What's wrong with this laptop?

NachT

NachT

NachT

Associate
Joined
20 May 2006
Posts
1,068
Hey guys :)

So my mate was in the middle of a game of Left for Dead, when his laptop just shut off instantly, no power at all.

After staring at the screen for a few seconds all like " :eek: " we pressed the power button to switch it back on... it received power for 3 seconds, then powered back off for 2 seconds, then switched it's self back on. However, nothing at all displays on the screen!

We've left it unplugged for 20 minutes, with the battery out. Then powered it back up, but receive the same result, it powers off, then back on, with nothing being displayed on the screen at all.

You can hear the hard disk spin up when you first power it on, and the fan spins on the GPU.

I've opened it up and tried taking the RAM and hard disk out to see if this could have caused some sort of problem if it developed a fault, but received the same result with these components out.

Does the above sound more like a CPU or GPU failure? or other?

Also, is it possible to replace a GPU/CPU in a laptop?
The laptop is an Acer 6920G, and has an ATI HD3650.

Cheers for any help or suggestions guys!
 
Possibly GPU overheated?

How old is it and has he ever cleaned out the heatsinks?

My Inspirion 9400's 7900GS gave up after 2.5 years, same symptoms as your mate. when I took it to bits it was obvious why, the heatsinks were nearly completely blocked with gunk etc, so it had just fried itself. Managed to find a replacement and without any prior experience with laptops, took it to bits and replaced it!
 
The age of the laptop is about 15 months.

While taking the RAM and HDD out of the laptop, I took the back panel off which also revealed the GPU and it's heatsink and fan, there wasn't any dust in there! It's clean as a whistle inside.

One of my first thoughts were to check/clean the dust from the fans inside.

So it is possible to fit a new GPU into a laptop? I might be able to find one on the bay or something for cheap. What about replacing the CPU?
 
No idea about CPU, but like I say new GPU in my Dell Inspiron 9400 was a doddle, and I even had to do a little mod as I went from a single to dual heat pipe 7900GS.

Sounds like its not overheated due to cooling problems anyway. Sorry I can't help more than that.
 
NachT said:
What's wrong with this laptop?
Click to expand...

NachT said:
So my mate was in the middle of a game of Left for Dead
Click to expand...

Laptop - Not for gaming

Sorry I couldn't resist !
----------------------------------------
On topic:

GPU or PSU died :-)).
And you'll have to probably replace the whole motherboard if it's the first one which will probably cost me more than a new laptop ( unless it's within warranty).
 
Sounds to me to be a gpu or chipset failure, normally caused my a dry or cracked solder joint due to overheating and the motherboard flexing. Most likely the gpu, and replacing it depends on whether it is integrated or not. These problems are repairable though, but can be costly depending on the process used and the quality of the job (e.g. cheap if bodge job with a heatgun.)
 
Processors are hard as nails. It's pretty rare for one to die in a laptop. Graphics chips tend to drop like flies though. Are you confident that you removed all the ram? There is occasionally one on either side of the motherboard.

Check he's been using the right ac adapter with it, as prolonged use of a higher voltage one will kill a motherboard, but wont do so immediately so often goes overlooked.

CPUs and GPUs can certainly be replaced. They tend to be bga sockets, meaning replacement features desoldering it from the board, cleaning processor and socket, reballing processor, then placing it back on the board and heating. This is quite difficult as far as repairs go.

Build quality on Acer laptops can be pretty embarrassing, so it's quite possible that the gpu heatsink is inadequate/wasn't fitted properly. I don't suppose it has a longer than 12 months warranty?
 
Hi guys thanks for the information.

Unfortunately the laptop has no warranty as it just ran out a few month ago!

I've opened it up and taken the GPU out, it's an "MXM" type of graphics card that can easily be replaced. I've found the same graphics card for sale, and they're £70 each! :O
Now the thing is, to risk buying a replacement GPU or not, as mentioned it could be the mainboard that is the fault?

The correct AC adapter has always been used on the laptop.

