Wife brought me a Acer Aspire 5670 dual core 1.6 ghz 2gig ram 111 gig hardrive running XP Home SP3. Belongs to one of her girlfriends at work. Screen, keyboard, mouse, all locks up after Desktop boots up in Normal mode. Gives 2 dings (like new USB plug in ding) while bottom taskbar loads and after 2nd ding you get the lockup. No Lockup in safe mode. I found 1 Trojan and deleted it and a bunch of adware cookies that I got rid of. Posted a Highjack this in another forum and was declared clean. Booted up Normal. Laptop still froze with same symptoms. Disabled all Startup services. Still same problem on Reboot. I don't know why, but I thought lets pull the Battery and just run lappy on AC Adapter. All of a sudden no more freezes. Renable Startup services. Everything is still Ok. Put Battery back in laptop. Freezeup City. Remove Battery again. All is OK. So I have speedfan running. Temps aren't totally out of control. So I get another idea. I boot into Safe mode with Command prompt with Battery inserted and I let that sucker run till Laptop dies. I then plug in AC Adapter and low and behold. Boot up Normally with Battery inserted and AC adapter plugged in and now only 1 ding when Laptop boots up and nothing freezes. I reboot numerous times to see if this is just a fluke. Every thing is hunkey dorey every time I reboot (fine). Now with Battery fully charged and AC adapter disconnected. same old freeze. Pull the Battery again and hook up AC adapter only. Everything is fine again. Replug in Battery with AC Adapter also plugged in, Lockup. Now this laptop runs Acer Power management instead of Windows XP management in Control panel.I can't access the DC power scheme/menu because it is greyed out with AC Adapter plugged in. Kind of a Catch22 problem. I'm going to tell her to buy a new Battery. And for safe measure a cooling Pad. And Yes Digerati. I blew out Lappy with a can of air also. I might not have got all the dust bunnies but I am not going to make money on this anyways. Its just a favor.

Now what I am wondering since I am a linux user and not proficient in Windows as a lot of members using this forum. How does a screwy battery freeze up a laptop using Windows as a operating system. I have had screwy batteries in my linux laptops with AC adapter being used and all I get is a message telling me in Linux, Your battery is old or no good, replace Battery. no lockups or nothing like that. It will just keep throwing the warning till Laptop shuts off. Kind of like nagging at you. You also have a checkbox to let it know not to show you that message ever again if you don't wanna get nagged at. Not lockup up and freeze after bootup. I'm just wondering why i guess. Like I said, I know where the problem is. Just seems weird to me. But then I don't run Windows. Just like certain things that Linux does seems weird to a longtime Windows user I guess. Rambling on. Happy Trails.

How does a screwy battery freeze up a laptop using Windows as a operating system

Obviously it shouldn't. And the fact you had it running in normal Windows suggests the cells of the battery still have life in them - the charging/regulator and monitoring circuits may be another matter. The earliest reviews of that notebook I can find are from Feb of 06. So if that battery is 3 years old too, it may be going, especially if it has not been properly maintained over its life. An aging battery causes added stress on related (also aging) circuits and devices. You said you let it run on battery until it died - how long was that? At least an hour I hope.

Typically, notebook batteries come in two varieties - smart (intelligent) and dumb. As expected, the smart have added circuitry programmed with specific algorithms to control charge rates, optimize discharge rates, and monitoring. The dumb are just batteries, and rely solely on the motherboard/chipset/BIOS and power supply to monitor and regulate charging and discharging (using) the battery. IF this is a problem related to smart battery issue, the new battery may do the trick. IF this is a problem where one or more of the cells is thinking about failing completely, a new smart or dumb battery may fix the problem. No matter what type you get (not your choice - the notebook designers make that decision), be sure to properly prepare the new battery - typically a couple full charge/discharge cycles before normal use - (which should be done monthly thereafter for maintenance).

I believe all computers should be made using common unadulterated, off-the-shelf components. Proprietary parts costs more from the start, and typically require special tools and techniques (read: more money) to maintain, repair, and replace. And as noted, the necessary cleaning of the interior of all heat-trapping dust sucked in by the cooling fan is impossible, without disassembly - a task best left to a qualified technician (read: more money - ).

