i recently got a used laptop. battery holds pretty well while computer is in use, 2 hours or more give or take. however, if the computer is shut off even with battery fully charged, it will be stone dead within 12 hours or so. if i take the battery out of the machine, it does not lose any charge.
stranger yet is that when i got the machine it was in a box for 4 days with the battery in it and it turned on with 85%. the only thing i had done is plug in a wireless card. i have not had a chance to try it with card unplugged.
any thoughts appreciated. thanks jim....
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Hi Jim and welcome, I suspect you're right - probably the wireless card. If it's the multiport version (fitted under the silver strip on the lid) you should be able to switch it on/off using <F2>. But this will not work on USB or PCMCIA wireless adaptors. Please post back and let us know if depowering (or removing) the wireless card solves the problem.
Strange. I'm assuming you really are shutting it down or hibernating ? These things don't like "Standby" on battery (power light flashing once every few seconds). You won't get more than 12 hours or so from the battery in that mode. But I would guess you've got your power management set to hbernate automatically if idle on battery for a while anyway ?
Also assume there's no wireline modem plugged in that might be causing it to startup on an incoming call - and that you know FOR SURE that the battery has discharged (viz: not just that the laptop won't start on battery after a few hours ? That would indicate something quite different !)
With those obvious possibilities out the way, we would have to start considering some more interesting possibilities - probably involving taking it apart. You might of course decide it's less trouble to leave it plugged in the mains or take the battery out when not in use? But if you're game to dive in, I'll happily offer what guidance I can.
Paul, I am shutting unit off through windows xp start menu (shutdown) + all lights go out after windows backs out + shuts off. if I do this with full battery + try to restart it 6-8 hours later, it will start but batt shows 50%. if I wait 12-16 hours it will not turn on from battery. if I plug it in then + start it, batt will show 1% but then will begin to charge. if I leave batt out, it can go days without loosing any charge or ability to start. no modem wire connected. I just got a peek at the hardware manual online (i don`t have any paperwork). and I see there is a switch to turn the unit off, opposite the start/standby switch that I have been using to boot up. maybe I will try this once? As far as disassembly goes, I appreciate the offer of advice but I probably wont go that deep. although I can usually put anything back together that I take apart, my experience here is limited + i`m not sure what to test or look for. thanks again for the input jim.....
Hi Jim, On reflection, this is more likely to be some silly software thing - it worked straight out the box and all you did was fit the wireless card. If it's had a basic XP load (ie. not from the Compaq restore disks) then it won't have Compaq's power management functionality (although ACPI should still work) - it's also just possible? that the wireless software did something to interfere with power switch-off (I find it hard to believe - but clutching at straws here !)
If it was me, I would: 1. Uninstall the wireless software just to see if that fixed it
3. Reset the Bios - on the basis that this is what controls the fundamental power management. If you do this, use the Aug2001 version of the MSG if you need to locate the RTC battery which needs to be disconnected. (Later MSG versions are written around the N610c/N620c. Although they explain that the location of the RTC battery is different on the N600C, the explanation is very confusing ! It IS under the cover immediately to the left of the touchpad. Also ignore ALL instructions to remove the rubber feet - there is no need to remove them for ANY job on this model)
Paul, no time to work with it today, I will report back as soon as I try this stuff. 2 quick thoughts: I think the battery life in general is shortening, even during use. I probably should get a new one. Also, if I reset the bios, do I set the time into it as it boots up with the error message or sometime later? jim.
Paul, I had to give the computer to someone to use for a while, before i had a chance to work with it more. I hope I get a chance still someday. thank you very much for your time, jim.
On the one occasion I did a bios reset on an N600C, the machine still refused to go through POST - so I didn't get to the screen message. My understanding is that once you get the screen message, that confirms that reset has occurred, CMOS is cleared and you can now set up BIOS preferences to be stored in the Extended System Config Data (viz: in your nice sterilised CMOS)!! Maybe you'll get the chance to try it one day ..... Rgds Paul
I have the same problem on an n600c I bought used. I've searched all over and found questions about this issue in a couple of places but no answers :-(
I noticed that when I take the battery out and then reset it the hard drive light briefly comes on and I can hear it initializing even when the system is shut down.
Paul, if you're still paying attention to this thread 3 years later I'd really appreciate your help.
I don't have a generic XP disk and the computer came with Office 2007, which is one of the reasons I bought it, so I'm hesitant to reload it. Although, that would be a good test to see if it was a hardware or software problem!
