Compaq Armada 300 Board Problems??

[Collin]

So last night there I was working away and heard POW! looked over at my Compaq Armada 300 laptop to see the screen blank! so I wondered what the heck now?

Press power button ... power light blinks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 times then nothing!! Oh Yes I have seen this before.. the board has died!!

So the bad part is .. this is the THIRD time since January 2002 !!!
Digital Transtec has changed the motherboard in this laptop twice between January and July of this year and now there goes again.....

And each visit to Digital takes about a month for the laptop to be returned to service (as they have to ordered parts from compaq and wait for it to arrive)

Is this a generic Compaq problem or is it that I work the laptop too much? Anyone had similar issues ?

[Gillion]

As far as I know, this seems like a power supply problem. The laptop's adaptor uses a switching power supply thats SUPPOSED to work anywhere from 220 volts AC to 90 volts AC this is quite adequate for Ja's crappy power grid. But... if there was a REALLY nasty surge, no switching power-supply can compensate for that. So maybe you should try a new power supply as well. That note asside. static can aslo kill a laptop, maybe your body was highly charged... is your area carpeted ? Maybe you need to change your work area ?. And one more thing... I usual think compaq equipment to be crappy, hence the name COMCRAP... but that is just my opinion.

[Gillion]

P.S. could you post any technical forensics that that digital transtech gave in previous "deaths " ? and just to be through, perhaps you had a CPU overheat... ? possible ?

--regards
Simon

[Chris]

This sounds similar to a problem a friend of mine had with her ThinkPad. The problem was with the power adapter port, as GILLION suggested. There was either a short or the port wasn't fitted properly and so this caused power problems - the battery wouldn't charge properly, the motherboard got burnt. One on occasion they changed the English kepboard with a Spanish one, by accident of course

If they keep changing the motherboard and the power adapter port is at fault, you will continue seeing the problem. You could also check with Compaq's website support area on your model to see if there are any recall or other issues.

[Collin]

I suspect myself that it may be related to the power adapter but have not received any information to confirm this.

I was unable to get the tech details of the previous deaths despite requests - they just could not confirm any specific cause, there was no visible burn marks on the board etc.

There is a recall on the power adapter but I have been unable to secure a replacement via Digital as they are still yet to secure it form overseas.. I should be visiting them later this week to drop the pc off so will post updates.

[Chris]

When I hear of this type of service from a local authorized dealer I wonder if I'm really disadvantaged buying overseas.

Collin, I bet that if you didn't ask Digital about the recalled power adapter they wouldn't have notified you about it, assuming they even knew about it in the first place

[Collin]

Actually when I carried in the laptop the first time I enquired about it and the did confirm it. I was however to have requested to replacement myself via the web but fro some reason the site would not accept the details I was putting in so they offered to secure it for me.

In other ways their customer service is I must say VERY REFRESHING... every couple of weeks I would receive a call from a nice lady enquiring about how the laptop was keeping up, this indeed was plesantly surprising She even called me today to find out when I woudl be brinking it in (of course she woudl have loved for me to place an order for a new one ... ;D)

But that part of the service is something I am happy to say I am pleased about.

[Chris]

Well that is indeed refreshing to hear. BTW - now that HP and Compaq are one, have they given any indication as to what changes there will be at Digital? Will they also support HP devices?

[Collin]

I will get an answer to that for you as soon as I visit them.

[Collin]

Digital Transtec has informed me that they will indeed support HP products.