Panasonic Toughbook Won't Power Up or Charge,No LiGHTS!?! HELP!

Ugh. Hello this is my first time posting so please, be easy on me as im young and this is my first toughbook and today is the first day i have had it. Anyways, i was tinkering with my CF-28 BIOS(no os installed yet) and it just dies, go to turn it back on and NOTHING!
So i let sit for a minute tried again and nothing. please help

 

Its dead, man! j/k but maybe. Are you using a battery alone or is it plug on AC?


Ok! take it all out the removable component like Ram, Hdd, battery cd rom and then hook it up to AC and turn it on. Let me know.

ohlip

 

OMG thanks for the quick awnser, It is currently plugged in and it was when it died. The charge light is not on or anything...

 

Ok! do you have battery? I mean is there a battery on the unit? If nothing, check your AC adaptor.

ohlip

 

And nothing...

 

er sorry, yes i have a battery but the guy said it may be worn out, removed everything as you said and still nothing, no lights, no beeps no screen flickr nothing

 

What do you mean "And nothing.., we have still hope I can tell you that. Just explain properly and we gonna troubleshoot what maybe the coz.

Don't panic! just relax, Btw, Welcome to the forum.


ohlip

 

Thanks, Its almost as if its just dead, let me try to explain what happened,
i connected the hdd and was in BIOS changing the boot order to boot from harddrive. as soon as i clicked "save and exit" it just dies, was plugged into ac. and from there it wont power up. The only thing i can think of is that my AC adapter is AC and the plug on my toughbook is DC. Would that have anything to do with it? Maybe fried something inside?

 

I have one of those A/C plugs that has a light on the transformer to let me know it is plugged in and getting power. Does yours have a light on it, and is it lighting up? If you plug a light in the same socket as your laptop, does the light turn on normally? Do you have a multi-meter and know how to use it?

That should hold you for a little while; get back to us on those questions please and we can move forward. If it is mysteriously working now, please let us know that too.

EDIT: No, it's not an AC/DC thing, that is a band....

 

Take out the battery and power cord.
Then hold the power button for 1 min. Then put the batter and power cord back in and try to boot.

 

It means no power. First to check, is your power adaptor if it is good or bad. Is that an oem adaptor or a replacement one that was made in china?

 

Are you referring to the brick in the power cord? yes it has a light. my dell is plugged into the same socket and is working fine, i have tried different sockets and each time the brick light will light up but the toughbook, nothing. i can buy a multimeter if needed and my dad knows how to use it so im good there. thankyou for all the help!

 

ohlip, it says made in korea and moral trying your idea now

 

Moral, no lights or indication of boot.

 

If you move the power jack around does the light come on?

 

hmmmmmmmm nope...

 

"I keep trying different sockets"..... Something tells me that there is a loose nut somewhere.... J/k

If you got into the BIOS... You can't do anything to fry the BIOS by changing things..... HOWEVER.. Changing charging tips if you have a universal charger that may be the wrong voltage CAN fry your laptop.....

We all live and learn... Some with smoke.... Some without...

 

The light means the power is getting from the wall to the brick; a multi-meter will verify if the power is getting from the brick to the end of the cable (unless of course you want to stick your tongue to it, but that is NOT ADVISABLE hehehe). If we determine the power IS getting through the brick to the end, then we begin at the A/C connector on your laptop and keep working our way inwards until we find where the power stops. If the power is not getting from the brick to the end, then we condemn the A/C adapter and get you a new one. Follow us so far??

 

Maybe you have this problem:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/har...upport/37876-panasonic-toughbook-cf-71-a.html

 

May I know the rated voltage and current of the brick that you are using? it is printed on the brick itself.

edit: output side.

ohlip

 

Yes sir and Toughbook it is very possible to have a loose nut somewhere!. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260524873006&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT that would be the power adapter i bought. Is it a cheap chinese knockoff? I will try the multi meter tomorrow morning. if by chance the charger is good where do i go from there?

 

as it reads, input=100v-240v
output=16v-4a

 

Oh! no, one of our friend here got one of those and he used only a couple of minute and almost got his home on fire. Its like the PCMCIA usb 2.0 that last only an hour. Lol...

ohlip

 

so do i need to chuck the charger in the garbage or is it good, still dont know if im getting power to the laptop yet so yea...

 

Check the charger with a DMM if you have one.

 

Digital Multi Meter? dont have one yet

 

Confirmed us first with the condition of an AC adaptor if it is outputing the right voltage or if is kapot already and then from there we can go to other option. Keep us inform.


ohlip

 

Might be worth picking one up, you never know when it will be usefull.

 

Yeah,.... The house on fire was almost me... I think that is one of those "Bright-On" power adapters.... They suck the big one! The ones I order come from asia... But they have never failed me and I have used them for years....

THIS is the one that I use... And I have never had a failure. Nor have my customers. I have, however, replaced almost ALL of the Brite-On power adapters.... They have a 30 day warranty and fail on the 32nd day... Just like clockwork! You would think the Chinese would make clocks instead of AC Adapters!

 

Will do. i ill repost results tomorrow

 

Well, i have read alot of your post and you seem to know what your tlking about so i will pick ne of these up too tomorrow. all in all did i get a good steal? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300381682231&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

It's says it's missing the harddrive, caddy and optical drive. I think the seller stole your money. Good luck.

 

What he is getting at is that the power socket may be broken. I HIGHLY doubt that however based on the last 6 years that Toughbooks generally NEVER have broken power socket problems because they are built better than Toshiba Tecra A9's...

 

Well we live and learn, all in all i have $103.95 in it and guess what, before i went to bed i decided to plug it in with the battery and see if it would charge. as i was setting it down(or tossing it) i noticed the red flashing light of the battery, opened the lid and hit the power button. Powered up just fine and i even got it to boot into windows 2000 or atleast the login page.

 

If its flashing red it is unrecoverable
Use the battery to the end of whatever life is in it, but it will no longer charge, so a replacement is needed

Alex

 

I figured that one... Its ok to use it on AC power though correct?

 

Yes
You will want to remove the battery though, as the flashing Red light will drive you nuts

Alex

 

yep already did that long ago. Any ways, i guess i could ask it here, any tips on installing an os through a floppy drive or usb. I know the BIOS doesnt support it but there has to be some way around it. What os should i use and about how much. Also any chance of installing linux or ubuntu and getting the drivers to work half way right/ thank you in advance

 

I installed DSL linux using a thumb drive and panasonic media pocket floppy drive in my CF-27. When your wallet can afford it get a cd/dvd drive and save yourself a whole lot of headaches, then you can install whatever operating system that you want. I would use nothing less than Windows XP if you have it. BTW Linux mint works fine, however no one has figured out how to get the touchscreen to work under Linux yet. If you search the forums one of our members was working on it and posted alot of info. Glad you got it working so far.

Welcome to the forum.