A good friend of mine had his laptop die on him. It all started when the laptop was powered on and nothing appeared on screen. He went through the normal procedures - Removing the ram to see if that was the issue, connecting the laptop to an external monitor, removing the battery and holding the power button for a certain length of time and attaching the battery back.
There was no beeping after removing both ram sticks, and nothing changed when changing them around. The external monitor didn't detect a signal, and the battery power button trick did nothing. There is also no hard drive activity according to the light located on the exterior of the laptop. The thing simply refuses to post. When turned on the fans power up, as well as the dvd drive (to check for a CD) but nothing else happens. The numlock, scrolllock, and capslock lights also do not work when tapped.
What is the issue? A bad motherboard? And can it be fixed?
Any blink codes on the capslock or number lock lights?
[QUOTE=Levelog;45643811]Any blink codes on the capslock or number lock lights?[/QUOTE]
I didn't even know those existed on laptops. I had it for about 20 minutes and I believe it blinked once when turning it on (capslock).
Well check it out to see if it is only 1 blink, then search that model's blink codes
If it's a HP laptop it gives error codes through the caps lock light, iirc 5 blinks are bad motherboard and 3 are bad RAM.
remove rams and see if it gives a beep code
Depends on the system itself
Sounds like a motherboard problem
[QUOTE=UnseeNova;45648924]remove rams and see if it gives a beep code[/QUOTE]
There was no beep when we did this.
It's a motherboard problem then.
[QUOTE='[EG] Pepper;45648716']If it's a HP laptop it gives error codes through the caps lock light, iirc 5 blinks are bad motherboard and 3 are bad RAM.[/QUOTE]
It's a Toshiba Satellite. I don't remember the model sadly.
[editline]10th August 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Griffalo;45650400]It's a motherboard problem then.[/QUOTE]
I figured so. I don't have it with me right now to check out those blinks if there were any (the one on the caps lock lasted for a 1/3rd of a second and there was no blinking afterwards)
Is there anything that can be done? I did a reflow on my GPU with a heatgun awhile back, and I was hoping I could do the same thing to this board.
[URL="http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay/?sp4ts.oid=1842187&spf_p.tpst=kbDocDisplay&spf_p.prp_kbDocDisplay=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01443366-9%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken"]This[/URL] may shed light on the situation although it says that the problem is to do with your CPU
[QUOTE=seano12;45650417]It's a Toshiba Satellite. I don't remember the model sadly.
[editline]10th August 2014[/editline]
I figured so. I don't have it with me right now to check out those blinks if there were any (the one on the caps lock lasted for a 1/3rd of a second and there was no blinking afterwards)
Is there anything that can be done? I did a reflow on my GPU with a heatgun awhile back, and I was hoping I could do the same thing to this board.[/QUOTE]
Its possible that you have a BGA problem which could be solved with the heatgun, but that problem is ussually associated with ati / nvidia graphics. You can look up what model your laptop is to see if this issue is common with it.
From my experience computer manufactures are dumbasses for using BGA technology, and anything that uses it generally has problems (Xbox 360 Zypher, anyone?)
I finally got my hands on it again and there are no blinking lights whatsoever. The fans turn on, and that's about all that happens. The optical drive starts up as well. The owner stated that the laptop's fans were not as loud as they were normally too.
[QUOTE=aPanzerIV;45666817]Its possible that you have a BGA problem which could be solved with the heatgun, but that problem is ussually associated with ati / nvidia graphics. You can look up what model your laptop is to see if this issue is common with it.
From my experience computer manufactures are dumbasses for using BGA technology, and anything that uses it generally has problems (Xbox 360 Zypher, anyone?)[/QUOTE]
The blame can be spread around equally. The chip manufacturers (GPU, chipsets) are to blame for using the BGA process. The motherboard manufacturers are to blame for using solder that isn't elastic enough to handle the mechanical stress and the OEM of the whole machine is to blame for using inadequate and designed to fail cooling systems.
[QUOTE=seano12;46209575]I finally got my hands on it again and there are no blinking lights whatsoever. The fans turn on, and that's about all that happens. The optical drive starts up as well. The owner stated that the laptop's fans were not as loud as they were normally too.[/QUOTE]
There are some models of laptop from different manufacturers that have suicide batteries. Basically if the CMOS battery dies (not the removable lithium ion battery) then the laptop won't boot.
Different laptops do different things if they have suicide batteries but the end result is the laptop won't turn on.
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;46211375]There are some models of laptop from different manufacturers that have suicide batteries. Basically if the CMOS battery dies (not the removable lithium ion battery) then the laptop won't boot.
Different laptops do different things if they have suicide batteries but the end result is the laptop won't turn on.[/QUOTE]
It's a Toshiba Satellite l505 s59xx. If the battery isn't removable like we see on most desktop motherboards then would there be a way to replace it via soldering iron?
[QUOTE=seano12;46213158]It's a Toshiba Satellite l505 s59xx. If the battery isn't removable like we see on most desktop motherboards then would there be a way to replace it via soldering iron?[/QUOTE]
Most laptops have either a battery holder or the battery is shrink wrapped with wire leads to a connector that attaches to the motherboard, but there are some that do solder the battery directly to the board. In cases like this, you can remove the battery with a soldering iron, but be VERY careful not to overheat the battery or it can explode.
If the battery is soldered on to the motherboard, don't bother sourcing a same type replacement battery. Instead I suggest getting a CR2032 battery holder and finding a place inside the laptop where it can sit safely. Then get two long strands of wire and solder the empty pads to the battery holder and use electrical tape to make sure nothing shorts out.
Just make sure you observe polarity on the battery and battery holder when soldering the wires or you'll end up with even more problems.
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