wiru-will
o<| :3
+13|6265|wat
Hey all.

The other day, I fiddled around with my laptop. I decided to put the removed screws of the opened "access plate" on the laptop itself. Bad Idea.
I turned the laptop around brainlessly, screws fell on the ground. I only found one, and I'm still looking for the rest.

When the laptop was eventually turned on again (with only the battery attached), it didn't start. No power light, no fan, nothing. "WTF?" I said. Upon plugging the power in and turning it on, it started up, and booted into XP.

XP Now shows that the battery has an "unknown" capacity left, and when I unplug the power, it stays on, as it usually would.

I'm wondering if this problem is derived from a short, static (which would shock me; I've built desktop computers with no problem) or something else. I'll be soon getting a technician to have a look at it, but if it's something simple, I'd rather do it and save myself a fair bit.

Specs for the laptop are in the second line of my sig.

Cheers
wiru-will

Last edited by wiru-will (2008-11-02 08:36:04)

Shaftoe
Member
+4|7003
Unless there's a switch that prevents it from powering up with the cover removed, just having the access plate off shouldn't matter.  Start at ground zero - make sure the power brick's light is on (if it has one) and then check to see if your laptop's power light comes on when the brick is attached.  Uaually there's an amber "charging " light that should come on or something.  If you don't think the notebook is getting power at all, look around the access plate for the switch - although I've never heard of a laptop having one, that's the only reason I can think of that it wouldn't power up.

Unless of course your wool socks fried it
TheDonkey
Eat my bearrrrrrrrrrr, Tonighttt
+163|5983|Vancouver, BC, Canada
The battery has about 5 contacts on it, they send capacity data and the like to the computer, it seems that a few of those contacts got bent or lost contact.
wiru-will
o<| :3
+13|6265|wat
Thanks for your help guys, but there's no pins bent, and there is no switch. I've tried applying pressure to the bottom plate (just in case there was a small push-button switch but alas, no boot. I've talked to my teachers (studying to be MCP/MCDST) and they've said that it's a broken battery.

At ~AU$200 for a replacement battery for a laptop that costs AU$400, it pretty much seems like a write-off to me.
That being said, it can double up as a Server with a backup battery. It took me two weeks to save up for this, so I'm quite pissed, but oh well. What can you do?

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