1. Home
  2. Electronics Repair
  3. Great Mystery Compaq Presario 1200XL Laptop

Great Mystery Compaq Presario 1200XL Laptop

Hi,

I have a Compaq Presario 1200XL laptop computer that one day, would not power up. I tried another power supply, replaced a dead RTC/cmos battery, etc. I removed the RTC battery, main battery, and put it away. A month later, I decided to try it again. It powered up! Everything seemed just fine, but it only lasted for a couple days before it happened again. Again, I put it away. A month or so later, it powered up and again everything seemed just fine. I downloaded ROM Paq SP15611 and I "flashed" the bios. About a day and 1/2 later, the laptop "died". Now it won't boot up. Again after a long rest period, it came back to "life", but for how long? Note: It won't power up after a week's "rest", but it will power up after a longer rest such as a month!

Did anyone have the same experience with this or similar model laptop?

Thanks in advance, Brad

Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC.

Reply to
Brad
Loading thread data ...

By not booting up I assume you mean there is no text of any kind on the display? Or do you mean it does not reach the operating system?

If it were my computer the first thing I would do is clean the contacts of the RAM. It sounds a lot like a bad connection and the RAM is essential to it booting to even a bios screen for most computers.

Reply to
Ken

On 3/4/2009 4:46 AM Ken spake thus:

True, but it's hard to see how that would explain the bizarre behavior the O.P. reported (what, do the memory chips magically unseat themselves, then reseat themselves in the interval?).

--
Made From Pears: Pretty good chance that the product is at least
mostly pears.
Made With Pears: Pretty good chance that pears will be detectable in
the product.
Contains Pears:  One pear seed per multiple tons of product.

(with apologies to Dorothy L. Sayers)
Reply to
David Nebenzahl

I assume your question is sincere: Any contact is subject to interruption, even those using gold to prevent corrosion. Temperature changes often are enough to move such contacts and provide an intermittent contact. It really is not magic at all.

I cannot say definitively that this is his problem, but that is one area I would eliminate before suspecting others. It would also be nice to have an explanation of exactly what is happening with respect to his failure to boot.

Reply to
Ken

Easy to explain: the notebook has a (large) capacitor that is across the backup battery so that when that battery is replaced, the settings are not lost. He removes the backup battery, then in the (couple of weeks) time the capacitor finally discharges and the configuration settings are lost, and the computer can reboot.

Many of these (not all!) have a jumper somewhere that will short that capacitor to give the same effect.

Above reply does make assumptions as to what teh OP is doing, however.

Reply to
PeterD

On 3/5/2009 5:46 AM PeterD spake thus:

I don't get it; how would the settings not being lost lead to the computer not being bootable? This would seem to defeat the whole purpose of nonvolatile configuration settings, unless I'm missing something obvious in your reply.

--
Made From Pears: Pretty good chance that the product is at least
mostly pears.
Made With Pears: Pretty good chance that pears will be detectable in
the product.
Contains Pears:  One pear seed per multiple tons of product.

(with apologies to Dorothy L. Sayers)
Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Corrupted hard drive data... I've seen it happen where it would only boot if the computer NVRAM data was set to factory specs (telling the BIOS to find out what the drive is). Very rare... But then again, the OP's problem seems a bit unusual, too!

Reply to
PeterD

Hi Ken,

The laptop is "totally dead". Absolutely nothing happens, not even the faintest "tick" when you press the power button. The first time this happened, I opened the laptop and bridged the "Power" button switch with another, thinking it might be the power switch.

Brad

Reply to
Brad

snipped-for-privacy@verizon.net (Brad) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.verizon.net:

Sounds like a (in order of decreasing probability 'bad solder connection' bad component (capacitor, IC, diode, transistor, inductor, resistor) that may have an internal connection that opens up under thermal stress and the stress only slowly relaxes, allowing the connection to make again.

Suggestion: chill various areas while cycling the power.

Alternate suggestion: chill the whole computer (put it in a zip lock back and put it in your refrigerator over-night, take it out the next morning and allow it to warm to room temperature before opening the bag [to prevent water condensation]). This may allow you to 'reset' the computer more rapidly.

--
bz    	73 de N5BZ k

please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an 
infinite set.

bz+ser@ch100-5.chem.lsu.edu   remove ch100-5 to avoid spam trap
Reply to
bz

pretty method, i will consider it maybe... but the 'nine proof' for bad connection can be when it powers up try to hit a bit it around, try to stress it to find bad connect. or bad soldered BGA chips.. let us know.. after that open the freezer and let it make frendship with chickens or fishes...

Reply to
Dav.p.

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.