My laptop won't start

[cobito]

I know this is one of those unsolvable problems, but just in case someone comes up with something. It's about PC#2 from the company.

For some time it was running very badly because I had the LAN card stuck. I opened it, I "disabled" the network card, I tested it disassembled (only the board connected to a mouse, a monitor and the hard drive) and it started up perfectly. In fact it seems that the problems I have been suffering for the last two years related to the LAN have disappeared.

So I put it back together, I connected all the cables and now it won't start up. The leds are working, the micro fan is spinning and the hard drive is spinning, but it does nothing: black screen, hard drive inactive, etc. I took it apart again, I tried to start it up with nothing (like at the beginning) and it wouldn't start up anymore. It won't start up anymore.

I took out the CMOS battery for a few minutes with no result.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Nemo]

You've put it back together without the Lan, right? Check all the connections, although I suppose you've gone over it a hundred times.:wall:

Best regards

[Sylver]

Some contact almost for sure… or maybe (let's hope not, touch wood) something got damaged in the assembly process, accidentally without you realizing it...

Best regards

[cobito]

@Nemo:

Did you reassemble it without the Lan? No? Check all connections, although I suppose you must have checked them a hundred times.:wall:

Best regards

I assembled it with nothing. Not even a hard drive. The only connections are: power and VGA cable to the monitor.

@Sylver:

Some contact almost certainly... or perhaps (let's hope not, touch wood) something got damaged during the assembly process, accidentally without you realizing it...

Regards

I'm afraid I might have damaged it. No matter how careful you are, you always touch a track or hit an element of the board.

The PC had been giving terrible problems for a few months. In fact, it wouldn't even boot Linux. However, it worked pretty well with Windows 7 except for the lack of LAN (the internal one was broken) and it was unable to detect PCMCIA LAN cards. Also, the wifi would disconnect periodically and I tried the internal (Ralink) and a USB stick. Both did the same thing.

Anyway, if no one comes up with anything else, I'll leave it for a few days to see if there's a capacitor charged when it shouldn't be and by letting everything discharge, it might work again.

[cobito]

JOJO! I put the plate in the freezer for half an hour and now it works again.

[Nemo]

In computing everything is technique and precision they said... between XaviJS's oven and cobito's freezer :facepalm:... anything else?

Does anyone dare with a microwave? :troll::troll:

Best regards

[Franziskaner]

Computing is daunting

[deeiivid]

@cobito:

¡JOJO! He metido la placa en el congelador media hora y ahora vuelve a funcionar.

Al congelador?
No se me habria ocurrido nunca…
Enhorabuena! Alguien tiene una explicación del porque el congelador lo ha solucionado?

[Sylver]

[TECHNICAL_SPEECH]The temperatures have dropped, without a doubt… it was an overheating problem, the radiator wasn't cooling enough and then the gasoline was drowning the engine, so the polar ions from the freezer have deactivated any intrinsic magnetic field in the system and then the spark from the spark plug has already been released, thus managing to start the system...

Yes, well, I'm also going crazy with the stuff on this forum… are you wizards or something like that man... xDDDDDD

Greetings!

[cobito]

Pssss, disappointment! (and witchcraft). I turned it on with just a memory module and external monitor and it worked. It was screwing it into the casing, without putting in cables or anything and leaving only connected to the same memory module to the external screen and it no longer works.

I have assembled everything, I have connected everything carefully making sure not to leave anything out and, obviously, it still does not work. Now I have put the whole computer in the freezer.

The freezer thing works for me sometimes for two things: some circuitry and the hard drives. The reason why it sometimes works? It is probably merely mechanical: when contracting and then expanding abruptly, the mechanical elements of the hard drive or the poorly soldered parts of the circuit are put in place. From an electronic point of view, all elements may lose the residual electrical charge.

And as for the computer in question, in case anyone is interested in how I have been able to disable a LAN card from a laptop that, as such, is integrated into the motherboard. It is very likely that the solution I have taken has been the cause of this behavior (or maybe not):

The first thing I did was to locate the integrated

I downloaded the datasheet of the integrated to locate the function of each pin.

Then with a soldering iron and a fine screwdriver I sectioned the tracks corresponding to the power supply of the chip.

Up to that moment the operating systems detected the Realtek RTL8111C but were unable to initialize the drivers (both Windows and Linux) causing endless problems, conflicts and instabilities. After the surgery, Linux detected a virtual network card configuring it as such without giving any problems. In Windows I have not been able to test it yet.

In a couple of hours I will tell you if the new freezing has been successful.

[Sylver]

Man, if you've put a screwdriver and soldering iron in there, even with precision, it's likely that something hasn't come out quite right... or that just a millimeter drop of molten metal has fallen near other connectors or part of the circuit of the board, causing a small short circuit that prevents the start (it's an idea)

Regards

[cobito]

@Sylver:

Man, if you've put a screwdriver and soldering iron in there, even if it's precise, it's likely that something hasn't come out quite right... or that a millimeter drop of molten metal has fallen near other connectors or part of the circuit board, causing a small short circuit that prevents it from starting up (it's an idea)

Regards

It could be, but that doesn't relate to the fact that it works when it's just defrosted and that just by putting it back in the case it stops working.

The soldering and stuff was done very carefully and the truth is that there was no tin involved since the tiny amount would stick to the soldering iron.

[Sylver]

@cobito:

It could be, but that doesn't relate to the fact that it works when it's just defrosted and that by simply mounting it on the casing it stops working.

The welding and stuff was done with a lot of care and the truth is that there was no tin involved since the tiny amount would stick to the soldering iron.

I understand. So it has to be some damned contact, something that touches where it shouldn't and prevents the startup. If you have a magnifying glass handy, check the entire board thoroughly, above and below, for any anomalies or weird things, or maybe one of the screws (or several) are too tight and cause the board to tilt slightly at some angle and that in this way it contacts or stops making contact with some part… Who knows, the only similar thing I remember is when my PC3 apparently "died" and it was a fucking contact due to the tilt of the AGP that I fixed by giving it a couple of tweaks... :facepalm:

Regards

[cobito]

I just saw this thread and it seems like I forgot to reply with the results. The PC is alive and kicking. I use it quite often and it hasn't given me any problems since the surgery.

The reason it was only working frozen was because the area where the integrated was was quite damaged and some tracks were joined. With a very fine punch I was separating and cutting the loose tracks. Finally I cleaned the area very well to make sure there were no more unwanted contacts.

Now it doesn't detect any integrated wired network card (as it should be) and it works perfectly with the Wifi network card and a PCMCIA wired network card.

The truth is that since Linux it has a very good performance, I can watch HD videos and run heavy programs as long as they don't require graphic power.

I took it off the signature but it's a 15.4" with a Core 2 Duo at 1.6 GHz, 2 Gb of RAM and a GMA950. A machine that has been at the forefront for 6 years and lately I use quite a lot.