1 May 2015

And Then A Turn-on….

Firstly, I'm concentrating really, really hard on the election right now as, in the media, there seems to be no end of people asking no end of politicians no end of very pertinent questions and what I'm concentrating on is spotting the first politico who actually answers the question asked. No, I'm not holding my breath. You hear me at the back? Yes you!! I'm wagging my thumb at you!!

                                         Fist

Now let's talk computer stuff a while as this may help anyone who has an Acer Aspire X3812 mini tower thingy. I have and that's how I know how to spell Acer and Aspire. I've had him for some time now and he always did what he's supposed to do. More or less anyway.

Then, about two months ago, he refused to turn on. The power switch on these fellows is a micro switch concealed under a strip of plastic about two inches long and you can, used to be able to, press anywhere along this strip to make him burst joyously into life.

Anyhoo, after about twenty increasingly frantic presses he did light up and away we went as 'normal'. Just a 'one-off', right?Sadly no, and this became the norm and sometimes ten presses would be enough, sometimes in excess of twenty.

I had a type-in with my bestest friend Google and it seems this phenomenon is quite commonenon with this model. I went through all the 'fixes' catalogued out there and thought I'd put 'em all together for anyone who has, or knows someone who has one of these beasts just in case you/they run into the same start switch power problem at some time.

First up was to turn monitor on first then press the tower power. That was what I already did so obviously didn't work for me.
Secondly, press power on the tower before turning on monitor. Worked for me. Twice only.
Thirdly, press the power strip anywhere and hold down firmly for ten seconds. Worked for me. Twice only.
Fourthly, take a pry-bar, remove the front of the box and either replace the micro switch or, alternatively, hotwire the sucker. I didn't go there as I only have a small pry-bar and, after weighing up the job, felt a thirty-six was needed.
Then I found number five that, at time of typing, has worked, first press, many times without missing. Below is an absolute rubbish photo of the exact place to press; the very top of the extreme left corner of the power 'strip'. Get the picture?

                               Start

You're probably wondering why this one 'sweet spot' works. I wondered a while as well but gave up pretty quick. It works for me is wot matters.

Hope one of the above options works, either right now or some time in the future, for any owners of this kit who may encounter a power-up, or lack thereof, problem.

What's the betting this post is the kiss o' death on number five and I'll be shopping for a thirty-six tomorrow……

Quote;  John Pierce.

"After growing wildly for years, the field of computing appears to be reaching its infancy."

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