Unfortunately, with consumer demand for lighter, thinner, more powerful, bigger screen notebooks with longer runtime, faster charging batteries, makers can't afford to wait for an ATX Form Factor standard for notebooks, batteries, and chargers; they have to go with propriety hardware. Then to take advantage of the "non-standard" features of that proprietary hardware, they dink with Windows! (The good news is Microsoft is edging towards open-source (as seen with IE8 conforming to Internet standards and not Microsoft's. But it will take a few years (or longer with today's economic slow down) before that happens.)

Proprietary is the prime reason I avoid, when possible, working on notebooks. I don't know if this is an Acer proprietary thing or a non-standard (proprietary?) Windows thing. My point here is if this turns out to be a Windows problem, I would blame the "Acer-Dinked Windows" and not "Microsoft Windows".

Disabled all Startup services. Still same problem on Reboot

But it works in Safe Mode where even more drivers and services don't start - so a clue may be there.

I note 2 beeps during boot typically indicates a hardware issue occurred during POST, a test done BEFORE the OS is loaded (BIOS Central Post/Beep Codes).

Got the latest drivers? Acer Europe - Service & Support, Drivers & Utilities, Downloads, Notebook, Aspire 5670

Now with Battery fully charged and AC adapter disconnected. same old freeze.

It will be interesting to see if the new battery behaves the same way, once properly conditioned.

Thanks a load==Digerati. I can always count on your informed expertise when it comes to Hardware, The only reason I felt like stating it was a Windows thing was because I have ran into this just once before in Windows 2000 Pro in my Amrel laptop with a secondary Battery that slides into the cdrom bay. Symptoms were even weirder where the mouse would jump and fly all over the place and open all kinds of Windows at once. This was a Lion Battery also and it was defective. I was able to replace the battery cartridge inside the Battery caddy and problem was solved. DURACELL DR202 Laptop Battery

The 2 beeps happen after Wallpaper and Bottom Taskbar have already been loaded and happen while icons on r/h of bottom taskbar is filling up/loading icons like symantic,network moniter/wifi, etc....
Not during bootup. Its not a beep Post code. Those I am some what familiar with. So no it's not that kind of Beep. It's actually a Windows sound that I am sure you are familiar with when Windows makes that sound when it has identified new hardware like a USB Stick. I have powered down the Battery again using Safe Mode Command Prompt only. I powered up using only Battery. No AC. F8. Safe Mode Command Prompt only. Leave it on till Power shuts down. I have slider bars on Power management set at 3% before alarming and shutting down. So the Battery is pretty much drained doing this. I am assuming it's a Smart Lion Battery since it's a dual core, 2gig ram laptop.
I'm just trying to educate myself on why these symptoms occur. Not trying to start a flame war because I could care less what a user uses for a operating system as long as they are happy with it. Kinda like religion and motorcyles. Whatever floats your boat is OK by me as long as you respect my choices in how I live also. So I aint trying to go there with this. Just trying to learn and understand. Your answer went a long ways in doing just that for me.

You said you let it run on battery until it died - how long was that? At least an hour I hope.

Yeah it took about an hour in safe mode. It should take longer than that. I get 4.5 hours of Battery Life with my Amrel Laptop with of course 2 Laptop 10 cell Lion Batteries surfing the Web, Playing Cd's, Watching Movies, using my AntiX Linux Operating System running Wirelessly. So in safe mode I figure if that battery in that Acer was any good it should take at least a 1.5 to 2 hours before it powers down. So it's cooked in my book. Heck with just one battery in my Laptop it's good for 2 hours of operating time and it/Laptop was made in 2000 I think. But my batteries are new now and I know how to properly install, charge, discharge 3 to 5 times completely, to get their full potential before running them full time. I will try to educate her on that when I see her today. Again thank you for the expert comments to my query. Happy Trails.

It's actually a Windows sound that I am sure you are familiar with when Windows makes that sound when it has identified new hardware like a USB Stick.

Don't forget, sound schemes change be changed too - but yes, I know the sound.

I am assuming it's a Smart Lion Battery since it's a dual core, 2gig ram laptop

I wouldn't - not with a 3 year old computer and battery that lasted only 1 hour on full charge. It may be smart, but it may also be NiMH instead of LiON. LiON batteries are more expensive too, which kept them out of all but top tier offerings.

Not trying to start a flame war because I could care less what a user uses for a operating system as long as they are happy with it.

Didn't take it that way - I just write to all reading, not just the one asking the question. I too could care less, as long as it is not pirated and kept patched with latest critical updates.

I think I would be looking at that Acer Power Management program.