Compal HEL80 Standby Broken

Hi all,

I have been trying forever and ever and ever with my notebook's tech support department to get this resolved, but it's not currently very feasible for me to send it in for repair, so I am trying my best to solve it locally.

The problem is that my HEL80 will never standby properly (and I don't think it ever has). I thought originally the TPM was part of the problem, so I have it disabled in BIOS, though it currently still shows up in Windows' Device Manager.

When I tell the laptop to standby from Windows (*or* from Linux), it basically just shuts down - the power light turns off and does not blink (as I understand it, the power light should blink when it's in standby mode). When I press the power button again, the light comes on, but the screen never turns on - I hear the CD drive spinning up, so some part of the computer is alive, but I never see anything including a BIOS screen. The light to the left of the battery light is on solid (I think it's the hard drive light? doesn't indicate activity by blinking, at least...) I then have to hold the power button down again to shut down the computer, then press it again to turn it back on and boot into Windows.

What's even odder is, once I boot back into Windows, the Ethernet card reports that the network cable is not plugged in, even though it is. Then, if I tell the laptop to hibernate (which it will do successfully) and come back out of hibernation, the network card reports the presence of the cable and everything works fine.

This behavior makes me think something is wrong with either the Ethernet or network drivers, but I haven't yet found a driver for either of these that has remedied the problem (of course, I haven't tried every one in existence...) Has anyone experienced anything like this, or does anyone have an idea as to how to go about troubleshooting it?

I've enabled things like kernel debugging, but it's very hard to get any kind of useful output as it dies because when it goes into standby it shuts down almost immediately, and doesn't really report an error - it's possible it tries to perform a memory dump when it starts back up, but I don't think it is doing so.

Any advice on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance!!

- Daniel

 

Which bios version do you have?

 

Yowza, doesn't sound like a driver/software problem if it's happening in windows and linux. You could try flashing the BIOS, but I've a feeling it's hardware related. Is it under warranty?

 

Pureknight: I believe it's 122B - will post back if that's not accurate.

Atook: I agree that it's probably a hardware problem, and it is under warranty - it's just a pain for me to be without my laptop for a couple of weeks. :'( I'm hoping I can at least diagnose what component is malfunctioning (shouldn't there be some applications to run diagnostics on whatever is involved?) so that maybe the retailer will cross-ship me a replacement part and I can install it myself. I don't know what it is that the factory will test/swap out that I can't swap out myself...

 

By the sound of it, it's a power component on the motherboard. Bite the bullet man, there's never a good time to be without it. During the warranty period is better than after though.

 

Agreed - fortunately (as you know, I'm guessing) it's that lovely 3-year parts 'n labor, and I think I got the notebook about a year and a half ago, so I don't have to rush super-much to send it in right now. I have another laptop at school that I'll have access to in about a week and a half, so that will be a somewhat-better time to send it in. Thanks for your time in considering the issue, and let me know if you have any other ideas.

- D

 

Oh, one other question for you Atook - I asked this of tech support too, and mentioned it to them a while ago, but had never heard back yet about it...When I boot up the computer, it takes about 10-15 seconds from when the power light comes on to when I see the Phoenix BIOS screen. Does yours boot more quickly? Other laptops I've used are usually just a couple of seconds before the BIOS screen, if that. I'm thinking this might also indicate a semi-faulty power component on the motherboard. I don't suppose there is any kind of hardware diagnostic to test those components?

 

As mentioned in this review Compal HEL80 Review there have been a handful of people with issues getting the LCD to come back on or with complete shutdowns when they attempt to Standby. According to the reviewer, there is a Windows hotfix for this available here Microsoft Hotfix KB917332

You said that this also occurs in Linux, so the fix above may do no good, but it is a start. It's possible Linux doesn't support some aspect of your hardware. On my Quanta KN1 any Linux install I used would fail to turn the LCD back on. However, the system did go into Standby normally and the power light would blink as it is supposed to to indicate that. When I'd hit a key or move the touchpad the system would come back on as far as the drives and lights, but the LCD would display nothing. I'd have to hard power the system off and back on again to get my display back. This sound somewhat similar.

I'm not aware of any diagnostic tools you can use to test your power management hardware or the power management features of individual pieces of hardware.

If the hotfix above doesn't work, one thing you could try in Windows is going to Device Manager and disabling all the devices not essential to keeping the system going, then try going into Standby once they're all off. If it works, try enabling devices one at a time to try to pinpoint which one may be causing Standby not to work correctly. I'd try turning off the network card, the wireless card, USB controllers, DVD drive, card reader, infrared ports, and any other non-essential devices.

If after doing the hotfix and disabling all the devices, Standby still doesn't work I'd say Atook is right and it's probably an onboard component that you'd likely not be able to replace yourself. Find time to part with the laptop and make arrangements to send it back. Most likely the factory would replace the whole motherboard to resolve this. Doing this may also resolve the longer boot-up time you've been experiencing.

 

dj, sounds like a leaky power component to me. Mine is up in less than a second. Sounds like you got your schedule sorted though, good luck!

Joe: some good points, I had to apply the hotfix myself, but since it happens in Linux too, chances are it's hardware related.

 

Thanks - I had tried that hotfix too, but since the power light never goes to the blinky state, it seems very like to be a bad power component, as you mentioned.

What's lame is last time I had to send the notebook in I asked them to take a look at the standby stuff and the time to load the BIOS, but I don't think they did, otherwise they probably would have noticed the abnormal delay. :-( Oh well! Hopefully it gets sorted out soon enough. Thanks for all your help and tips.

 

djroze, make sure to include a note on the keyboard with the exact description of the problem and any specific things you want to have tested. Also, it's a good idea to call tech support while the laptop is in for service and ask us to remind the factory of the specifics because sometimes even when you include the note things get forgotten. You're absolutely entitled to have your concerns addressed while the system is in for repairs, and if you follow up it can help make sure nothing gets overlooked.