Laptop won't turn on if power cable plugged in

I have a weird problem with my laptop for about a week: it won't turned on when the power cable is plugged in.

I can unplug the cable, turn the laptop on, then plug in the cable again and everything works well.

Any ideas what could cause this and how to fix it?

It might be a coincidence but this problem started around the time I cleaned my Windows. I used CCleaner to clean up files and the Windows Disk Defragmenter tool to defragment the hard drives. I don't see how a Windows issue could cause this though.

Edit: Adding some answers, as requested:

@DaaBoss

• There are 2 lights at the power button. The first (A) is on when the power cable is plugged in. The other (B) is on when the laptop is turned on. There is a beep sound when the power cable is plugged in, no other sound on start.

  With the power cable plugged in, the A light is on. When I press the start button, the laptop won't start and the B light doesn't turn on.

  If I unplug the power cable, the A light goes off. When I press the start button, the laptop starts and the B light turns on. Then I plug the power cable and the A light turns on and there is a beep sound.

• The laptop is not Lenovo, it is an Acer Aspire. The model is 7736ZG.

  Regarding activity, I have used the laptop daily for a long time and I did not make any changes in BIOS recently.

@acejavelin

• The laptop is plugged in an extension cord from a wall outlet. The extension cord doesn't have any details written on it.

  I haven't tried yet but I will do so, to plug the laptop directly in the wall outlet or to use another outlet from the house and see if there is any difference.

• Regarding more details about what happens when I try to turn it on, please see above.

Edit 2:

Some other important information I did not mention. I opened up the laptop recently to clean it using a can of compressed air. I have been doing this regularly every few months for a few years and haven't had any problems.

I mostly clean the dust on the cooler and the vents. I usually spray a few times over the rest of the hardware as well. The motherboard and the HDD are the other hardware that are mostly exposed when the back panel is opened.

1 Answer

With the system off, remove the battery and the power cable. Press the power button for 20 seconds. Plug the power cable back in but keep the battery out. See if you can now boot the the system. If you can, power-off again, remove the power cable and insert the battery. Attach the power cable again and see if the system boots.