Hi,

i finally got pass the password screen....i can access and all....but after checking the laptop, it boots but it says it cant find any boot devices....it doesnt detect cd hdd or floppy....it boots from network though, but i dont know it i have to configure something else here....y press the cd button and it doesnt come out....hdd doesnt start if i put me ear close to it theres no spinning sound...

i checked the bios for boot devices config, a marked everything (it got an arrow before it after pressing the spacebar, is it well done?) but it only goes to network if i connect a cable

what could be happening here? any secret switch or maybe bios misconfiguration?

thanks in advance.

by the way, is a dell inspiron 8000

if you connect firmly HDD,CDROM and floppy and still the laptop doesn't want to boot - then this is southbridge faulty. only chip replacing will helps.
AFAIK, inspiron 8000 is Pentium4 based laptop.... so, 82801CAM(or 82801DBM) is your problem.

hey lamo,

well i'll disassemble and reassemble de laptop again....this inspiron 8000 carries a pentium III procesor

look for a southbridge chip on the laptop MB. what CPU do you have? PIII coppermine, or PIII tualatin? if copper - then you probably have BX chipset. if tualatin - then you have 830 chipset. and! if you have 830 chipset(Montara), you have the 82801cam southbridge. if so - you'll have to replace the chip.

hi again lamo,

i wanted to ask you something....where do you recommend me to buy this chip? and also what could be an aproximate price for this southbridge chip? i was thinking about locating it around here but i dont know a possible price for it...almost all the time this "techno guys" in my country charge double or triple the price of spare parts (and maybe this gather the parts of a used laptop that is not worth 2 or 3 time the price)....so if you could help me out on this 2 subjects i will apreciate it......

oh also, i'm checking right now about the question you made of the type of pentium III processor you asked me, and also, do you have one of this southbridges you could sell to me?

thanks in advance.

Hi lamo,

i dissasembled the laptop again and found over the memory sokets module the chip...i gues this is the one you told me, it is a: Intel N82802AB8 . Im looking at some strange thins here. At the upper left corner and the lower right one, when you can pull out the chip it has some scratches..like if someone tried or actually took it out.....so im confused about the orientation of the chip...it is mounted on a brown socket but if you pull it out you can actually put it back at any side...i dont know if this guy that made this scratches put it back the wrong way or not.........to make a picture of it see this: the socket has the "AMP" label on the lower left corner, and right at the middle between the upper felt corner and the lower left corner you can see the dot that indicates pin 1 on the little chip....like this:
_______________
| |
| Intel |
|o N82802B8 |
| |
|______________|
AMP

is the chip right positioned into the socket? can it explode or burn if you place it the wrong way?

can you post some photos here of the MB? i don't remember exactly which chip should be there... and you won't find those chips for sale... so, if you couldn't find some laptops repairmen, i think, it will be better yo find a new or used MB

Hi lamo,

i got some pictures of the location of the chip..take a look:









chip4.jpg captures the chip i told you about. But, after making a deeper checking i saw other BIG trouble on the mobo: take a look at chip3 at the red circle...its a little coil i guess or little transformer somthing like that, but it is broken; i guess the stupid guy who opened this thing broke it while taking ram out of it or something or maybe when he took out that 82802 chip you can see miles away he DID TOOK IT OUT for who knows what reason...he destroyed the laptop...i think i'm gonna send it to trash...i'll make a call to see if i can get an used mobo with a friend but i doubt he has one...we'll see...but just for the record, could you please tell me if that is the southbridge chip? can you get and idea with those pictures?

thankyou so much for your help,

luigui.

that isn't southbridge. this chip is bios firmware hub.