Laptop not turning on..

Dun

I've a problem with a Compaq laptop that won't turn on at all. The battery is completely charged, and everything was working fine half an hour ago. I wasn't there when it turned it offThere is no sign of life when I press the 'power on' button. This is a new laptop bought earlier this year (in the States, that's why I haven't contacted support yet. Thank God it's not mine).

Anyone got an idea what might be a cause?

Gmodified

Try to pull out memory from the laptop. My 128Mb stick went faulty and laptop wouldn't boot at all. You should get few beeps when trying to power on without memory.

It worked for me but could be different story for you.

Try it

Saruman

If it were a Gateway or Dell i would say reseat the CPU.. Not sure how easy that is on a Compaq but yeah take stuff out like mem, hard drive and so on.. reseat them too.

Krusty_Clown

Hmm.. Given that it's a US laptop, are you sure that it supports Irish voltages?

Are you sure no-one spilt a cup of water on it, while you weren't looking?


If it were a RAM/HD/peripheral problem, then you would at least see some lights when you tried to power up the laptop..

Have you tried powering-up with the power adapter?
Laptop batteries (particularly those manufactured to work in other countries - on other voltages) tend to be quite volatile..

Do you have someone else battery you can try?

Dun

Yeah, the transformer (I think that's the proper term) in the power lead takes both voltages, and changes it to a 12v DC current to the laptop. In any case, the battery has a set of LED lights and a test button to show how full it is, and it's working fine. I'll give the other suggestions (including the cup of water one - with the owner it is feasible :rolleyes:) a go tomorrow.

Can't wait to see the owner's face when I get out me screwdriver and go into disassembly mode.

Kegser

You sure the AC Adaptor is working? You got a multi-meter to test it with? Have you removed everything you can without physically opening the case?

Give Compaq a buzz and see whether they'll honour the warranty here; because as soon as you open the bitch up I assure you they'll know, and you'll be at their mercy.

Laptops are expensive things to fork up... and expensive things to repair.

Dun

Yeah, the laptop has been running fine for a few months now. I was just thinking that I'd contact them first cause I don't want to void the warranty. I've removed everything that's external and still no go - not a single led is lighting up when I try to power on.

jyd

Are there any beeps at all when you try to turn it on?

Do you get the POST screen ie COMPAQ startup screen?

Have you added any new hardware to it...PCMCIAc cards etc?

Dun

Haven't added anything at all to it. There isn't a peep out of it, no sign of life at all. Just noticed that the power indicator LED on the transformer box on the power cord turns dull and flickers whenever it's plugged in

Anyway, Compaq will take it back and fix it in July when the owner returns to the States.

Thanks for your help guys!

jyd

One last thing......it sounds like a power problem...so it could be either the power supply on the laptop or the transformer that you plug into the wall

If you know someone with a similar power supply try it...and if it does not work then it is a problem with the psu in the laptop itself and that will require compaq repair

Cheers

Dun

Nah, the battery has power indicator LEDs and it's fully charged. I've no idea what it is, but it's not my laptop, and it's not needed in a hurry, so I'll let it go back to the States

Thanks

woolymammoth

Originally posted by Saruman
If it were a Gateway or Dell i would say reseat the CPU.. Not sure how easy that is on a Compaq but yeah take stuff out like mem, hard drive and so on.. reseat them too.

my sister has a Dell Latitude CPx and today it wouldn't turn on. now, i've never mucked about with the hardware in a laptop. is this a common occurance with particular laptops?? are there any reasons other than a possible component failuer as to why this would happen? as far as i know the battery is in good nic. how easy is it to open up a laptop and is there anything inparticular i should look out for??

Guys, your wisdom would be much appreciated here.

thanx