Which part is dead?

Pinchy · Apr 13, 2008

Im assuming its the motherboard.

I got this old laptop off a friend which I am trying to repair.

The problem: Press the power button and get no response at all. Nothing happens, no fans spin, no lights come on..nothing. Nothing with the AC adapter, battery or both.

What I have tried: I have pulled it apart, taken out the motherboard battery for 5 mins (assuming that will reset the CMOS), tested the 5GB disk drive (working fine), taken out the CD drive and taken out the floppy drive (lol).

Additional notes: I just cant seem to find where the RAM is located on the machine. It doesnt appear to be anywhere

(Unless its on the other side of the board, which I cant access). Also, when the charger is plugged in (with the battery), the green battery charge/AC adapter light turns on, so there is some sort of working part.

Just a project for fun guys, so dont say "just get a new laptop"

Cheers

erocker · Apr 13, 2008

Not sure what's broken, but the ram is most likely placed on the backside of the motherboard.

nflesher87 · Apr 13, 2008

wow, seems like a lost cause bro
I'm highly doubting it's the memory (though it could indeed be dead as well haha) but if you're not even getting it to boot that would indicate the motherboard as bad memory would simply result in not posting...
who knows where you'd even find a replacement mobo though, what's the make/model?

xylomn · Apr 13, 2008

it could just be the buttons knackered...

find where the power button connects to the mobo and short it with anything metallic

DRDNA · Apr 13, 2008

some laptops have the ram under the keyboard .

rangerone766 · Apr 13, 2008

DRDNA said:
some laptops have the ram under the keyboard .

alot of the older laptops i've fussed with had ram under the kb.

let us know what make and model you have.

Pinchy · Apr 14, 2008

Sorry bout the late reply, just woke up

.

Its a ... Compaq Presario 1200. I actually had to take out the keyboard to get to the motherboard, lol.

The motherboard battery has been out of the laptop all night, lets give her a try now

.

xylomn said:
it could just be the buttons knackered...

find where the power button connects to the mobo and short it with anything metallic

I was thinking of that, but the button is in such an awkward position :shadedshu

nflesher87 said:
wow, seems like a lost cause bro

Error 404 · Apr 14, 2008

Ok, it looks like it has built in RAM, which could be anywhere on the mobo, unless it has some expansion RAM. If it does have added RAM, it should be on the underneath. Look under any removable panels, or if its not under there then it would be under the keyboard.
If its not the RAM, then its almost certainly a dead mobo; if thats the case, then a replacement would probably cost more than the original laptop :shadedshu

My advice: Find out how much the motherboard costs, then find a similar specced laptop on eBay for about the same price. Either way, you'd end up with a working laptop. :cool:

Nitro-Max · Apr 14, 2008

you could check to see if theres any dead/blown capasitiors things get hot inside laptops also check the power conection on the motherboard it can somtimes work loose and will need resoldering.

guyguy · Apr 14, 2008

Take a multimeter and measure the voltage on the power supply to charge the battery, if thats alright it might be the small power supply in the computer that the charger plugs into and if thats gone the battery wont charge and you wont get any power from the charger. Suggestion if you cant get anything ill take it.....and take a look at it for you..im taking Electronics at school....but anyway i just got off topic...lol

Black Panther · Apr 14, 2008

I think if it was bad ram it would still power up. Once I saw a friend's laptop which had faulty ram. It used to power up, stop in the 'ram test' phase and display on the monitor the laptop brand, getting stuck there.

Pinchy · Apr 14, 2008

Error 404 said:
Ok, it looks like it has built in RAM, which could be anywhere on the mobo, unless it has some expansion RAM. If it does have added RAM, it should be on the underneath. Look under any removable panels, or if its not under there then it would be under the keyboard.
If its not the RAM, then its almost certainly a dead mobo; if thats the case, then a replacement would probably cost more than the original laptop :shadedshu

My advice: Find out how much the motherboard costs, then find a similar specced laptop on eBay for about the same price. Either way, you'd end up with a working laptop.

Yup I am pretty sure I saw the onboard RAM and in the expansion slot there is nothing. But as mentioned, it should still at least start up.

@ the mobo thing, probably wont be worth it :laugh:

. I searched for the laptop and got nothing but AC chargers anyway.

Nitro-Max said:
you could check to see if theres any dead/blown capasitiors things get hot inside laptops also check the power conection on the motherboard it can somtimes work loose and will need resoldering.

First thing I checked when I opened it all up. No problems with any of them (well, physically anyway).

I wouldnt think the actual power connection is gone because it does respond when I plug in the AC charger (via the green battery charge LED).

guyguy said:
Take a multimeter and measure the voltage on the power supply to charge the battery, if thats alright it might be the small power supply in the computer that the charger plugs into and if thats gone the battery wont charge and you wont get any power from the charger. Suggestion if you cant get anything ill take it.....and take a look at it for you..im taking Electronics at school....but anyway i just got off topic...lol

I might try that.

