Can't use C90 on Battery Power

Don't really know why. Just installed everything, everything runs fine on AC power, but cannot run on battery power at all.

I can start, it runs for a little bit, and then freezes up and I have to hard turn off and repower.

BIOS version is : 0601 .

Going to flash to 704 and see if it fixes anything.

I am running 2GB Kingston DDR2-6400, and when I press TAB on startup it shows me running PC2-4200 RAM.

Running E6700, 250GB WD Scorpio HDD. Running Vista Ultimate.

EDIT:

Flashed 704, still no dice. Works fine on AC power, but not on battery. Can't even get to windows startup before freezes. Also tried after windows starts up, and the backlight will dim, and whatever is on the screen will freeze, and I have to hold down power to turn off. Kinda worried at this point, because I will need battery at school.

 

well that sounds like a ram compatibility problem - just like vicious had

but my suggestion before you get new ram is try to install windows off the battery and not plugged in, worked for me in another laptop with the same problem

 

Yeah its a ram problem, scary tho that he is using the same HDD I have

But I had it working fine with 1gb of nanya, and Ken had it working fine with some of there ram as well with the hdd in place.

 

i have the same issue in bios 502, in 704 im able to run in battery as well as plugged in, but have the occational bsod, yesterday i played oblivion for about an hour in oc mode, no crashes then when shutting the laptop down boom a bsod... weird huh

 

have you checked memory using memtest?

 

Weird, I can sit in BIOS as long as I want, or the recover windows from a bad shutdown screen as long as I want, but if I go into windows, no can do.

Going to try the reinstall. Did not ever really install anything, so nothing lost except an hour of Vista install.

 

Tried installing Vista on battery, and right after it says loading files, the fans slow down, and the screen stays black.

I am not running EXACTLY the same RAM. They are both 1GB sticks of Kingston PC2-5300, but one I bought online, and one I bought in the store. The packaging was different and the model number was slightly different. They both have the same CAS latency, and same speed. (though the store bought one says 533/667 MHz while the other just says 667). Don't think this would cause an issue though.

Going to take one stick out and see what happens.

And would Corsair be a better bet? I can easily return the store bought RAM and RMA the internet bought RAM, but I just need to have this finished and ready to go within the next 2 days, because that is when I leave for school.

I have many other things to get done, so any answers or insight is highly appreciated.

 

nope (unless you mean the windows tool, in that case yes)

i run memtest in googe but htre seem to be many progrmas named like that which is recommended?

 

Memtest86+ is the best. I am running it right now on my 2 sticks, and there are no issues so far.

 

Even on one stick of RAM it will not load up windows, gets to the windows loading screen and sits with it all the way empty and does nothing.

 

No stores around me sell Corsair, so I took a gamble on 1GB of PNY 667MHz and it works. If anyone is having issues, it was $42 at CompUSA (which I usually hate, but in this case, it works). Buying another 1GB here in a few hours and I'll see if the 2GB works.

 

did you try bios 704 yet?

 

I am also having a problem with this. Every time I try running on battery power, I would get a BSOD and the computer would just restart itself. I just e-mailed Ken about my issue.

 

My laptop came with bios 704 installed, (i installed the os and drivers) but system was unstable, then i switched to bios 502 and reisntall windows and drivers. System was much more stable (except for a couple of bsod) but could not run form battery at all. then swithced back to 704 (no windows resintall) and im able to run form battery again and system is more stable than the first time (ive had a couple of bsod but they are less common).

Also for some reason my screen flickers everytime i log in or wake up the laptop and whenever i use the esata port the comp freezes for a sec then works again normally.

Now im waiting for new driver/bios to take care of these last issues

 

Well now my built-in camera stopped working. I even reinstalled the drivers and now I can't even get it working anymore.

 

Which RAM are you using? I was using Kingston and it didn't work, but once I put in the new RAM it works fine. Will go out to buy another 1GB stick in a little bit, but so far no issues whatsoever. Nothing reinstalled. I put BIOS 704 on from 0601 which I had when I got the C90S.

Since the new RAM no issues, just a flicker when I wake it up for a quarter of a second or so. Have not done any extensive testing, and I'm just transferring my music off now.

PNY RAM is cheap and seems to work perfectly at this point. Will update if things change once I put the 2nd stick in dual channel.

 

I really have no idea. I ordered the 1 + 2 GB configuration through Gentech, and I have yet to open up my system since I cannot find my dang screwdriver anywhere lol. Since I am kinda tight on cash atm, I can't really go out and just buy more RAM :/

 

i get the flicker too, then its not the ram but bios 704 since i have 2gb kingston plus 1gb nanya

edit -> backoff34 have you tried to put your comp to sleep then wake it up? i cant get my screen to turn back on (though i can hear the finger print reader "ok" sound if i try to use it)

 

I can set it to sleep and it will come back on, and monitor works.

Do not think TurboGear is working though... I put it on OC mode and it doesn't make any more noise and I don't feel any more fans turning on.

 

I get the screen flicker thing, too. But I think it's just a Vista issue or I just haven't noticed it in XP.

 

anyone having these sorts of problems when everything was installed (including OS) by gentech? I ordered my C90 with all hardware installed and Vista Business 32bit installed as well, and am hoping this will let me get past all these BSOD issues. Anyone do this to? If so, how does it work?

 

It shouldn't happen to you. I talked to GenTech about the RAM and was told they use Nanya RAM (specifically certified by ASUS for the C90S), and the Kingston type was not fully supported, hence the problems I had. When I picked up the PNY RAM, CPU-Z detects it as Nanya RAM. Guess it all works now. Have had zero BSOD's.

