Please!! you gotta, help she's dead

Hello,
I am about to leave on a 4 month adventure with my laptop and she is dead.
I started noticing this red light blinking a few weeks back , didn't think much then she just died, no lights, not a single flicker, then... she woke up for a couple days then did it again. no ressurection this time. It was definatly acting wierd with the charging/ac power thing. Could it be a battery or is it done.
Please oh please help?
Luke

 

Oh yeah, she is a CF-29

 

Luke... Can you give us a little more info? Is it a Toughbook? What's the exact model? What's the story?

 

Most likely a dead battery... Have another to swap in? Have you tried a battery recalibration?

 

I don't have a spare battery to swap in,
How do I do a battery recalibration?

So I should order up a new battery and try?

Cheers
Luke

 

Do you have all the Panasonic drivers installed or did you load XP on it yourself? If it is a legit installation by Panasonic Recovery Disks... You should be able to go to Start/Programs/Panasonic/Battery Recalibration... It should take a few hours... So do it before you go to sleep.

 

Actually it is totally dead, no lights, no boot up, no noises,nothing,

 

Have you tried powering it up on AC only without the battery installed?

 

Sorry, but I gotta do it.....

He's dead Jim!

Beaming back to my home planet now.

 

You know how those Nova Scotians are....

 

Try as Toughbook suggested, try booting with no battery.

 

tried boot up without battery in,
no luck,
not even a glimmer,

 

What is the volts and amps output rating of the power supply?

 

How comfortable are you in taking this apart? My only other thought is to take the bottom plate off and check the battery connections and possibly check fuses for continuity.

 

Hello,
she is rated 15.6V 5A
no problem opening her up...
see what we can do,
anything to look for , fuses etc
Thanks so much for this help
You guys are awesome
Luke

 

I would remove the battery... Then the bottom plate. You will need to remove the speaker cable before seperating the plate from the unit. That is located inside the RAM cover beside where you slide in the RAM modules. You need to make sure that you have the proper screwdrivers for this or you can easily strip screws. The big ones in the corners and the other three on the plate field are easy... But the smaller screws around the edges really need to be uncrewed carefully. Normally I will put a lot of weight behind breaking the screw loose so it doesn't strip and then it easily backs out.

Then I would just poke around... Check out where the battery slides in and connects. Sometimes there are bent pins and/or shorts there. Take a good look into all connections to make sure they are clean. Check all USB and PCMCIA slots to make sure nothing is amiss and there is no debris.

Toughbooks RARELY just die for no reason. They have the lowest failure rate out there. You can check the board layout diagrams to see where all the fuses are on the board and check them for continuity.

Other than the blinking red light... Were there any other warning signs?

 

OK, I have 2 choices, nobody really knows who I am so I could skulk away and never be heard from again.....ooooorrrr.....fess up and take advantage of this most excellent forum.

OK,

You fixed it for me,

So you asked what the voltage was,
I checked the brand new ac charger I ordered for the trip,
24volts,
began dismanteling the computer and see little sign on the back ...15.6V
oops.
So I went and found my old charger, plug it in, and presto!
She comes alive!
the world begins to revolve properly on its axis again.
all the navigation for my trip is back,
all my music is back,
the sun shines...
butterflies com out of the hard drive,
all is good.
Thanks

 

Happy to help. Glad the magic smoke didn't escape from the Toughbook at 24 volts.

 

I gotta say that these Toughbooks are VERY hardy and can handle a lot of misuse and abuse from us modders. I can't tell you how many times early on when I was learning that I flinched after doing something stupid... Just KNOWING I had blown a fuse or a mobo... Only to find out that it bounced right back and nothing was wrong. They are VERY forgiving.

Glad you got it up and running.. Without jumping through all the normal hoops.

(And never be worried about admitting to something crazy... We've ALL done it.)