Compaq Presario R3000 power cord issue

Page 19 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
We sell these dc jacks in our ebay shop hpnotebooks. It really isn't that hard to replace the dc jack but it does need patience and the hardest part is remembering where you took out the screws when dissambling the laptop. Get some solder wick / solder / solder iron and i would definately recommend a flux pen. All in all only takes 5 mins for the job.

We repair lots of different hp compaq laptops and we also sell a dvd with lots of hp compaq service manuals. We are a power seller on ebay and sell anything from lcd's to plastic memory covers - http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/HPNOTEBOOKS
We could repair your dc socket for you if you send it in and pay the postage costs email hpnotebooks@btinternet.com if you would like a quote :)
 
I bought this laptop new from best buy years ago along with the extended warranty... right before the warranty expired i had the lcd replaced for dead pixels. Last year the screen started turning off randomly, well the back light atleast... i did some research bought a LCD inverter off of ebay swapped it out and it was fixed... shortly after i bought a new battery since mine was holding like a 30 minute charge and for whatever reason i would find the computer off and dead even though it was plugged in... we thought we had it narrowed down to the charging cord since at some angles it would still charge and if moved it would stop, we even tried the wrapping the cord around the monitor to keep pressure on the cord and that worked for a bit... the laptop has just been sitting around for a almost a year because its been such a main in the neck so i figured id google the problem found this thread and decided to take it apart to see if resoldering the jack would fix it... ive now taken the laptop fully apart and back together three times... the first i didn't have the manuals and at some point knew i would be SOL if i didn't put it back together and document where the screws went better... so i made a chart and stripped it all the way down this time completely removing the motherboard... the solder points were covered in what seemed to be rust so i cleaned them up, i had planned on resoldering however my brother has my iron and the coldheat tip was broke, so i had it completely stripped down in a million pieces without a soldering iron... i figured id throw it all in a tub and order a new jack instead and do it the right way... but figured it might never get put back together so i decided to reassemble and test it... and it worked fine... the jack still slips out out if you move it but in a stationary position it works great... one problem the monitor doesnt come on anymore. I figured i might of miss a connection or something putting it back together so i tore it all back down and checked everything, nothing out of the norm so i put it back together paying close attention to detail, still didn't fix the monitor. I tried hooking it up to a external monitor and booting but it didn't work, however the lcd cable under the top strip is still plugged in and i couldn't recall the function keys to switch displays.... the processor is seated correctly and tightened in the correct order.... i tried booting without the battery, dvd, harddrive and second and then both memory modules removed however i cant get the lightning bolt to show up if the case is stripped down... odd but i figured it was just a safety precaution of some sort. One other problem that makes everything more a PITA to troubleshoot is the power button has to be hit atleast 20 times for it to come on... so between that and the battery being dead right now and the cord only working when it wants to im at a loss, does anyone have any tips to figure my display issue... if i can get that going ill be fine again????????????
 
Check the lcd-plug for bent pins.
Does the computer start at all? First thought is, if not, a wrong seated or dead cpu.
 


Yeah it boots it POST's fine and everything i just cant see anything... ill double check the lcd plug...
 
I posted this note back in 2008, now I have to try again: maybe someone can help.
I am editing this message in hopes that SOMEONE might try to read the voltages present at the pins on the battery connector, maybe by running with no battery, and using a digital voltmeter to read the voltage present on the pins. I am trying to find which pin the charging voltage should appear on; I would expect it to be in the +15 volt range.....and also what pin is ground. As I have indicated below, my problem was the same as everyone else's (basically in this whole thread), but after resoldering the power connector, my laptop works flawlessly on AC power, but I have no "lightning bolt" on, and the battery shows no charge.

I would be very grateful if someone could post their findings from a WORKING Compaq R3000.

Thanks to all!






Could someone please tell me the pin layout for the battery connector in the Presario R3000?
Like so many other people, I have had to repair the power connector problem on my machine. I would certainly like to thank everyone who posted their experiences on this problem on this forum for the benefit of others. I am an ex telecom worker, so I do computer repair as a hobby/sideline while semi-retired.
The dismantling, soldering of the loose power cord connector went very well ( I did it about a year ago), but I do not get a charge light on the front of the machine; and it won't run at ALL on the battery. ( I have NO idea of the condition of the battery), so I'd like to first of all determine if charging voltage is where is should be on the connector. I do have 19.89 Volts present on the expansion bay contacts.

I have also had a very intermittent problem of losing the wireless feature on the R3000. The cause is the contact strip that connects the motherboard to the small circuit board containing the sound and wireless buttons. I think I have solved that one by removing the motherboard, and also the small "audio and wireless button board"...and then placing about a .005 thickness washer on each of the 2 standoffs and reinstalling the small card. The purpose of the washers is to slightly elevate the card to make the contact much firmer with the motherboard when it is screwed down. Doing this does not interfere with the operation of the various buttons. ( examine the soldering on the small card while you can: I touched up several bad (cold) joints on it as well, but the wireless ones were ok). So far, so good; I have not lost the wireless since that operation.