 

I assumed I wouldn't have any hardware problems with all of my part coming from gentech, but what about software problems. I will have to flash the newest BIOS myself (that'll be an interesting test of my very limited computer knowledge) which I think I can do, but what about BIOS and all the other problems (wireless, camera, loading vista, loading windows.,etc) I'm crossing my fingers everything'll work

 

You guys dont understand, your waising your time with memtest and things of that nature.

The RAM works perfectly! Its just a compatability issue. Why do you think it works when your plugged in but not off battery? If the ram was toast it wouldnt work eather way.


If you search thru my post I have a extensive knowledge of this and have pretty much narrowed it down to this:

When on power (pluged in) the computer operates in normal mode, but when your run from battery it defaults into power save mode. Power save mode for what ever reason causes it to lock up.

You should find that you can test this 2 ways:

1.) the computer runs fine on battery in bios, you can even do the battery configuration but soon as you windows loading bar pops up it will freeze (if you look at the screen at an angle you may faintly see the loading bar partial loaded on screen but frozen) You can even go as to far as to install windows on battery power and the whole thing will work just fine... Untill it goes to boot into windows for the first time, then it will freeze.

2.) Run from the power cord, get into windows. Then pull the cord out. The screen will dimm, then the computer will lock up, frozen on the screen forever untill you hard reboot it. This shows its not a boot issue but rather a system issue as a whole. I am not sure if there is anyway around it for now other than running from power all the time or finding ram that is 100% compatible.

In the future I think a new bios can easily fix this, the could release a special bios just for people that suffer this issue that doesnt have the trigger to send the system into power save mode on battery power, or better yet just fix what ever is causing it to have so many ram compatability issues.

I had gone thru a 2x2gb Kit of OCZ to find that you cant use 4gb of ram (wont even post) and that the OCZ had the battery issues.

Then I returned that and bought a 1gb Nanya from Gentech and a 2gb Gskill from newegg. I found at this point that none of the issues were there with the 1gb Nanya, and even the 2gb Gskill worked... at first. However only 1 day later for some reason it stoped working and I never got it to work again.

Now many people have said that the Corsair works perfectly (1+2) so I think I am giving it a shot, however I have somewhat given up on 1+2gb configurations, for the sake of compatability I would recomend to most people just to go 1+1gb and use cheap nanya or something, 2gb is more than enough to do anything you need, and save you some money, the hassle of finding a 1+2 that works just isnt worth it.

 

when i first got my c90s i could run off battery but most of the time i ran it plugged in and one day (about 2 weeks later) i ran on battery and got bsod.

 

That my friend is not 100% accurate.

Anyway, maybe we should start looking at the voltage rating of the memory modules. I use 1 stick of Kingston kth-zd8000b/2GB CL5. The voltage rating for the 1GB is 1.8V. I can run in battery mode with no issues.

What we probably need is the minimum working voltage for the ram to be able to handle power-saving mode when the ac is unplugged.

 

Yep it is the power saving mode even plugged in if you switch to battery mode on turbogear youll laptop will freeze...

Right now mine can run from both battery or plugged in (bios 704) but on battery i get bsod from time to time.

Ihave the 2gb kington + 1 gb nanya standard from gentech

 

Definitely power saver mode. If I start from battery, all is good. Can then plug in if I want and it works fine, but if I unplug when I'm logged on, freeze up after the light dims. I installed Turbo Gear from the site, but it is version 1.01.01. I heard someone say they had a newer version and I will probably try that.

I am thinking that if I took it off Turbo Gear completely things would work fine. I will try it in the morning, because it is now 2AM and I need some sleep. Will update when I find something out.

EDIT: I can, however; go into Power Saver mode via Turbo Gear with the AC power plugged in, and it does not freeze.

EDIT again: If I put it into Power Saver mode before disconnecting the AC power, I can disconnect and it does not freeze.

Edit last time: Just retried one last time for the night and it can be disconnected, but not after it has been slept. I put the computer to sleep, came back, unplugged power and it froze. But if I start up normally, and it does not go to sleep, I can disconnect it and it will not freeze. Seems that its a sleep thing on mine.

 

Last I checked the voltage says the same in both modes, and all the ram modules I had were rated 1.8v.

Its something else, something deeper. Not a simple voltage issue, if that was the case I think Asus would have had a fix right away aswell.

 

yep i agree you do not have the same issue. Unplugging my ac causes mine to freeze but will definitely recover probably after a min. how long have you waited after it freezes?

 

I personally waited a LONG time, and it didnt unfreeze, but when using the 1gb nanya ram only it was nearly instant. I say 3 seconds.


I think perhaps its not just a matter of working and not working but there is a gray area in there as well where things "sometimes work"

Much like how I know for a fact when I first installed my gskill ram, it was working, but the next day it suddenly didnt work anymore and seemed to have never worked again.

 

yours was different. IIRC you never could boot unplugged. according to backoff and cancer's last post they could.

 

I am so lucky with my unit. Everything works! I am running 1GB Corsair Ram which I bought from EXcaliberPC. I heard other people were using Corsair and they also didn't have any issues with it.

 

Other than the sleep/unplug thing mine works fine now. I am going to continue to test it, but at this point things seem fine. I never use sleep anyways. I think hibernate works, as I've tested it once and it was fine. I need to do some more testing. I have also not let it sit more than 30 seconds after it has frozen, so I'll try that.

 

Hi does anyone else have this issue.

when my c90 goes to sleep, when waking it the screen wont turn on again. im sure the os i back because im able to scan my finger and the "ok" sound is played. the screen is complety off i tried looking form different angles/light but there is no trace of my desktop. I even disabled the sleep option for the lid but even so eveytime the lid closes the screen wont come back on again.

so far only way to fix it is hard power off.