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Gateway M675 Crash Blank screen needs Freezer

post #1 of 8
1/2/07 at 6:22pm
Thread Starter 
I have searched this forum but my problem is kinda weird.

My M675 Crashed and will not reboot nothing on the screen, I don't think it loads to the windows user select screen because the cap lock lights don't toggle nor does the num lock light toggle. I think it just gets hung up long before it reaches the windows screen.

Previously the laptop would crash if I were to have it on the leather couch, but it would always boot up afterwards no problem, then I would have to keep it elevated and all would have been good.

Now we are back to the blank screen
The power light lights up,
The battery charging light lights up


This is what I have done so far I have pulled out all the peripherals CD rom, hard drive, 3.5 drive, RAM, CPU and reassembled and put back together still Nothing.

However their is one thing that gets it to boot. If I stick this laptop in the freezer for an hour or two, I can get it to boot, it will only stay on for a few minutes long enough for me to get rid of my password on my user name and then it will die. Then I can retrieve files using another computer and a USB cable to the hard drive, so I am thinking the hard drive is fine.

If I repeat this Freezer thing on boot up it will ask if I want

Safe boot
Last known successful boot
or Windows as Normal.

If I go last known successful boot everything looks fine for about 2 minutes then blank and that is even before the fans kick in. After it has died the power light remains on and the CPU fans kick in. There is another small fan that I have not noticed that never kicks in

I have tried to boot up the laptop over a huge house fan with the laptop on the fan and the fan on and it will not even load. I need to stick it back in the freezer to load.

I stuck the CPU only in the freezer and then it rebooted 1 or 2 minutes then it died. I tried again CPU in freezer, still nothing, very weird.

I have tried to disassemble this thing but it seams impossible

I am thinking maybe the CPU is gone, or a loose cable or a reset button or jumper thing, any idea anyone?

Thanks
DN
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post #2 of 8
1/2/07 at 7:07pm
I have read several threads here and even a magazine article or two about hard drives coming back to life briefly after being in a freezer for a while. Never have I heard of a CPU, cable, etc, working again after spending time frozen.

Could be that you're right, I'm no expert, but I would transfer all data very quickly to another drive just to be safe. My guess is that your hdd is on it's last legs.
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post #3 of 8
1/2/07 at 7:20pm
Thread Starter 
I am thinking if my harddrive was on its last leg, I would see something on the screen, or something would show up on the screen without the hard drive. But with or without the hard drive no power to the screen, nada zilch. The power light is on and the Battery charging light is on and that's it.

Thanks anyway
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post #4 of 8
1/2/07 at 7:53pm
I'm leaning towards a cracked board or cold solder (or even loose/broken wire somewhere). Chilling the laptop could contract the broken circuit so that it makes contact. It is actually relatively common in automotive circles. A bad coil can fire fine until it has run for a while. After getting warm from running for a bit, the broken winding separates and the vehicle will not start back again until the coil has cooled off.

It sounds like something similar to me. One thing is for sure; it won't be fun to track down if that is the case. If you have some way to test all the other components (it sounds like you have already tested the hard drive, and I agree with your conclusion), you may be able to narrow it down to a board problem, but not necessarily the exact circuit. Either way, if you get to the point where all other components appear to be functioning ok in different setups, but just not in yours, it would probably be best to just replace the entire boards. Motherboards are multilayer PCBs. If it is a broken trace or something on the board, it may not even be repairable (buried on one of the other, unaccessible layers).
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post #5 of 8
1/3/07 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your response but why would you not think it is the CPU? I have not got a chance to open it up yet, will be working on that later today


Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunder_PC
I'm leaning towards a cracked board or cold solder (or even loose/broken wire somewhere). Chilling the laptop could contract the broken circuit so that it makes contact. It is actually relatively common in automotive circles. A bad coil can fire fine until it has run for a while. After getting warm from running for a bit, the broken winding separates and the vehicle will not start back again until the coil has cooled off.

It sounds like something similar to me. One thing is for sure; it won't be fun to track down if that is the case. If you have some way to test all the other components (it sounds like you have already tested the hard drive, and I agree with your conclusion), you may be able to narrow it down to a board problem, but not necessarily the exact circuit. Either way, if you get to the point where all other components appear to be functioning ok in different setups, but just not in yours, it would probably be best to just replace the entire boards. Motherboards are multilayer PCBs. If it is a broken trace or something on the board, it may not even be repairable (buried on one of the other, unaccessible layers).
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post #6 of 8
1/3/07 at 8:33pm
I guess it possibly could be, but it would be a similar circumstance with the CPU, which would be rare. Normally when you start burning traces in the CPU itself, they are completely "poof".
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post #7 of 8
1/4/07 at 2:48am
It may be that you need to remove the cover over the CPU and memory. Then remove and clean the heat sink/fan units and CPU surface. Put a thin film of thermal compound on the CPU and replace the heatsink/fan units. If you had the same problem earlier when the fan intake was blocked (leather couch) I suspect that the heat sinks aren't cooling the CPU. The M675s had a full on desktop CPU, and they got super hot if the bond to the heatsink assembly gets bad or broken. This would also explain the why freezing the unit helps, it will stay cool enough, long enough to boot.
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post #8 of 8
1/12/07 at 2:20am
Thread Starter 
Well I threw in the towel on this project and got another Gateway m675 PRR chasis from ebay no hard drive no power supply. I stuck my old harddrive in and I am good to go, the old chasis came with another harddrive that I cann't see with my windows explorer but it showa in device manager as functioning properly. Anyway, I got an old M675 Chasis for sale with Motherboard that i think is broken along with CPU and FAN, screen. No hard drive no powersupply all for sale, if I get a good offer I will not put it on ebay. well I am gonna start another thread with these issues, thanks for all your help everyone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by |MadMike|
It may be that you need to remove the cover over the CPU and memory. Then remove and clean the heat sink/fan units and CPU surface. Put a thin film of thermal compound on the CPU and replace the heatsink/fan units. If you had the same problem earlier when the fan intake was blocked (leather couch) I suspect that the heat sinks aren't cooling the CPU. The M675s had a full on desktop CPU, and they got super hot if the bond to the heatsink assembly gets bad or broken. This would also explain the why freezing the unit helps, it will stay cool enough, long enough to boot.
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