Dead Compaq Laptop

Hi,
A friend brought this laptop for verification without a battery. The re-charge led comes on when the charger is connected but the laptop cannot switch on. I checked the switch (its a microswitch) on the mainboard, I had to dismantle everything to do so but the switch is functional when checked with a continuity meter. I also noticed that the cmos battery is also flat. It has only a few millivolts of charge. The owner said that he has operated it for at least a week without the normal batteryand just on the power supply. Could the cmos battery prevent the laptop from switching on? any ideas?

 

I don't believe the CMOS Battery will prevent the system from powering ON. The Battery is used by CMOS to keep system time current. Usually when the battery is going bad or has gone bad, the system time will drop back to something like Jan 1, 1999, every time you turn the system on.

With the laptop connected to the battery charger, which is plugged into the wall, simply pushing the power-On button does not start the system...correct?

Does anything happen ?

Have you tried to hold the button down for 3-5 seconds. Maybe it's stuck in hybernation mode.

 

Jedi,

Just a little clarification about the cMOS keep alive battery: It does more than keep the time. It maintains the user BIOS settings in the CMOS chip.

Mr Silvio
As for the Compaq power issue, it could be the CPU fan. I have seen a shorted CMOS battery cause problems but that was in a desktop but it is probably valid for a laptop also. Replace it and see if it fixes it.

George