Acer fan stops

craigwatanabe

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4
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USA
Acer Aspire 5532 Laptop running a 1.6 GHz Athlon TF20xxx processor.

Problem cropped up a few weeks ago. Turn on laptop and If you run the BIOS SETUP and leave it there, it shuts down. Won't even get to the Windows 7 login or splash screen.

Opened up the laptop and ran it with just the motherboard on the bench and Bezel with power switch and external monitor. No hard drive, no DVD-ROM drive, no peripherals hooked up. Just power, power switch and external monitor.

Did this to observe if the fan or peripherals were causing the system to shut down.

Fan will run for a few seconds then shuts down. Monitor then goes blank within a couple of seconds, no display, no cursor, basically no signal.

Checked the heatsink and reapplied heatsink compound.
Checked CPU fan, spins freely, runs momentarily then stops. No dust in radiator or fan shroud.
Replaced processor and RAM.

Tried running a Linux boot disk but could not boot due to system shutting down after BIOS start up.

Seems to be a heating issue. Fan runs but stops (seems to be the reason). Replacement CPU has no effect. Replacement RAM has no effect.

Question: Is the fan supposed to stop on boot up?

If not I can see why the system would shut itself down. I've Googled this problem and some techs say this is normal. One hobbyist even went as far as replacing the cooling fan itself with the same result: Fan shuts down after 5-seconds of powering up the Mobo.

If the fan is SUPPOSED TO shut down after a few seconds the answer is that it will turn on when the CPU's sensor indicates a higher than normal operating temperature. But after a few minutes after shutting down, the motherboard refuses to power back up or display anything on the monitor. Basically it's not turning back on.

I'm suspecting if the fan is operating normally and the CPU and RAM is fine could I be looking at a bad motherboard, specifically bad capacitors?

Sorry for the long diagnosis but I've spent an entire day troubleshooting this laptop and am starting to believe the mobo is the problem and not the CPU Fan.

Anyone had a similar situation and what was your solution? I'm stuck and ready to consider replacing the entire motherboard or e-recycling the whole thing.

Thanks!!:)
 
Acer Aspire 5532 Laptop running a 1.6 GHz Athlon TF20xxx processor.

Problem cropped up a few weeks ago. Turn on laptop and If you run the BIOS SETUP and leave it there, it shuts down. Won't even get to the Windows 7 login or splash screen.

Opened up the laptop and ran it with just the motherboard on the bench and Bezel with power switch and external monitor. No hard drive, no DVD-ROM drive, no peripherals hooked up. Just power, power switch and external monitor.

Did this to observe if the fan or peripherals were causing the system to shut down.

Fan will run for a few seconds then shuts down. Monitor then goes blank within a couple of seconds, no display, no cursor, basically no signal.

Checked the heatsink and reapplied heatsink compound.
Checked CPU fan, spins freely, runs momentarily then stops. No dust in radiator or fan shroud.
Replaced processor and RAM.

Your checking your laptop wrong, when did you purchase this laptop ?
When was the last time you checked your cpu temps ?
What you just stated sounds like the cpu is overheating. :/
Bios should allow you to check your system health.

Buy some new grease from newegg.com or wherever else, I recommend artic silver 5.
Locate a guide on google videos for applying the grease and reseating the heatsink so you don't prevent it from booting.

Verify this information and get back with us soon if you need more help.
 
Using Arctic Silver. BIOS setup doesn't have metrics to display CPU temps unfortunately. The heat sink is properly attached with even pressure on all four spring-loaded mounting points. At first I wanted to see if booting to the OS was putting additional load requirements on a weak CPU (possible previous overheating issues), as it would thru normal boot up get to the windows welcome screen then shut down, by holding the boot sequence at the BIOS setup where CPU loads would be minimal at best. While in the BIOS setup, the screen would freeze then shut down at around the same time as if during normal boot up, around 5-seconds with the CPU fan spinning then stopping. Went so far as replacing the CPU with a known good one and same result. It seems like it would either be a bad CPU or Fan but I replaced the CPU and the fan does power on (albeit for only a second or two) . So I've reduced the problem to either a bad fan or possibly a bad mobo. I just don't know if the fan running momentarily during boot up is normal or if it should be constantly running.
 
Using Arctic Silver. BIOS setup doesn't have metrics to display CPU temps unfortunately. The heat sink is properly attached with even pressure on all four spring-loaded mounting points. At first I wanted to see if booting to the OS was putting additional load requirements on a weak CPU (possible previous overheating issues).

Alright let me stop you before you go over the top.
Take off the heatsink from the cpu, you tell me if there is anymore grease on it or it seems harden ? :/
If so -that is a good and strong indication- the cpu may need some fresh new grease. :)
Please do that, and use a air can on the heatsink and system fans while the system is off.

Please click this link for more information about laptop cpus.
amd - How do I correctly apply thermal paste on a laptop CPU with a small surface area? - Super User
 
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Heat sink Regreased twice. fan clear of dust and debris and spins for five seconds on boot up regardless if it is trying to boot to the OS login screen, BIOS setup or boot disk. Removed all peripherals to limit loads. Same thing, fan shuts down after five seconds. Replaced the CPU, RAM. Same thing. I'm suspecting fan or bad MOBO. Question was as stated before, is it normal for the fan to shut down after five seconds. It will not fire up again as the mobo shuts down. My next troubleshooting is to remove the heat sink and check surface temp of the CPU and other board components for excess temps
 
Question was as stated before, is it normal for the fan to shut down after five seconds. It will not fire up again as the mobo shuts down. My next troubleshooting is to remove the heat sink and check surface temp of the CPU and other board components for excess temps

For laptops to boot up normally, when you hit the power button, it should boot up and stay on and not cut back off.

Check the ac adaptor on the laptop, and remove the battery, to see if it will come on.
If it does the same thing, it maybe a connector port issue or battery.
If its not, remove the memory and try a new one if possible.

If none of those still work, post up your full laptop model number and let me know if it maybe under warrenty.
You might need rma service, and they will probably check the mobo to see if it died.
 
All laptop info is on initial thread. RAM has been replaced. RMA is moot as this laptop is over 3yrs old. Power Supply is good wattage and load check is normal. Battery is fine CMOS Battery is fine. CPU is fine. All peripherals are fine. Boiled it down to either motherboard or CPU Fan, hence the original question. If what you say is correct that the fan should in fact stay running then my next step should be to replace it as it's much cheaper than attempting a motherboard replacement. If I need to replace that then this laptop will be a parts project.
 
If what you say is correct that the fan should in fact stay running then my next step should be to replace it as it's much cheaper than attempting a motherboard replacement. If I need to replace that then this laptop will be a parts project.

Alright then make it happen and purchase a new fan, check amazon first for those parts.
I'll start looking for a motherboard in the meantime in case the fan is not the issue. :/
 
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