Discussion:
Armada E500 problem??
(too old to reply)
BillW50
2010-05-08 20:26:26 UTC
Permalink
Hello, a friend has a Compaq E500 PIII 900Mhz, which works fine but
When shutting down it powers off and turns off the monitor. Then the
strange thing begin, 3 lights turns on above the keyboard and the fan
start running and it will keep running untill you unplug the power
supply, then it will run for a couple of seconds and then turn off.
My friend tried to leave it over night and next morning the fan was
still running. So only way to turn off the fan is to remove the power
supply.
Now, I have searched all over the net for an explanation with no
result. So can someone here explain why its doing so and how to fix
it?
As for as I can see the laptop has the newest bios from 2002 and as
far as I can see there is no bios version that fixes this.
That sure is weird! A power strip that has a power switch would be one
easy fix. That way you don't have to keep pulling out the power plug.

What happens if the main battery is removed? Does it still do this on AC
alone?

As for the three lights, there are 5 of them. See the manual at page
1-8. Do you know which three of the five light up?

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01120671/c01120671.pdf

There was something else I was going to say. But I forgot after looking
through the manual. Maybe it will come to me later.

Oh yeah, what OS is installed? Is it Windows? If so, what version?
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
JBJ
2010-05-10 00:08:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by BillW50
Hello, a friend has a Compaq E500 PIII 900Mhz, which works fine but
When shutting down it powers off and turns off the monitor. Then the
strange thing begin, 3 lights turns on above the keyboard and the fan
start running and it will keep running untill you unplug the power
supply, then it will run for a couple of seconds and then turn off.
My friend tried to leave it over night and next morning the fan was
still running. So only way to turn off the fan is to remove the power
supply.
Now, I have searched all over the net for an explanation with no
result. So can someone here explain why its doing so and how to fix
it?
As for as I can see the laptop has the newest bios from 2002 and as
far as I can see there is no bios version that fixes this.
That sure is weird! A power strip that has a power switch would be one
easy fix. That way you don't have to keep pulling out the power plug.
What happens if the main battery is removed? Does it still do this on AC
alone?
As for the three lights, there are 5 of them. See the manual at page 1-8.
Do you know which three of the five light up?
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01120671/c01120671.pdf
There was something else I was going to say. But I forgot after looking
through the manual. Maybe it will come to me later.
Oh yeah, what OS is installed? Is it Windows? If so, what version?
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
Hi Bill, I dont have the laptop here so I cant try the battery trick, but
can tell that the battery works normally and charge to 100% and work
without power supply - tested by my friend. As for the 3 lights, it's all
the lock lights (Caps, num and scroll).

There is XP Pro DK on it, but I can't see that would have an influence
since the laptop turns off as normal and then starts the lights and the
fan - allmost like for cooling down the laptop before you can put it in the
bag, so its not overheating in the bag, because the hot air can't go
anywhere - but then never turns off again.
--
------------------------------------------

Med venlig hilsen / With kind regards

Jan Johansson
BillW50
2010-05-10 00:40:59 UTC
Permalink
Post by JBJ
Post by BillW50
Hello, a friend has a Compaq E500 PIII 900Mhz, which works fine but
When shutting down it powers off and turns off the monitor. Then the
strange thing begin, 3 lights turns on above the keyboard and the
fan start running and it will keep running untill you unplug the
power supply, then it will run for a couple of seconds and then
turn off. My friend tried to leave it over night and next morning
the fan was still running. So only way to turn off the fan is to
remove the power supply.
Now, I have searched all over the net for an explanation with no
result. So can someone here explain why its doing so and how to fix
it?
As for as I can see the laptop has the newest bios from 2002 and as
far as I can see there is no bios version that fixes this.
That sure is weird! A power strip that has a power switch would be
one easy fix. That way you don't have to keep pulling out the power
plug. What happens if the main battery is removed? Does it still do
this
on AC alone?
As for the three lights, there are 5 of them. See the manual at page
1-8. Do you know which three of the five light up?
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01120671/c01120671.pdf
There was something else I was going to say. But I forgot after
looking through the manual. Maybe it will come to me later.
Oh yeah, what OS is installed? Is it Windows? If so, what version?
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
Hi Bill, I dont have the laptop here so I cant try the battery trick,
but can tell that the battery works normally and charge to 100% and
work without power supply - tested by my friend. As for the 3 lights,
it's all the lock lights (Caps, num and scroll).
There is XP Pro DK on it, but I can't see that would have an influence
since the laptop turns off as normal and then starts the lights and
the fan - allmost like for cooling down the laptop before you can put
it in the bag, so its not overheating in the bag, because the hot air
can't go anywhere - but then never turns off again.
I would try turning it on and going into setup (usually by hitting the
given function key). Then don't change anything and press and hold the
power button down until it powers down. Does it stay off?

If that works, this next check is at your own risk. That is to boot up
Windows, don't open any applications and wait until the hard drive stops
being accessed. Then hold down the power button down until it shuts
down. Does it stay off too?

