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General discussion

Random power offs with Compaq Presario 2700US

Aug 11, 2004 1:34PM PDT

I bought a used Presario 2700US from a small computer shop today and everything seemed to be going very well for the first thirty minutes of use. However, while I was loading an old game to test out the computer a bit, the system just went dead. At first I thought it was the battery, a/c adapter, or both, but it has the same problem with only the a/c connected or only the battery connected. When it shuts itself off and I restart, it usually will do the same thing either during the start-up process or when I get into Windows, and seems to get worse each time. However, when I leave it for a little while, it works perfectly for 30 minutes - 1 hour, then shuts down again. I think it might have something to do with heat because it seems to first crash when I am doing CPU intensive processes and using other things like the DVD drive at the same time.

Specs are as follows:
P3-M 1.0Ghz
384MB Ram
ATI Mobility M6 8mb
dvd-rom
cd-rw (separate drives)
20gb hdd with only Windows XP Home Loaded

I have a 30 day warranty and already gave the shop a call and they will look at it tomorrow, but any help is appreciated in the mean time.

Thanks,

Peter Allen

Discussion is locked

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Re: Random power offs with Compaq Presario 2700US
Aug 11, 2004 2:04PM PDT

a 30 day warranty on a notebook is not enough. A video card or the LCD could turn out to be defective (or the hard drive) and unless you do very intensive use you may not even discover these items until much later

All quality notebooks used to have 3 year warranties and you can still get that as an option but 1 year (or 2nd year free if you have a gold or platinum credit card that offers that upgrade for free) is adequate for most if not being moved a lot If that is the case a 3 year accidental coverage (not just limited) warranty is worthwhile

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Sounds like a heat issue.
Aug 11, 2004 11:33PM PDT

But here's why it may not be fixable. While one must let the warranty take it's path, the issue is the USED laptop and in my honest opinion you need to return it and find something else since such stories are legendary.

The part that is heat sensitive may be on the motherboard and not servicable. That is, it could be any of the parts that is now heat sensitive and people no longer do chip repairs on motherboards. Rare is not the right word for such repairs. More like extinct. Since the motherboard runs in the 200+ buck range, then it becomes a tussle with the seller that anything is wrong.

Your decision, but I'd walk.

Bob