[vox-tech] Battery Problem?

[Jeffrey J. Nonken]

On Fri, 1 Sep 2006 10:43:28 -0400
p at dirac.org (Peter Jay Salzman) wrote:

> On Fri 01 Sep 06,  7:39 AM, Bob Scofield <scofield at omsoft.com> said:
> > My wife says she's having a problem starting her computer.  She
> > says that when she pushes the start button she hears the sound of
> > the computer starting, but then the computer does not turn on when
> > she releases the button.  She has to try pushing the button a few
> > more times before she can get the computer to come on.
> > 
> 
> Sounds like a mechanical problem -- maybe the swtich is dying.  The
> first thing to go in any electro-mechanical device, like a computer,
> is most often the mechanical part.


I have a computer with what sounds like the same problem -- I have to
push the power button several times in quick succession before it will
"catch".

But it's not, as Peter is suggesting, a mechanical problem -- at least
not in my case. First, the pushbutton is momentary, not
push-on-push-off. A latching button would conflict with a soft
power system; only my very old computers have "hard" on-off switches
(um, just one of those left, I think). Second, it does actually cause
something to happen, momentarily, when I push it. Which is supposed to
be enough for a soft-switch power supply. So I suspect it's a
deteriorating power supply or power-supply-related component.

Now, I do have a system that requires you to push the power button hard
enough to force it to the limit of its throw -- which IS a hardware
problem. But once it makes contact the computer boots right up.