On Panasonic CF27 with fully charged power battery in place, and a power down with Win98SE Plus! (Start/Shut Down/Shut Down/ OK), unit powers down, but appears to start up again, perhaps on date change. Same happens when CD-27 power battery removed, and AC adapter used, except the turn-on time may not be the same. How do I get CF-27 to power down and remain in that state with either battery and/or AC adapter connected?

My 2 year old TomTom gps Via 280 will suddenly not turn on

Chances are that your battery doesn't / wouldn't hold a charge anymore. The laptop runs off battery power. When it is plugged in, the AC power "goes right through the battery", to support the laptop's operations. When the power cord is unplugged, and the battery doesn't hold a charge, the laptop will shut down, as your battery is (too) low to continue supporting the laptop's operations.

The easiest way around this problem is to get a new battery for the laptop.
If your battery is (quite) new (and a Lithium battery), you may wish to see if you can "revive" the battery's "life" ... first by depleting the battery (completely), then charging it (until it shows it is full, plus a couple more hours), and repeating this process a few times. If you're lucky, the battery will slowly/gradually start to hold some charge, but, don't expect it to be very long.
The (preferred) way to use re-chargeable batteries is to charge it fully, unplug it from the external power source, use it until it is depleted, then plug in the external power source to charge it up (fully) again .... and NOT to keep it on a power source all the time.

On any Panasonic Toughbook, I would try to hold down the power button for 12-15 seconds continously unit you hear an audible beep and that will cause the unit to "reset". Then you should be able to power back on as normal. If this does not work, try unplugging the Toughbook, taking out the battery pack. Do not yet put the battery back in but plug it back in. Then try to start the unit. If this does not still work, then try holding down the power button again for 12-15 seconds. If the unit is just stuck in suspend or hibernate then one of these actions is almost certain to work.

Good Luck.
From Richard, Montreal Based Panasonic Canada Authorized Toughbook Dealer since 1989.

I suspect that the power supply is not making a proper connection and comes loose in the socket, the gps unit then is forced to use battery power but since the battery is not fully charged yet when the battery power is to low the unit shuts down and will stay down till enough of a charge or the power supply gets bumped and makes a solid connection again.

two things: It could have over heated and either cooked the battery or need to be fully charged before it will reboot.

Second there is a screen off mode, if you hold down the power button it will switch from light to lights off.

Power green LED light should come on, CHG green LED light should also come on showing the battery is being charged. Leave your unit in Suspend mode while charging it, DO NOT turn it completely off as "Shutting Down.." because it will not charge your battery.

I just purchased an almost new Archos 5 on eBay recently, and the first day I had it, happened to me that I left the unit off and charging on the Mini Dock with external AC power supply, after 13-14 hours the CHG light still wasn't blinking. Then I though maybe I have to leave the unit in Suspend mode rather than completely off, which I did, and in a matter of 3 hours it fully charged the battery.

Again, do not shut down completely the unit, leave it on Suspended mode, or even on, and connected it to your mini dock, after a while the screen will go blank the unit will go into Suspended mode by itself, and after 3 hours on external power supply or 8 hours via USB on PC should be completely charged and your CHG light should be blinking, indicating the battery is charged.

I hope this helped.

If the battery is fully charged, or you're using the car power adapter and the unit will not power up, you should take it to repairs.

The battery it good only for a couple of hours use just by itself. If You're running it only on battery power it will shut down in a while.

had the same problem, it seems to do fine without a tape in it :so I took the tape in and out a few times and I guess the alighnment was better so it works for Now..So Give it a try

try wiping off the connections n hold button down for a min.

The PC suppose to still be on warranty, so you can go and returned. When you bougth it, you need to charged it for a period of 12 hours. If the battery charging icons indicates that is charging, maybe the laptop terminals are not working and you need to take it to the store for that.