So I am one of those people that rarely uses the "shut down" function during the day, I always use the "Hibernate" function, and have never had any problems doing so until now... So I had my laptop on hibernate, then I powered it on to use it, and got an error message telling me to either press F1 to continue or F10 for setup or something along those lines. I click F1, and the computer tries to resume my Windows session...then suddenly shuts off! Of course, I tried to turn it back on and see what's wrong with it, but alas it wouldn't power back on no matter what I tried to do, using the battery or the laptop's power cord. Needless to say, I am pretty pissed off and have no earthly idea as to what could have caused this. My laptop still won't turn back on and even when I connect the power cord to the laptop the "charging" indicator doesn't come on, which means that it might very well have something to do with power, although there is nothing wrong with my battery or the power cord. I called Fry's and asked them what it would cost to get a diagnosis of what's wrong with it, and they said it would cost $99 just to have it shipped off to HP/Compaq where they would try to figure out what's wrong with it. Not knowing what's wrong with it, it could easily run me $200-$300 to repair it and a good 4-6 weeks to do so. What do you guys recommend I do? I am not buying a new laptop because frankly I need this one and it has tons of stuff on it that I need. But any places you guys recommend I take it to without paying outrageous fees? It doesn't have to be a major chain or anything like that, or do you recommend I skip the 'middle man' and just ship it off to a HP for repair (do they have local centers here in Houston, btw)? Any help would be appreciated...
try dropping the battery out of it, waiting 30 seconds(or more if ya want) and then replace it, and try it again. Ive never had great expericnes with hibernate inthe past, so I dont even try it anymore...but I hear it works pretty well in Vista, but by now shutdown is my habit.
Hey R2K, Yes, I tried that the first time it happened, and it worked. I took the battery out, waited for a minute, then put it back in and the laptop powered back on, at which point I immediately held down the power button and shut down the system. The second time around, however, I let it try to "resume windows" and it shut off. So I tried the same routine by taking the battery out and popping it back in but this time the laptop won't power on no matter what. The only reason I use the Hibernation function is that it takes Windows forever to load up on startup, considering all the junk I have that must load up with Windows everytime (Zonelabs, Peerguardian, McAfee Anti-Virus, Printer program, etc). Hibernation saves me a lot of time during the day instead of Windows taking at least 5 minutes to just load up so I can use it (I have 512 RAMS with a 40GB harddrive, but it still takes a while). Lesson learned
I looked everywhere, I don't have one. It's a Compaq Presario M2000 series laptop, btw. Only shut down from now on, but I need to get it fixed first. Frankly, I blame Microsoft for this. ::takes deep breaths:: serenity now, serenity now...
Whenever I have startup problems where it doesn't correct itself normally, I always assume it's because the previous session messed up somehow. Don't resume your session, instead goto a step by step startup where you press yes for everything. If it takes more than half a minute to start windows, I would hold the power button and power down to start again. After 3-4 tries, I let it start up normally by waiting for it to finish. The idea is to destroy the previous session's settings because that is the possible culprit behind your problems. It sounds messy, but it works eventually. If you get blue screen problems, you might need to run chkdsk. As for your long startup, I would run msconfig, and uncheck some of the programs you load during startup. Some like real player, AIM, and quicktime are unnecessary junk that adds seconds.
start- run- msconfig- startup tab I wouldn't uncheck any unfamiliar programs, but it doesn't matter too much because you can check them after you restart your computer again. If it's a matter of speed, also make sure your computer is defragmented and your virtual memory setting is set to at least a gig.
All good tips, IF, but the problem now is that the laptop won't even power on to begin with. It's basically dead. If I can somehow get it to power on, I will do exactly what you said.
What this does is increase the space Windows uses when it dumps RAM into a file on your harddrive. So if you like to leave webpages open or programs running while you play games or run photoshop, this might help. control panel - system - Advanced tab - performance settings button Here, you can turn off all the visual effects, but most accounts I've read claim there isn't a difference. Click on the advanced tabs, and at virtual memory, click on the Change button. "System managed size" is usually selected, but if there is less than 1 gig in the "Currently allocated" slot, then select "Custom size" and enter at least 1.2-1.5 gigs. I like to use the same initial size and maximum because then Windows won't change that file in your hard drive. There's a limit to getting a boost in performance with this trick, so no need to go over 1.5 gigs because it'll just waste your hard drive space. Usually your computer will have already set a decent size, but I find that I have to set it manually after every reformat.
Im guessing your motherboard is fried. If your laptop is under warranty then they will replace it for free other wise it should run you about 200 - 300 dollars (like u said)
What I thought is a power problem. Maybe it was exhausted with power, but why your "charging" indicator is not on... I am confused
Ahh! I finally figured out what's wrong, and that would be the motherboard, which needs to be replaced. Here's a great thing though, apparently this is quite commonplace for the Compaq Presario M Series laptops. Here's what I found on this website, a poor college kid complaining about the same exact thing that I fell victim to: http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=15559 Beware of those f***ing Compaq laptops, apparently they're made to last no longer than a couple of years of heavy usage. Now my options are as follows: 1) Replace the motherboard with a new one, which will cost me roughly $350 with labor; or 2) Purchase a new laptop. It's grand, ain't it?
