Compaq Presario R3000 power cord issue

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Selliot,

My hunch is the little black and red plug that goes into the modem (a separate mini-board in there somewhere not near the modem jack itself) didn't snap-lock. It is ever so subtle a connection. Pull it out and reconnect it until it snaps into place.

On another note, I didn't replace the power jack, just re-soldered it. I am having second thoughts about not spending the extra $0.50 to get a new, tighter female adapter and would recommend that extra cheap insurance step to anyone else; 1> replace jack and 2> resolder to MB. Having said that, the PC works great and has now for almost a week.
Jeff

Jeffa@ideallypc.com
 
Ok, you're probably right...maybe it just didn't snap in all the way. There was ONE that attached to a mini-board, and it was always difficult getting it reconnected, because there were things in the way which made it hard to work it in there, and I bet that is it. I'll give it another try.
 
I haven't used my laptop modem in over a year. Do you know whether or not it worked before you started the project? Maybe you are just now uncovering an issue that was sleeping there all along.

Jeff
 
Checked it out and took a real close look at the connector that connects to the modem, and the wires were broke. I guess they broke while unplugging and plugging it in. I couldn't remove it from the keyboard side because the cheap, crappy screws strip too easy and wouldn't come out.
 
Hi again,

The tech that "repaired" my PC called me back after more than a week and only after I left a message stating that I would report him to the State Attorney General's office. He was as nasty as could be and said that he had put in a new AC outlet because mine was split and beat up from my "fiddling with it". I never fiddled with it - I plugged in the cord and tried to get power. I asked if he noticed that the original was cold soldered to the board, and he had no answer. I don't think he did anything but restore Windows. At the point I gave it to him, I had bought a new power adapter, and I think that got the PC running. (the old one was really beat up) But, I can guarantee he didn't leave it on long enough to notice that there was no power going to the PC. He told me, initially, that my hard drive had to be replaced, but didn't mention it yesterday. He also said that he didn't charge me any labor to install the new power outlet. So, according to what he said, he charged me $390.00 to reload Windows plus the cost of the hard drive.

I'm having a reputable tech take a look at it next week. Is it possible for him to tell if the hard drive and power outlet are new or the original parts? I'd like to hang this guy, but I'll need proof. Meanwhile, I'm still hanging around waiting for the occasional hour when my battery charges.
 
Probably a date code on that harddisk, he did not gave back the old disk??? A tech could see if a new adapter was placed, old one has most likely Foxcon written on it, where batches of these boards were assembled (partly, rest at Hannstar) and he could see how it is soldered, but that needs taking the board apart again.
 
When I was running on strictly AC (as I had to remove the old battery to get the PC to work at all) I learned pretty quickly that the power socket was so unreliable that I had to maintain constant pressure against the cord to keep the PC running. Eventually, even that failed, the power popped/dropped and I was forced to reboot. Even I knew this was dangerous. Needless to say, it only got worse and finally, as I was repowering, the power dropped aagain nd the drive crashed with it. It required an F-disk.

What I am saying is I had the same experience where the continued power-cord issue crashed the operating system and rendered the hard drive temporarily dead. Generally, dead drives simply require an F-disk, not replacement, but even that is not unusual.

Whenever hardware is replaced, you should be offered the parts that were replaced. If not, there is no proof that they were in fact replaced AND your handy repair guy is left with very usable HW that can be simply reformat and re-sold to the next customer; not very ethical....
 
If he even replaced the drive at all. Booting from a dos cd or usb stick, and typing fdisk/mbr <enter> indeed fixes shutdown drive corruptions most of the time.

LYNN1219, check the harddrive for a date code. If it is about 2 months older then your purchase of the laptop, it is the old one most likely. Ask for the old drive, try to get it back.
What is the state of the laptop now, charging battery and working after for an hour, then shuts off till you charge it again, etcetera? Is the computer working from the power adapter when the battery is removed from the laptop? Do you have a Pentium 4 processor, these boards need the dc-connector to be soldered on both sides of the board, the positive pin that is. I bet he missed that, shouldn't matter if you have an amd processor.
 
Hey, thanks for the info. He didn't give me any old parts and, as he hung up on me yesterday,I doubt I can get them. I'm having a reliable tech look at it next week, so I'm glad he'll be able to tell if this other guy replaced anything at all.

If I can prove he didn't, it's off to small claims court!
 
Hi,

The PC is running on battery power only. I even have to play with the power cord to get it to charge. Occasionally, for about 10 minutes, it will run on AC power, but that's it. I tried taking the battery out and running it, but no way. I just have to shut it down as soon as the "low battery" warning comes on and wait a couple hours for it to charge.
 
