What Are the Symptoms of a Fried Laptop Mobo?

Tech Talk
#1

I have a custom built laptop that I purchased from Cyberpower PC 2 years ago. Basically custom with MSI case and mobo. Big mistake since they’re really boning me right now over this issue but that’s another story.

A few weeks ago I came home to find my laptop unable to boot. Wouldn’t even power on as a matter of fact. The AC brick had power running through it so that wasn’t the issue. When I’d plug the brick into the laptop, the “power” light on the front of the laptop would flash red for a second then go out. Normally it stays a constant blue. I tried plugging in any USB devices like external HD and charging my cell phone. All items plugged in via USB will power on. I stripped the entire laptop down to see if I could see any visible issues with it. Particularly the mobo. I couldn’t see any. Used a multimeter to check voltage at points around the mobo. It’s getting power all around it from what I can tell. CMOS battery is fine. What could cause my computer to stop powering on out of the blue like that? I’d like to say it’s a fried mobo, which I can replace myself, but I just want to make sure I’m not overlooking something. I mean, what else could it be?

#2

Try powering on the laptop without the battery. If that doesn’t work, remove each stick of RAM one at a time and try powering it up. Try it without the hard drive as well, just to rule that out. If the laptop’s fans are running but nothing is showing up on the screen, try plugging it into an external monitor to decide if it’s a problem with the video card/motherboard or screen/inverter. If it just doesn’t power up after all of this, it’s almost definitely the motherboard, which means it’s time for a new laptop (honestly, replacing the motherboard probably won’t be worth it.)

Of course, I’m assuming that you tested the power adapter with a multimeter.

#3

AC brick was tested and showing voltage. Did a battery pull and didn’t work. Laptop fans were not spinning when plugged in. Sorry, should’ve mentioned all that in the initial post.

I have yet to pull the RAM. I pulled it out when I tore the laptop apart but never actually tested it when the laptop was put back together. Same with the HD. Otherwise, I’m out of tricks. Unless it’s a bad CPU or video card (it’s an integrated NVIDIA so FML if I’m going to dink around with that). Either way, like you said, I don’t think that’s the issue since the laptop won’t even power on.

Normally, I’d agree with you on buying a new one but I’m not a fan of dropping 11 hundred dollars on a laptop and having it only last me for two years.

#4

Big Trouble is such a good movie.

Anyways is there a speaker on the mobo? If so I think it could shed some light on the situation (they only cost like a dollar if you find a store that has em). Also how does the processor look? It could be responsible for the problems you’re having but usually they don’t get damaged on their own easily.

#5

Excellent movie. In fact, I need to bring the BTLC av back out sometime here.

No, the mobo doesn’t have any speakers on it that do the “beep” when booting. The CPU looked fine when I pulled it but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t. I wouldn’t know how to test that other than putting it into another computer.

#6

Well last shout out here for me in this thread.

Tried pulling RAM and booting. This is where it got interesting:

Without any RAM in there, the computer finally powered on. Shut it down and put one stick in one slot. Powered on and the power stayed on but got an error screen with a PXE code (believe it was E00 iirc which is a RAM error code). Switched the stick to the other slot then the computer stopped powering on. Switched the sticks and put the other one in one slot then the other. Wouldn’t power on either time. So basically I got it to power one ONE time with the PXE code showing up. Might be failing RAM since I got that code. Also, I was getting BSOD’s constantly before this happened with the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL code which could also indicate bad RAM. But if the RAM was bad, that doesn’t explain why it powered on only once. I’m thinking I have bad RAM AND and damn mobo that is shot.

I’ll try swapping in some different RAM to see if that alleviates anything but unless someone else has any other ideas, I’m going with mobo here as the main issue with a bad RAM assist.

#7

Yea the best solution to any computer problem is to swap parts until its fixed. Best of luck to you.

#8

I suggest put in some new RAM and do a memory test. Memtest 86+ does well for that.

#9

Yep put new RAM in there and wouldn’t power on. Ran Memtest 86+ before the computer went kaput but with both sticks in. Didn’t test each one individually. I’m just going to chalk this up to a bad mobo guys. There’s just no reason other than that that the power won’t stay on. Thanks for the help though. Much appreciated.