RoVic

Hiya all, I have a Mitac 8355H which refuses to boot or even go to post. there's power to the fans /DVD (opens-closes) power / charge/ battery /all work & Hardrive light comes on for a brief second. I think it could be the CPU as the last owner "tampered" with it not realising there was a problem with corrupted memory. The CPU in it is a AMD K8 Athlon 64 Mobile 3000+ model number: AMA3000BEX5AP this CPU is "Brown" in colour, there's one on ebay with the same ID & model number but this one is "Green" in Colour, is there a meaning as to the Colour of a CPU with the same ID.

RoVic

................................................................

Anyone !!!

TheMatt

Hi,

First I would reseat the RAM. Pull both sticks out and put them back in, and try and boot. Then, put one stick in and try and boot, and do the same with the other. Also, do you know what the previous owner did? If (s)he removed the heatsink and didn't put on any Arctic Sliver 5, then you will have issues. If you know the owner did remove the heatsink, then I would remove it, remove the thermal pads, and apply arctic silver 5.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/ins_route_step2amdas5.html

RoVic

Hiya Mat, Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what the last owner did. I do know it was just a memory fault until he "opened" it up. as i say i have put new ram in, the heat sink has a specially built thermal past with a sticky tin file that remains in place. I will remove / clean the compound & tin and try Arctic silver, but i think the result will be the same. I can replace the CPU but not sure of the meaning of the different colour CPU with the same modal number.

TheMatt

CPUs can be various colors. What I am thinking is that the previous owner did not reapply thermal paste, and it needs to be reapplied everytime the heatsink is removed.

RoVic

Well, Removed the tin & thermal compound that was in place, cleaned and reapplied with Arctic Silver 3 ( this is all i have at the mo) made no difference ! I feel it's time to get this processor tested on anther machine if possible, either that or replace it. I did notice whilst there was heat coming from Items like the vga chip no heat at all was found to be coming from the Processor ? Which leads me the think its knackered.

TheMatt

Try reseating the CPU and putting the heatsink back on, the CPU maybe loose.

RoVic

What's the bare minimum hardware a laptop needs to post? I'm guessing Memory/ processor.................. !

TheMatt

RAM, CPU, and Graphics (for a laptop). I would try the following.

Try to boot with the CPU in, but without RAM. It should beep at you or just turn off right away.

Try booting with CPU and RAM no hard disk.

Reset the CMOS. Unplug the laptop and pull the battery for at least 1/2 hour. Then try to boot.

Take a look at the motherboard and check that there is nothing broken/loose or any bulged or leaking capacitors

RoVic

OK, so far I've taken all advice !! Also replaced the CPU With the exact one that was in it, but Still no boot or post.

TheMatt

If there is no damage apparent on the motherboard, try another AC adapter. If that doesn't work, I think the internal power distributor might not be supplying power to the CPU.

I just thought of this, have you tried an external monitor? Maybe it is just a problem with the LCD. If you don't see a picture on the external monitor still, try toggling the Fn + Function keys (on my laptop, for example, it is Fn + F5).

RoVic

The problem is if the board won't boot or even post then i can't try an external monitor? also the fans / hardrive spins & all chip's on the board get warm so it can't be the AC adaptor.

TheMatt

It may be posting, you just might not be seeing it. If you don't have a spare monitor, try the laptop on one at a friend's or relative's house.

RoVic

For a laptop to use an external monitor surely it has to boot to windows so i can toggle >FN > F5 to use that monitor ? I have infant done this many time's. I think i now believe the ATI radeon 9600 Chip could have had it, but would this stop the board from booting / posting ?

TheMatt

No, because when I hook my laptop up to the school projectors to do presentation, the laptop detects it automatically and switches to the external monitor right before it POSTs, and then all I have to is set the resolution once I have booted XP or Kubuntu.

If the actual video card is bad, then it wouldn't POST. That is what the external monitor will tell, whether it is the laptop LCD, the video card, or something else.