Advent Roma 1000 strange power problems

[artois7]

Getting a bit stumped on this one. Bought an Advent Roma 1000 which kept cutting out and doing weird/wonderful things. I found the mouse button to be faulty so i replaced the surface mount switch. I managed to install an OS on it, but it's been acting up.

*Plugged in to the charger, without a battery, it will not boot up or show ANY signs of life.
*Battery by itself does work, however it cuts out without any warning.
*Battery installed, laptop will turn on and, strangely, charge. It will cut off like this.

This all sounds like a DC jack issue, but when the laptop is on the desktop, it will charge and no amount of wiggling will cause the charging icon to change!

When it does cut off, it has to be left for about 30 seconds before it will turn on again.

Will post back when I have more symptoms.

[artois7]

Re: Advent Roma 1000 strange power problems

Ok, so I measured 20v at the DC in cable connector. After reseating the connector, the laptop has been fine on charge and will not cut out, but it will still cut out on just battery power.

[artois7]

Re: Advent Roma 1000 strange power problems

The laptop cut out on battery - won't power back up on battery or on charge. When the DC jack is unplugged from the mainboard, it will show the full 20v, but as soon as you plug the connector back onto the mobo, it's dragged down to just 3v. Any ideas?

Edit.

Instead of repeatedly posting, I'll edit this until I get some input. I haven't got any 20v adapters here, but I tried it with a 19v adapter (only briefly!) and it didn't get dragged down unlike the original charger. I'm guessing this means the original brick is faulty. Still doesn't explain the battery issue, though. Anyone got any input regarding the battery issue?

[domas]

Re: Advent Roma 1000 strange power problems

li-ion battery packs can be faulty this way.. they just cut out at some percentage, had one like this, it would occasionally turn the laptop off as I plug the charger out or if I move my laptop while on battery. The battery was crappy as it only had 38% of designed capacitance at that moment. Got it professionally reconditioned, the issue is gone.

Do you have problems with the battery not holding desired charge?

[artois7]

Re: Advent Roma 1000 strange power problems

That was my thought, so I started watching it, cut out once at 47%, again at 33%. It seems 'random'.

I'm not going to go and buy a charger & battery to confirm. I'll wait until I have compatible parts here.

[artois7]

Re: Advent Roma 1000 strange power problems

So the charger was knackered - tested it with another battery and it still cuts out. I've now seen another Roma series do this as well. Not sure what could cause it to cut out on battery other than a poor connection.