• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

compaq laptop waitin' 4 your help!

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

ShadowFolder

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2002
i have used compaq armada 1700...

first time i boot it,
lcd has verticall lines in the center, (thin lines in different colors),
and it says "162-system opt..." and vertical lines...
(i know it's bios related error)
when i wait a minute,
vertical lines and corrupted compaq letters in the background disappear...

i open it's case and clean all of contacts with contact cleaner spray,
everything looks normal, it has no visual damage inside...

there's the pics:


first boot.jpg

first boot screen...

162.jpg

162-System Opt...

disappear.jpg

when i wait a minute lines disappeared...

nolines.jpg

finally no lines on the screen...


i need help!
thanx 4 replies!!! :)
 
Judging by the fact that it's only got 32MB of RAM, I'm guessing it isn't under warranty anymore. Crack that sucker open carefully, check to make sure the LCD header is firmly seated on the motherboard, and that no other wires are poking out. I could distort the screen just like that (only in B&W) on an old NEC Ultralite 286, by fiddling with the LCD header.

Make a bootdisk and put it in. You'll also need to go to Compaq's site and download a BIOS front-end, so you can edit system settings and such.
 
it's totally dead, can't boot any OS...
when i power on it, all of action is only things you see in the pics...
no bios, no OS, nothing...

first times i think it's bios/video bios related problem...
because lcd looking nice (connectors too),
error 162 means bios failure...
i reset bios, release the bios battery & reverse attach it,
but everything is same...

then i download it's lastest bios'n boot it,
it begins reading floppy, i wait 10 minutes but nothin' happens...



so if i dissasemble that lcd, and put the new one (working one),
that babe can boot any OS succesfully, huh?

any other ideas?

(thanx 4 replies...)
 
Last edited:
i find some new symptoms:
when i hit bottom of the vertical lines,
change it's color and thickness...

another new symptom:
endless loop of beeps...
 
i plug a monitor to vga header,
"COMPAQ" in middle on the screen, that's all...

monitor has no visual problem, but everything same... :(
(freezes on the boot)
 
there's no any reaction...

now it has endless beep loop, and no any bios sign (error or memory test)
i can't reach the bios... F1, DEL, ESC...
nothing works...

only corrupted "COMPAQ" background on the lcd...
vga header displays "COMPAQ" background correctly,
but there's no bios again...

i reset the bios, but nothing change...
(reverse attached bios battery, no bios & laptop main battery...)
 
reverse attached bios battery? are you sure thats how you should do that / what dose compac say to do? many bios are upgrades of old ones not all new you may have toasted you bios
 
nope, nothing gets trouble... (and nothing gets better...)

bios has no damage after reverse attached bios battery...


what caused the trouble?
"main hardware" or "lcd"

i think i can find another used (working) lcd...
(but i don't know, is lcd caused the problem)
 
Last edited:
trdsw20 said:
How old is the laptop?
Specs???

probably younger than 5 years...
(i think used actively 1/2 years)

compaq armada 1700
pII233 cpu (probably mobile)
32mb ram
cdrom, floppy drives...

and you know the problem with details already...
 
Last edited:
Since COMPAQ displays fine on your big monitor, i'm assuming that there are two problems here:

LCD has bitten the bullet

BIOS has conked out....


I imagine that the only real way that you may be able to fix it is to install a new BIOS chip, but the chances of obtaining one (since its probably custom - Compaq etc) are marginal.


If you get the laptop working, then good, but I don't see it getting any better...
 
iamthegreatest said:
I imagine that the only real way that you may be able to fix it is to install a new BIOS chip,

i can't see any removable chip inside... :(
so i need a new pcb... (and it's not possible) :rolleyes:
 
Back