I say this carries a risk. Because about 1 out of 50 times of shutting
Windows down this way can screw up Windows so it won't boot. But if you
wait until there is no disk activity, the risk is almost nil. But in the
rare chance that it does, pressing F8 at boot will give you a menu and
you can select the last known configuration and that should fix it.
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
JBJ
2010-05-11 11:03:11 UTC
Permalink
Post by BillW50
Post by JBJ
Post by BillW50
Hello, a friend has a Compaq E500 PIII 900Mhz, which works fine but
When shutting down it powers off and turns off the monitor. Then the
strange thing begin, 3 lights turns on above the keyboard and the
fan start running and it will keep running untill you unplug the
power supply, then it will run for a couple of seconds and then
turn off. My friend tried to leave it over night and next morning
the fan was still running. So only way to turn off the fan is to
remove the power supply.
Now, I have searched all over the net for an explanation with no
result. So can someone here explain why its doing so and how to fix
it?
As for as I can see the laptop has the newest bios from 2002 and as
far as I can see there is no bios version that fixes this.
That sure is weird! A power strip that has a power switch would be
one easy fix. That way you don't have to keep pulling out the power
plug. What happens if the main battery is removed? Does it still do
this
on AC alone?
As for the three lights, there are 5 of them. See the manual at page
1-8. Do you know which three of the five light up?
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01120671/c01120671.pdf
There was something else I was going to say. But I forgot after
looking through the manual. Maybe it will come to me later.
Oh yeah, what OS is installed? Is it Windows? If so, what version?
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
Hi Bill, I dont have the laptop here so I cant try the battery trick,
but can tell that the battery works normally and charge to 100% and
work without power supply - tested by my friend. As for the 3 lights,
it's all the lock lights (Caps, num and scroll).
There is XP Pro DK on it, but I can't see that would have an influence
since the laptop turns off as normal and then starts the lights and
the fan - allmost like for cooling down the laptop before you can put
it in the bag, so its not overheating in the bag, because the hot air
can't go anywhere - but then never turns off again.
I would try turning it on and going into setup (usually by hitting the
given function key). Then don't change anything and press and hold the
power button down until it powers down. Does it stay off?
If that works, this next check is at your own risk. That is to boot up
Windows, don't open any applications and wait until the hard drive stops
being accessed. Then hold down the power button down until it shuts down.
Does it stay off too?
I say this carries a risk. Because about 1 out of 50 times of shutting
Windows down this way can screw up Windows so it won't boot. But if you
wait until there is no disk activity, the risk is almost nil. But in the
rare chance that it does, pressing F8 at boot will give you a menu and
you can select the last known configuration and that should fix it.
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
Ok I will see if I can get my friend to try this, he lives 25km from me so
I don't see often.

In the off chance that the laptop turns off and stays off, what is the
cause then?
--
------------------------------------------

Med venlig hilsen / With kind regards

Jan Johansson
BillW50
2010-05-11 14:58:35 UTC
Permalink
Post by JBJ
Post by BillW50
Post by JBJ
Post by BillW50
Hello, a friend has a Compaq E500 PIII 900Mhz, which works fine
When shutting down it powers off and turns off the monitor. Then
the strange thing begin, 3 lights turns on above the keyboard and
the fan start running and it will keep running untill you unplug
the power supply, then it will run for a couple of seconds and
then turn off. My friend tried to leave it over night and next
morning the fan was still running. So only way to turn off the
fan is to remove the power supply.
Now, I have searched all over the net for an explanation with no
result. So can someone here explain why its doing so and how to
fix it?
As for as I can see the laptop has the newest bios from 2002 and
as far as I can see there is no bios version that fixes this.
That sure is weird! A power strip that has a power switch would be
one easy fix. That way you don't have to keep pulling out the power
plug. What happens if the main battery is removed? Does it still do
this
on AC alone?
As for the three lights, there are 5 of them. See the manual at
page 1-8. Do you know which three of the five light up?
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01120671/c01120671.pdf
There was something else I was going to say. But I forgot after
looking through the manual. Maybe it will come to me later.
Oh yeah, what OS is installed? Is it Windows? If so, what version?
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
Hi Bill, I dont have the laptop here so I cant try the battery
trick, but can tell that the battery works normally and charge to
100% and work without power supply - tested by my friend. As for
the 3 lights, it's all the lock lights (Caps, num and scroll).
There is XP Pro DK on it, but I can't see that would have an
influence since the laptop turns off as normal and then starts the
lights and the fan - allmost like for cooling down the laptop
before you can put it in the bag, so its not overheating in the
bag, because the hot air can't go anywhere - but then never turns
off again.
I would try turning it on and going into setup (usually by hitting
the given function key). Then don't change anything and press and
hold the power button down until it powers down. Does it stay off?
If that works, this next check is at your own risk. That is to boot
up Windows, don't open any applications and wait until the hard
drive stops being accessed. Then hold down the power button down
until it shuts down. Does it stay off too?
I say this carries a risk. Because about 1 out of 50 times of
shutting Windows down this way can screw up Windows so it won't
boot. But if you wait until there is no disk activity, the risk is
almost nil. But in the rare chance that it does, pressing F8 at boot
will give you a menu and you can select the last known configuration
and that should fix it.
Ok I will see if I can get my friend to try this, he lives 25km from
me so I don't see often.
In the off chance that the laptop turns off and stays off, what is the
cause then?
If the laptop doesn't turn on, that is something else. This can be
caused by one or more of the following:

1) Hard drive, DVD, etc drawing too much power.

2) Corrupt BIOS. The CIH virus can wipe out your BIOS.

3) Bad power supply.

4 Etc.
--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
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