HELP! LAPTOP WON'T SHOW ANYTHING!!!!!

[JChavis]

Quick! we tried to power on our classmate, but the power and battery lights turn on only. The screen remains black, and you can hear a fan running for a little bit before it turns off, while the lights are still on!!

We have the new classmate that we got from last year with the new 2012 image, what should we do?!?!?!? We have all of our programs and info on it, so we can't afford to start over with a cleared memory!!!

[JChavis]

We really need to get this classmate working again soon so we can get back to programming and testing!!! Please Help!!!

[Dusk Star]

Do you have access to another laptop (one with two HDD bays) that you could move the classmate's HDD to? then copy whatever data you have on it to the second laptop (or to a desktop if limited on space) Then, you would still have all of the data, but could try re-installing windows, etc to get the classmate running again. Or it could just be a broken screen.... Does the classmate have a video output port to connect to? If it does (I forget) you could try that to isolate the problem.

Good luck!

[JChavis]

Here's the thing, the laptop doesn't turn boot at ALL, it just turns on the power lights, runs the fan for about 7 sec, then the fan just goes out with the lights still on, no other noise....I just can't figure out what or how it went wrong. I would like to take it apart but I just don't know where to start or if I need to take it apart. It worked again from this same problem before by me holding down the keys and then turning it on, but not even that now will work.

I will try what you stated, but how should I do this exactly?

Our team has the E11 type, if that helps....

[Dusk Star]

Ok, that kinda rules out the "broken screen" issue... I still recommend putting it's hard drive in another computer. Teardown video: here

[Tom Line]

A bad SSD hard drive will result in a no-boot, but you should still see the bios load and classmate splash screen. It almost sounds like your screen or the cable connecting your screen has gone bad. Or, you may have lost your motherboard.

On the off chance that it may be a memory issue, you may want to open the memory compartment and reseat the memory modules. Most computers I've worked on will give an audible beeping alarm when the memory is not in correctly, but who knows.

After that, I would contact the company that makes classmates - they have a service number. I believe you can find more info on the classmate on the FIRST website.

In the mean time, remove the hard-drive from the computer and hook it up to another to see if you can read the data, as the first poster suggested.

[Dusk Star]

A teardown video, to show how to get at the memory, hard drive, etc. is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCvm5KS9k-s

Good Luck!

[JChavis]

Thank You both for your suggestions!
I figured out that the connection between the hard drive and the motherboard was being prevented by a wire that powers the realtek graphics system. Whenever the covers are placed over the electronics, the wire adds pressure to the SATA convertor connector, causing it to not get a proper connection. I believe a cause to this was the loose wire that somehow loosened up even more in the wrong place. The RAM Stick wasn't damaged, and the Hard Drive wasn't damaged (WHEW!!!).

Again, thanks!!!!


If I can, I may be able to post a video of what I did to help others who may have this problem...

The video this time will be for the E11 Classmate, as I had to figure out how to take it apart, for the video posted did help, but it was for a past version of it.

[TeleportSandwic]

You should post a link to whatever video you make.

P.S If you are reading this, the laptop broke again, so this might not be a permanent fix.

[JChavis]

Well, it seems that our laptop again won't function properly. I still think it is the connector from the hard drive to the motherboard, or even the RAM stick inside the computer. Is there any type of special service that FRC teams can use for laptops? I already Reseated the RAM stick and the Hard Drive several times, so I can't tell what the problem is for this computer.....

With all of these problems going on, we were able to hook up our hard drive to one of our school computers and boot it off of the hard drive, which worked perfectly. This still furthers my theory of the yellow laptop connector being the problem between the hard drive and the motherboard. I just hope that FRC teams can get their classmates serviced......

Oh, and if you are reading this Nick, we got the robot driving and turning!!! We just need to fix the programming to be able to get the back two wheels turning tomorrow!

[Dusk Star]

One thing I might recommend for getting your back wheels to work is to just use a pwm splitter to run both jags off of one signal. That way, you can ensure that each side is operating in sync, without extra work for the programmers.

[JChavis]

Originally Posted by Dusk Star

One thing I might recommend for getting your back wheels to work is to just use a pwm splitter to run both jags off of one signal. That way, you can ensure that each side is operating in sync, without extra work for the programmers.

Yep, that was the exact thought I had in mind. It's just exciting to see that our robot chassis looks formidable....