Seeking help from the experts

Hi there,

I bought a faulty Compaq Presario R4000 from ebay. The reason I bought it instead of a new or a second hand working laptop is my tight budget, and that I have a bit of experience on opening laptops for upgrade (CPU, Memory...).

I’ve been told by the seller that the laptop just stopped working suddenly while he went to the kitchen to fix himself a cup of coffee. That said, the laptop is in excellent esthetic condition.

I was able so far to test the follow parts in my old laptop and all of them work fine:
Ram
DVD-RW
Hard drive
WiFi mini PCI card

Questions:
1. Is there anyway to find out if the motherboard and/or the CPU are faulty without buying another motherboard or CPU to test the laptop with? As I said before been in a tight budget I can’t afford to spend money on new parts unless I’m sure that the existing one are faulty.

2. When I plug the power cord on the laptop, the power supply green LED turns ON. Is this a sign of a healthy power supply? If not could you please tell me an efficient way to check the power supply.

3. How can I test the LCD screen?

4. If the motherboard is faulty, will the battery charge when the charger is connected to the laptop?

The laptop is Compaq Presario R4000 with the following configuration:
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
512 mb
100 gig
ATi X200
DVD-RW
WIFI
15” WVGA (I think it’s WVGA but not 100% sure)

I hope you guys can help me to fix this laptop, because it’s a nice machine that I would like to keep, and because it’s a killing machine in comparison to my aging old laptop a Compaq Evo 1015, 256mb, 40gig, 15”, DVD/CD-RW, ATi igp 320m.

Thanks for your help.

 

Does something happen when you press the power button? Lights, sound? