Japhir
Posts: 20 +0
Hi there!
I've recently bought a second hand laptop because it was cheap and seemed to only have a minor problem, which I hope to be able to fix. So far I've not been able to, so I thought I'd ask here for some help!
Specs:
Packard Bell Easynote TK
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 N970: 2,2GHz
Videochip: AMD Radeon HD 6650M, 1 GB VRAM
RAM: 6 GB DDR3
orginal OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
So the problem is that if I try to boot it, about 29/30 times it starts up, I can hear the fan and HDD starting and see the lights turn on. Then after a couple of seconds (before seeing anything on screen) I hear the fan stopping while the lights remain on.
The 1/30 times it boots up properly, and everything works.
What I've done so far: remove battery and power adapter, reinstall RAM (both at once and one by one), hold down power button for a minute and try again with the power adapter connected. This doesn't appear to do anything much. I haven't removed the CMOS battery yet because it's embedded in a peculiar way and I'm not familiar with how to remove it yet.
Then, during one of the few sessions where I was able to boot successfully, I installed the newest BIOS-version from the Packard Bell site. This also didn't do anything.
Then, since I wanted to do it anyway, I started with the installation of Arch Linux where so far I've only wiped the entire HDD and repartitioned it (then I was too busy and couldn't complete it). This doesn't matter much; as long as I can get into the BIOS properly I'll be fine. (I'm a Linux newbie but have successfully installed Arch Linux on a very old laptop).
So what I wanted to ask: do you know any way to make the startup work everytime? Do you have any ideas what it might be?
My theories so far:
- It's probably a hardware related problem, since it still occurred after BIOS-update and full HDD-wipe (without OS!)
- broken powerbutton connection somehow --> replace powerbutton?
- broken fan (overheating --> shutdown)
- broken fan cable (sometimes does connect correctly?)
I'm curious if you have any theories on how to save the laptop!
Kind regards,
Ilja
I've recently bought a second hand laptop because it was cheap and seemed to only have a minor problem, which I hope to be able to fix. So far I've not been able to, so I thought I'd ask here for some help!
Specs:
Packard Bell Easynote TK
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 N970: 2,2GHz
Videochip: AMD Radeon HD 6650M, 1 GB VRAM
RAM: 6 GB DDR3
orginal OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
So the problem is that if I try to boot it, about 29/30 times it starts up, I can hear the fan and HDD starting and see the lights turn on. Then after a couple of seconds (before seeing anything on screen) I hear the fan stopping while the lights remain on.
The 1/30 times it boots up properly, and everything works.
What I've done so far: remove battery and power adapter, reinstall RAM (both at once and one by one), hold down power button for a minute and try again with the power adapter connected. This doesn't appear to do anything much. I haven't removed the CMOS battery yet because it's embedded in a peculiar way and I'm not familiar with how to remove it yet.
Then, during one of the few sessions where I was able to boot successfully, I installed the newest BIOS-version from the Packard Bell site. This also didn't do anything.
Then, since I wanted to do it anyway, I started with the installation of Arch Linux where so far I've only wiped the entire HDD and repartitioned it (then I was too busy and couldn't complete it). This doesn't matter much; as long as I can get into the BIOS properly I'll be fine. (I'm a Linux newbie but have successfully installed Arch Linux on a very old laptop).
So what I wanted to ask: do you know any way to make the startup work everytime? Do you have any ideas what it might be?
My theories so far:
- It's probably a hardware related problem, since it still occurred after BIOS-update and full HDD-wipe (without OS!)
- broken powerbutton connection somehow --> replace powerbutton?
- broken fan (overheating --> shutdown)
- broken fan cable (sometimes does connect correctly?)
I'm curious if you have any theories on how to save the laptop!
Kind regards,
Ilja