£25 UK)

A small favour from you Dianna. This thread is an older one and belongs to Skullmann. Once you have bought your adapter (do not repair) and solved this issue could you post your own thread detailing what happened and how you fixed it, give it a heading like Acer 4520 Power Adapter Fault. Anyone searching for power adapter faults will then be lead right to it.

Thank you

Steve


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## cyclonmaster (Dec 20, 2009)

I have another problem with Acer Aspire 4520. When power button pressed. The power button light comes on, then it's quickly off. Tried with AC Adapter only or Battery only or with both AC Adapter+Battery. Please help. Already try changing new CPU, still same problem. All above trick is already tried.


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