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VGN-FS660 Power issue

post #1 of 18
3/18/08 at 3:23pm
Thread Starter 
Hi Folks!

I've got a weird power issue with a user's VGN-FS660.

When the power button is pushed all I get is the following:

Power light
Battery light
HD light
Three lights above the keyboard
And I can eject the CD-ROM, (oh, and if I flip the switch for the wireless, that light comes on to.)

So I'm getting power of some kind, but it won't even get into the BIOS, (there's no indication of the HD spinning up, no fan, nothing.)

I've tried removing the RAM and HD, but that produced the same result.


Am I hosed? Or is there a fix for something like this?

Many Thanks!
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post #2 of 18
3/18/08 at 3:47pm
You forgot to mention in your post that you can't boot at all. It may be something as simple as a loose connection or as complicated as dead motherboard. The first step would be removing the battery and seeing if you can power up with your AC adapter only.
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post #3 of 18
3/18/08 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 
Oops! Correct, the laptop will NOT boot at all.

I tried removing the battery and powering it up off the AC with the same results.

I also tried re-seating the RAM, tried alternating RAM modules to see if one of them was bad.

Is there such as thing as a "reset button" on the system board? I peeked inside but couldn't find anything like that, (there was a set of dip switches under the keyboard...no idea what those are for.)

Anything else I can try?

Thanks!
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post #4 of 18
3/18/08 at 5:21pm
I think your next step would be to reset the CMOS battery. It will look like this: (although this is a desktop one, it will look similar to this (not what the arrow is pointing at, the circular silver thing))



Pull it for 30-60 seconds and put it back in. that will reset your bios settings back to default.
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post #5 of 18
3/18/08 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks! I'll give that a shot.

When I first pulled the laptop apart I didn't see the CMOS battery. I just found it...and it looks like the whole system board has to come out?

Yikes...they don't make this easy do they!
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post #6 of 18
3/19/08 at 12:33am
what happens if that battery dies? could he need a new one?

oh, and moved to support (peer to peer)
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post #7 of 18
3/19/08 at 12:00pm
If the battery dies you just need to replace it. I had issues with a dead CMOS battery in my original Alienware SENTIA. I got so upset about it, sent it all the way back to Alienware since it was still covered under warranty, and they sent it back with a note saying: "it was a dead CMOS battery" a $2 fix at radio shack...

oops..

the thread i made is in my sig... "Another Alienware Story (funny)"
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post #8 of 18
3/20/08 at 1:54pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the advice!

The battery actually looks this like

It's under the system board, and there's no way to get to it without tearing the whole thing apart, (there is no access from under the keyboard.)

Now I know why they charge so much to work on these darn things. Dells are SO much easer to work on!

I'm headed off for a new battery. Hopefully that'll fix the problem
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post #9 of 18
3/28/08 at 6:39pm
Thread Starter 
I replaced the CMOS battery to no avail! I still get the same problem. I get the three lights above the keyboard to come on, the power light is there, I can hear the CD-ROM engage, but no Sony screen, no screen activity, nadda.

Ah well. It was worth a shot.
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post #10 of 18
4/8/08 at 3:39pm
Hey Joe,

you sound very familiar with Sony notebooks. You in tech support?
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post #11 of 18
4/13/08 at 2:13pm
I have seen issues with the qfn max chip needing to be replaced causing the unit not to power on...
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post #12 of 18
9/11/08 at 1:13am
I am having the same problem with a VGN-C140G
All three lights stay on and the battery light flashes but no display at all and I don't think the hard drive is powering up. The DVD drives does though.
I have replaced the motherboard but still the same problem. I have also pulled the ram and checked all ribbon cables and connections.
What else could it be?
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post #13 of 18
9/11/08 at 10:51am
if you are sure that the replaced motherboard is good, then the next thing that i would check will be the cpu

cheers ...
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post #14 of 18
9/11/08 at 12:55pm
It's hard to say because every board I have tried acts differently. The original board that started this all would power up for a few seconds. All the lights would come on and the screen would flash but then everything would turn off.
So I got a replacement board and put it in and nothing happened. No lights or drives powering up or anything. I sent that one back as defective and ordered another one.
The new one is the one that responds the way described above. All lights on but no screen or HD powering up.
So which motherboard sounds like it would be acting the proper way if a CPU was bad?
Thanks
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post #15 of 18
9/15/08 at 12:29pm
Sorry for the late feedback, a bad cpu acts (most of the times) like a bad motherboard. So the only way, for me anyway, to find out is to replace the cpu, if i know for sure that the board is good.

cheers ...
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post #16 of 18
9/16/08 at 12:39pm
try only having a stick of ram, the cpu, and lcd plugged into the replacement motherboard. remove the cd drive, hard drive, etc...

see if it works just with those parts plugged in
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post #17 of 18
2/15/12 at 1:55am

Sorry to reopen an old post, but if someone still has problems like this one, there is a relatively simple repair process of the Maxim chip, which regulates voltage supply to components on the motherboard. The most "famous" model for this Maxim chip issue is the Toshiba m35. Just google "toshiba m35 maxim chip laptop repair" and you'll find a great repair manual that works just fine.

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post #18 of 18
2/15/12 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Mateski View Post

Sorry to reopen an old post, but if someone still has problems like this one, there is a relatively simple repair process of the Maxim chip, which regulates voltage supply to components on the motherboard. The most "famous" model for this Maxim chip issue is the Toshiba m35. Just google "toshiba m35 maxim chip laptop repair" and you'll find a great repair manual that works just fine.

I call it "baking" laugh4.gif

cheers ...
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