I have a 5 year-old Acer laptop: it was working fine until about a week ago. The problem is that once it's connected to power it takes 2-3 minutes for the battery light to power and for a weird reason while it's off, the power button doesn't work.
Why is this happening and what can I do to fix it?
This is usually a sign that the battery is in really bad condition.
I presume the battery life is also getting quite bad.
A 5 year old laptop battery can't be in decent condition.
These things usually last no longer than 2 years and should be considered expendable.
(I always tell my friends: If you decide to buy a laptop you will have to calculate the replacement cost of the battery into the purchase price. The laptop usually has a life-cycle 2 to 3 times longer than the battery.)
Time to replace the battery it seems.
(That might be expensive for an older laptop and it can be really difficult to find a replacement.)
If you don't want to replace the battery:
Try to run the laptop from mains power WITHOUT the battery installed.
Most laptops will allow this and it has the added benefit of saving electricity, because it is not continuously trying to re-charge the broken battery.
The laptop will also get less hot, which is nice too.
