# Dead laptop - bad battery? Compaq Presario 1247



## FaxData (Oct 11, 2002)

Hi!

I own a Compaq Presario 1247 laptop (AMD K6II/400MHz, 2.2V, 160 MB RAM, 30GB HDD, 24x CDROM, model number 1456VQLIN, 3 or 4 years old I think...), and the darn thing won't power on. I gave it to my sis and it came back dead. She had taken it to compusa I believe, where the guy told her to replace the battery. When I plug it into the wall socket, the LED to indicate it's plugged in comes on, but the one that indicates the battery is charging doesn't. The battery has a light indicator to say how much charge is in it, and none of the leds come on (0% I guess). Pressing the power button has no effect, whether or not the battery is inserted into its bay. I'd bring it to compusa here, but they charge $140 just to look at the machine... since a battery costs less, I thought I'd try getting a new one first, but it seems strange to me that the computer won't boot when the battery is out of the bay. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Should I be looking for other causes? (fried motherboard, maybe, I dunno?) Thanks mucho for any help at all (or even sympathy  )!

- FaxData


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## Lurker1 (Jan 30, 2001)

Hi FaxData.

I have worked only with Dell and IBM laptops and they will all boot with only the power supply connected and the battery removed. It sounds like the power regulator (usually found on the system board) is bad.


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## dralphs (Jan 21, 2003)

Dear FaxData,

Did you ever get an answer to your question about the Presario 1247 not powering up?

I've got one that is doing the same thing.

Please let me know.

Thanks!

David Ralphs
[email protected]


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## FaxData (Oct 11, 2002)

No, I never got it working... I'm thinking of buying a used 1247 on ebay (they go for less than $150 sometimes) and swapping out parts (since I have a replaced 30gb hdd and added 128mb memory and such).


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## danoels4 (May 6, 2003)

To FaxData & dralph:

A common ailment I have found with these models is that the AC jack (which is sautered to the motherboard) will often become unattached or break off completely, causing problems with powering on the computer or charging the battery. All three contacts of the jack must be in place in order for the necessary connections to operate the power of the computer properly. There are several sellers on eBay who sell just the jack (usually for around $10 apiece, plus shipping) for this model. I have sautered several of these jacks onto Compaq motherboards, which often will take care of the problem.
I cannot guarantee that this will solve your problem, but it has worked for me many times, saving me hundreds of dollars that I would normally have had to spend on an entire motherboard. It's worth a $15 try to potentially save hundreds.
However, I would not suggest that you attempt to take your laptop apart and do this, unless you are sure that you can disassemble and reassemble the laptop correctly. You'll have to take out the keyboard, drives, etc., in order to get to the motherboard. Plus, you'll have to have a soldering iron with a very small tip in order to solder the new jack on, being very careful not to hit other contacts with it. You'll also want to make sure that you ground yourself, so that you don't fry your board with a static charge.
Good luck!


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## gws226 (Feb 9, 2003)

I think FAXDATA is right.

It just happened on my Thinkpad600. Nothing would work when the AC adapter is plugged into the back of the laptop, but If the laptop was in its base then it would turn on and charge. The base has the AC jack but still relies on the laptops power regulaltor.

(ie: its the AC jack in the back of the machine)


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## FaxData (Oct 11, 2002)

Okay, so today I decided to try plugging in my laptop, and all of a sudden it's accepting power. I decided to try to boot it, but the screen is corrupted. weird colors and pixels everywhere, and the laptop can go into bios and change settings, but it seems to hang when trying to boot (the bar on the windows 98 startup screen does keep moving, however). Any ideas?

Edit: Okay, fifteen minutes later, all the problems had resolved themselves. My laptop seems to be working perfectly once again... very strange. oh well, I'm not complaining.  although I'd be curious to see if anyone has any theories as to what happened. I suspect a small surge or static electricity shorting some random circuit in the system that didn't go away until all the batteries and capacitors drained...

Anyways, thanks to everyone that gave input. I'll be sure to get a surge protector, and be careful with that dc power plug in the back of the laptop.


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## FaxData (Oct 11, 2002)

I think I've found a working solution (I'm posting since several people have emailed me with similar problems, I wonder if this is a problem in general with this model?) Laptop died again, same deal, the power button did nothing. Some sort of strange static buildup/discharge problem? Strangely enough, a Dell customer service agent taught me this trick to releasing all the static electricity buildup while trying to help me fix a different laptop (which had a totally different set of symptoms - I think she was grasping at straws. but oh well!)

She told me to unplug the AC and pull out the battery, leaving no power source, and then hold down the power button for 15-30 seconds, and that releases all the electricity as the computer attempts to turn itself on. Afterwards, I reinserted my battery, and my computer booted once again! Strange, but hey, at least it's an easy/free fix.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

A bad CMOS battery will yield similiar results in a laptop.


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## msgtgumby (Mar 12, 2003)

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the CMOS battery...might be worth it to replace it.

Smith


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## FaxData (Oct 11, 2002)

hmm, is that a standard battery? Mine still goes on the fritz all the time... it'll work for a bit, die, then start working only months later, and the screen always comes up looking just plain bizarre. Turn it off, turn it on, it's working properly. The time is off, that's about it... I'll look into replacing the battery, thanks!


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## FaxData (Oct 11, 2002)

Well, it's been a month and my laptop has been running smoothly ever since I replaced the CMOS battery (the CR1220 btw, $3 at radioshack, the battery holder is hidden under the modem card on the motherboard). I haven't had the computer go dead on me or have the weird screen problems ever since. Thanks!

btw, I notice now that my battery dies quickly (within 24 hours) even with the laptop turned off. Is that sign of a short, or just a battery that can't hold a charge? (It does charge to 100%, and can be used for a few hours unplugged, it just discharges quickly when unused)


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