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CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:36 pm
by wontpontificate
Hello Folks!
I'm having a bit of a problem with booting my newly acquired CF-19 Mk3 (CF-19KDRSXJM)

For some reason, it will not start up normally. When powered on plugged in/battery installed, the far left and far right palmrest power LEDS illuminate, and the HDD LED illuminates for about one second, and goes out. No other signs of life can be observed, though when the power button is pressed briefly, the computer will beep once. The only way to power the computer off from this state is to either hold the power switch, or unplug and remove battery.

I did find that the machine would boot under certain conditions. I did some testing to isolate these conditions, and as far as I can tell, it will boot with the battery removed, plugged into A/C power, and with an external display connected.

When these conditions are met, it'll power up no problem, and the battery can be reinstalled and the external monitor disconnected once the "Panasonic" logo shows up on the internal display. After this, it will function perfectly (including reboots) unitl you shut it down completely, after which an external monitor will need to be connected, the battery removed, and plugged into AC power to start back up again.

Aside from this, it seems to function beautifully. I'm posting this from it now. I suspect this could be some BIOS problem, but I haven't been able to find any updates on Panasonic's website.

Thanks in advance!

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 4:37 am
by Shawn
bios file..............................

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 11:23 am
by wontpontificate
Thank you very much! I'll give that a shot and see if it resolves the problem!

Cheers!

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:44 pm
by wontpontificate
Right, so I've attempted to flash the BIOS, and am not having any success.

I created a FreeDOS bootable USB drive, with the bios file and update utility, boot to it, and attempt to run the BIOS update. I receive the error message "ERROR It is prohibited to update this BIOS."

Current version is 3.00-L09CM21, new version is 3.01-L22.

Currently looking around to see if I can find a solution on my own, but any assistance would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:35 pm
by Shawn
The M21 at the end indicates that it is a custom bios..designed for a corporation or gov't agency.
Can you return it?
If not you can try to add the -im switch to the flash command line.
That tells it do not check anything .....
It "should" work...BUT you may end up bricking it....Just a possibility.....

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:20 pm
by wontpontificate
Just tried with the -im switch and it gave me the same error message. "ERROR It is prohibited to update this BIOS." exact command run was "bu19m3 -im v301l22.193"

Running "bu19m3 -rchk v301l22.193" returns "Current 3.00-L09CM21, expected 22.93-L22M00"

Thanks again!

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:33 pm
by Shawn
Like this .....

bu19m3.exe v301l22.193 -im

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:43 pm
by wontpontificate
I have just tried. Same result. Prohibited to update the bios.

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:01 am
by Shawn
I did some quick research and found that a long time forum member ran into the same problem and could not solve it.

Here are the specs of your model.

Model Number:..CF-19KDRSXJM
Status:.. DISCONTINUED
MSRP:..$2,200
Description: Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 1.20GHz (Centrino2), vPro, 10.4" XGA Dual Touch, 160GB, 2GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, Dual Pass (Upper:WWAN/Lower:WLAN), Windows Vista Business(English), TPM, Bluetooth, 2MP Cam, No Drive

I see yours has the option camera....I am pretty sure they used a different BIOS than a non camera model...So you have a Custom for the customer-camera BIOS..

At this point you seem to have limited options.
Return it.
Buy a motherboard or bottom half.
Buy a different CF19
Use yours for parts

PM sent about a different CF19

Re: CF-19 MK3 Boot Issue

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 10:00 am
by wontpontificate
Thank you for the assistance -- my apologize for the terse reply last night, I was posting from my phone.

So it seems I'm backed into a corner. Do you think that a strange boot issue like this could be caused by anything other than the BIOS?

I'm trying to exhaust all of my options for diagnosis before I contact the person I received it from.

Thank you again for your help!