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Studio 1555 black screen at startup and 6 beeps
Hi,
After 4.5 years in service my studio 1555 suddenly stopped working yesterday. When I came home I opened it (still in sleepmode) but showed only black screen. This happens sometimes, normally closing and reopening after a few seconds would solve this; however, not this time.
So I turned it off and turned it on again. A black screen and 6 awful beeps were the result. Looking around on the internet suggested a video card failure which most likely means a motherboard replacement ie new laptop.
Laptop already used to have heating problems common to Studio 1555, so badly it turned itself off because of too high temperature. I found a way to adjust fan control and made the fan blow at full capacity at a lower temperature of the CPU. Laptop worked fine again for a couple of months (though some more noise).
Now 6 beeps at startup, but when I press "D" when pressing power button the colour test runs fine showing basic colours on screen and without the beeps. When the test is finished the beeps start.
Could it be something not involving the motherboard or is my laptop really done for?
Regards,
Tobias
ejn63
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April 16th, 2014 10:00
That sequence confirms a bad video chip - you will need a replacement system board.
Tobiasn0
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April 17th, 2014 03:00
Thanks for your answer.
I could get my hands on another studio 1555 for cheap. It has the 2 beeps problem (no memory detected) but has a functioning video card / motherboard.
I'm capable of completely disassembling my laptop. Now if I would replace my motherboard with the one that's still working and plug in my memory cards, harddrive etc., would it work again? or is that too short sighted?
regards
ejn63
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April 17th, 2014 05:00
Only do this if you are 100% certain the reason the proposed donor system isn't working is caused by a bad memory module. If the cause is a bad memory socket, using that board won't solve your problem - the situation that exists where the system won't power up due to a bad video chip will simply be replaced by one that won't power up due to a bad memory socket.
The other thing to be careful of is that any proposed replacement board be of the same video type (Intel for Intel or ATI for ATI). The system was shipped with both video options and to make a change from integrated to ATI or the reverse, you will need a new heatsink assembly - and to go from Intel to ATI, you'll need to replace the power supply as well (integrated video systems shipped with 65W power supplies; you need a 90W or large capacity unit for the ATI version).