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 Post Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 2:41 pm 
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This is a (May) 2010 Asus P501J.

Sequence of events.
Tuesday - the battery was at an "alarming" level and I was warned laptop would shut down in x minutes. Since computer is always plugged into wall, there is no reason the battery would drain unless the power source was a problem. I tested power source (I cannot vouch for my thoroughness) and then dropped laptop & adapter at local store. He confirmed no power. I then walked to Best Buy to get a universal adapter.
After hookup, the screen would not move off the logo page. Asus had me do a hard reset and I worked the rest of the day. Asus warned me about leaving the laptop plugged in 24/7 and said the kind of warning that I got was indicative of continuous usage. He said he was sure the A/C adapter was not broken. (It's still at the store.)

Wednesday, computer would not move beyond the Asus logo, no matter how many hard resets I did. Asus then had me reset again, with F2, F9, and F8 (in that order). It did not come on.

Today, I decided to try opening the Asus this morning. I pushed the power button and F2 many times until the bios screen came on. I then called Asus, who walked me through the final steps (F9 & F10). The battery is still removed. It's working fine.

Is there any way to get an IDEA about whether this is a fluke or I am going to have ongoing problems?
Either I buy a new laptop today or I wait.

Thank you.


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 Post Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 1:11 am 
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If it is running fine without the battery I'd suspect that the battery is bad. Unfortunately that cannot be proven without several restarts off of the AC adapter; if it fails to boot you are once again stuck. A shop should be able to test the battery.

Unfortunately there could possibly be other issues that could look like a failed battery. For example, a bad contact to which the battery connects. Another possible issue could be the internal circuitry to which the AC adapter connects. Yes, I know that it is working right now but, if there happened to be a fault in the circuitry, it is possible for something like that to be intermittent. Regardless of how slight every time you plug or unplug the adapter it causes internal movement around the socket.

If testing the battery does show that it is faulty you might want to consider the following site for a replacement. It is, if I remember correctly, in the UK but offers free shipping. I wanted a spare battery for my laptop and was seeing prices in the $120.00 range for an 8 cell unit. I got my spare from this site for about $80.00. I received the package in a week or less.

http://laptop-battery-adapter.org/

BTW, I've been using their battery for almost 1.5 years without issue.

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 Post Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 2:43 pm 
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Jay, I will respond in depth later.
Up and running now and it's payday....


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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:37 pm 
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Jay, since my laptop is connected via fiber optic always, I am not that concerned about the battery. At least now. But I will follow through with your suggestions later.

Friday update:
What I really don't understand and it did not take place until then - or it did not gel in my understanding - was why did it take until the end of the week to get to the Restore Disk, or restore to factory default? It's a three-year old computer that was written off as dead and I spent half of my troubleshooting time searching for a new laptop. Should Restore have been a normal step to take in the beginning? Did they try that - and I misunderstood the F functions and sequence? Why would it take so many tries to get the Asus to respond? Once I removed the battery, which is still on the side, I went through the same steps over and over: remove cord, hold power button 30 seconds, push F2 and start simultaneously. I started 6.45 Friday. I went through two complete recoveries with two different techs. The disk wouldn't work, nor would the internal restore. After call & recovery #2, I was still unable to get beyond the Asus logo, so I continued pushing buttons. On my third try (after hanging up w/Asus) I got a "hit" and I called Asus back to say I was in restore mode and what do I do next? At 11.00, I think I was back in Backup and Restore.

Other than me really having a vested interest in having a working computer and not giving up, I was right.
Did Tech Support behave responsibly? Or did the Asus need to be beaten into submission?

Any ideas?
Thank you.


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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:40 pm 
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General rule, Nancy: If it is intermittent, or behaves differently, it is hardware. If it is reproducible and the same each time, it is software.

There can be gray areas where bad hardware can cause software issues, particularly memory.

One other tip: If it happens before Windows loads - Windows isn't the problem. ;)

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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:43 pm 
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Also you have to understand differences in levels of restore.

If you do a 'restore' through Windows you are only setting back system settings. If you do a restore through the system supplied by the machine maker you wipe everything that you have and put the system back to what it was when purchased.

Your response about the battery does not fit. Your fiber optic connection has nothing at all to do with the battery. A fiber optic connection just means the wired hardware that gets you on-line... the wiring.

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:49 pm 
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Jay,

The recovery disk or restoring it to factory default is not the issue. I was wondering why neither option was presented me earlier than Friday, unless the problem that I had on Tuesday was completely unrelated to the Friday problem. I would like to know what is wrong, because I get up and expect to go to work.

With the initial error, I should not have had a battery problem because my computer is plugged into the wall. That thinking only holds up if the battery does not effect anything OTHER than the life of the battery. All Asus techs said battery only affects battery. That led the the new adapter purchase, because I thought I had a defective or broken power source. My point on Friday, since I moved so far away from the battery issue, was that since I never use the laptop portably, the battery is not a priority. My language was wrong.


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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:42 pm 
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Let's take this out of the realm of technical. How much does it cost you to continue to worry about your laptop? If you feel like it is failing, be easy on yourself and get a new one. 3 years is not an unrealistic lifetime for a laptop today. Get yourself a new one and enjoy the increased power, increased security and simplicity, and just plain fun of the new OS.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 12:11 pm 
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That's a great question and the only one that makes sense. I no longer feel like it is failing, but my fantasy about having a backup computer has been shattered.

Thank you, MacDuffie.


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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 11:32 pm 
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You're welcome, Nancy.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:52 am 
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Just mentioning SyncToy got me back into daily usage again, so thank you for that, also.
While sitting at my desk, I keep stepping on the wired mouse cable and the keyboard constantly shuts off. Even when I don't disconnect it, it definitely does not like being stepped on. Along this vein, sometimes the hard drive also becomes disconnected.
Since I switched laptops and then switched back, my life hasn't been the same. Too many damned cables!


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 Post Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:51 pm 
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Hmmm, by your saying that you now have too many cables I have to guess that you had been using wireless mouse and keyboard and are now using wired...

If the above is true then it is very possible that a faulty wireless mouse or keyboard was the cause of your initial issues. I don't know if you would want to risk it but if it were me I'd plug the original mouse and keyboard back in to see if the issue returns. If it did I'd just buy a new wireless mouse and keyboard set.

If I'm reading all things correctly and, in fact, you are using a different mouse and keyboard AND the issues are gone, this would be something that you, in the future, would want to include in the thread. It leads to a whole new set of possibilities as to the original issue and ways to correct.

Regardless, bottom line is that I am glad that the system seems to be working well even with 'too many wires'. ;)

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:22 am 
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Nope, Jay.

I just have not taken the time and effort to return everything to normal.


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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:38 am 
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Normal? Whats that? :wacko:

Acadia

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:59 am 
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Acadia wrote:
Normal? Whats that? :wacko:

Acadia

:rofl2: When you find out can you let me know please. :twisted:

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:14 pm 
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JoanA wrote:
When you find out can you let me know please.

Gotta tell ya Joan, if most of the folks I see running around these days are "normal", then I believe that I want everyone to considered me as "strange", or "weird", or "odd", or ... :338:

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:32 pm 
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You and me both. :lol:

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:22 pm 
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Personally I am quite proud of my insanity. Many years ago I sat down and came up with a one line definition of sanity, that definition follows...

"What is considered the norm within any given society."

With what is going on in today's societies I prefer to NOT be part of the norm, hence my pride in and desire to remain 'insane'. ;)

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 Post Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 5:39 pm 
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:rofl2: :tup3:

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