Desknote A928 BIOS problem

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

by **Wasserfest** » Sat Oct 26, 2002 10:34 am

Hello all,
I think I have a serious BIOS problem on my Desknote A928 laptop.
I cannot boot up now, When I try, I am faced with a blank screen, although the CPU and HDD is still running.
I remember plugging in the power cord into the power point and there was a spark of electricity. When I tried to boot that is when the blank screen occurs.
Did I send too much electricity to the notebook and the BIOS, is it fried? I cannot tell, but I do not get any error beeps or anything, I assume the BIOS does all the error beeping and stuff, but when I boot up nothing happens, except the blank screen.
Should I replace my BIOS, or how can I tell if my BIOS is dead?

by **Joe** » Sat Oct 26, 2002 3:25 pm

I'm not so sure this is a BIOS issue. Obviously something fried when the spark occured. If the Laptop turns on and the hard drive spins, then the system is waking up but probably is not completing the POST process.

If you are expirienced with laptop disassembly then you can start troublshooting component level, otherwise you may have an expensive paperweight on your hands.

Connect the laptop to an external Monitor and see if youcan get anything on the screen and post back the results here.

Joe

by **NickS** » Sat Oct 26, 2002 8:57 pm

Wasserfest wrote:Hello all,
I think I have a serious BIOS problem on my Desknote A928 laptop.
I cannot boot up now, When I try, I am faced with a blank screen, although the CPU and HDD is still running.

You can hear the disk spin up, but how do you know the CPU is running ?

I remember plugging in the power cord into the power point and there was a spark of electricity.

Where was the spark?

When I tried to boot that is when the blank screen occurs.

When you say boot, is that after the Power-On Self Test or when you first power on/reset?

Random thought: sometimes power management can get confused, as well. Have you tried taking the battery out and leaving the machine for a while?

by **Wasserfest** » Sat Oct 26, 2002 11:22 pm

I assume the CPU is running because I can hear the fans. Do you think it is the CPU that is dead?
I have taken the CMOS battery out for over 20min and replaced it.
The spark was seen on the power plug.
When I press the power button that is when nothing happens. Just a blank screen.

by **Wasserfest** » Sat Oct 26, 2002 11:27 pm

I have connected it to an external monitor. Still nothing happens.
When I fried my BIOS on my other computer (by putting it backwards) it had all the syptoms of this. When I press the power button, I am faced with a blank screen.
Doesn't the BIOS do all the POST testes, and error beeps when you preess the power button.

by **NickS** » Sun Oct 27, 2002 11:37 am

Wasserfest wrote:I assume the CPU is running because I can hear the fans. Do you think it is the CPU that is dead?
I have taken the CMOS battery out for over 20min and replaced it.
The spark was seen on the power plug.
When I press the power button that is when nothing happens. Just a blank screen.

OK, I think there is likely to be some chip blown and it is not really possible to tell which without component-level testing, as Joe says.

If it is a multi-output PSU, can you check another PSU ?

If a power spike manages to get through the PSU it could have killed almost anything. I have a Gigabyte desktop motherboard where this happened and I have swapped CPU, RAM and BIOS and nothing helps - I believe one of the main chipset chips is dead. I had this happen to a BBC Micro and had to replace every chip in the machine, and the PSU.

by **Joe** » Mon Oct 28, 2002 7:42 pm

I'm not going to go into detailed prcoesses for troubleshooting, but what you can do is check the CPU and feel if it's getting hot.

If it's not, then the CPU is not intializing.. and it's not even getting to the POST. ..and it may not be getting ANY voltage.

Usually, when an overcurrent or a short circuit happens, most laptop motherboards have SMD fuses protecting each circuit group. If these SMD fuses fail, usually the BGA packages will short or (fry).. when this happens it usually results in a short condition or an open condition on the board.

The key is feeling for warmth. it does not garantee the chip is actually doing it's job but it tells you there is voltage going to it and it MAY be trying to perform it's function.

If your system turns on, the only thing that tells you about the CPU is that it's completeing the circuit, is it performing it's job? You won't know until you replace it. -OR- connect an incircuit emulator.

Anything could be happening here, the video circuit can be fried not allowing anything to happen, CPU could be shot, BIOS .. ect ect ect..

Joe