LAPTOP FORUM

Has anyone experienced this problem?

The battery was very low, possibly discharged, on starting up today.

Windows XP started up to the login message, and the message You should
change your battery or switch to outlet power... appeared, even though the
mains was connected.

Instead of carrying on and logging in, I turned off the mains power at the
wall, and the laptop just died. Now it will not restart - the system
self-test splash doesnt appear, and there are a couple of attempts to
access the hard drive, but nothing else.

Ironically it appears the battery is now recharging, and it makes no
difference how the machine is restarted, ie with or without mains power, or
even with the battery out of the machine.

It seems to me the machine may be in some sort of locked mode - have had a
look at the manual and the Toshiba web forums, but cannot find anything
relevant. I suppose the hard drive might have failed (hell of a
coincidence), but in that case I would have thought the boot message should
still appear - if I take out the DIMMS and start up, things are exactly the
same - no video whatsoever.

Any ideas at all would be very welcome - TIA!

Vaughan

Vaughan Butler wrote in message
news:5badnU sHdzBMZ7V4p2dnAA@plusnet...
Stop there and read through the above, the computer was asking you to
switch to outlet power, but you are assuming that because the mains
power is connected, the computer is therefore wrong, but what you have
not considered is that the mains adaptor could be faulty, and this would
then fit in with the symptoms you are now getting, so my first action
would be to try another mains adaptor.

Harry Stottle wrote:
Or just try replacing the fuse in the mains plug if there is one and/ or
plugging something else into that socket, & see if that works. Itd not
be the first time Ive had a power socket or extension lead die on me
for no apparent reason.

Sounds very much like a dead power brick, though. Your battery has gone
totally flat, as its not being charged for some reason.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

John Williamson wrote:

It could be intermittent. OP said that the system died when he turned
off the power supply, that means that the supply was working at that time.

If its an intermittent problem I would suspect the power socket in the
laptop rather than the power brick. I had one machine that would only
charge if the power plug was being pushed in. Changing the power brick
didnt change that.

If it is the power socket it may be due to a cracked track on the PCB.
Fixing that needs disassembly. Its possibly a relatively simple repair
if you have the right tools but could be completely impossible without
them.

--
bap@shrdlu.com

Bernard Peek wrote in message
news:66kffnF2k4u98U1@mid.individual.net...

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses - update: there is apparently nothing wrong with
the charging circuitry - the battery has fully recharged.

Im beginning to think it is CPU/mainboard related, since no combination of
DIMMs/slots makes any difference, and doubt if both have gone faulty.

Regards

Vaughan