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computer is toast. I replaced the CMOS battery with a new one. Nothing
changed. I did the hold the power button for 30 seconds after pushing it
10 times, and I even tried to power up without the RAM. NOTHING....
I still get that fraction of a second flash on the battery light, but
only after the main battery was removed. With or without the AC adaptor
plugged in, and it dont indicate any charging of the battery lights or
anything else.
I still suspect the power socket solder joints.
I dont see anything that appears burned, cracked, or broken, but the
parts are so damn small and my eyes not the best anymore, so what is
there to see. I've done all I can do with limited test equipment and
cant find anything else to try. I guess this computer is junk.
Solder joints can crack in most unexpected ways. (I was once trying to
fix someone's telly - it was only when I gave up, and turned the room
lights off to go home, that I saw a little spark: a pin through a
circuit board still had a cone of solder around it, but had cracked in a
cylindrical manner around the pin!)
Is the (normal) computer battery charging? It may measure 12V or
whatever it's nominal voltage is, but that's with a high-impedance meter
and under no load; do you have access to any other machine you can
charge it in? (I suspect not.) Is the power supply putting out its
nominal voltage? Again, measuring it under no load might not answer that
question; do you have anything else you can plug it into to see if it's
putting out power? If it is, get your ear very close to the dead
computer's power in socket, and waggle it, listening for any sparking -
though if the contacts have fully failed, you won't hear anything.
I've just had a quick look, and in some ways you're in luck: it looks as
if the power socket isn't directly soldered to the motherboard, but is
connected via a short length of cable to a plug: http://ebay.eu/2bnMeGg
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_fr...ke t&_sacat=0
(That's UK ebay, but the pictures are useful.) If you can get that
assembly out, bell-test it - or just replace it anyway, they're cheap
enough (but bell-testing it would confirm that's the source of the
problem). If it's anything like the one I repaired a few months ago,
it'll take you many hours to get it out - and back in again; when it
finally came out/went in, it felt simple and didn't require much force,
but it was very fiddly working out what you had to remove/loosen to get
at it.
Maybe I can use someone elses computer and find another T43 on Ebay, and
then all I have to do is put in my present harddrive and will be back in
business. This is the reason I prefer desktop machines. I can always fix
them, but they are too big to haul around to places that have WIFI.
And you need to be able to plug them in - and the monitor (-:
Laptops are not made to be user repaired. I guess they are just
disposible once they fail.
They certainly make them difficult! But I have repaired bits: a hard
drive (that was easy), the above power-in cable, a screen (on the
particular model, that wasn't difficult, just tedious; YouTube video
helped).
I cant afford a new laptop, and I dont want any OS newer than XP anyhow,
so I may as well just find another identical computer. These T43's are
about 10 years old, so I'm sure I can get one pretty cheap.
Unless there are lots like you who think similarly (-:! [I've been
looking for a spare for this one - Samsung NC-20 - for a while, in case
it ever dies beyond redemption, but they're rare ...] Though a quick
look tells me T43s are about 30 to 40 pounds, so you seem to be right.
(There's even one with Windows 10, though I'd be dubious! [And like you
I wouldn't want to run later than XP on it anyway.])
But if you can get at that power socket/lead assembly, check it; IMO,
worth a look first.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
* SLMR 2.1a #113 * Tits like watermelons, sparrows like bacon rind.
- 03-22-97 Dave Beecham (quoted by
Gene Wirchenko, in alt.windows7.general, 2012-10-16.)