Why does my laptop sometimes not turn on until I remove and replace the battery?
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I have a Dell D600 laptop. It recently refused to start when I pressed its on button. The button blinked for a few seconds, as did the three symbols to its left, which look like padlocks containing a 9, an A and a ↓, respectively.
A couple of times, I removed the battery, waited a few seconds, then put it back in, and tried again. That strategy worked until yesterday. So I had intended to take it to a shop to get an idea of what's wrong.
I decided to try it once more, on straight battery power, and it turned on with no problems.
I usually turn the computer off every night, but I think I will leave it on all the time, now. What's going wrong here, and what can I do about it?
laptop power
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
favorite
I have a Dell D600 laptop. It recently refused to start when I pressed its on button. The button blinked for a few seconds, as did the three symbols to its left, which look like padlocks containing a 9, an A and a ↓, respectively.
A couple of times, I removed the battery, waited a few seconds, then put it back in, and tried again. That strategy worked until yesterday. So I had intended to take it to a shop to get an idea of what's wrong.
I decided to try it once more, on straight battery power, and it turned on with no problems.
I usually turn the computer off every night, but I think I will leave it on all the time, now. What's going wrong here, and what can I do about it?
laptop power
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
1
Does the problem occur when the charger is plugged in ?
– Shekhar
Mar 11 '11 at 13:41
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
favorite
up vote
5
down vote
favorite
I have a Dell D600 laptop. It recently refused to start when I pressed its on button. The button blinked for a few seconds, as did the three symbols to its left, which look like padlocks containing a 9, an A and a ↓, respectively.
A couple of times, I removed the battery, waited a few seconds, then put it back in, and tried again. That strategy worked until yesterday. So I had intended to take it to a shop to get an idea of what's wrong.
I decided to try it once more, on straight battery power, and it turned on with no problems.
I usually turn the computer off every night, but I think I will leave it on all the time, now. What's going wrong here, and what can I do about it?
laptop power
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
I have a Dell D600 laptop. It recently refused to start when I pressed its on button. The button blinked for a few seconds, as did the three symbols to its left, which look like padlocks containing a 9, an A and a ↓, respectively.
A couple of times, I removed the battery, waited a few seconds, then put it back in, and tried again. That strategy worked until yesterday. So I had intended to take it to a shop to get an idea of what's wrong.
I decided to try it once more, on straight battery power, and it turned on with no problems.
I usually turn the computer off every night, but I think I will leave it on all the time, now. What's going wrong here, and what can I do about it?
laptop power
laptop power
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
edited Jul 26 '13 at 15:48
gronostaj
27.7k1368107
27.7k1368107
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
asked Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
alan wright
26112
26112
1
Does the problem occur when the charger is plugged in ?
– Shekhar
Mar 11 '11 at 13:41
add a comment |
1
Does the problem occur when the charger is plugged in ?
– Shekhar
Mar 11 '11 at 13:41
1
1
Does the problem occur when the charger is plugged in ?
– Shekhar
Mar 11 '11 at 13:41
Does the problem occur when the charger is plugged in ?
– Shekhar
Mar 11 '11 at 13:41
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
1
down vote
The BIOS is involved in most power-management functions on a PC. Make sure you have the latest version.
Your A/C adapter may be going out and needs to be replaced.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
Laptops do occasionally build up a latent charge while charging the battery, which results in the unit not powering on, removing the battery causes the laptop to discharge the built up charge. Sometimes you may also have to drain any residual power by holding down the power button for up to 20 seconds with all power sources, including the battery removed.
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
Sounds like an intermittent shutdown fault leaving some bit of hardware in an incorrect state which won't allow it to reset/restart, and that state being maintained by there still being a small amount of power available from the battery. You'll probably find that in this state it was drawing battery power when it should be completely off and drawing nothing, so the battery would have discharged overnight more than you would normally expect.
Removing the battery would remove the power source that is being used to maintain that state, properly resetting the relevant component. It will take a little time for this to take effect as the smoothing capacitors in the power rectifier circuitry will be storing an amount of charge - as very little is being drawn at this point that stored charge will take some seconds (or maybe tens of seconds) to run down.
The problem may be something that can be resolved by a firmware update - check that there are no updates for your machine that you do not yet have.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
1
down vote
The BIOS is involved in most power-management functions on a PC. Make sure you have the latest version.
Your A/C adapter may be going out and needs to be replaced.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
The BIOS is involved in most power-management functions on a PC. Make sure you have the latest version.