You are about a week ahead of where I was. Mine was just like that, but in addition, it had a dead battery. I was forced to run it on AC for a few days while I awaited the new battery - there in was the fatal blow. Once I had the new battery, I was forced to charge it and then run until the low battery warning alarmed. It wouldn't charge and operate both at the same time so I would have to shut down to re-charge, wait and go at it again. From here, all it took was COMPLETE removal of the MB, $5 and a 5 minute stop at a TV/Appliance repair shop where they did the re-solder of the power. Now I wish that I had replaced the 50 cent outlet too, but no biggie.

Good luck! DON'T EVEN TRY TO RUN IT WITHOUT THE BATTERY WHILST THE ORIGINAL SOLDER IS STILL IN PLACE - I LEARNED THAT NOTHING GOOD CAN COME FROM THIS.
 
Hi,

The PC is running on battery power only. I even have to play with the power cord to get it to charge. Occasionally, for about 10 minutes, it will run on AC power, but that's it.
Click to expand...

If he soldered it, he may have pushed the positive pin not far enough through the hole in the board to get a firm solderpoint, and it broke off again. Could be the pin is too short because he used the old broken one, outcome is the same. There might be an issue with dying capacitors on the board, leading to a too low amperage to charge the battery proper, or run the machine straight from AC. Some fiddling with the jack turns the power on/off for a couple of times, just may lead to a temporary success. (Hence the 10 minute success)
From a topic about erratic charging:

""Further Update - Fault repaired! After lengthy and tedious investigations the erratic behaviour of the battery charging/failure to run from the DC jack has been nailed. My motherboard uses MAXIM/DALLAS integrated circuits for power management and I gleaned a lot of useful info from application sheets provided on the web. Whilst the problem initially seemed to be related to the DC jack itself i.e. plugging the charger in and out would sometimes initiate charging, sometimes not the actual fault(s?) were traced to defective decoupling capacitors on the motherboard. There were at least 5 or 6 of them marked as NE* AA8 - they are 100mfd NEOCAPACITORS - conductive polymer tantalum capacitors - three had developed very high electrical leakage rendering the power control circuits unstable and eventually inoperative. The asterisk in the part mark is the production date code, in my case they were 's'. Changing these capacitors is NOT a job for the dabbler - you need to be VERY good at soldering and these parts are easily damaged by excessive heat. ""

There are actually 7 of these capacitors on the board. They cost next to nothing (20 cents a piece), but soldering them is difficult, because of 1mm large adjacent resistors, that just float away when getting to hot. A neighbour with better eyes and soldering skills/tools than I have did the job for me, to no avail, that's when I found one resistor sitting on top of a nearby solder point of a replaced capacitor.

So I bought a board off ebay for $240 incl. shipping, it showed no video, returned it, and now it is lost (I think) for 2 weeks in the us mail system. Seller did not seem to keen on giving any service but would investigate (why do these sellers always present themselves as plural when it comes to some conflict, "we have pulled it from a working system", "we will carefully investigate", to look more impressive in knowledge because we are 2 at least, or a company?)
In short, payed about $300 (board, taxes, postage back) and still empty handed, you are not alone in your struggle!
 
I feel your pain! I have been going through this for over 6 months, and I can't believe how many people are having this same problem with these units. I haven't been following this for very long, as I just found this site about a week ago. What is HP's response to all of this? From what I've read, they deny that there's anything wrong with the manufacturing of the unit. I also saw a blog from a law student who was looking for people to participate in a class action suit. Did anything come of that?

I live in Colorado Springs, and there's a huge HP facility here. I'm tempted to write a letter to the Editor of the newspaper and relate this whole story and see if that gets them interested. If so many people are struggling with this and spending so much money before they get to the source of the problem (batteries, power cords, etc.) HP should be exposed for the cheap, corporate cronies they are. I worked for them years ago, and this would not have been acceptable to them then. Obviously, their philosophy of always keeping the customer happy has changed.

What should I tell the tech who is going to look at it next week? I thought I'd tell him that the outlet and motherboard connections just need to be hot soldered, but do you think that's the only issue?
 
Do you know where I can order a new wire that connects the two modem plugins?

If I had realized I could plug the wire in/out from under the keyboard it would have been much easier...and probably easier on the wire. Instead I was doing it when I had the laptop flipped over and removing the motherboard. There's a little black square object that makes it hard to get a good angle to get the plug back in...so all the bending broke the wires. So anyone doing this disassembly, be sure to try disconnecting the modem wire at both locations from the keyboard side, after you have the keyboard out and top panel off.
 
try thinking outside the computer support and repair world. The first place I went when my MB needed resoldering was a TV repair shop. They handle micro solder every day. I would simply take the damaged cable, complete with ends, to an electronics shop and slip them a $5. They should be able to put it back together for you; better than the original. If that doesn't work ask them who can or go to Radio Shack and find the ends you need and repeat. My hunch is it will be back together in no time and at little cost and inconvenience to you. Whatever you do, don't start at the big box stores; they'll hammer you in time wasted and fees.