As an ex Telecom tech here in Alberta, HP test gear used to really GOOD equipment. That was back then; this is NOW. I am having to deal with all manner of HP screw-ups, especially in their all in one printer BLOATED software. I used to recommend HP hardware, but now I am not so sure. GEE, I wonder if letting "off-shore" companies produce almost EVERYTHING we NEED is such a smart idea??? Better not get into the politics of THAT one....
Thanks agin....GREAT forum!!!
 

It's Fn-key plus F4, switching lcd to vga-out. Also check if the little lcd-off switch isn't jammed.
 
Spearthrower, I have measured those contacts in the past, and had about 15, 3.3, and 8 volts (not shure about that last one) on some contacts. I don't have the flat pins that fit the connector to measure again. Have you put your battery in the freezer for an hour, then tried to charge it? If the circuits are good, it should charge for halve a minute or so, if the battery isn't totally dead. It is how I found that my machine still charges and that is was worth a new battery.
 
I have an R3000 laptop. My problem may be different. Nothing happens when I press the power switch. One day it stopped working. Battery should have been charged when it stopped working. It has been a while since then. Then I found this forum. So I opened up the laptop. The solder of the power socket didn't look dry (even though there was very little solder). So I added some more solder. My laptop still doesn't power on. I am getting correct voltage in the expanion slot on the right. I have not assembled the laptop fully yet but all mother board connections have been given. Thanks,
Shankar
 

If you plug in the power at the back, the charging led on the front of the laptop should lit up briefly (when battery is full). Is your memory fitted right in the slots? In case you removed the processor for the dis-assembly, have you secured it in it's socket when assembling the laptop?
 


Thanks for replying, Que.
I tried the freezer routine, and the "lightning bolt" does come on for about 2 seconds when I plug the battery into the laptop when it is running on AC power, but immediately goes out.
With the battery out, I get various voltage readings on the battery compartment pins, but nothing as high as 15 volts. This MIGHT be "normal" though, if the charging circuit wasn't being told to output? This is the part I am unsure of...and if someone could simply remove their battery, and take readings on the pins (to frame ground anywhere) I would appreciate it. That would give me some idea as to what is "normal" without a battery installed. I hate to buy a new battery without a good chance of the charging circuits working properly. Thanks to all for any suggestions!!!
 
It should give 15, maybe 14.8 volts, because the battery needs a charging voltage about as high as the battery's output. Will try to check which contacts give what tomorrow.
 


Thanks again, Que. I look forward to the readings. It is quite easy to go from ground on the frame, to each pin with the battery out and the notebook running on AC. Thanks for this!
 
Sorry, I was wrong about the 15 volts, noticed right away after removing the battery; the laptop's contacts are easy to access, the battery's not, so I must have mixed up the readings from both. Anyway, the values are:
- 1.46
- 1.46
- 3.33
- 3.87
- 3.87
- 0.0
- 0.0
So, no (or dead) battery is no 15 volts :)
 


Thank you for taking the time to take these readings for me, Que. Your efforts are largely appreciated.
Here are my readings:
1.42
1.42
3.36
3.81
3.81
0.0 (grd)
0.0 (grd)

The difference in polarity is simply that I took ground to be negative. So the readings are virtually identical, and finally, finally, I have learned what I needed to know.
I removed my battery, and took it apart: pried it open, and figured out how it was wired. I removed the leads from the charge controller card in the battery, and since there are 8 Lithium Ion cells ( 2 paralleled in series 4 times) to yield 3.7 times 4 = 14.8 volts, I decided to try ANY charger to see what a charge attempt would yield, so I put it on a car battery charger. (14.8 volts is the charge voltage of vehicles). It showed very quickly that one set of 2 paralleled batteries tried to charge, but got very hot very quickly. A second set charged to approximately .80 volts and then went downhill from there. The remaining 2 sets of cells charge normally to approx. 3.8 volts.

SO.....the net result of all this muck is this: I repaired my power cord problem way back by resoldering the motherboard cold solder joints. Also resoldered several other COLD solder joints on sound jacks etc.
I repaired my intermittent wireless service by cleaning contact points, and raising standoff's to make a much better contact between boards/subsystems.
The "fail to charge" situation was a mite harder to resolve, as there was no "charging voltage" of approx. 15 volts on any of the pins on the laptop battery connector, nor could I get the "pin layout" or any schematics of the propietary HP motherboard or charging circuits. I had considered that IF my battery was duff, and IF, when the charging circuits of the laptop saw that there was (likely a nearly shorted cell) in the battery, it simply shut down any charging. When I froze the battery, as suggested by this very helpful forum, I did notice that the "lightning bolt" charge indicator light did, in fact, come on, although only for a very brief time.

