Hi - I have an ACER Laptop, about 3 years old now, was previously working fine. I switched it on this morning, the green indicator light at the front flashed on and off about 5/6 times, then stopped and that was it - nothing appeared on screen. I thought maybe the battery was flat so tried with the mains adaptor but the same thing happened, nothing on screen and no fan noise.
Anyone have any ideas on this one - Cheers.

Hi
Something like what you describe can occur for a number of reasons.

If the Notebook was off the mains and the main battery was empty, the CMOS battery may have gone totally flat (should be 3.0V)
Simply removing the CMOS battery for a few minutes and putting it back again may resolve your issue. Try that first.

I have a Gateway that did the same thing. Has done it 3 times in a couple of yrs. I took the battery out of it, put it back in plugged the a/c cord up and never had anther issue. Good Luck

Is the "cmos" battery the main battery, or a small one that just runs the clock

usually on acer laptops the bios battery is on the motherboard which would require the near complete disassembly(not recommended unless familiar) of the laptop to access the battery ,which also sometimes is soldered in place,
maybe could you take the main battery out ,remove the power cord and hold the power on button down for 30 seconds ,release, and then plug the power cord in and see if it boots, its worked a few times for me

which model is it ?

Its a Acer Aspire 3630 - I will try the above when I get home - cheers

I just tried no. 5 above - I assume you mean to replace the battery before rebooting - just does the same, the light at the front (right hand one) flashes 8 times then stops. Without the battery no lights.