Good luck!
 
Ok thanks, I'll check out radio shack to see if I can find the end there. I just assumed I could get a new wire for a few dollars...but doesn't sound that way. lol.
 
Another idea is to call or go to a local PC repair shop (again, avoid the big boxes as they don't retain "junk" like us smaller, and I would say more exerienced support dudes do) that may have taken an R-3000 in as junk or simply been left behind by previous owners who got sticker shock on the repair cost...they do that to walk away from the diagnostics fee.

Given its apparent planned self-destruction, there are probably plenty sitting around on back racks being parted out. Trust me, the modem cable/wire is not in high demand. Probably any Compaq or HP sourced modem cable should work. Try calling first and then suggest e-mailing a photo of the damaged one sitting next to a ruler to match ends and scale required.

Although I haven't seen the results of yours, I still think a sharp electronics shop can fix about anything.

Again, Good luck and be persistent, but remember your time and the other guy's time is still $$.
 
What should I tell the tech who is going to look at it next week? I thought I'd tell him that the outlet and motherboard connections just need to be hot soldered, but do you think that's the only issue?
Click to expand...

Make a report on paper and keep it short like a telegram:

First signs of errors that came up, what helped at the moment to keep your laptop working. Things you replaced to get rid of the error(s), the effect of them.

Repair attempt by repair guy:
mention what he said that needed to be done, and what he claimed he had done to the laptop at the moment you picked it up.
Take your invoice from the repair along, the repairman's address/telephone (tech might want to contact him to clear things).

Describe how the laptop acts after the repair attempt. Mention any difference between for and after the "repair".

Last, write down what you remember from the last contacts with the repairman. What he claims to have done, replaced, etc.

When you go to the technician, ask if he can verify the repairs and the replacements. Maybe he can intermediate in getting that old hard drive back too. Tell him what you learned from the forum, that the dc-in connector is a known weak spot on the R3000 - ZV/ZX5000 series, loose or even broken connectors, that needs to be soldered back or replaced. Mention (if you have a P4) you were told here that it is essential to solder the positive pin of the connector on both sides of the board for Pentium 4 processor based systems.
 
Thanks, that's good advice. Only problem is that the tech that supposedly did the work won't send me an itemized bill. I remember what he said he did, so I'll convey that to the new tech and see if he can verify it. I appreciate all your help!
 
I spent long hours on HP chat and finally got them to ship/repair/return for free. In the course of that chat I pointed them towards this forum, mentioned that many people have been having this issue, and asked if there was a recall on it. They admitted that it was a "known issue", but said that there was no recall on it. When I asked how a recall could be set up, they said it would not, because not all the computers had this problem. When I asked if there were any known pattterns about the manufacture of those that did have the problem, the person finally elevated it, and I was supposed to hear from the supervisor. Instead of that, though, I got an email and a shipping box in the mail.

I won't bore you with my further misadventures as I tried to back up my computer, but suffice it to say I finally got that done and the computer is supposed to be back by 1/31, hopefully repaired.

If anyone wnats to see my transcript so they know what tack to take with the HP reps, let me know. It is really outrageous that everbody has to become a gearhead to resolve an issue that is obviously a manufacturer's defect.
 
I'd love to see your transcript. I thought of contactng HP, but given that so many people already had and got no satisfaction, I thought it would be a waste of time. About time they took some responsibility for this.

Is it necessary to back up everything before sending it away?
 
Is it necessary to back up everything before sending it away?
Click to expand...
Take your harddrive out, never send it along.

On the contrary, I asked HP about this and they said they would NOT repair unless all components that came with the laptop were installed.

Yes, it is necessary to back it up -- how far do you trust them with your data when you have seen how unreliable they are already? Luckily my IT guy at work was willing to help me with that part. He removed the hard drive from my computer and installed it into a portable drive that he has. Then we backed that up onto my work computer and from there onto my portable USB drive.

HP also emailed me some info about components I could buy to back up my computer:
"Method 2:
You can also get an Hard IDE connector that connects the notebook hard
drive to the desktop hard drive. you can get the IDE connector Cables
from the below given links:

http://techrepublic.com.com/5102-6255-5160538.html
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/insidecomputer/la2tode3hadr.html"

Another option would be to buy on ebay the xc1000 cable to power up your computer, back it up, and then sell it again when the computer is repaired. They are selling like hotcakes presumably because they are a good work around on this issue. BTW, don't let HP try to sell you the XC2000 as a work around, #1 because it is one more way for them to avoid responsibility, but #2 because the XC2000 does not fit this computer's port. They no longer sell the XC1000 - it has been discontinued. Another instance I suppose of HP not properly supporting Compaq models.

I'll create a pdf of the relevant parts of the transcript, put it up in cyberspace, and post a link to it tomorrow.
 
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