Member Avatar for spattly

Hello,
Acer laptop 8200 travelmate will not start after being off for a long period of time. I press the power button and the CPU fan starts going the screen remains black, the CPU activity light starts to blink, and then you can hear the fan just stop turning while the screen remains blank. It will do nothing after this point even though the power light remains on. I have tried removing the battery and using only the battery. No new drivers have been installed. New motherboard about a week ago but it starts up ok sometimes with no other problems. It can take upwards of 10 times turning on and off for the actual computer to start up.

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Dani AI

Generated

Summary for (building on comments from , and ):

Symptoms described (black screen, fan spins briefly then stops, power LED on, no POST logo, problem existed before and after a motherboard swap) point to a hardware-level failure rather than an OS issue. Intermittent start-ups usually indicate power delivery, firmware/EC hang, marginal solder/connection, or display-backlight failure.

Practical checklist (ordered from low-risk to more invasive):

  • Power-reset: remove AC and battery, press and hold power for ~30 seconds to discharge caps; reconnect AC only and attempt boot.
  • Verify the AC adapter output with a multimeter or a known-good adapter; a sagging adapter can allow the fan to start then the board to cut out.
  • Try minimal-boot: remove HDD/optical, remove wireless card and any peripherals, leave only one RAM module in the primary slot. Swap RAM modules and slots to rule out bad memory or slot.
  • Look for faint image with a bright flashlight angled at the screen; a visible image means inverter/backlight or lid cable, not the GPU/POST.
  • Listen/watch for POST/beep or LED blink codes (internal speaker or keyboard LEDs). Record patterns; they map to component failures on many boards.
  • Inspect the motherboard visually for bulging/leaking capacitors, damaged DC jack, burnt components, or loose ribbon connectors around the display and power area.
  • CMOS reset: remove the coin cell for several minutes or use the clear-CMOS jumper to rule out BIOS corruption/EC hang.
  • If comfortable and equipped: measure main rails (3.3V, 5V, CPU rails) at the DC-in and board test points. Rapid fan stop often means a power rail collapse or short.

Notes and next steps:
Intermittent behavior that predates the motherboard swap makes software fixes unlikely. If the board was recently replaced by a shop, request that they reproduce the failure under warranty testing. If none of the low-risk checks help, the likely causes are failing power MOSFETs, marginal solder joints, or a faulty EC/BIOS — these require bench diagnosis or a professional repair. Handle boards on a nonconductive surface and observe ESD precautions; avoid BIOS reflash or board rework unless performed by an experienced technician.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for 4th&3wood

If you have installed a new motherboard and haven't reinstalled the OS this could be your problem. Windows OS don't like to see different chipset, the registry has different IDs for these and when you change the motherboard you will add new IDs which confuse the OS and usually results in needing to have the OS reinstalled. If you wish to read a good article on this go here.

Member Avatar for spattly

Thanks for the tip i didnt know that and I will certainly give it a shot but I was having this problem before the mobo was replaced as well.

Member Avatar for KalebG

Did you secure the monitor to the motherboard correctly? Just a thought.

Note:

Whoops, didn't see you had this problem before replacing the mobo.

Member Avatar for spattly

And I dont believe that would be the problem anyway, the monitor connected properly because after I press the power button a few seconds go by, the screen stays dark but you can hear the fan quit working on the CPU so it must be something more than a loose monitor connection.

Member Avatar for bobbyraw

was this PC connected to a external monitor recently, you might need to switch back with the Fn key.

Do you see anything on the screen, the bios, some logo anything?

Member Avatar for spattly

No external monitor and no logo or anything, screen stays black and definately did not hit the Fn key to switch to external monitor on accident. The laptop does not post.

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