Member Avatar for IamConfuzzled

Hubby was given this laptop by a friend at work knowing it wasn't working properly. We're just trying to figure out what might be wrong & if it's worth our effort to try fixing it up.

Per the previous owner, the screen would randomly go black like the computer had gone into sleep mode or shut down. It would always come back up & work for a while, then act up again. As time progressed, it got to the state it's in now.

Currently, if you hit the power button you do see a green light & can hear some faint clicks at first, then all you can hear is the fan running in the background. We've hooked it to a stand alone monitor & see nothing on it either. We've removed the battery & hooked it to just the power cable and do see the green light--so we're told that should rule out the power adapter being to blame.


Any clues????

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by asharma
Member Avatar for IamConfuzzled

If it makes any difference, when the computer is on I can't get the dvd/cd drive to even open up.


Also, on the battery there is a push button with a light up display that hs the numbers 25, 50, 75 & 100. When I push the button all the lights come on for a few seconds & then it goes blank. Any idea if this means something in regards to whether or not the battery is holding a charge???

Member Avatar for JANINE

the clicks could be the a fan sticking, the hard disk disk drive sticking or a problem with the cd drive as having a loose part inside. seeing that however you do not even have so much as a display on the screen or an external standalone one though this sounds as though you may also have a graphics chip problem. with laptops though the chip is embedded into the motherboard so this will mean a new motherboard.

My best advice to you is to contact Compaq themselves.. you can speak to a technical support operator via their online services. Navigate to their service by visiting www.compaq.co.uk. this link will work but it might redirect you slightly;)

Member Avatar for IamConfuzzled

Hubby somewhat disassembled the laptop enough to see that I was wrong & the fan doesn't appear to be running. What I heard running, appears to be the hard drive. Could this be just one of several problems or could it be the reason this is happening? Also, would replacing the CMOS battery be of any use? I found a link to a presario 2100 repair manual & it's troubleshooting section mentioned the motherboard & something called switchboard pca being possible culprits. I'm not sure what the switchboard pca is! Any thoughts? Oh & the tech support guys for the compaq were of no use. They just want me to pay to have it serviced somewhere & offered no clues.

Member Avatar for JANINE

it could well be one of many problems and it doesnt help the fact that the fans doesn't seem to be running. by all means replace the CMOS battery as they dont last foreve anyway.

could you post the link for the repair manual up so i may have a looksy at it. i might be able to work it out from there.

Member Avatar for JANINE

ok thanks - i'll have a look and get back to you.

Member Avatar for asharma

I just posted a solution to this problem; please have a look at my post. "Dead Presario 700 - Fix".
I am sure that will help.

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