Laptop fault - OS or hardware?

15-09-2008, 12:57

Likely hardware but thought I'd throw out a chance.

I don't usually have the battery in and charging all the time whilst using the lappy on AC but I was about to take it out so had it connected. The nipper came past at a rate of knots and yanked the power cord out. I would have expected the lappy to have stayed on as it had been charging the battery for quite a while, but it powered down instantly. Reboot was fine (Vista Home Premium) but I then noticed it wasn't (and probably hadn't been) charging the battery. Whilst plugged into AC I took out and put back the battery and that set it off charging again. Or at least the tray icon said as much. I went into control panel to look at the power options and it shut down instantly. This continues to happen now. Any time I try to do anything of any substance (for example, I tried to copy a folder of photos onto a pen drive) it shuts down. I managed to get data off the drive by using safe mode, but I'm not confident it wasn't anything more than fluke.

Fans working, memory seated well. Unit is just out of warranty.

Anyone have any theories? My guess is the power socket joints have suffered from the yank and possibly lifted someway from the board giving an intermittent supply (battery dead/not charging so unit powers down).
Probable insurance replacement at the end of the day.

Kymmy · 15-09-2008, 13:24

Charging is controlled by the charging circuit and sometimes the BIOS, make sure the battery contacts are clean, also put the battery through a maintenance cycle as the battery might be reporting the wrong capacity..

15-09-2008, 13:32

Sorry Kymmy - should have said. Still getting a shutdown with or without battery connected.

Kymmy · 15-09-2008, 13:50

Go into the bios and turn off the power management features then see if it shuts down.

15-09-2008, 13:54

Did it shutdown whilst in safe mode? Could be a corrupted hard drive?

15-09-2008, 14:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Go into the bios and turn off the power management features then see if it shuts down.

Nowt there to do it Kymmy. Only power option is long life battery and LCD saving, both already disabled, but tried enabling too - still shuts down.
Battery indicator still says charging but it's clearly not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enuff

Did it shutdown whilst in safe mode? Could be a corrupted hard drive?

It didn't the last time I tried, but I think it has done at least once? I'll need to test it again. Could that be it? I did (eventually, after 3 shutdowns during..) get Windows to run through a chkdsk at startup and reported no bad clusters or sectors. I'll look for a proprietary app to check it, if I can get the damn thing to stay on long enough. It's not making it to the desktop 9 times out of 10 right now. Sometimes it shuts down during boot.

15-09-2008, 15:04

Is it getting hot? Can you hear the fan?

15-09-2008, 15:16

No, not hot at all. Fan whirrs as normal on boot.
It's stopped making it to desktop in both normal and safe mode now. It gets to the first couple of chimes from the startup sound and shuts down. I'm inside the bugger now - I'm going to see if I can get the data I want off the drive.

haydnwalker · 15-09-2008, 15:35

Silly Q but Have you tried reinstalling yet? If not it might be worth a try - and see if it powers off while its reinstalling (that would confirm a hardware fault).

If its JUST out of warranty (talking no more than 30days) then some manufacturers have a grace period in which they will honour the warranty (dell do). But i cannot say for yours as i dont see you mention a maker.

15-09-2008, 15:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by kryogenik

I'm going to see if I can get the data I want off the drive.

Well, the drive is in an enclosure happily transferring data across to another drive so at least that's one good thing. It seems healthy enough tbh.
And I think that's about the limit of what I can do with this, lappys not being that meddle friendly these days.

---------- Post added at 15:39 ---------- Previous post was at 15:37 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by haydnwalker

Silly Q but Have you tried reinstalling yet? If not it might be worth a try - and see if it powers off while its reinstalling (that would confirm a hardware fault).

If its JUST out of warranty (talking no more than 30days) then some manufacturers have a grace period in which they will honour the warranty (dell do). But i cannot say for yours as i dont see you mention a maker.

No, not tried a reinstall as yet. Wanted me holiday photies off it first!
I have a Tech Guys recovery disc I'll throw at it. It's actually about 8-10 weeks out of warranty if truth be told. I could wangle it probably as I bought it off my mate in a high st retail outlet, but he goes away for a fortnight tomorrow. In any case, I've been in it now.

haydnwalker · 15-09-2008, 15:56

Ah well... good luck...just thought it might have been worth a try

15-09-2008, 15:58

Cheers bud. Luck's what I'll be needing I think!

altis · 15-09-2008, 16:17

My (electronic engineer's) hunch is that it's something to do with the power supply - either externally or inside the PC itself.

I'd start by trying to borrow a compatible PSU (or even an adjustable bench PSU) and plug that in instead.

15-09-2008, 16:25

Cheers. I've another lappy here, but it's PSU output is 20v @ 3.25 amps while the other is 12v @ 3 amps. Will the unit take just the 12 needed or all 20? Don't want to further the problems.

altis · 15-09-2008, 16:28

I wouldn't change voltages by that much. You'll need something nearer.