Compaq CQ60 - Dead but with a twist

[joydivision]

Got a dead Compaq CQ60 I am guessing is just over a couple of years old. It switches on but then dosn't do anything. Ocassionaly there is a quick flash of the bootup message (e.g press F2 to enter BIOS etc) but the most of the time it does nothing.

I have tried removing the battery
Tried running it on the battery only
Swapped the RAM
Removed the HD
Removed the wireless card.
Cleared the CMOS by removing the CMOS battery
Tried an external monitor
Any other ideas before I write it off?

 

[arrow_runner]

Scrap it. I had such a nightmare trying to get a good replacement motherboard for this laptop.

Seriously, run for the hills!

 

[iisjman07]

Have you tested the PSU is putting out the correct voltage and current?
Have you tested the power socket?
Have you tested to see if it's short circuiting?

 

[totalPCTechs]

i had a lady call earlier today...she had similar problems turns out she had a short in a cable that leads to the screen. But commonly with almost and other HP laptop its most likely the VGA on the motherboard.

 

[joydivision]

I did suspect video circuit at first, but the hard drive doesn't boot, the cap locks buttons don't respond, and if I remove all the RAM I don't get a boot code.

I suspect it is a power problem as well, but I don't really do laptops, I would have to strip it down further to check the voltages. I can measure the voltage of the transformer, but would I get an accurate reading if there was no load on it?

It seems to do exactly the same on the battery, so I know the battery is charging ok.

So I think I shall run for my life on this Got that flipping Iron Maiden song in my head now!.

Just wanted to make sure there was nothing obvious I've missed.

As said above it can't be a data cable to the screen because an external monitor doesn't work either, and a message does occasionally flash for a second.

What the customer told me is that it crashed, so she pressed the power button to switch it off and it never booted up since.

It has an AMD 64 processor with an Nvidia chipset btw

 

[joydivision]

Think I have worked out what the problem is, I was about to measure the transformer for voltage, when I noticed the middle pin was bent. It was not making contact with the laptop at all.

I tried to straighten it but it snapped, so I plugged it back in with the middle pin missing and of course the laptop does the same. So the problem is the laptop was not getting full power.

I have ran out generic transformers so will need to get one tomorrow and hopefully it might work. Is it likely it has already damaged the laptop?

Not sure why it does the same with just the battery though.

 

[phaZed]

I place my bet on a bad GPU, needs a reflow or reball. Have fixed many CQ60 with same type of issue.

 

[arrow_runner]

Sometimes it's possible to just apply downward pressure on a GPU and turn it on for testing. I had a macbook with a bad INTEL chipset in here a while back that I was about to write off until I start pushing down on a few different chips.

 

[joydivision]

But surely the dodgy connector but be related to it? If the video chip was faulty it would still POST though right? Or do laptops behave in a different manner?

 

[phaZed]

The dodgy battery connector wouldn't produce this problem. I tried looking for battery pinout diagrams for a CQ40 CQ45 CQ50 CQ60 CQ70 battery, but couldn't find one.

Usually batteries have something like this:

1. + (pos)
2. Data
3. Clock
4. comm
5. comm
6. - (Gnd)

Sometimes there are multiple (+) and (-) pins. Bottom line, it was probably just a data pin, take the battery out and it should have no effect.

No, if the GPU is bad then no POST is one of the classic signatures as well as: Half-POSTING (BIOS loading stops in middle), Hard drive errors or Hard drive missing/not found, Blue screen during boot or soon after windows has loaded.

 

[joydivision]

Not really my area of expertise, ordered a generic PSU anyway as it will come in handy for other jobs. My client seems more bothered about the data than anything else anyway, all I said if the repair is more than £100 then it won't be worth it and she agreed, and as I can't do reflows or reballs myself to make money on the job it would need to be more than £100 I suspect.

I would not really be happy about offering an expensive reflow either in case it dosn't last. These HP laptops really are becoming a joke, it is a shame because the actual design of this model is quite good but as usual it is probably the build which lets it down.

I do wonder if some customers might go back to desktops, as so many not so happy that their three year old laptop is as much use as a chocolate fire guard.