Acer Spin 7 SP714-51 Troubleshooting

Laptop dies within minutes of being removed from the charger or the laptop lasts for significantly less time than when it was bought.

• First, check to see if your battery is fully charged before removing the charger. Now test it again, while closing all applications.

• Turn down your screen brightness and put your laptop into battery saver mode. This should help save battery life and will also help diagnose if there is a problem with your Spin 7’s battery or if it is a configuration issue.

• Run your laptop without anything open until it dies and note the time it takes to do so. If it keeps dying within minutes, your battery may be significantly worn. Otherwise, this is an issue with your software draining your battery.

• To check to see if your battery has been significantly worn, first open Windows PowerShell on your laptop as an administrator. In Windows 10, this can be found in the search tab in the start menu.
• Once PowerShell is opened, type in the following: “powercfg /batteryreport /output “C:\battery-report.html”. This will issue a status report on your laptop’s battery health and save it to your C drive’s folder.
• Open the .html file to view the report. Navigate to the installed battery header and read the design capacity and full charge capacity.
• Divide the full charge capacity by the design capacity and multiply it by 100. This gives you your remaining battery health as a percentage. Anything less than 50% is significant enough to cause your issue, meaning that your battery should be replaced.

If none of these solutions work, you may need to replace your laptop's battery

• Battery Replacement Guide

Laptop does not turn on unless it is plugged into the wall, A symbol on the desktop that says the device is plugged in but not charging or the battery icon shows as plugged in, but the battery does not increase in charge over an extended period.

• Before getting any more involved, check to make sure that the power supply is securely connected to the wall, and that the USB-C cable is securely connected to the laptop. Fully shut down your laptop and wait thirty seconds before turning it back on.

• If the issue remains, check to make sure if the power supply you’re using is up to the manufacturer’s specifications, if it’s not the original power supply. Laptop chargers require a higher wattage than ordinary USB chargers. If you’re unsure what the specification of your old power supply is, locate the model number on the back of the laptop. It should be in the middle of the laptop’s back next to the serial number, and it should be something like SP714-XX-XXXX, depending on which configuration of the Spin 7 you own. Use this to look up the specific power supply that your laptop needs and compare the specifications. A low wattage power supply could cause your laptop to not charge.

• If the power supply is up to the manufacturer’s standard, check the power supply and charging port for dirt and dust. Accumulated dirt and dust can cause the power supply to not make full contact with the charging port, causing this issue. Dirt and dust can be cleaned gently with a toothpick or a cotton swab. Be sure to work carefully to not damage check the whole assembly for damage such as exposed wiring stripped of shielding, broken plastic, or any other unusual appearances or behaviors in the power supply, such as a burning plastic smell.

• There is also a possibility that your battery may be significantly worn, causing it to not charge from your power supply. Refer to "The battery drains quickly or will not hold a charge" and follow the steps outlined in 'Generate Battery Report' to check on your battery's health and determine whether a replacement is needed.

If none of these solutions work, you may need to replace your laptop's battery

• Battery Replacement Guide

The trackpad is cracked, water-damaged, or dented, and is not functioning or the mouse does not respond when using the trackpad but responds to an external mouse

• Remove all devices that are connected to the system except for the power cord. This includes an external keyboard, mouse, flash drives, hard drives, and other peripherals.

• Many systems allow you to turn the touchpad on or off by pressing the FN and F7 keys at the same time.

• The trackpad software may be malfunctioning. Restarting your system would help your touchpad start responding again.

• Some systems have touchpad settings in the BIOS/UEFI.

• Missing or incorrect drivers may cause your touchpad to not work properly. You can try downloading and installing the latest driver from the Acer Drivers and Manuals page. You may need to attach an external mouse to complete this process.

• Newer versions of Windows allow you to restore your operating system without losing your personal data. Make sure you select the option to Keep my files.

If none of these solutions work, you may have to replace the trackpad

• Trackpad Replacement Guide

The keyboard is cracked, water-damaged, or dented, and is not functioning properly or the keyboard does not respond to user input, but an external keyboard does respond and function correctly.

• Your keyboard drivers could be malfunctioning. Fully restarting your laptop will completely restart all software, hopefully resolving the malfunction. Press and hold the power button until the laptop is turned off. Unplug the power cable and battery from the laptop. Leave the laptop alone for a few seconds, and plug the battery and power cable back into the laptop. Power on to check if the keyboard is working now.

Filter Keys is the feature where your keyboard ignores brief or repeated keystrokes. Disabling this feature could potentially fix the keyboard problem.

• Click the start menu (the Windows logo) at the bottom left of the screen.
• Click “Settings” (for Windows 10) or “Control Panel” (for Windows 7)
• Click “Ease of Access”
• Click “Keyboard” (for Windows 10) or “Make the keyboard easier to use” (for Windows 7)
• Disable the Filter Keys function (switch off “Filter Keys” or uncheck “Turn on filter keys).
• Try using the keyboard to see if the problem is fixed by disabling the filter keys feature.

Having the wrong keyboard driver or it being out of date could result in the keyboard not working.  Using “Driver easy” will automatically recognize the system and find the correct drives for it. The drives needed can be downloaded and installed by using either the free or pro version of “Driver Easy”.

• Download the latest version of Driver Easy here.

If none of these remediate the issue, the keyboard may need to be replaced.

• Keyboard Replacement Guide

The laptop will not connect to any wireless network without an external Wi-Fi adapter, the laptop frequently disconnects from all wireless networks it is connected to or the laptop does not show any networks to connect to in any setting.

• You can learn how to update the Wi-Fi drivers here.

• Click on the power button in the windows menu and see if there are updates available. If there are, select update and restart and wait for windows to install new updates.

• The WiFi adapter interface software could be malfunctioning. A cold restart should fix this. Open the Windows menu and click the power button. Choose either "Shutdown" or "Restart" to shut down your laptop, and turn it back on after waiting a short period. Attempt to reconnect to Wi-Fi after logging in.

• Open the Control Panel app. Look for Network and Internet, and go to the Network and Sharing Center.
• Select "Change Adapter Settings". If your Wi-Fi setting is greyed out, right-click on the setting and click 'Enable'.

• First, press windows+R on your computer. Type in "services.msc" to open Windows Service Manager, and scroll down until you reach the service named "WLAN AutoConfig".
• Double-click on this service to open the management window. If the service says it is running, leave it as-is. Otherwise, press the start button underneath Service Status. Select the "Automatic" option under the Startup Type menu. Click "Apply", then "OK". Close Windows Service Manager and check to see if your Wi-Fi is working.

• Open the Control Panel app and navigate to Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Change Advanced Power Settings.
• Click on Wireless Adapter Settings and under both 'On Battery' and 'Plugged In', switch the options to Maximum Performance. Save and close the Control Panel and check to see if your Wi-Fi is working.

• Open the Command Prompt as administrator. Type in "ipconfig /release" and enter the command. Next, input "ipconfig /renew" and enter the command. Finally, input "ipconfig /flushdns" and enter the command. Close the Command Prompt and attempt to connect to the Wi-Fi network.

If none of the above steps fix the issue, your Wi-Fi adapter card may be faulty and be in need of replacement

• WIFI Card Replacement Guide