Compaq Presario cq50 shuts down

mikecar · 01-03-2010, 08:38 AM

Hi support folks,
my wife's laptop shuts down intermittently. often times minutes after start up. I don't think it's the battery or power cord, i've swapped them out with my hp laptop's. when it shuts down most of the time it won't start back up for a while. the power light comes on for a second then shuts off. the laptop has always run hot since new a she uses a cooling base most of the time. i've found that when i tap the surface next to the mouse pad it will start back up and be ok for a short while. ofcourse it is 60 days out of warranty. any assistance would be awesome..

Mike

**night_shift** · 01-03-2010, 09:17 AM

Hello mikecar

Try this first

1. Remove the battery and AC cord. Remove the bottom cover/covers of your laptop and make sure the cooling path is free of fluff and dust. Check the heat sink on the CPU/GPU is not loose, if so tighten the screws back down that hold it on.
2. Remove and reseat your RAM modules.
3. Replace your covers.
4. Hold down your power button for 1 minute (Battery and AC still disconnected).
5. Replace your AC power (not battery) and turn on.

This is called a hard reset. If it works COOL, then replace your battery.

mikecar · 01-03-2010, 09:40 AM

i'm having a problem removing the lower cover, after removing the hdd, battery, ram, and all visible screws it's doesn't feel loose at all

mikecar · 01-03-2010, 11:53 AM

I found the instructions to disassemble. after complete disassembly and cleaning, still having the same problem. any other suggestions?

**night_shift** · 01-03-2010, 04:32 PM

Could be a bad solder joint on the motherboard, maybe.

Try this first, remove you HD and start the laptop up and tell me what happens.

mikecar · 01-04-2010, 10:12 AM

after reassembly, i didn't leave the battery out for the initial restart. after restarting it with the battery out the laptop only shut down once. i looked a little closer to the charger and battery voltages and found the cord is 18v and the battery was 10.4 i guess over the last year the cords got mixed up. do you think there is a chance of permanent damage? it seems to be ok at this time with battery removed. any recomendations where to buy a new battery and power cord?

thanks,
mike

**night_shift** · 01-05-2010, 05:06 AM

This may be ok.
My Acer had a 19v cord and 14v battery.

Edit: Checked with Compaq. Your voltages are correct for battery and cord.

mikecar · 01-06-2010, 08:37 AM

well that's interesting, do you think the battery has a short? honestly, since i put it back together and performed the hard reset it's only shut down once. the battery is reinstalled and have been using my factory charge adapter from my other laptop.(18.5v) it seems to be ok though the battery doesn't hold a charge over night. have you heard of problems with the aftermarket adapters?

kyle1234 · 01-06-2010, 08:45 AM

When it shuts off does it go through the correct shut down sequence automatically or does it just short out and click off?

kyle1234 · 01-06-2010, 08:48 AM

My compaq cq50 has an output of 18.5v on the charger