1545 Wont turn off

[jbartlett323]

So I got a Dell 1545 lappy, that came in for a virus and ended up with a new HDD and a reload of Vista HP x64. But that's not the problem...

They also wanted me to look at another issue: If connected to charger of any flavor, when shutdown, it automagically restarts itself. Now this doesn't just happen in Windows. If BIOS is still booting, and you kill it with the button, it comes right back on. Pull the charger, run it off the battery (which is an Anker we sold them about a year ago) it shuts off fine, just like its supposed to. Pulling the battery and running just off charger makes no difference, it still powers on....

Thought maybe BIOS issue, was on A10, went to A14, No change...

Don't really know where to go from here. Seems like a hardware issue, probably the mobo. Everything else in this system works flawlessly, aside from the one mangled USB port...

So thought I'd see if anyone has any insight. Its not a big issue, the user knows how to get around it, but would like it fixed if possible... Obviously a new mobo for this guy isn't really an option...

Thanks for the help!

 

[Altster]

Almost sounds like a setting in the bios - as in what to do "after a power failure." I always set that setting to something like "do not power on"

 

[jbartlett323]

yeah, I agree, but I don't have that setting in this BIOS. So just on the off chance, I loaded defaults (although it should have done that on flash), and for 2 power cycles it shutdown correctly... But now its back to auto-power...

 

[FremontPC]

" aside from the one mangled USB port..."

I'd say eyeball that port and make sure nothing is shorting/grounding.

 

[jbartlett323]

Was thinking that too, but I have seen so many mangled USB ports, I typically just ignore them (provided they have at least 1 working port on the machine). But just on the off chance, I just took a look-see, and yes, 2 of the pins were touching each other and the outer wall. So I bent whats left of all the pins away from all else. No change.

 

[jbartlett323]

Thanks for that, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with sleep/hibernate, or windows at all. I can make it do this same thing without the HDD installed...
I wish it was a Windows issue, that I could fix in a blink!

 

[frederick]

Check the voltage on the Power Supply (amuse me if you will) and make sure it is coming out within tolerance. If the power coming out of this thing is wonky (like 15V to 23V, back to 19V, then up and down, etc.) that might be the issue as this appears to be an issue when it is plugged in. Look at the issue specifically:

When shore power is applied, this thing reboots instead of just turning off.
When only portable power is applied, this thing shutdowns and stay off.

If the Power Supply/Adapter is fine, consider looking in on the laptops components. You'll have to tear her down, and take a looky-loo and see if you see anything abnormal, and if anything smells funny with your face pressed in to it.

When these things have shore power connected, they will typically run straight off the shore power without going through the battery. This way the battery can charge and not be disturbed or be drained quicker than it can charge (to prevent overheating of the battery if drain is greater than charge rate). This also increases battery life doing it this way.

There is a switch that controls this whole operation, you may or may not even see it, it can be a small IC chip or just a twisted transistor (usually the IC chip holds true in 99% of all cases). If this switch is damaged in anyway, and is not able to disconnect shore power permanently (i.e. when you tell it to turn off), then it will just reboot because power was never really removed from the circuit. Can it be fixed? Yes, I've done 2 of these, both times were portable servers, and it was a pain trying to find this little IC chip that doesn't exactly say "i control shore and portable power".

If you are wondering what a mobile server is...it's something the military uses, all custom design and build, weighs 25 lbs, densely packed with a single fan that does not keep it cool (as there is only one hole, and all seams have a rubber seal), and the motherboard costs about $25,000 (hence why they rather have a soldier find a stupid IC chip than just replace the board). if you really want to keep it cool, you have to remove the front 1/4-inch steel plate and take a fan and blow in to it. But you have to listen to it whine as the front plate is removed which sounds this pointless alarm.

 

[citizensmith]

This thraed suggests removing the cmos battery http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/321744-31-dell-inspiron-laptop-n4010-turn I dont know if the last reply was for the 1545 tho.

 

[NYJimbo]

When shore power is applied.....

"shore power".

Do you use that term with your customers ? I mean you are pretty much in the middle of the desert.

 

[jbartlett323]

no hdd ?
okay. does it power up when lid is closed ? guessing a detect open lid = turn on problem.

no idea after this epic fail

Nope, still powers right on. Open the lid, I get no picture, but the fan definitely kicks on in the normal boot fasion.

Check the voltage on the Power Supply (amuse me if you will) and make sure it is coming out within tolerance. If the power coming out of this thing is wonky (like 15V to 23V, back to 19V, then up and down, etc.) that might be the issue as this appears to be an issue when it is plugged in. Look at the issue specifically:

When shore power is applied, this thing reboots instead of just turning off.
When only portable power is applied, this thing shutdowns and stay off.

If the Power Supply/Adapter is fine, consider looking in on the laptops components. You'll have to tear her down, and take a looky-loo and see if you see anything abnormal, and if anything smells funny with your face pressed in to it.

When these things have shore power connected, they will typically run straight off the shore power without going through the battery. This way the battery can charge and not be disturbed or be drained quicker than it can charge (to prevent overheating of the battery if drain is greater than charge rate). This also increases battery life doing it this way.

There is a switch that controls this whole operation, you may or may not even see it, it can be a small IC chip or just a twisted transistor (usually the IC chip holds true in 99% of all cases). If this switch is damaged in anyway, and is not able to disconnect shore power permanently (i.e. when you tell it to turn off), then it will just reboot because power was never really removed from the circuit. Can it be fixed? Yes, I've done 2 of these, both times were portable servers, and it was a pain trying to find this little IC chip that doesn't exactly say "i control shore and portable power".

If you are wondering what a mobile server is...it's something the military uses, all custom design and build, weighs 25 lbs, densely packed with a single fan that does not keep it cool (as there is only one hole, and all seams have a rubber seal), and the motherboard costs about $25,000 (hence why they rather have a soldier find a stupid IC chip than just replace the board). if you really want to keep it cool, you have to remove the front 1/4-inch steel plate and take a fan and blow in to it. But you have to listen to it whine as the front plate is removed which sounds this pointless alarm.

I like the idea! But unfortunately, I have tried 3 different adapters, none of them are the owners (as they didn't bring theirs) and all of them a known good. I may re-check the voltage on one just to be sure...
As for an IC, yeah user isn't gonna go for that. So I'm not gonna waste my time tearing it down and searching for the right one... But this is exactly the info I was hoping for when I started this thread! Thanks!

This thraed suggests removing the cmos battery http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/321744-31-dell-inspiron-laptop-n4010-turn I dont know if the last reply was for the 1545 tho.

Again, not gonna tear it down, unless its guarenteed to fix it, as the CMOS battery is not easily accessible. But in theory (and I know its not always true) and Flash & Defaults should have done pretty much the same thing!


Thanks for all the replies! I'm just gonna tell the user that it is a hardware issue that most likely will require a mothrboard swap. But since it can be worked around, and does not seem to cause any adverse effects to the machine, not to worry about it...
If anybody else has any thoughts though, please continue to share!

 

[frederick]

"shore power".

Do you use that term with your customers ? I mean you are pretty much in the middle of the desert.

Its out of habit, just used to calling it that after for so many years. Sometimes I say it to a customers, I apologize, and correct myself.

Still getting my civilian legs in to shape