Compaq Presario R3000 power cord issue

[NSH]

So I followed the superb details listed throughout this thread to take the laptop apart, solder the 4 points and put it back together.

It does the same thing it did before 'attempting' to fix the problem. When I connect the AC adapter to the Laptop the power light(Lightning bolt) lights up for around 2-3 seconds and then goes off. If I disconnect/reconnect the cable it does the same thing, on for 2-3 seconds and then off.

When this occurs you can see Windows detect a power source and the battery icon disappears from the systray, 3 seconds later it of course, pops back up.

I can't figure out if I truly had the issue with the solder points being weak or if I have another problem. I did not want to spend the money on a new adapter if that was not the problem.

Any thoughts?

 

[Que]

Bad battery, bad power adapter (unlikely if laptop works okay with the adapter), internal circuitry going bad -leaking capacitors-voltage barrier switches-etc.

 

[tbenson]

I, too, had the same issue with the power cord/soldering/MoBo.

I contacted Compaq/HP...told them that my notebook had a KNOWN issue. I was afraid that since it was a year out of warranty they'd give me grief about it. Instead (and hold on to your hats!), they sent me packaging material, overnite, to sent the notebook to them (again, overnite). They replaced the motherboard for free (as if it were still under warranty).

As an added bonus...I had a column of dead pixels on my display. They replaced the lcd panel for free, as well. I think because the paperwork said 'warranty', the tech saw the dead pixel issue, and assumed s/he was to fix it as well.

Give 'em a call...can't hurt! You might want to mention to them on the phone that you are aware that this is a KNOWN issue with this model.

 

[fastoche]

Hi,
Thx to everybody for all the informations about this problem. Now I know it comes from the pin of the power jack.
For the moment I still can use my laptop so I don't need to try to fix it yet. If u r annoyed by the screen getting clear and dark and clear...
It's very easy, unplug the jack then on u r keyboard press fn and clear (F8) to put the light at the maximum, then plug it again and press fn darker (F7). Then when u r pc will be off power or on ac power the light won't change. Of course disable the alert in control panel/power. It won't solve the issue, but u will be able to use u r pc without beeing annoyed by alert and screen light going dark and clear all the time.
c u.

 

[beamrider]

Not sure if this applies to my problem or what, but here goes:

I have to hold the cord in a specific way to even get the charge light to come on. WHen I try to power up, I get the power light on for about 6-7 seconds, and then nothing. During this time, I can't feel/hear any physical activity from the laptop at all, no HD spinning up, no fan, etc. I can't get the laptop on at all, because the battery is dead.

Does this sound like it could be fixed by resoldering the power jack?

Thanks!

 

[ideallypc]

Been there. That is exactly the same I had. Then I got "smart" and removed the battery which allowed it to run on straight power-cord....until it dropped during a HD write and crashed the HD (hard drive)....new battery arrived, and I rebuilt the HD, it worked for another 10 days until the power socket completely failed.

My adivce is to stop now, and purchase a new socket on e-bay for about $10 including shipping, and then disassemble, take the new socket and MoBo to an electronics shop and have it resoldered on. I am kicking myself for having made the two mistakes of running it in a compromised state and for not replacing the original socket (which I will be doing soon as the same problems is creaping back).

Good luck. Remember my tip above which is if you unscrew all the screws and leave them in their respective holes and lift the plastics straight upward with screws still in location, it goes back together in a fraction of the time with no leftover screws.

Electronics shops might say they don't work on MoBos, but if you bring just the MoBo without any of the plastics or laptop components, they will gladly do it. The just don't want to be responsible for messing up a $1,000 laptop. I told the guy I wouldn't blame him if it didn't fire up and that in its present state, it was a broken, worthless circuit board like any other sitting on his bench.

Good luck!

 

[beamrider]

Problem is it won't run at all now, on battery, or with battery removed. Am I past the point of no return possibly?

Also, when I do manage to get the cord in the right position for the charge light to come on, when I press the power button, there's no light on it, no lights anywhere else on the laptop that come on other than the power light and charge light.

 

[ideallypc]

Take a deep breath. You are not at the point of no return yet. The problem is pobably that the power jack is so compromised that it can't transmit enough power to the MoBo to operate the PC. Additionally, it is either too degraded to charge the battery or the battery is now dead which is not directly related, it just doesn't help matters. To prove this, leave the PC off, but try to charge the battery over night by adjusting the cord just enough so that the lightning bolt comes on and you can leave it unattended with the bolt on. The see if it will boot once it charges. If it does, your problem is in the power jack in the rear still and the PC is OK except for that.

 

[beamrider]

Well, that's what I tried last night. I THINK the battery got charged all the way, no way to tell tho, meter leads won't fit to test it. Laptop will do the exact same thing when on battery only, with adapter unplugged. Perhaps the jack solder points are too weak now to transmit enough current to fully charge the battery, as you said. In the process now of ripping it apart to check out the power jack.........lol

 

[sunkissedgrl]

It's amazing how everyone is having the same problem. I immediatly thought It was my powercord. I was searching for a new one when I came across this forum. I hope the new Compaq's aren't having these problems either. It's pretty redic and uncalled for. Thanks to all the people for the help atleast. I hope everyone else was able to get their computers fixed. I have to say this will be my last Compaq.

 

[beamrider]

No luck yet, resoldered the connections, and nothing has changed. Starting to get really depressed now.............lol

 

[LYNN1219]

Hi,


I don't know if you read the previous posts, but one blogger wrote that he called HP and told them he had a known problem with his R3000. Amazingly, HP said they would fix it and sent him packaging for his laptop overnight. They sent it back to him fully repaired at no charge.