Id give you the laptop, but it isnt mine and it wouldnt be worth the shipping

System Name	UltraPC
Processor	E8500 Core 2 Duo, 1333Mhz FSB, 3.16Ghz @ 4.5GHz (got into Windows @ 4.75GHz)
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q-e
Cooling	CPU Cooler - TT V14 Pro, 2x120mm CM Blue LED fans, 1x90mm CM Blue LED fan
Memory	G.Skill Pi 4GB (2x2GB) Dual Channel DDR2 PC8000 (1000MHz), 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD4850 512mb with ASUS EAH4850 BIOS
Storage	2x 500GB Seagate 7200.12 Raid 0
Display(s)	Acer AL1912, 19" LCD screen
Case	Thermaltake Soprano Black ATX case
Audio Device(s)	Onboard 7.1, Speakers - 5 + Sub + Monitor speakers
Power Supply	Thermaltake 850W Toughpower Cable Management - Quad (2x18A and 2x30A) 12V rails
Software	Win 7 Pro x64, MSN, CS:Source, etc etc

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling	EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory	32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 4090
Storage	WD m.2
Display(s)	LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case	Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s)	Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard	Tester84
Software	Windows 11

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5900X
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550M Mortar WiFi
Cooling	Corsair H100i RGB Platinum SE 240mm
Memory	32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Vega 64 8GB
Storage	Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1TB / ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB / Crucial MX500 1TB
Display(s)	Dell U2715
Case	Corsair 280X
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Razer DeathAdder Chroma
Keyboard	Ducky One2 Horizon
Software	Windows 10 Professional
Benchmark Scores	Cinemark r23 Multicore: 22280

Processor	INTEL CORE I9-9900K @ 5Ghz all core 4.7Ghz Cache @1.305 volts
Motherboard	ASUS PRIME Z390-P ATX
Cooling	CORSAIR HYDRO H150I PRO RGB 360MM 6x120mm fans push pull
Memory	CRUCIAL BALLISTIX 3000Mhz 4x8 32gb @ 4000Mhz
Video Card(s)	EVGA GEFORECE RTX 2080 SUPER XC HYBRID GAMING
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe,Intel 660p 1TB m.2 ,1TB WD Blue 3D NAND,500GB WD Blue 3D NAND,
Display(s)	50" Sharp Roku TV 8ms responce time and Philips 75Hz 328E9QJAB 32" curved
Case	BLACK LIAN LI O11 DYNAMIC XL FULL-TOWER GAMING CASE,
Power Supply	1600 Watt
Software	Windows 10

System Name	mine
Processor	2600k@5.2ghz 1.41 vcore
Motherboard	asrock z77 OC Formula
Cooling	pa120.3, apogee HD, mcp655 pump
Memory	16gigs ddr3 1600mhz sammy's @ 1886
Video Card(s)	evga gtx470 under water on a seperate loop
Storage	Crucial M4 128gig SSD
Display(s)	HP 2511x 25inch led
Case	none ATM
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	PC Power & Cooling 750watt seasonic x-1250watt(dead)
Software	win 8 pro 64bit

Which part is dead?

Pinchy

erocker

*

nflesher87

Staff

xylomn

DRDNA

rangerone766

Pinchy

Error 404

Nitro-Max

guyguy

New Member

Black Panther

Pinchy

System Name	QUACK
Processor	Intel i7 2600K (3.4 GHz, 8 threads)
Motherboard	Asus P67P8-V3
Cooling	Xigmatek Balder 120mm (4x120,1x140mm case)
Memory	Patriot 2 Viper Sector 5, 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 G1 4GB
Storage	1x Samsung EVO 850 (500GB) SSD, 1x Fujitsu 256GB SSD
Display(s)	Dell Ultrasharp U2311h 23" (so sexy)
Case	CoolerMaster Gladiator RC-600
Audio Device(s)	Onboard 5.1
Power Supply	Antec 850w with yellow racing stripes
Software	Windows 7 HP 64 bit

System Name	Hells Core.
Processor	Ryzen 9 5950x
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair hero viii (wifi) x570
Cooling	AlphaCool Aurora 420mm
Memory	Patriot Viper Gaming RGB Series DDR4 DRAM 4133MHz 32GB Kit
Video Card(s)	MSI Gaming X Trio 3070
Storage	Sabrent 1TB Rocket Nvme PCIe 4.0 M.2
Display(s)	Acer Predator XB271HU
Case	Thermaltake Core X71
Power Supply	Corsair RM850 80 plus gold
Software	Windows 10

System Name	Dell Dimension 4500S
Processor	Intel Celeron 1.80 GHZ
Memory	256 mb ram
Video Card(s)	Intel
Storage	1 40 GB hard drive
Case	OEM Dell 4500S case