[ale] laptop diagnostics

[Jim Kinney]

Hmm. I've seen laptops (forget brands) that wouldn't run at all off power
brick if the battery was totally dead and nonchargeable. Symptoms are
similar to those described here. Try putting battery in the fridge for a few
hours then letting it sit in the laptop with the power cable attached but
system off for a hour to maybe get a trickle of a charge. If it then boot,
get a new battery. For a while, Batteries Plus would rebuild battery packs
if you would remove the plastic case.

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 10:07 AM, Lightner, Jeff <jlightner at water.com>wrote:

> You aren't running this on a docking station by any chance?  My Dell
> Lattitude D630 requires more power for the docking station and actually
> has two different bricks available - A 65 watt one that runs it fine
> detached from the docking station but won't if it is on the docking
> station - for that I need the 90 watt one.
>
> It seems if it were a heat issues as others have suggested then leaving
> it unplugged for some time and allowing it to cool then powering it on
> would make it try to boot as you said it tried at one point before.
>
> I'm wondering if the issue is the battery?  Have you tried removing that
> and running just with the brick?  My D630 allows me to do that as I
> recently discovered.  (My battery had died recently.  My issue was the
> battery simply wouldn't charge and continued to flash the amber battery
> light when I had the brick attached - it didn't prevent me from booting
> up though.)  It may be your issue is something with the battery that is
> somehow preventing it from using the brick power so removing the battery
> might help.
>
> Also does the battery on yours have the little lights on the back of it?
> That is a tester built into it and you can get details on what you
> should see from the Dell site.   (Mine was kaput so the tester did
> nothing - I ended up replacing the battery.)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Paul
> Cartwright
> Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 6:36 AM
> To: Ron Frazier
> Cc: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> Subject: Re: [ale] laptop diagnostics
>
> On 01/19/2011 06:59 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
> > If it uses a power brick, try another with the same voltage, at least
> > the same minimal amperage, polarity, and plug shape.  Check for a
> loose
> > power port socket, and a faulty power cable.  You could also try
> > replacing the memory.  I have two old memory sticks from my Dell
> > Inspiron 1525.  If they're the same, you could use them.  I think
> > they're 1GB each.  If you ever get it to boot, the Ultimate Boot CD
> has
> > a number of diagnostics.  http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/  Also, I like
> > prime95 for stress testing the memory, cpu, and cooling system.
> > http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/  If anyone needs help getting
> prime95
> > running under Linux, let me know.
>
> yup, tried the brick from my other Dell laptop. They are different,
> different version & different mA, same voltage 19.5V . didn't help
> I unplugged & reseated the memory, but I didn't swap places or just try
> one at a time (yet).
> >
> > PS, when I hit reply, Evolution put your personal address in as well
> as
> > ALE.  Is that intentional?  If so, how do you do that?
> >
> I run Thunderbird. Under Accounts, in the general tab are 3 blocks for
> information-Name, Org. & Reply-To. have the reply-to filled in. I have
> multiple accounts & need to make sure that certain accounts get replied
> to correctly.
>
>
> --
> Paul Cartwright
> Registered Linux user # 367800
> Registered Ubuntu User #12459
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
I would rather stumble along in freedom than walk effortlessly in chains.
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