CF-30 Shutting down after activation

Hello! I've lurked on these forums to solve a lot of problems with some of the toughbooks I work on and have, but I've recently ran into a problem with a CF-30 MK3 (CF-30KTPEQAM).
I bought a batch of CF-30's and 3 of them have the same problem: Several minutes after activating Windows 7, the toughbook shuts down. I've tried this both with and without a battery or ac adapter. I initially believed that the Hard Drive was causing a problem. I ran the PC-Diagnostic Utility from the BIOS and it shut off while checking the RAM (the unit has 2GB). I've also done this without a Hard Drive and new RAM, and yet it keeps shutting down the same way!

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Although I've owned several MK3 CF-30's, I've never seen this happen.
Here's a great post you will want to read:
~Toughbook Talk~ Toughbook Discussion • View topic - CF-30MK2 Vista to W7 upgrade
Did you flash your bios to the Vista bios before installing Windows7?
If it came with XP you will want to do that first.
You might want to consider and order the Panasonic Factory Restore DVD from Heartland.
Heartland Services > Home
Give them a call and let them know your complete model number such as CF-30KTPEQAM
It will come next day Fed Ex and cost you $35 dollars. Best money you'll ever spend on a Toughbook.
It installs the factory image and you will NOT need to activate anything. You would want to ask for the Vista Image since you have that COA.
Note, your model above came from the factory with:
Model Number:CF-30KTPEQAM Status ISCONTINUED MSRP:$2,200
Description: WinXP (Vista COA), Intel Core 2 Duo SL9300 1.60GHz (Centrino2), vPro, 13.3" XGA Touch, 160GB, 2GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, TPM1.2, Bluetooth, Single Pass (WWAN), Smartcard, Gobi, No Drive

 

A W7 Restore DVD does him no good as it came with XP and Vista COA. So he will need to manually load W7.

Can you load W7 and tell it you want to activate it manually... Then see how long it goes? I doubt it has anything to do with activation. You might check your RAM and even your wifi card.

Make sure you upgraded your BIOS to Vista first... Then if it is still happening I aways reset the BIOS to default... Which it will automatically do when you update the BIOS to Vista instead of XP.

If it is a time issue VS activation issue (Which I will assume it is) then it could be that your thermal pads are shot and the CPU is over heating. You may want to download a freebee CPU temp reader just to check.

Only things I can think of...

 

I don't think there is a Vista BIOS for a CF-30K MK3...only the MK1....right ???

 

Correct Mr Watson

 

I was thinking there was since had XP loaded on it. Didn't pay attention to the MK#...

 

Well I was not sure, was on my phone when I posted here and its a pain trying to get on the Toughbook driver site to check for sure.

 

Have you tried them with any other OS, or even a linux live dvd to make sure there isn't a thermal problem. How about pulling the hard drive caddy from one of the working units for testing between both units.

 

All the above points well taken...I did NOT want to confuse things by suggesting Linux, which would sort several things. There are MK3 CF-30's out there with a Vista COA but shipped with Windows XP. I've owned several. They will install the Factory Disk for Windows 7...just ask Shawn in Pennsylvania....

 

As an update on the above post....of course you could manually install Windows 7 as Rick said above...however, if the CF-30 came with XP, and had a Vista COA...you would want to flash the bios to Vista first ( I Think...let me know)...
You would then have the option to put a Factory Vista Image from Panasonic on her, and then follow Morgans directions in the above linkage/post to get Windows 7 installed. You could also follow Rick's advice and do it manually....BUt, I think you would want to flash the bios first from xp to vista....just saying...Some Mk 3's came with Windows 7 on them, and came accordingly. There is a Factory Image available from Heartland that will install on the units that came with Vista and XP. That was what I was trying to say to you all....

 

Sorry for not updating.
I tried all the suggestions but none of it seemed to work.
Ended up taking them apart and to see if there was any internal damage, and indeed there was.
It seems the unit is shorting out due to some prior spill, so they ended up being used for future parts.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

Thanks for giving us the end result....

 

yeppers ...
however , pictures of the contamination would be nice .