Compaq V2000 - lightning symbol flashes but won't boot

I bought a Compaq v2000 a few years ago, has worked fine up until a couple weeks ago.

Now, it won't turn on. The battery (12 cell? extended version) has probably been dead for a while, but we always use AC power so no big deal there.

Currently, if you hit the power button, the amber lightning symbol on the front just flashes 3 or 4 times, then nothing.
Take the battery out, same thing. Take the AC adapter out, same thing.

Any ideas? My initial guess is battery or power supply are toast, but seems weird for it to just die like that (guess that's how it is with electronics though). If it is a total loss, no big deal, just need to get the hdd out and copy stuff off, the laptop probably needed replacing anyway...

 

1) Take the battery pack & AC adapter out

2) Unplug all USB or external devices

3) Hold the power button for 30 seconds

4) Try starting up again using AC power only

If that doesnt work check your AC adapter is still working. The blinking light generally means the battery is flat.

 

Hmm...nothing doing after trying that.
In fact, this time, when just on AC power (no battery), the light doesn't even flash (seems like it did before?).

Stupid question, but how can I test the AC adapter? I have another laptop (Thinkpad), but not sure I can just plug it in...guess I could pull out the ol' voltmeter.

 

Assuming the connectors happened to be the same you can actually avoid the volt meter by checking the adapter specs and laptop power specs all should be written on them.

Since its a last ditch effort i guess no harm in trying lol but just make sure the voltage is the same or extremly close and that the adapter can supply the max amperage draw that the notebook specifies before trying anything silly.

OH and for god sakes check the polarity!

 

Clutch,

Thanks. Not sure how I missed your message but thought I had subscribed to this topic, oh well...

At any rate, I didn't try the IBM PS yet, but I went to go fiddle with the v2000 and surprise surprise, it booted up. It was like it was in hibernate mode or something. I opened the lid, hit the power button and it started coming up.

Problem was that the battery only had 8% left and no matter what I tried, it wasn't getting juice. So leads me to believe the PS is really bad. Then again I swear I had it running with the battery out and the PS plugged in, but maybe I'm imagining things?

I dunno. I went and bought a Macbook for the wife and will probably just sell this for whatever I can get on craigslist, but I do appreciate the responses...