Hard shutdown with full battery

Greetings to all,

I have a Compaq Evo n600c laptop that loses power with no warning when running on battery. By losing power, I mean it doesn't go through the normal WinXP shutdown; the screen goes dead and the indicator lights turn off. This does not happen when running on AC power. I haven't found other reports through search engines of this so I'm turning to forums and I found AntiOnline... and I think AO can give me the answers. :)

The battery is a new, Compaq brand battery. The battery takes and keeps a charge; XP says it is full, and the power indicator on the top of the battery also shows it is full.

The power losses happen at seemingly random intervals. It can happen with 100% power or 50% power. Generally it happens within the first 10 minutes after the computer has been turned on but has happened as far out as an hour. It happens while in one place on a table and on my lap while on the couch. I don't think the computer is over heating since it happens mostly while the temperatures are still all under 40C, and the fan works. Also, I can immediately press the on button and turn the computer right back on using the battery as the power source.

This is a new install of WinXP Pro. The only programs installed, that aren't installed with WinXP, are Firefox and SpeedFan. The hard drive is also new. The computer starts up and runs fine on battery and AC power (i.e. no error messages). The computer doesn't have problems while running on AC power.

I haven't opened the laptop up yet and am looking to avoid doing that. The connectors look clean and free of corrosion. There is no damage I can see to the battery compartment.

Any ideas?

Thanking you all in advance

Have you checked the turn off Hard Drive or Screen options? But since it happens randomly i wouldnt say thats the problem. Have you done the usual virus scan.....other than that i would try to get a hold of another battery and try to see if its a problem with the battery.

Thanks copyright for the quick response. I will look into testing and getting a new voltage regulator. The battery contacts are all shiny. I have two new batteries and both have the same problem. I know someone else with the same model Evo and my battery in their computer doesn't cause it to lose power and vice versa, their working battery in this computer has the same problem. This isn't a suspend function issue; it is a power failure. I turned off all power management functions in the BIOS and OS.

Did you try it into safemode (F8 while booting up)....if it does it in safemode then it's most likely a hardware issue....or something with the OS itself.

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The only programs installed, that aren't installed with WinXP, are Firefox and SpeedFan.

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Howdy.

Firstly i would uninstall speedfan, as it's very unreliable, and uses to much resources.
Also have you tried using a different battery? Maybe the battery is faulty, or is just a bad battery..

Also are you doing any type of gaming on the laptop? Graphic design etc etc, anything that would be making the processor work, then that could make the battery last less, then it would if you were just browsing the internet..

cheers
f2B

I tried it into safemode but no luck. I calibrated the batteries. That didn't work. I also replaced the DC-DC converter board. No luck there either. I'm assuming the replacement board isn't a dud. I checked the battery connections while I had it opened up and that didn't see any problems there either.

Anyone know of a good logging program that would let me log the power input based on source? Anything open source or free is preferred but I'll pay if I need to. I'd like to see if there is a gradual decrease in power or it is cut off. At this point, I'm assuming this may have something to do with heat expanding a joint or connection to a cause power disruption.

In the end, I might give up and only use this laptop with an AC source. At least it still works using AC. I'm using it right now. I can run it for hours using AC but less than 5 minutes on battery power.

By replacing the shell for my work laptop, I mean they pulled my hard drive out of the bad computer and put it in a different one. It stayed in the same caddy because the replacement laptop was the same model.

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At this point, I'm assuming this may have something to do with heat expanding a joint or connection to a cause power disruption.

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That is probably the cause. This sort of behaviour is typical of that problem. It is the "resoldered dry joints" that you see on an engineer's worksheet/job report.

I am afraid that it needs to go back to the manufacturer or to a decent repair shop where they have the equipment to trace the fault.

:)

It could just be your power saving options.

Laptops have two different power saving settings:

1 for when running on Ac power
1 for when running on battery power.

If you have it to 'Go in to Hibernate or Standby mode' after say 5 mins of inactivity when runnning of batterys - it will do pretty much what you have described.-
i.e

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Also, I can immediately press the on button and turn the computer right back on using the battery as the power source.

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It will also seem like it does it at random intervals as it will only happen after a period of inactivity for what ever the setting is.

The windows power saving may not effect the laptop when running on batteries so dont always go off what it says there are make the changes there either.

You will more than likley have a custom power saving software installed where you can make your changes.

Either just put 'never' in the field or see if you can change it so it will just turn the montior off instead of going into hibernate mode.

Why was this kid banned. DOn't tell me it was the spec again......

Multiple accounts AFAIK

No, it wasn't our little friend.

:)

The first decent thread here for weeks and y'all go and ban his ass! Craaazy! :D

Nihil didn't ban him I did, and if you want me to NOT ban someone for having MORE than 10 accounts, well, we can talk about it I guess :) Lol dude seriously, I'm still counting, I stopped at 12. I left one that I know of, I haven't checked for any other IPs yet though.

Besides, This discussion itself doesn't have to die just the poster :)

I'm not sure why I'm smiling this much considering today something on my leg (A boil, not sure how it got there) squirted out a HUGE blob of black. Pretty gross, it looked like coagulated blood. Just came home from the Dr and people are complaining already.