Acer 5535 - Black Screen on Startup

[McK1987]

I have received an Acer Aspire 5535 from a client due to the fact it that has recently stopped booting. When you press the power button, the power light comes on but there is no activity from the HDD or Wifi lights. The fan starts and runs for a few seconds then stops but the power light remains on. Nothing is displayed on the screen at all, its just a completely black screen. I cannot hear any activity from the drive at all. I can't access the BIOS config as it doesn't appear to even be running the initial BIOS commands. I have tried taking the battery out for a bit, booting with or without charger attached, I've tried taking out the RAM sticks one at a time to try and eliminate any errors there etc. i have even tried different ram and HDD but still nothing.

I believe there may be an issue with the inverter on this laptop and I am currently in the process of sourcing one out, could anybody tell me if they agree that it could possibly be the inverter?

Thanks in advance for your take on this guys, always helpful!

 

[Martyn]

Can't be the inverter causing that, the inverter runs the backlight so normal booting would be possible but with no/dim display. An external monitor would work normally in that situation. I had one recently that did similar to your problem(can't remember exactly) and the memory slot was at fault on the mb. One module would work (either of the two) but in one slot only.

 

[red12049]

I have received an Acer Aspire 5535 from a client due to the fact it that has recently stopped booting. When you press the power button, the power light comes on but there is no activity from the HDD or Wifi lights. The fan starts and runs for a few seconds then stops but the power light remains on. Nothing is displayed on the screen at all, its just a completely black screen. I cannot hear any activity from the drive at all. I can't access the BIOS config as it doesn't appear to even be running the initial BIOS commands. I have tried taking the battery out for a bit, booting with or without charger attached, I've tried taking out the RAM sticks one at a time to try and eliminate any errors there etc. i have even tried different ram and HDD but still nothing.

I believe there may be an issue with the inverter on this laptop and I am currently in the process of sourcing one out, could anybody tell me if they agree that it could possibly be the inverter?

Thanks in advance for your take on this guys, always helpful!

Can you walk us through how you arrived at this diagnosis?

Rick

 

[McK1987]

As the screen was 100% black on boot up, I tried removing the battery and only using the charger. I then tried draining all power and tring boot up again but to no avail.

I then tried reseating the RAM modules and booting laptop. I also tried only using 1 RAM module at a time and also used known working RAM in each slot.

I tried a external monitor plugged into the VGA port as the client did say that they could get a display this way hoever, I so far have not been able to.

The laptop does give off quite a bit heat and upon removing the keyboard to get into inverter I also noticed that it had gathered quite a bit of dust. I have also thought that the heat may have caused an issue with the graphics module somewhere down the line just like with the HP Pavillion models.

 

[red12049]

As the screen was 100% black on boot up, I tried removing the battery and only using the charger. I then tried draining all power and tring boot up again but to no avail.

I then tried reseating the RAM modules and booting laptop. I also tried only using 1 RAM module at a time and also used known working RAM in each slot.

I tried a external monitor plugged into the VGA port as the client did say that they could get a display this way hoever, I so far have not been able to.

The laptop does give off quite a bit heat and upon removing the keyboard to get into inverter I also noticed that it had gathered quite a bit of dust. I have also thought that the heat may have caused an issue with the graphics module somewhere down the line just like with the HP Pavillion models.

What is the purpose of the inverter?

Rick

 

[McK1987]

An inverter is used to light the laptop's screen. The inverter is usually located underneath the panel between the laptop screen and keyboard. It is a small circuit board. Laptop runs on generally low voltage with the exception of the screen due to the backlit LCD. The inverter will take in the AC power and change to DC power for the screen. Without the inverter and the bulb it powers, the screen would be too faint to see properly.....

Does that answer your question?

 

[red12049]

An inverter is used to light the laptop's screen. The inverter is usually located underneath the panel between the laptop screen and keyboard. It is a small circuit board. Laptop runs on generally low voltage with the exception of the screen due to the backlit LCD. The inverter will take in the AC power and change to DC power for the screen. Without the inverter and the bulb it powers, the screen would be too faint to see properly.....

Does that answer your question?

Answers it just fine. Now, put that description next to the symptoms you gave earlier, and explain to me, please, how the inverter has anything to do with those symptoms, other than a dark LCD.

Rick