Laptop not posting

benjo

benjo

benjo

Soldato
Joined
4 Sep 2005
Posts
12,828
Location
London
Hey all

I'm trying to fix an old laptop, an Acer Asipire 1640. I wouldn't usually bother because the specs are so bad, but it's a laptop my mum's school have given her and she wanted to get rid of all her personal documents before she has to hand it back (she's changing jobs).

Anyway, it boots up. I reset the bios by pulling the cmos battery, tried each stick of ram individually. It gets to the splash screen and then hangs on a blank black screen with a flashing cursor.

Anything else I can try?
 
Take the motherboard out and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. No, I'm not joking!

I've fixed a few motherboards this way, it allows the solder to reflow any dry joints. Be warned though, it does smell a bit so open the windows. Best do it in an old oven and remove all plastic bits and the CMOS battery first!

You could use a heat gun (paint stripper) but be sure to get an even spread of heat across the board to prevent melting.
 
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That sounds like a lot of effort for a laptop that's not worth a lot of effort :p I'm not even sure if it's the motherboard at fault, because it boots up into bios fine.
 
You could try booting it with puppy linux? using a usb drive. This "should" allow you to boot up and then check the HDD.

Puppy Linux

Regards.

C.
 
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