SO...thanks to Que's readings, I now know that very likely there is nothing wrong with the laptop's ability to charge. I now know that I need a new battery, or buy new lithium ion cells on E-bay, and fix this one. The economics of it might determine that one.

Why take the time to do all this?

Well, I got the laptop free when it was broken down with the power jack problem.
I repair computers for a bit of a hobby/sideline as I am mostly retired. (means tired AGAIN), and I did learn a lot about Chinese soldering quality. (have seen this before in everything from voltage regulators on Komatsu tractors to snowmobile ignition modules, and by no means only Chinese ones).
I am aware that laptop prices have dropped considerably over the past few years, but I am not "wealthy" by any stretch of the imagination, and since this is a "2nd" computer, I could maybe pack it along when on holidays, etc, I felt it was well worth trying to repair. (within reason).

Thanks again Que!!!

I will wander back in here and let you know how a new battery and maybe more RAM might help this thing behave like a real laptop.

Thanks to all.
 
Hi there, oh healful one! Thanks to this great forum I have taken my laptop apart and feel like I'm probably going to get it back together too <g>.

The link showing me where to solder is no longer active, and I don't want to just glob the stuff around carelessly, so is there any way you could email me the photo of "place solder here" ??

The whole thing is apart and all over two tables (well labeled -- I HOPE!!). I just need ot know where to solder...

PS I wasn't able to disconnect teh wireless antaenea, nor the touch pad ZIF thing, so there are still some attachments and it's not easy to move, but I have gained access to the part on the underside (or upside, I don't kow <g>) of the motherboard where the power cord goes in.

THank you thank you thank you!!

Linda
DrErday@aol.com
828-230-3930




 
I just received a non working r3000 from a friend. When I connect the power cord, sometimes I get a flashing battery light, but most of the time I get no lights at all. I've gotten it to start to boot up a couple of times when the battery light is flashing. It will power on for a few seconds, then die.

After reading through a good chunk of this thread, I've tested the following
The power cord (brick) is putting out around 18.5 v (so that isn't the issue)
The expansion slot is putting out 18.5 v when the cord is plugged in
Without the power cord plugged in, the expansion slot is at 0 v (which makes sense because the battery is dead)
I've tested the plug for the battery, and gotten different voltages (top prong 12-14v, second is 13v, 3rd is .5v, all others are 0)

I know nothing about how this laptop was acting before it died. I was just told that it was dead and I could use it for parts. I was thinking about trying to make one of the expansion slot power adapters, but since there is power at the slot when the laptop is plugged in, I doubt that will help (Correct me if I'm wrong). Does this sound like a power port issue? If not, does anyone have any suggestions about what to try next before it gets tossed in the parts bin?
 
An update (well, sort of).... I left the laptop plugged in over night. When I tried it this morning, it started to boot up, but didn't imediately turn off. I was able to install windowsxp. After I installed windows, I noticed that it was running off of the battery (battery charge was at around 60%). I shut the computer down, and now it doesn't want to start (does nothing when I push the power button)

now the expansion slot is only reading 4.75 volts when plugged in (Power brick is still at 18.5), and still at 0v when unplugged.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated
 
Seems that it runs only from battery? Don't trust that 60% charged message, if the battery is very old it will report it's state wrong, mine couldn't make the laptop boot, but said 99% charged. Powering on takes a lot from the battery, it might be to much from a mostly discharged one. Does the power on the expansion slot fluctuates when you move the dc-in left-right-up-down? If so the dc-in's positive connection to the board is bad.
 
I want to thank all for input on this problem. The wife was having issues with her laptop and I was shopping for a new one to replace the four year old R3000. After looking at it for a few minutes to diagnose the problem, I was certain we had a power adapter problem or the soldering issue that has been described in detail on this forum. After further investigation I decided to put my EET degree to use and took apart laptop to the bones. The power receiver on the MB was loose exactly where everyone elses was. I heated up the iron and had it fixed in min. Took 30 min to reassemble and crossed my fingers. Power issue was resolved. Thanks a bunch.

PS. Assembly is easier if you identify the holes that have screws in them as you take the pieces apart. Not all of the holes use screws. Some are from other screws from different levels of the disassembly. Put small dot of whiteout or something on the holes that have screws on them when you take them out. Makes putting it back together easier:]
 
I thought i would post back, i read through the thread ten times by now and had tried numerous things to get my video back, the external display trick didnt change anything... all the ram and CPU were seated correctly... so i thought, the CPU slot, not the CPU was loose, the part you use a flathead screwdriver on... it was sliding back and forth, i tightened it and got video back.
 
Hi all. Yup me too. R3000 power problem soldered and solved..


The solder situation is typical of low quality, manual solder work by inexperienced operatives. The board multi soldering is flow soldering in a totally automatic solder bath then cleaner.

I also took power charger to pieces after buying a replacement. Quality was terrible.

Shame on Compaq, this failure on this range will deter me from anything else they make. Sub contract manufacturing ?.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom