Fix: Acer Iconia W3 won’t charge / dies when not plugged in

At BUILD a few years ago when I was working for Telerik I got my first Windows 8 tablet, an Acer Iconia W3. The tablet, while having a bad screen (this has been changed in later models) has been used a lot by me. So when my perents visited in UK over NYE and dad forgot his laptop at home I was more than happy to lend him the tablet with the full size attachable keyboard. However, the tablet died when not plugged in- it seemed like the battery simply wouldn’t charge. I had this problem when I first got the tablet and Acer fixed it within a week or two after first contact over Twitter.

With my warranty being outdated I decided to see if I could fix this myself and tried a few things such as leaving it to charge over several days in case the lithium battery was causing the problem. The solution that did solve it in the end was actually a BIOS update (be aware that there is risk involved, so you are on your own if you do that).

I first tried to download d the driver update package, but it refused to install since battery was below 30% (the tablet was on AC power, but that didn’t matter). Then I downloaded the BIOS update after updating Windows with latest updates. The BIOS update installed without problems, and the tablet was able to hold a charge and is now charging happily without dying if I unplug it. I’ll be updating the rest of the drivers once it gets over 30% battery charge.

Here is where you can download the driver package for the Acer W3 and the BIOS update:

Fix: Acer Iconia W3 won’t charge / dies when not plugged in

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