My brother has an Acer laptop of the similar model, as you would, I asked if I could take his GPU out and stick it into the faulty laptop to see if this resolved the fault. And his reply, as most people, including myself, said hell no to that :P

I guess I could always buy a new GPU, and if it doesn't fix it, stick it on the bay.
Or, my mate says he'll just buy my brothers laptop off him (he was originally selling it anyway, convenient :) ).

Pretty confident the PSU is still good, as it receives power and the HD spins up and all the fans start up.

So, GPU or Motherboard. Damn laptops :P
 
It has not been switched to vga output has it?Does this stay on the last setting i wonder?
Just a thought, you might want to check :)
 
Another option, it could be the charging circuit, if it fails, then the system will not power up from the mains, or will not charge the battery, so could be the problem with yours, the mains is not working and its trying to power from an uncharged battery?
 
Take out the GFX card from said laptop, pre heat oven to 200C place GFX on backing tray on 4 silver foil balls. Place in Oven for 6 - 8 minutes (maybe a bit less if your worried) take out and let to cool.

Put said GFX card back into laptop - might work, it did for me 3 times in a row :)
 
UKDTweak said:
Another option, it could be the charging circuit, if it fails, then the system will not power up from the mains, or will not charge the battery, so could be the problem with yours, the mains is not working and its trying to power from an uncharged battery?
Click to expand...

The laptop still powers up, with and without being connected to the mains. It just sits at a black screen (as if there's been a problem on POST and it will not continue to boot Windows. I'm guessing this as there's no HDD activity after a few seconds.)

But it can remain powered on until you force it off.

ANDARIAL said:
It has not been switched to vga output has it?Does this stay on the last setting i wonder?
Just a thought, you might want to check :)
Click to expand...

Hey bud, if this option is in the BIOS I don't have access to it as the screen displays nothing, heh.

Wizzkidy said:
Take out the GFX card from said laptop, pre heat oven to 200C place GFX on backing tray on 4 silver foil balls. Place in Oven for 6 - 8 minutes (maybe a bit less if your worried) take out and let to cool.

Put said GFX card back into laptop - might work, it did for me 3 times in a row :)
Click to expand...

I might give this a go as a last resort. Sounds scary though, can't this damage the card (if it's not already damaged, incase it's the mainboard or something that's actually gone?). You said it worked for you 3 times in a row, was the 3 times on the same card? i.e. it might fix it, but for a short time?

Thanks guys! :)
 
I just had an awesome idea, that failed. But I'll let you know about it anyway incase it helps troubleshooting.

The laptop has an HDMI port, which I assumed worked from a different GPU as opposed to the Graphics card, as it's not physically connect to the card?

So I connected the laptop up to the TV via HDMI, thinking it would bypass the ATI card? I was wrong anyway, received the same result, and no image on the TV.

Might it be worth taking the GPU out then connecting it up via HDMI? I'm not really sure how laptops work heh.

Anyway, time for work. I'll check back tomorrow!
 
Re my previous post iirc you need to press the Fn key and F8 key together to output graphic/display to either laptop screen OR vga output on a separate monitor(at least on my Dell lappy it is those keys)
 
NachT said:
I might give this a go as a last resort. Sounds scary though, can't this damage the card (if it's not already damaged, incase it's the mainboard or something that's actually gone?). You said it worked for you 3 times in a row, was the 3 times on the same card? i.e. it might fix it, but for a short time?
Click to expand...

Let me give you some more details on what happened to mine. I had a 6800Go in my laptop. One day I was using it as normal and i just all of a sudden got a black screen! So i rebooted and on the reboot saw pixels all over my BIOS. I know your just getting a black screen all the time but if you can hear it booting and see the HDD light going and everything else looks ok then 9 times out of 10 your GFX card has popped its cloggs.

So yea I put it in the oven I mean the laptop was a paper weight anyway I wasnt going to spend out 70 quid on a new card really just wasnt worth it. So after it worked the first time I left it in the oven for probably 5 minutes but this only lasted about 2 weeks before it went again (same thing black screen then reboot and pixels over BIOS) So the second time I left it in longer about 8 minutes and it lasted around 4 months! but then recently died again :(

This last time I left it in the oven for like 11 minutes and its been Ok since. Dunno how long it will last but hey at least I can use it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom