Power Problem Battery vs Mains

njlpro2001njlpro2001 Belize, Central America
edited March 2005 in Hardware
Got a Dell Latitude CPi D233ST laptop.

I had it working fine two days ago. Then yesterday morning it would not boot.

Tried different things. Turns out that it works fine when on battery power and NOT connect to the Power supply. As soon as I connect it the computer goes blank. I mean Blank no warning, No shutting down - just goes off.
Thought that I have a short in the power supply, but have tried 2 others that i know work - same thing, as well as trying my power supply on anothe laptop - works fine.
Any surgestions?

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2005
    It sounds like there may be a short at the power connector inside the laptop. This used to be a very common problem. The internal connector was often just held in place by the solder joints and after repeated cycles of plugging/unplugging the cord it would weaken the joint and cause the type of problem you describe. Most computer companies got smart and beefed up the bracket around the connection.

    If your laptop is under warranty it sounds like it's time to send it to the manufacturer. If not, any decent computer shop should be able to fix it. :)
  • njlpro2001njlpro2001 Belize, Central America
    edited March 2005
    profdlp:
    The connector is soldered directly onto the motherboard. It has a fairly solid bracket, but would you surgest that I resolder the points?
    Why does it shut down. with loose solder (dry solder points) i would think that all it did was not run the computer from the PS nor recharge the battery.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2005
    njlpro2001 wrote:
    ...Why does it shut down. with loose solder (dry solder points) i would think that all it did was not run the computer from the PS nor recharge the battery.
    An open circuit would act that way, a short circuit could bring the whole works to a screeching halt.

    As far as resoldering, if you are experienced at doing that it is worth a try. Don't do anything to jeopardize any possible warranty you might have, though.

    I am only suggesting that this is the most likely cause of the problem, there are certainly lots of other things it could be. The fact that it does the same thing with two other power supplies indicates that it must be something inside the laptop causing the problem.

    As far as the other possibilities, you might try fooling around with (or even temporarily disabling) any energy conservation programs running in the background. If there is a problem in that area it might be sending the wrong command to the system, i.e. panicking and thinking it's out of juice when it actually has plenty.

    It could also be that the relay that does the automatic switching between Battery and Mains is not working right and when it tries to switch over it hangs in the middle - leaving you with neither power source.
  • njlpro2001njlpro2001 Belize, Central America
    edited March 2005
    profdlp wrote:
    An open circuit would act that way, a short circuit could bring the whole works to a screeching halt.

    As far as resoldering, if you are experienced at doing that it is worth a try. Don't do anything to jeopardize any possible warranty you might have, though.

    I am only suggesting that this is the most likely cause of the problem, there are certainly lots of other things it could be. The fact that it does the same thing with two other power supplies indicates that it must be something inside the laptop causing the problem.

    As far as the other possibilities, you might try fooling around with (or even temporarily disabling) any energy conservation programs running in the background. If there is a problem in that area it might be sending the wrong command to the system, i.e. panicking and thinking it's out of juice when it actually has plenty.

    It could also be that the relay that does the automatic switching between Battery and Mains is not working right and when it tries to switch over it hangs in the middle - leaving you with neither power source.
    profdlp:
    Thanks for the explanation.

    I'm fairly verses in taking these laptops apart and doing soldering.
    Aint got no warenty - unit is 4 1/2 years old.
    Is difinetly sounds like it's worth a try.
    because if it is the relay on the motherboard, then i'm f****
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2005
    Good luck! :)
  • njlpro2001njlpro2001 Belize, Central America
    edited March 2005
    profdlp wrote:
    Good luck! :)
    I'll let you know how goes - Thanks!! :D
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