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Problem description: Yesterday I got a call from my father that his laptop had crashed (BSOD) and that it wouldn't boot anymore. All the screen showed were discoloured vertical lines, like these: (The configuration of the lines varies every time I try to boot.) I took a look at it today and at first, it booted up just fine, and started the Windows repair program. It couldn't find any clear problems, so it prompted to reboot, after which I, too, found myself looking at the lines. I haven't been able to boot since, not even to the splash screen (so can't even enter BIOS or look at startup options). Hardware seems fine at first glance, but I noticed that the fan wasn't spinning (although I'm not sure if this means it's broken or not, possibly it just doesn't get any commands from the motherboard currently). I'm guessing it's a heat issue, but don't have fitting replacement parts I can try to use or even remove the heatsinks on the CPU and GPU to see if there's any obvious damage because I can't find my stash of cooling paste to re-attach it. Also can't try running any diagnostics because it can't even seem to get to the BIOS, let alone any command prompt. The laptop's about 7 years old, so it's not entirely unexpected that it's finally broken down. We were, however, hoping to keep it running until Windows 10 was available, since we've heard that it's more along the lines of WinXP/Win7 again, and my father very much dislikes Win8 because of the departure from what he's used to. So, I'm left with a few questions: - How certain can I be that it's a hardware issue? - How would I best go about trying to identify the malfunctioning part without access to laptop-compatible spares? - On the odd chance that it's software-related: what fixes can I try? - And finally, are there any obvious restrictions on current laptops with an OEM version of Windows 8/8.1 that would prevent me from installing Windows 7 on it? (I can't really imagine so and a quick search doesn't turn up any evidence to that effect (aside from the obvious issues with drivers), but people who're supposed to know much more about it all tell me you can't always downgrade.) Attempted fixes: I tried removing HDD and RAM, resetting BIOS, and booting from USB drive, but to no effect. Recent changes: None, neither hardware nor software. -- Operating system: Windows 7 32 bit (although it originally had Vista installed, which we replaced with WinXP until support stopped). System specs: Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Xi 2528. I think the model number is BEL-110118-026. Location: Belgium. I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes, and there's a few descriptions of similar issues but the possible fixes that are available to me (i.e. that don't involve swapping hardware) haven't had any effect.
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Oct 18, 2014 18:04
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 12:28 |
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With a 8600M GS GPU you're probably lucky it's lasted as long as it has. Given all the issues those chipsets had and the symptoms shown, the GPU chip is maybe hosed. If you need thermal paste to try reseating the internal heatsink(s), check at radioshack as they usually sell Ceramique there at least. The GPU and chipset probably use thermal pads but it's worth looking into. Other than that, try a linux livecd of some king to rule out software issues. If it's still doing it after trying a different OS and replacing the thermal paste it's possible though unlikely that it has a bad RAM module (I had a Dell laptop display colored lines when one of the so-dimms started to die), so try swapping out one of them to see if it makes any difference. If it is the GPU there's not alot you can do that's cost-effective. Baking is a temporary fix at best and buying a used laptop motherboard with the same GPU is a waste. Better to just put the cash towards a new model.
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Oct 18, 2014 21:36
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I'll try an Ubuntu LiveCD first, but I'm not sure if it'll work (can't get into BIOS to change boot device order if it's not set to read CD first). If that doesn't work, I'll try and find some cooling paste tomorrow and bake the GPU, see if that helps any. You're right, spending a bunch on hardware would be a waste with a laptop this old, but ideally we can keep it running for another six months with a cheap fix. I'll keep you updated.
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Oct 19, 2014 13:19
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As suspected, the Ubuntu CD didn't work. I'm trying to track down some thermal paste now but it seems like not a single hardware shop is open on Monday. I seem to recall reading something a while ago about testing laptop components with something that I thought was called a 'BIOS board' (i.e. some small, adaptable piece of tech that could be made compatible with most connectors that you'd find in a laptop). I thought of looking to see if I could find something like that, but 'BIOS board' seems to be a term I've dreamed up, since I can't find any hits for that name. Does something like what I'm thinking of exist and if so, what would be the proper name for it?
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Oct 20, 2014 10:32
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Jolan posted:As suspected, the Ubuntu CD didn't work. I'm trying to track down some thermal paste now but it seems like not a single hardware shop is open on Monday. Are you thinking of a Motherboard Diagnostic Card by chance? They are also sometimes called POST Test Cards, and you plug them into a PCI slot or in some cases a USB or other port and read off the code they put out during a failing boot process to troubleshoot what the cause of the failure is. No idea if either of those models / brands are worth grabbing. e: One thing you could try is to see if an external monitor displays at all. It's possible the gpu still works but the laptop screen is screwing up. Mo_Steel fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Oct 21, 2014 |
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Oct 21, 2014 05:07
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Mo_Steel posted:Are you thinking of a Motherboard Diagnostic Card by chance? They are also sometimes called POST Test Cards, and you plug them into a PCI slot or in some cases a USB or other port and read off the code they put out during a failing boot process to troubleshoot what the cause of the failure is. No idea if either of those models / brands are worth grabbing. Yes, that's what I was thinking of, thank you! I'll look around more with the search terms you've given. As an actual update: it's taken me a few days to get around to it, but I've managed to get the GPU out of the laptop and found that it booted to a blank screen (but nothing else). Confident that the GPU was in fact the problem, I baked it like cisco privilege suggested, and now it's trying to boot up from that Ubuntu LiveCD fine (albeit terribly slow). I'll see about running some stress tests to ensure that the cooling's good (it's been years since I last fit a heatsink, didn't know that was a skill you could lose), and I'll try to reboot with the HDD after I've made a backup of it, just in case. Thank you, cisco privilege and Mo_Steel, for your help!
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Oct 26, 2014 13:52
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Please note: I mentioned baking as a last-resort temporary fix only, not as a recommendation for any real solution. Hopefully it'll give you some more time out of it though, but for anyone else reading, baking a PCB is very much a nothing-left-to-lose scenario and not something you want to attempt normally.
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Oct 26, 2014 14:14
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 12:28 |
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Yeah, we were planning on looking for a replacement, but just not yet. Still, my father got himself a new laptop yesterday that I'm now trying to make useable (remove/disable Metro and other dumb Win8 crap, restore his data), so maybe I'll keep the old one to fiddle around with some more, see when it really breaks.
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Oct 28, 2014 12:56
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