Dell CPI-R won't power on when battery is missing. Is this normal?

Question

I just bought an old Dell Latitude CPI-R with Pentium II 400 Mhz. I upgraded the processor to a PIII 500 Mhz saved from an old Thinkpad 600X which had a faulty mainboard.   I have a defective battery for this laptop (the battery led flashes quickly in a red color). When I power on the laptop with the battery inserted in its slot (even if it's a defective one), everything is just fine, the 'DELL' logo appears, the gauge reaches slowly 100% and then Windows 98 logo appears and the operating system boots OK. I don't have any problems, I even ran memtest86 to test the memory and Sisoft Sandra 2002 to test the CPU and everything is OK. It even runs better than an IBM Thinkpad 570 which gets some ugly errors. But when I try to power on the laptop with AC only (no battery inserted), the laptop switches on, the hard drive spins up, nothing appears on screen and after few seconds the laptop suddenly powers off.   IS THIS NORMAL?   Note that I checked the keyboard screws with a multimeter: all of tem are connected to the ground. I don't know if this happened before the upgrade of the CPU... and I don't think I have to reseat the CPU, because with battery inserted the laptop boots fine and I can work without any problems, so the CPU has to be firmly connected in its socket or else I would have another problems. The BIOS version is A14; on the screen appears 'Latitude CPx H500GT' (even if it is not a CPi H but a CPi R with service tag RE56D). Message Edited by nicolae_12 on 05-24-2005 08:30 PM

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,

You may have a DC board problem. It should run without the battery. http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=977&prevaction=category&previd=21&prevstart=24 Have a look via this link. It could still be something else, it sounds typical of a memory problem.

Regards Chris

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,

I cant explain why it does what it does. ( I could guess though ) I would replace the MBD assy, which comes with the DC board. They are less than $40. That should get it going.

Regards Chris

nicolae_12 · Answer

Well I have three different SODIMMs and it does the same with each of them. If the DC board is defective, how come the laptop powers on and works just fine when the battery is inserted in its slot? Are you sure this shouldn't happen to CPI-R series?   I noticed that the battery must be inserted in the battery slot (left of the laptop) in order for the laptop to power on properly; if the battery is inserted in the modular bay instead (right of the laptop), the battery led becomes yellow (and doesn't flash) but the laptop behaves like it has no battery at all - exactly as I described in the first message.

nicolae_12 · Answer

I am sorry for my lack of knowledge, but... does 'MDB' mean motherboard?

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,   Yes. It is most likely only the DC card, but for another $10 I would change both. You will also get a spare fan.                                                                   Regards Chris

AussieChris · Answer

Hi, The fan is more likely to be the motherboard at fault.                                                                     Regards Chris

nicolae_12 · Answer

I disassembled the whole laptop and reassemled it again; there is no difference, the laptop does the same thing: it does not power on without battery.   Moreover, the fan won't spin up at high temperatures nor at startup. This problem also happened before I disassembled the laptop, so we will exclude something done wrong in the reassembly process.   The fan only works when I run the Speedfan program: it does spin up, and it stops only at shutdown. After that, the fan runs again only when I use the above program. Is the fan problem related to the DC board problem? Message Edited by nicolae_12 on 06-05-2005 05:29 PM

nicolae_12 · Answer

So, if I understood well, the improper working of the fan doesn't happen because of the DC board but because of the motherboard?   If I have to change the motherboard, which motherboard shud I buy so that I won't be bothered again with the 'CPU microcode update failure' message?   I read somewhere on this forum that CPi-J motherboards fit in CPi-R cases and they also support the microcode for mobile PIII-500 Mhz with Coppermine core, is this correct?

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,

I would stay with the correct motherboard. It will be cheaper and you wont be in for new problems. Have you run the Diags to test everything ?

Regards Chris

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