Laptop problems

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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:40 pm

Hey all -
Having some issues with my wife's laptop. It's a Compaq laptop running XP Home SP2 on a cerleron 1 gig processor and has 1/2 gig of ram and a dvd-rom. It was running fine 2 days ago. She went through a normal shutdown with no errors. The next time she tried to boot, the led that normally lights while the laptop is charging flashed several times. That's all we get out of it now. I thought perhaps it was signifying a bad battery, so I attempted to boot while leaving it plugged into an outlet. Same Story.
Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could be?

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:05 pm

Sounds like a problem with the power supply, which on a laptop, isn't easy to fix. Did you take the battery out before trying to boot while plugged in? If not, try that, if so, I'd take it for repairs.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:36 pm

^^ Good advice. It could be in hibernate mode. Unplug it from the wall and remove the battery for a few minutes.

If that doesn't fix it, shop time.

Good Luck.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:45 pm

Keep in mind though that the price they may charge to repair it may make it more economical to just replace it. I went though that with my wife's laptop a couple years back. Turned out I made some good money parting it out on eBay.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:10 pm

Try holding down the power button/switch for at least 10 seconds. Maybe that will clear up the issue.

B

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:41 pm

I had a similar problem a couple of months ago. My laptop is a Toshiba Satellite A100 with WinXP SP2. I took it to the store I bought it from, and with the extended warranty that I had, it turned out that the motherboard and power supply needed to be replaced...

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:06 pm

Quote:

It's a Compaq laptop

There's your problem right there. Wink

Just throw it out the window and get a new one not by Compaq.

Seriously, they make the worst laptops, but now that you have it....it does sound like the power supply.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:50 pm

OxygenDeprived wrote:

Keep in mind though that the price they may charge to repair it may make it more economical to just replace it.

That said, I had a similar problem which was fixed at my local indepentent computer place for �17. They did some witchcraft similar to Betelgeuse's suggestion where they took the battery out, plugged it in, held down the power button replaced the battery and released the button, and it fixed it (they didn't charge me the money just for that, they did some other stuff too Razz

)

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:17 am

I keep the battery out while just surfing or posting with no problems at all. The only problem is when I am trying to go through airport security and am sent to secondary inspection where they ask me to start the computer. I have to dig out the battery first. Note to self, plug in battery now as I go through security in three hours.

With no battery, try a quick touch of the power button. If thats no good, try pulling out the plug, waiting two minutes as suggested and holding down the power button a while then releasing. Next combination is a slight touch and then a long press. Tell us if there are any beeping noises or other lights. Can you hear the HDD? Minifans in the back spinning down?

There is nothing wrong with Compaq laptops. I've had them along with Toshiba, Alien, HPx2, Sony and the cheapest of the cheap, a GQ. They all work. Ummm... I did fry my first GQ HDD in 8 hours trying to install Windoze Pro over Home Edition and then restoring Home Edition. Otherwise, no hardware issues on any of the laptops.

Oh, I no longer use my work issued tablet HP as I've lost the inductive stylus for it and am too cheap to pay $140 for a replacement. Damn HP should have a flashing light above the hole if you don't put the pen back in after you shut down the computer.

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:27 pm

Thanks all for the replies
As it turns out , it was the power supply. Thankfully the unit is still under warranty. It's at the shop getting repaired as I type this.