OK, it's looking like something needs to be reseated. Prior to having problems with my laptop, my son banged it slightly on the table when he grabbed it for me. I didn't think of it until after I made my post. I turned it upside down and tapped it a bit and was able to boot into windows, but as soon as I bumped the laptop it froze. I don't really want to rebuild it, is there something I can try first?
being the impatient person that I am =), I disassembled my laptop and ensured that everything was seated nicely. I put it back together and was given the BIOS message about my settings being lost, but while I was changing settings in the BIOS it froze. Is that about all I can do?
The 8200 has a separate power charger board that may be faulty or just need reseating. Unlike the newer models, where everything is on the mainboard, this one has a separate power board.
And I'd take out the hard drive and the fixed optical drive and then see if you can boot it up to the BIOS splash screen. I have seen cases where a failed hard drive can stop a system from even powering on.
ejn63, do you mean the battery charger module? When I took it apart I reseated the battery charger module although I didn't know what it was at the time. I also tried it without the CDRW and HD but it didn't make a difference. Since it sometimes boots up but freezes and when it does the power remains, do you think it could be the battery charger module? I had the laptop down to the system board, so I can't see it being an issue with something being loose. I called Dell spare parts and they quoted me like $660CAN for a refurb motherboard.
On a side note, Ed C your system is almost identical to mine, althought I didn't have a chance to install my 2.4 GHz CPU yet. I saw a 64MB R9000 sell on eBay for like $240CAN. I figure I can get about $700 - $750 CAN for all of my parts. I wouldn't mind a D800 but they still cost a bit more than that.
@trueg wrote:
being the impatient person that I am =), I disassembled my laptop and ensured that everything was seated nicely. I put it back together and was given the BIOS message about my settings being lost, but while I was changing settings in the BIOS it froze. Is that about all I can do?
To add to a recent post, simply click on it, pick Message Options, then Edit.
The symptoms that your laptop shows (refusing to turn on, LEDs on for a few seconds then off) describe my 8200 to a tee. I got the laptop in January 2003 and within a couple of months, this started. I sent it in for service, and got it back 2 days later with a note that said they couldn't replicate the problem. For some reason it miraculously worked for the next year trouble free, but as soon as the warranty ran out, the problems surfaced again. Sorry for all that info that you probably didn't need.
Three years later I can hardly turn the laptop on without pushing down on the front right corner while pushing up on the left side. I finally decided to tear down the whole thing like you did, trueg, but before I did, I tried it after removing each of the easy components one at a time. Eventually, I discovered that without DIMM B (the one closest to the screw of the RAM cover) the system would boot perfectly and didn't freeze even while I walked around the house. I was so happy that I even danced with the thing while mp3's played, and it didn't freeze. I started looking at the cover and noticed that there wasn't a non-conductive shield over the entire cover (just the center). The decoupling capacitors on the RAM (Infineon brand) stick were under the exposed metal section of the cover, so I thought that maybe they were shorting out and crashing the computer. For lack of a better material, I covered the exposed metal sections of the cover with electrical tape, and the computer has been working for 4+ hours. I've walked around the house with it, shook it, and turned it every way I can think of, and it still works.
Based on the description of what you went through, I assume you probably understand what I'm talking about, but if you need I can get some pictures up to show you.
If this is the problem, I wonder why it would start after 3 years?
Currently, my laptop is in a dozen peices on my Kitchen table as I prepare everything for auction. I think I may give it a try when I get home. It's funny though, my laptop is worth so much more in peices than it is whole. I can easily get enought from the parts, especially if the motherboard is working, to buy a pentium-m with a better graphics card.
Well, I'm writing this from my laptop which seems to be working fine now. I put it back together and left DIMM B empty. I don't see any place where the memory could be coming in contact with metal.
So anyway, I feel silly that I didn't test the memory. Had I pulled out DIMM B earlier, I would have found the problem.
I'm still tempted to part out the laptop on eBay. The parts seem pretty valuable. They may not be for long and I should be able to get enough for a D800/8600.
trueg
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February 22nd, 2006 02:00
trueg
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February 22nd, 2006 05:00
Loth
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February 22nd, 2006 06:00
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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February 22nd, 2006 09:00
Ed C
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3.2K Posts
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February 22nd, 2006 10:00
trueg
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February 23rd, 2006 00:00
Message Edited by trueg on 02-22-2006 07:50 PM
rickmktg
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11.9K Posts
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February 23rd, 2006 20:00
hunerdspoke
2 Posts
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March 5th, 2006 23:00
Three years later I can hardly turn the laptop on without pushing down on the front right corner while pushing up on the left side. I finally decided to tear down the whole thing like you did, trueg, but before I did, I tried it after removing each of the easy components one at a time. Eventually, I discovered that without DIMM B (the one closest to the screw of the RAM cover) the system would boot perfectly and didn't freeze even while I walked around the house. I was so happy that I even danced with the thing while mp3's played, and it didn't freeze. I started looking at the cover and noticed that there wasn't a non-conductive shield over the entire cover (just the center). The decoupling capacitors on the RAM (Infineon brand) stick were under the exposed metal section of the cover, so I thought that maybe they were shorting out and crashing the computer. For lack of a better material, I covered the exposed metal sections of the cover with electrical tape, and the computer has been working for 4+ hours. I've walked around the house with it, shook it, and turned it every way I can think of, and it still works.
Based on the description of what you went through, I assume you probably understand what I'm talking about, but if you need I can get some pictures up to show you.
Hope this helps.
trueg
144 Posts
0
March 7th, 2006 14:00
Currently, my laptop is in a dozen peices on my Kitchen table as I prepare everything for auction. I think I may give it a try when I get home. It's funny though, my laptop is worth so much more in peices than it is whole. I can easily get enought from the parts, especially if the motherboard is working, to buy a pentium-m with a better graphics card.
trueg
144 Posts
0
March 8th, 2006 03:00
So anyway, I feel silly that I didn't test the memory. Had I pulled out DIMM B earlier, I would have found the problem.
I'm still tempted to part out the laptop on eBay. The parts seem pretty valuable. They may not be for long and I should be able to get enough for a D800/8600.
Message Edited by trueg on 03-08-2006 01:23 AM
hunerdspoke
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March 10th, 2006 14:00