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Boot up issue - Compaq Armada M300

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9 replies

by mark.savage1

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I have had a Compaq Armada M300 laptop sitting around for a while not being used. The battery is missing which I think provides a clue to the problem. When trying to boot the laptop up using AC power the laptop fails to boot up beyond the windows start up screen. I think this may be something to do with the fact there is no battery which the bios requires so it can store the necessary info to boot up. Can anyone tell me the steps I need to take to manually boot the laptop up to get beyond the start up screen? Thanks

9 replies

by tintoman

with that diagnosis
Although I admit I'm not familiar with that particular model, most laptops I have worked on seem to work fine without a battery fitted.
Your problem it seems to me is more likely to be because there is an error either on the hard drive or caused by drivers or software conflict.
It is likely that windows is configured to reboot if it encounters an error during startup.
So what I would do next is press the F8 key during the boot process and select the option to disable reboot on error.
That way you will either get a blue screen error code which you can investigate or check disk will be invoked and might even fix the problem for you
If all this fails try starting the computer with the windows installation disk and select the option to repair the current nstallation

by oh smeg

Far more likely someone grabbed the battery for another NB with a dead battery.

If none of the above works get yourself a copy of the Emergence Boot CD from here

http://tinyurl.com/2q6n95

Boot off this and test your Software for problems. When you find the problem you can post back with the Actual Error Message and someone here will attempt to help you out.

If you want to you can also test the Hardware with the Ultimate Boot CD available here both of these Disc's are [b]Must Have[/b] items for any Techs Tool Box so downloading both and making a CD each will do no harm and a lot of good.

http://tinyurl.com/3jnpy

Col

by mark.savage1

Thanks.

I have managed to start the laptop up correctly, but now the AC power is not charging up the new battery. What next!!!

It may be that it can only be charged up via the supporting desktop unit or I have I just brought a dud battery?

by oh smeg

But it just as easily could be a shot Charging Circuit in the NB.

Can you check the Battery Connector at the NB side for Voltage?

This just requires a Multimeter set to DC and about 25 Volts MAX.

Look at the Battery and see the rated Voltage of it and you should have about 2 V DC more coming out of the NB to charge the battery. If you have the right Voltage and this is flexible but 2 V DC is the best to charge the battery quickly without damaging it you need to have someone check the Amperage or Current that is being supplied to the Battery.

Not something to measure without the Service Manual though.

Col

by mark.savage1

I have resolved the boot up issue but now face a new problem. The replacement battery I brought is not being charged by the AC adaptor. Has anybody else faced this problem and knows a way of remediating it? How do I check the battery isn't a dud?

by oh smeg

They most likely need cleaning as they have probably corroded while being left alone not being used. A Alcohol Wipe is a good starting point but as this has been left sitting a while you may need something stronger to clean the Contacts.

As for checking the battery you need to measure the Voltage coming from the NB to the Battery and check if you actually have any or if it's too low to charge the battery.

The Charging Voltage should be the Battery Voltage + up to 2 Volts DC.

Col

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