Your A/C adapter may be going out and needs to be replaced.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
The BIOS is involved in most power-management functions on a PC. Make sure you have the latest version.
Your A/C adapter may be going out and needs to be replaced.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
The BIOS is involved in most power-management functions on a PC. Make sure you have the latest version.
Your A/C adapter may be going out and needs to be replaced.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:00
LawrenceC
58.4k10100178
58.4k10100178
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
Laptops do occasionally build up a latent charge while charging the battery, which results in the unit not powering on, removing the battery causes the laptop to discharge the built up charge. Sometimes you may also have to drain any residual power by holding down the power button for up to 20 seconds with all power sources, including the battery removed.
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
Laptops do occasionally build up a latent charge while charging the battery, which results in the unit not powering on, removing the battery causes the laptop to discharge the built up charge. Sometimes you may also have to drain any residual power by holding down the power button for up to 20 seconds with all power sources, including the battery removed.
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
Laptops do occasionally build up a latent charge while charging the battery, which results in the unit not powering on, removing the battery causes the laptop to discharge the built up charge. Sometimes you may also have to drain any residual power by holding down the power button for up to 20 seconds with all power sources, including the battery removed.
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
Laptops do occasionally build up a latent charge while charging the battery, which results in the unit not powering on, removing the battery causes the laptop to discharge the built up charge. Sometimes you may also have to drain any residual power by holding down the power button for up to 20 seconds with all power sources, including the battery removed.
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
answered Jun 19 '11 at 6:24
ThatGuyInIT
76437
76437
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
Sounds like an intermittent shutdown fault leaving some bit of hardware in an incorrect state which won't allow it to reset/restart, and that state being maintained by there still being a small amount of power available from the battery. You'll probably find that in this state it was drawing battery power when it should be completely off and drawing nothing, so the battery would have discharged overnight more than you would normally expect.
Removing the battery would remove the power source that is being used to maintain that state, properly resetting the relevant component. It will take a little time for this to take effect as the smoothing capacitors in the power rectifier circuitry will be storing an amount of charge - as very little is being drawn at this point that stored charge will take some seconds (or maybe tens of seconds) to run down.
The problem may be something that can be resolved by a firmware update - check that there are no updates for your machine that you do not yet have.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
Sounds like an intermittent shutdown fault leaving some bit of hardware in an incorrect state which won't allow it to reset/restart, and that state being maintained by there still being a small amount of power available from the battery. You'll probably find that in this state it was drawing battery power when it should be completely off and drawing nothing, so the battery would have discharged overnight more than you would normally expect.
Removing the battery would remove the power source that is being used to maintain that state, properly resetting the relevant component. It will take a little time for this to take effect as the smoothing capacitors in the power rectifier circuitry will be storing an amount of charge - as very little is being drawn at this point that stored charge will take some seconds (or maybe tens of seconds) to run down.
The problem may be something that can be resolved by a firmware update - check that there are no updates for your machine that you do not yet have.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
Sounds like an intermittent shutdown fault leaving some bit of hardware in an incorrect state which won't allow it to reset/restart, and that state being maintained by there still being a small amount of power available from the battery. You'll probably find that in this state it was drawing battery power when it should be completely off and drawing nothing, so the battery would have discharged overnight more than you would normally expect.
Removing the battery would remove the power source that is being used to maintain that state, properly resetting the relevant component. It will take a little time for this to take effect as the smoothing capacitors in the power rectifier circuitry will be storing an amount of charge - as very little is being drawn at this point that stored charge will take some seconds (or maybe tens of seconds) to run down.
The problem may be something that can be resolved by a firmware update - check that there are no updates for your machine that you do not yet have.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
Sounds like an intermittent shutdown fault leaving some bit of hardware in an incorrect state which won't allow it to reset/restart, and that state being maintained by there still being a small amount of power available from the battery. You'll probably find that in this state it was drawing battery power when it should be completely off and drawing nothing, so the battery would have discharged overnight more than you would normally expect.
Removing the battery would remove the power source that is being used to maintain that state, properly resetting the relevant component. It will take a little time for this to take effect as the smoothing capacitors in the power rectifier circuitry will be storing an amount of charge - as very little is being drawn at this point that stored charge will take some seconds (or maybe tens of seconds) to run down.
The problem may be something that can be resolved by a firmware update - check that there are no updates for your machine that you do not yet have.
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
answered Jul 26 '13 at 16:03
David Spillett
21.8k4062
21.8k4062
add a comment |
add a comment |
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1
Does the problem occur when the charger is plugged in ?
– Shekhar
Mar 11 '11 at 13:41