I've been dealing with this for 6 months and have spent a lot of money on things that weren't the problem. I'm calling HP tomorrow to see if I can get them to do something for me. You might try the same if you have no luck fixing it.

 

[Jaycool25]

Ripped the whole laptop apart, and luckily read this forum. So waiting for my soddering iron to heat up and then i am going to pray it fixes the problem... Wish me luck here i go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[beamrider]

No luck whatsoever fixing it. Called support and was told I'd have to pay $390 to get this fixed, even tho it's a known issue. Steaming mad right now as I look at my 11 pound paperweight.

 

[Que]

No luck whatsoever fixing it. Called support and was told I'd have to pay $390 to get this fixed, even tho it's a known issue. Steaming mad right now as I look at my 11 pound paperweight.

Check the 2 most left and right copper connectors of the docking port, with adapter attached, for a voltage. If power there, the jack should let enough through to get the laptop started. If nothing there, you could re-route the adapter to those contacts, and see if the laptop starts from there. I can't recall which is plus or minus, can check that tomorrow if you need the info.

 

[Jaycool25]

If you have it available, after you redo the solders, take a volt meter and see if you get any voltage between the positive and any of the negitives.


I got my started again when it was in pieces, but now that its patially back together i foundt hat the power cable light goes out as soon as its plugged into the laptop... Must have a short, so.... Back to pieces again it goes. But i'm one step closer : )

 

[bomark]

Hello,
it's me again...and i did it. Thanks to everyone... and a big thanks to my brother in law who sent the missing part...

Everything was fine. I did take about 60 pictures during operation Power jack, so if you are interested let me know...

the coolest one...

and
my favorite ::

or this one...i'm not so sure::

You can see on this one how joints were loose ::

I'm thinking about making a .pdf file with directions how to fix it, and change the power jack...do you think it's needed??

 

[beamrider]

I've got pwr at the docking port connector, but still not able to start the laptop. Am going to try a direct solder connection to the input pads to see if that works. If that doesn't work, then.....................

 

[LYNN1219]

Sorry to hear you weren't able to fix it. HP ought to be sued. I'll have no choice but to pay someone (even though I've already paid $390 to a tech here who did nothing). I'm calling someone in HP Corporate tomorrow and laying out this whole soap opera. If I get anything positive from them, Ill post it.

 

[LYNN1219]

My husband has an E-machine, and keeps getting a black screen error that says: System disk error; insert disc and press enter. This happened a few months ago, and it finally crashed. A tech charged us over $500.00 to fix, and we've been having the same problem.

Any idea what is causing this error message? My husband keeps rebooting it, and the tech told us that whenever you get an error message, you should turn the computer off, as you're doing damage.

Any ideas?

 

[Que]

$500!!, from the same family, it looks like a conspiracy! Does your husband's machine gets that on start up? He has a bad harddisk, data corruption on the harddisk (could be caused by bad memory), lousy harddisk contact/-cable. Don't you know what the tech did, he might have just popped another $50 harddrive in, or dis- and reconnected the cables.

btw this can also occur on booting up when a non system disk (floppy or cd) is left in the drive, and these drives are set prior to the harddisk in bootorder, in the bios setup.

 

[LYNN1219]

Yeah, $500 from the same family - must have seen us coming. We're taking him to Small Claims Court, but that's another story.

The error message appears after the computer has been logged off and is hibernating. When you press Enter to bring the screen up, the message is there. Sometimes it will start if you just press enter, but now it has to be re-booted, and that doesn't always work. Is it dangerous to keep using it under these circumstances.Part of the error message says "INsert disk and reboot". What disk are they talking about?

The "tech" who"repaired" it won't send us an invoice or give us back the parts he supposedly replaced. I believe he said he put in a new hard drive or motherboard and re-loaded Windows. I think he reloaded Windows and that's all.

I appreciate your help!

 

[Que]

That message comes up when the computer looks for an operating system to start, and can't find one on the found disks, or finds no disks at all. Thats a failure of the hibernating part of windows if it only happens after waking up from hibernating. Is it ok when you boot it from a total power off? If so, you should google for hibernating problems for your OS and computermodel. Might give a patch or other workaround. Is windows updated?

 

[ThePod]

I got the idea to crack open the front cover from Spricer (search this thread) and it sounded like a better idea than tearing the whole laptop apart.

Check out the pics here http://www.angelfire.com/planet/pod/laptop/

You have to pry the top section off (contains the power button). Make sure to take the 3 screws from the bottom side out first.
After that, make sure you line up the area you're going to cut out with the DC power jack. I used a flathead screwdriver that I heated over a candle to melt the plastic
There is a layer of sheet metal underneath that I gently pried up using needle nose pliers. I could see the jack solder joints under this. The one was clearly loose. A little solder later and viola!, no more finicky power jack. Once you place the top cover back on, you can't see the cutout. If the jack ever gets funny again it'll only take two minutes to fix, just like Spricer said.

 

[benfranklin]

I was having the same problem. Since I do not have the expertise to take apart my computer I was trying to buy one of those All-In-One Media Cables XC1000 that are supposed to allow you to power the computer through the docking station port. They are going for over $90 on Ebay. I emailed Compaq to complain and they told me I could buy one of the media cables at this link.

http://h20141.www2.hp.com/hpparts/default.asp?cc=US&lang=EN

You enter the product 359680-001 and do a search and it comes up. It is only $36 from HP directly and they are in stock. Amazing.

When I tried to find this product by searching for it without the product number on the HP website I could never find it but by using this link and the product number it came up.

Hopefully this will help people like me who do not have the time or patience to take apart the computer.