Something is definitely still on after shutdown, it draws about 1% every 2 hours. I tried taking the hard drive out after shutdown but the power drain is still there.
When I got the computer both the main and RTC battery were completely dead and the previous owner had been running it off the AC power supply. I've replaced the batteries, loaded the Compaq Power Management, ATI Video and HP Lid Switch drivers and reset the BIOS but to no avail.
Another thing I've noticed is that no matter what I set the lid switch to do in the power control panel it will revert to standby after a restart. While it shows 'standby' after the restart, it will still perform the action ('hibernate' or 'nothing') that it was last set to. This may be a clue as to why it doesn't shut down completely, although the power drain in standby is about twice what I'm experiencing when it's shut down.
Any other clues you can give me would be appreciated, I've worn myself out trying to solve this.
Do you have a spare 20 GB 2.5" HD lying around? If so, get an extra HD caddy off of eBay ($5 or so) and replace your HD with the spare HD for testing. That way you won't loose what is on your existing HD.
It should give you your XP and Office 2007 product keys so if you ever need to re-install you can use someone elese's disk with your product keys.
The only way to figure out if it is a hard ware or software problem is to load a clean fresh install of XP and see if that causes the issues to go away. If not you have a hardware issue to deal with.
I don't have a spare hard drive but I have a back-up drive I could store an image of the current configuration on in case I need to reload it. Thanks for the link to the key finder, I didn't realize how easy it would be to reload XP with somebody else's CD :-)
I'm liking this idea more and more as I continue to think about it. One concern that came to mind is that it wouldn't fix a BIOS problem if there is one and so if it doesn't work that'll still be a question.
Do you know of any way to check the BIOS other than to reset it as Paul described above?
Meanwhile I'm going to try the XP reload but it'll take me a few days to get my hands on a CD.
Yep - am still around - ain't died yet.... just a few years older, deeper in debt and still relying on N600Cs.... which I think I understand a bit better now than in 2006, tho' not unfotunately as well as I'd like!
Some good suggestions there from Anthony - although I fear they are unlikely to help as I'll explain later. I can understand why he's made the suggestion - because the "new" approach to ACPI is that all its aspects should be under the control of the OS rather than BIOS - or a mixture of the two. Unfortunately, more recent versions of OS do often cause conflict with earlier Compaq stuff - I find I occasionally have to reinstall SPs after MS updates have screwed things up !
If you're going to follow Anthony's suggestions, then I agree that imaging your disk first is a far better solution than doing a reload from CDs - not least 'cos you'll avoid having to update the disk versions with a few hundred MS patches....
Also, FYI, a brief disk spin you've noted is quite normal if connecting ac power when the battery is discharged. If a charged battery is inserted without AC power connected, these machines will ussualy auto-boot too! So I don't think that's indicative of a problem.
However, the fact is that your problem appears to be occurring BEFORE the OS is loaded - in fact even before BIOS is loaded - and before POST! It's hard therefore to see how this problem could be anything other than a current leakage in the hardware. (viz: a lump of crap somewhere on the motherboard battery connector or power bus, a failure in the directional diodes that prevent various power sources backfeeding into each other or failure/leakage in the power switching circuits that comprise the power arbitration section.
Unfortunately, I don't have a circuit diag of the motherboard, so my initial troubleshooting approach would be a very careful inspection of the motherboard - starting at the battery connector and working across to the dc power jack at the end of the motherboard "finger". Also, look for any signs of overheating - this maygive a clue as even fairly small leakage curents can create heat in components if continuous.
If nothing obvious there - I'd start looking for any long pins or places where motherboard items or solder joints might be shorting to the case.
Hope you find something! Good luck and look forward to hearing how you get on.
Glad to hear you're still alive, I've learned a LOT from your postings on this forum.
When your N600c is shutdown and you take the battery out and reseat it does the hard drive light come on briefly? I tried it on an M700 and there was no hard drive activity when I reseated the battery.
Anthony:
I hooked up a floppy drive and booted off a Win95 diskette then hit the power switch to shut it down. I took the battery out and reseated it and the hard drive initialized like it's been doing, but I'll have to just let it sit to see if the battery discharges.
My BIOS is Compaq 686DF v2.47, 10/13/2001 and the latest is 12/31/2003. I probably would have already tried updating it except for the scary stories about people killing perfectly good computers attempting to do so :-( Paul is one of the head fear mongers but maybe he's changed his mind now?
