CF18 Shutdown: New battery - Full Charge (Green & Steady)

Ok Gurus I got a good battery (new). Giddy with anticipation I slid it in (sounds dirty) tenderly and got a green light. Beaming with joy I waited for full boot up and log in (green bat. light steady). I reached out to my lill Toughbooks AC cored feeling like Dr Frankenstein: “I….give you…..LIFE” and pulled…..

At this point it becomes a bad Honey Moon story….you know the guy got no power…

PROBLEM: When AC is removed CF18 shuts down with fully charged battery steady green battery light. Will not power up on battery.

PC Information Viewer V2.21 L10 (C) 2003-2004 Matsua Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Battery #1
Battery Name CF-VZSU30
Chemistry LION
Power State On Line
Remaining Capacity 48840 mWh
Full Charged Capacity 48840 mWh
Voltage 8296 mV
Rate 0 mW
Total Charge Index 0
Temperature 24.0°C

Control Panels:
Power Options Properties
Portable/Laptop
Running on Batteries 10min+ for all

Power meter/ Battery #1 information: Battery is recognized – On Line – Manufacturer: Panasonic

Advanced config. and Power Interface (ACPI): Drivers installed and up to date.

Batteries - ACPI-Compliant panel: Power Capabilities; Supported – Driver: Up to Date –
Power State Mapping;
1. S0>D0
2. S1>Unspecified
3. S2>Unspecified
4. S3>D3
5. S4>D3
6. S5>D3

 

I would try a battery recalibration to see.

Is this a new Panasonic battery or aftermarket battery?

 

Yep was in the TS matrix to run the diagnostic.
Doing the battery recalibration now. Will take 4 hours for turnaround. The battery is a Panasonic.

QUESTION: Does the battery light stay "steady on green" during the process or will it change at some point?

Thanks

 

I think the battery light always changes on TBs to orange, red green etc depending on battery conditions, I'm pretty sure it should always turn to orange when charging it should only be solid green on AC power when fully charged, someone correct me if I am wrong

 

Correctamundo... The battery light will always read the status as long as the AC (or DC) adapter is attached.

 

No joy.. The battery recalibration never executed. Every thing the computer is telling me shows a good battery with 100% charge. Yet when I pull the plug it shuts down. Arrrggggg!

Read the manual and did what it told me to do. Computer shuts off but battery never discharges..

 

Hmmm strange, did you just buy this battery?

 

If the other battery works for a short time .. well that means that you have a battery issue
However if the original battery and this battery do the same thing that would mean that you need to check your soldering repair ,as you are not getting power to the computer properly, there might be a separate connection to display the fully charged light and it might be different than the main power input
I’m not saying that I know this for sure, I’m just giving you some suggestions


Alex

 

Either terminal 3 or 5 of the battery connector are not properly solder/connected/terminated or whatever you called it. it means that there is an open terminal.


ohlip

 

It's a bit chilly in the front yard...writing this...on my fully functional CF18 running on BATTERY power!

Thanks for all the help Gents!!!!!!!! I'm sure it wont be the last time I flash the Bat-light up on the clouds.

 

Ok am I a dumb or did I screw-up? Now the touch pad is not working hahahahaha This is a frigging project. My old electronics instructors are looking down on me and laughing.

 

Hit em over the head with your toughbook, thatll make em stop!!

 

TougBook gurus I have checked the ribbon connectors and board. I still do not have a touchpad. Every thing ells works great!

 

Is it enabled in the BIOS? You may have inadvertently turned it off. Double check the ribbon cable and the way it is clamped in. They can be deceiving. You may want to try (Using the F & win keys) to go into Device manager and reinstall the driver.

Just some random thoughts...

 

Note on this problem: ever since the touch pad went out so did the HOT KEYs on the front of the CF18 ....

I checked the ribbon to the MB and reset it. I cant get to the board that seems to be connected to the Keyboard and the button panel... Hmmm

Do I have to take the MotherBoard out to get to this? Oh boy that's going to be a job if it's so.

BTW: All drivers are up to date.

 

Bios would be the first place to check, and then perhaps Device Manager in Windows if that's the OS you're running on it.

Craig.

 

Looks like it's all tight. now I'm going to need some two sided tape and screws. After taking off the back 30 times in the last 2 weeks I lost 3 screws to age and the rest are close. At .60 per and $15 shipping I'm really getting SCREWED by Panasonic.

CN23 to CN802 Main PCB to Pad PCB - good

CN801 to CN950 Pad PCB to SW PCB - good (I never came close to this connection)

Ok so now I have checked the hardware connections and yes the Bios is good to go and yes I have reinstalled the drivers (up to date). I still have no touch pad or HotKey controls on the front of the TB. Doobi you think it's a fuse? Awww shoot I'm going to Morocco soon I hope I can get this thing going. Hell I still need to get a GPS in to it. I have the Software just need to place a TRX antenna in/on/around the case....lol

 

To troubleshoot new issues I always look at what I recently did
If the touchpad stopped working after you disassembled it
That means looking at what could have been damaged/disconnected/shorted
Sometimes I can narrow it down as I usually have several models, and I will substitute parts from one Toughbook to the other
And if it’s a software issue I just exchange caddys


Alex

 

Ok. So point of clarification, is there ANY response from the touchpad. A flicker, erratic pointer, ANYTHING. Also, can you hook an external mouse to the usb/ps2 port and does it work. If so, can you move the cursor to a point and use the touchpad to click? What about the touchpad buttons, will they click?

 

I am using a USB mouse and it works fine. Touch Pad, buttons and the HOT KEY buttons are dead. No power, or LEDs. I have checked the ribbon connectors and all is good. The solder job while not my best ever is clean and does not come over any other circuit than intended. I might have a bad solder on a leg... but I should get power to the PCB (touchpad) on AC.....right?

 

unless it goes through the same path, I would think so. I'm going to say I hope there's a fuse in there. Let's get Ohlip involved and see if he knows something.

 

Did you ever have the touchpad cable removed
Is it replaced backwards or not inserted all the way

Alex

 

Nope, Tomcat I never touched it. I did check all the ribbon connectors.

Any one have case screws they want to sell? Mine are getting stripped from taking the case off so many times.... lol

I hooked it up to the GPS and used it all week out in the field. Was a star! Just a bit of a pain not having the pad.

 

Maybe that's it's way of saying "Don't touch me there"...

mnem
*Ducks the flying boots*

 

Funny....very funny mnementh

Keep in mind I gave it the use of "battery" power again. Now it can get "turned on" in all sorts of places

 

Oh my... and no AA batteries there, BooBoo... Are ye sure she kin han'le it?

mnem
Scotty! We need... more... POWER!!!
Ah'm givin' ye all she's got, Cap'n, but we're juss gooin' aroond in circles... and aht Warp Ten, that's gittin' noowhere mighty fahhst!