IT Help Required.. My laptop died

**Cibby** · 29th May 2006, 14:13

I require the assistance of a learned IT person in the auckland area!!

Last night my laptop died.. it lost power. completely..

turned it back on again, it started up, just really slowly.. and then...

wait for it...

it died.. AGAIN!

No more KB at night time for me...

Any ideas????? Help???

ANYONE?????

Thanks

Cibby..

p.s beer / food / money or ride on race bike available for payment... ok well maybe not a ride on the race bike.. well maybe.. depends.

**WRT** · 29th May 2006, 14:17

Shame Tonto's over seas or he could have brought it into work for me to have a look at. I'm busy for the next few nights but if you havent had any joy by thursday then give us a yell and pop on over with it.

Just as a point of interest, do the charging/AC lights on the front show up when you plug it in? Sounds a bit like its trying to run off a flat battery. If the lights dont come on then it could be a poked charger.

**ManDownUnder** · 29th May 2006, 14:17

Was the power cord in?

Sounds like a dead battery to be honest. If you let a battery "rest" it'll get some life back... but not much. And I'd expect it to do what you described...

As for the offer of you letting me have a ride... Postie would be pissed off... and my wife would REALLY have a problem with it LOL...

If the power was plugged in (assuming it was on) it soulds like a possible power supply issue?

**Cibby** · 29th May 2006, 14:25

wow.. do i really come across that blonde?

The power supply was plugged in and the light on the cord was on so i assume its not a power cord supply, could be a lose wire but it seems strange as it starts and then dies, and the time varies..

Thanks thou MDU

**WRT** · 29th May 2006, 14:26

Does it start if you remove the battery and just run it off mains? And also, when its turning itself off, does it go off like someone flicked a switch or does it seem to shut itself down before the power goes off?

**Cibby** · 29th May 2006, 14:26

Originally Posted by WRT

Shame Tonto's over seas or he could have brought it into work for me to have a look at. I'm busy for the next few nights but if you havent had any joy by thursday then give us a yell and pop on over with it.

Just as a point of interest, do the charging/AC lights on the front show up when you plug it in? Sounds a bit like its trying to run off a flat battery. If the lights dont come on then it could be a poked charger.

I could give it to james maybe????

**Keystone19** · 29th May 2006, 14:28

Originally Posted by WRT

Does it start if you remove the battery and just run it off mains?

That's what I was going to ask.

I had a similar problem recently and it was the back up battery that had completely died. Once I took the battery out it would then fire up off mains power but wouldn't until I had removed the battery.

**Cibby** · 29th May 2006, 14:28

Originally Posted by WRT

Does it start if you remove the battery and just run it off mains?

na tried that.. makes no difference. Still started up.. still died...

**WRT** · 29th May 2006, 14:28

Yeah, sorry forgot your living with him now. Yeah, by all means, tell him to bring it in and I'll have a squiz at it for ya.

**Cajun** · 29th May 2006, 14:28

slide the battery in and out

just plug it in with out turning it on, you should in theory get the green light on it?

Could try boot it up with out the battery in(some laptops you can do this others you can not) Or just boot up out off battery no power

bit of trial and error really.

if this is correct, turn it on,

If it gets as far as starting windows before restarting you are having windows problems not really hardware problems, and if thats the case, restinstall windows.

**Cibby** · 29th May 2006, 14:31

Originally Posted by WRT

Yeah, sorry forgot your living with him now. Yeah, by all means, tell him to bring it in and I'll have a squiz at it for ya.

cheers...

i'll bring it in tomorrow.. thanks

it starts as far as windows sometimes..

Sometimes i just get a black screen, it beeps three times and then dies again.

I think it likes to vary things,, be spontanous...

as far as reinstalling windows.. i cant get it started far enough to be able to do that.. i dont know enough..

Thanks everyone.. we will see how WRT goes

Cheers

Cibby

**The Stranger:Me** · 29th May 2006, 14:34

What brand and model?
Is the battery usually good?

**John Banks** · 29th May 2006, 15:07

Usually there is a light which shows if the battery is charging or charged. Is the battery saying it is fully charged, or does it still say it is charging?
Likely it's not the battery at all. As said before, it could possibly be a Windows problem - if so, someone with a live boot CD would be able to boot up the operating system on the CD and run that without any problems to prove that it is Windows.
The other possibility is overheating. I've known a few laptops to beep at you then shut off when it gets too hot. It's possible the little fan inside is broken.

**ManDownUnder** · 29th May 2006, 15:31

Originally Posted by Cibby Chick

wow.. do i really come across that blonde?

The power supply was plugged in and the light on the cord was on so i assume its not a power cord supply, could be a lose wire but it seems strange as it starts and then dies, and the time varies..

Thanks thou MDU

LOL

it's not a blonde thing - it's a STUPID thing that's confused 85% of the IT community at some point or other... the lights are on but ain't no power going nowhere. (edit - that's not to say you're stupid...)

The beeps are sgnificant. The number (and pattern) of beeps indicates a more fundamental problem. Look up "beeps" and the model of your lappy on Google and see what comes up. That's how it'll tell you if a memory fauly or bettery fault or... whatever fault exists...

If a nice hardware fault is hiding in there, the beeps is the only clue.
MDU

**Cibby** · 29th May 2006, 15:38

Originally Posted by John Banks

The other possibility is overheating. I've known a few laptops to beep at you then shut off when it gets too hot. It's possible the little fan inside is broken.

hmmm yes.. that is starting to sound reasonable..

i left it off all night and it worked this morning.. for about 15 minutes...