Compaq M300 Battery Problems

[jrhaines]

Hi all,

I have a compaq M300 that I bought used less than a month ago.It has XP Pro installed and the battery held a charge for a few hours.Someone wanted me to demonstrate how to disconnect the docking station but I do not think it was powered down completely when I detached it and it made strange noises.

After I tried to power it up on the battery the next day nothing happened.I then powered it with AC and it showed the battery completely discharged.I do not recall if it happened then or there after but since when I would try to boot it would hang on the compaq logo for about 15 minutes before booting...unless I hit the Ctrl-Alt-Del buttons and then it would boot with the task manager screen showing.

I then reinstalled windows which cured this problem but now and then I get "Invalid System Time"at bootup.If I hit enter it boots with the clock set at 12:00 and sometimes It keeps the time and sometimes it looses it.I have discovered that if I do not hit enter on the Invalid System Time at bootup it will boot on it's own after about 15 minutes.

And now for the problem I am having.It now shows the battery at 100% but will not power up on the battery and when the AC is disconnected the computer dies right now.Other than the problems described the computer performs flawlessly as far as what I have used if for.

Any Ideas? Give it too me straight...I can take it.

Thanks...John

[nizzy1115]

can you return it? it sounds like something happened to the processor/motherboard :(

[pickled_foot]

hi,

i have a m300 and battery worked fine for a while, then one day just kept showing full charge but wouldn't power if unplugged. all i have been able to discover is that m300 batteries are rubbish and have a fault which compaq don't care about.
if you open the battery carefully ( i have caused minor damage to both my battery cases doing this) then unsolder the end terminals on ONE of the end battery cells. then leave for a few minutes to dischage residule charge in memory of onboard PIC. reconnect and battery circuit will be reset and will charge again.
although this has worked for me i still end up doing it every few months or so. if anyone has a better solution (which doesn't involve getting a new laptop) i would appreciate it.
hope this helps

[jrhaines]

My battery problem seems to have solved itself since I left it discharge on it's own.I just happened to try it a month or so later when it was somewhat discharged and it worked fine until I left it charge fully again.I then waited till it discharged again and powered up my computer leaving it run till it discharged and shutdown.I then charged it back up and it has been working fine so far.

I do agree that these batteries are rubbish and add a thorn to an otherwise good computer and that can also be argued.

Thanks...John