Have you done a BIOS upgrade on an N600c? It appears there was an issue of taking my version to the latest one without installing an interim version first, but I think I remember reading a post where even that failed and left the computer unusable.
Thanks for responding Anthony. So far I've reinstalled XP with an SP2 CD and chose the option to reformat the drive like you said. That didn't fix the problem so I decided to go ahead and attempt the BIOS update following the instructions Rainald gave on this thread:
It worked just like it was supposed to but I'm glad I found those instructions because it wasn't obvious to me that I was going to have to create two diskettes. That may be why others have failed when trying to update the BIOS.
But it didn't solve the problem, if anything the battery drain when shutdown is slightly greater (14% over 24 hours instead of 12%). At this point I'm working on reinstalling the power related drivers one at a time. So far the Compaq Power Management driver (sp22688) hasn't solved the problem. I'm still working on the ATI Video Driver (sp27665) and HP Notebook Lid Switch Policy (sp27852). It'll be interesting to see if that solves the problem of the lid switch setting reverting to standby after a restart at least.
If none of this works then I'm thinking it'd be worthwhile to reload XP again since I've updated the BIOS to see if that makes a difference.
Two questions I have:
1. Does your N600c show hard drive activity when you remove and reseat the battery?
2. How do I use the old XP product key to reinstall from someone else's CD? The only way I could get it to install was using the key that came with the CD.
Sorry it's been a while. However, have now rechecked the situation - connecting battery without ac adaptor connected (and connecting ac adaptor without battery fitted) and am delighted to send you the results.... (Contradictory and confusing as they may be!
I tried the two tests on three separate N600C machines - all working fine and not loosing charge. All tests were done after the machine had been fully shut down. All tested machines had hibernate enabled. 'Wake up on LAN' was not enabled on any machine.
Here's details of the three machines tested:
1. Proc 1.2GHz RAM 1GB BIOS v6/2/02 OS WinXP/SP3 s/n 7J2AKBSZ903T OEM OS WinXP
2. Proc 866MHz RAM 256kB BIOS v31/3/03 OS Win2K/SP4 S/N ???? OEM OS Win2k
3. Proc 866MHz RAM 512kB BIOS v6/2/02 OS Win2K/SP4 s/n 3J19KBSZTGG5 OEM OS Win98
Here's the results:
Test: Fit battery when no ac adaptor connected: Result: 1, 2 and 3 - HD light comes on, brief Disk Spin heard, sounds like head moves and reads or writes briefly, then stops and machine reverts to shut-down state.
Test: Connect ac adaptor when no battery fitted Result: 1 & 2 - response exactly as above. 3 - autoboots.
Interestingly, although (3) has the latest BIOS, it is the oldest machine (c 1998/9). I suspect there may have been some minor hardware change.
I'm convinced you have a hardware problem - and I don't think it has anything to do with the VCB. If you're sure there's no physical leakage through gunge, then I'd have a really good look at that lid switch (where you started) - otherwise I fear you have a fault in the power arbitration circuit which is on the main board. Rgds, Paul
Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to do the tests Paul. Odd that Anthony didn't notice hard drive activity when reseating the battery, though.
I looked at 'Wake up on LAN' earlier in my search and couldn't figure out where the setting was on this machine, can you tell me how to check that?
And Rainald, thanks for checking in, I've learned a LOT from you on this forum as well :-)
ahhh, thanks Paul. I've already been through that, confused me because it's not specifically called 'Wake up on LAN'. Just for fun I disabled the NIC but it made no difference.
After reloading the drivers I found that the HP Lid Switch Policy is what causes the setting in the power control panel to revert to "standby" after a restart. On WinXP SP3 it used to still perform the action it was last set to, even though it said "standby", but now with only SP2 loaded it reverts to "standby" and performs the action "do nothing" after a restart. Without the HP Lid Switch Policy driver installed it works fine.
And it still drains the battery when shutdown :-(
So I took the thing apart to see if there was any obvious problem and it was clean as a whistle. I figured since I've spent this much energy on it I might as well go ahead and try a new power board - thanks for that link Anthony, only $20 delivered :-)
I'll report back after I get the new part installed, probably in a couple of weeks.
Interesting story with the lid switch! MS seem to be screwing up more and more things on our old lady machines of late. Will look out for the next instalment of your saga.... Regrettably, I think you'll end up either changing the motherboard or removing the battery whenever you unplug the mains adaptor ...
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