A31 Power Problems

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mbarker · #1 Post by **mbarker** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:49 am

Hi. I have a A31 (which I have used daily for 4.5yrs) and recently it has developed some frustrating problems. I am wondering if anyone has experienced this and if there is a fix- or is it just getting ready to die? Anyway, here are the problems:

1. If the power cord is disconnected, even for a second, the A31 freezes up and cannot be unfrozen. It must be powered off and restarted.

2. Most of the time (60% or so) the A31 will not completely shut-down, restart, or go to sleep. It gets as far as one of the blue screens that says something like "Windows is shutting down" and it freezes there. Again, it must be forced to power off by holding the power button or pulling out both the battery and power cord.

3. Sometimes (10% or so) when it powers on it does nothing- no OS, no command prompt, no nothing (except a power light & fan). This is particularly scary, and thankfully only occasional. It usually does this when I try to restart it following problem #1 or #2. I think that perhaps it gets angry from being forced to power off. Usually it will start up again if I leave it be for some time- say a half hour or so.

So, does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Thanks.

ajkula66 · #2 Post by **ajkula66** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:47 am

You might have more than one issue here...this is where I'd begin:

a) Run PC-Doctor on every component
b) Run Memtest 86
c) Check event logs for any recorded errors after "freezing" or deciding not to go to sleep.
d) Borrow or download a copy of Linux live CD, and run it to see if any of the issues will go away.
e) Update the BIOS and embedded controller to the latest ones.

This is not meant to be done in the order as I've presented it...it's just how certain things came to mind.

Good luck.

sjthinkpader · #3 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:06 pm

What is the condition of the battery? Have you tried a different battery?

mbarker · #4 Post by **mbarker** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:59 pm

sjthinkpader wrote:What is the condition of the battery? Have you tried a different battery?

Battery is toast and has been for years. It will power the machine for 30 seconds or so- enough time to move to another power outlet. But now I cannot do that- since the computer will freeze if I unplug it.

Problems #2 and #3 occur even if the battery is not installed at all.

sjthinkpader · #5 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:43 pm

For the heck of it, with the main battery removed, disconnect the backup battery and reconnect it and setup the time and date again.

Then see if the computer power up and shutdown normally without the main battery.

I haven't seen it with the A30/A31 series, but the A2x series can corrupt the BIOS flash when booting without the main battery due to voltage fluctuation.

If you can clear up the power up/power down issue after disconnecting the backup battery, may be it is best to get a better main battery.

AlexDBall · #6 Post by **AlexDBall** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:14 pm

Is there any solution for this problem? i've got the same problem my A31 2652-KWG.

Tested/change almost everything on it and still does it.
PC-Doctor passes all test..

Thanks,

ajkula66 · #7 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:19 pm

The most likely answer is "no". I've seen this on several A3x and R4x machines, and it seems to be a terminal board issue. And all of these passed PC-Doctor tests with flying colours. Go figure...

AlexDBall · #8 Post by **AlexDBall** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:24 pm

thanks a lot for the quick response!

going on ebay now for a new mb:)

mbarker · #9 Post by **mbarker** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:59 pm

Actually, my problem disappeared....at least temporarily. Allow me to explain.

I recently sold the machine in question, and in an attempt to get the best price I could for it, I cleaned the HDD and put a lot of effort into software- preload restoration, Win 98 with all the updates, IBM software and updates, some other free downloads, etc.

During the time in between formating the HDD and completing all the software work (at least 8hrs of work over the course of several days) I had no problems- zero. When I was nearly complete I started to get a few hangs while trying to restart after downloading. However, the other problems (described above) disappeared and did not return.

This leads me to believe that the problems that I had (your mileage may vary) are software related and probably have something to do with my Belkin wireless card. That is just my theory, but I can tell you for certain that the reformat kicked the problems.

Hope this helps.

ajkula66 wrote:The most likely answer is "no". I've seen this on several A3x and R4x machines, and it seems to be a terminal board issue. And all of these passed PC-Doctor tests with flying colours. Go figure...

ajkula66 · #10 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:06 pm

The experiences that OP is referring to are the exact reason why I encourage people to try removing stuff point by point and re-booting on and on to see the possible difference....

Your card could have been the issue, but usually the problem that most people are reporting, and that your initial reports were similar to, deals with machine freezing with or without the HDD installed, and are by no means software related...

A31 Power Problems

A31 Power Problems

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