Ok... what's gone wrong now?? (A31 power up problem)

[A31]

Hi guys, this is my post in a little while, but sadly I have problem (again! )
I went on holiday to the Isle of Wight on the 19th March, and the A31 was working absoloutely fine, but when I came back on the 22nd March, I find that it is no longer working. Now to get it work before, I had to just plug in the mains plug into my extension lead and away it would go (didn't need to press the power on button), but now it is not working at all. I tried a different AC adapter but still no luck?
Anybody got any ideas as to why this might be?
Thanks!
A31

[RealBlackStuff]

Sounds like a bad Power switch on the keyboard, if it started before like you described.

[A31]

Sounds like a bad Power switch on the keyboard, if it started before like you described.

Is it easy to replace and if so where can I get one?
Thanks!
A31

[schen]

Sounds like a bad Power switch on the keyboard, if it started before like you described.

Is it easy to replace and if so where can I get one?
Thanks!
A31

Just get a KB, it's a lot simpler than trying to replace the switch itself and it's not very expensive.

[A31]

Just get a KB

Assuming that 'KB' means keyboard, do you think something like this would do the job?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-ThinkPad-A30- ... 3cab086cfd

or...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-02K5965-02K59 ... 5886a65948

If I got a new keyboard, it would have to be a UK keyboard.

[ajkula66]

Any A3x series keybaord will work, regardless of the model number or machine's LCD size.

Happy hunting.

[rkawakami]

My initial thought is that you are dealing with a motherboard problem, but it is possible that a broken power switch on the keyboard is the culprit. However, if you have access to a port replicator or docking station, I would mount the laptop into it and use the port rep/dock power switch and see if the system powers up properly. That could tell you that you are dealing with a keyboard problem or a general motherboard issue.

[A31]

However, if you have access to a port replicator or docking station, I would mount the laptop into it and use the port rep/dock power switch and see if the system powers up properly. That could tell you that you are dealing with a keyboard problem or a general motherboard issue.

I have a port replicator, and I'll see if I can use the power swtich on it...thanks!!

[A31]

Well, it doesn't look good, at the moment. I tried the power button on the port replicator and still nothing, though that may be becuase I'm not very good at getting the A31 on the dock!!

I'll have another look tomorrow and see if I can get it to go.

I don't understand why it broke anyway... I left the machine standing for 3 days, and I didn't touch it, and no, all of a sudden, it is not working. Very odd, I must say.

[RealBlackStuff]

It's not 'all of a sudden'.
You mentioned that whenever you plug in the AC adapter, that it starts up.
This (to me at least) points to a 'stuck' (read: always ON) power switch mechanism.
You may not have noticed that before...

[A31]

When I say 'all of a sudden', I mean that one day it was working, the next it wasn't.

I will also mention that whenever, when the system was on, I pressed the power button, the machine would immeditately just shut itself of, then reboot itself again... another sign of a faulty power switch?

[ajkula66]

I'm sorry to say that rebooting in that manner usually points to a sickly motherboard...

[A31]

I'm sorry to say that rebooting in that manner usually points to a sickly motherboard...

Though the system board may have had it...

Oh well, I'll save the parts (RAM DIMMS, hard drive, docking station) and may be I'll get myself an X series?? I've always fancied one of those!

[Harryc]

I'm sorry to say that rebooting in that manner usually points to a sickly motherboard...

Though the system board may have had it...

Oh well, I'll save the parts (RAM DIMMS, hard drive, docking station) and may be I'll get myself an X series?? I've always fancied one of those!

The X series takes Ultrabases, so the dock is useless unless your A31 has a 287810U minidock, which wiill also work with an X31. The A31 uses P2100 RAM unless you've upgraded to PC2700. Although PC2100 will work in an X31, it normally takes PC2700. Later X series take PC2-4200 or better.

[A31]

GOOD NEWS!!
The A31 will live to see another day!!

I just put my battery in, plugged it into the mains, pressed the power-on button and away it went!
Can't tell you all how happy I am!

Thanks for your help!
A31

[emeraldgirl08]

Hi A31 :wave wave:

I wish I had seen this thread before but occasionally if a problem with a "no power on" issue happens- try using the "drain the capacitors" trick.

Remove the battery, press the power button 10-20 times and hold it down for about 10 secs on the last press. Do this for about 3 more tries YMMV and then put your battery back in.

Now try and power it on.

It's a strange phenomena and I have not read about why this happens. My older brother has a Toshiba and one day he mentioned that he didn't know what to do with it. He described the symptoms and this trick worked

[A31]

Remove the battery, press the power button 10-20 times and hold it down for about 10 secs on the last press. Do this for about 3 more tries YMMV and then put your battery back in.

Now try and power it on.

After I wrote that above post, I left the machine standing for an hour or half or so and I had to do just that!! It works though, eventually!

I think my system board is giving up the go... I am glad I got it going going again though!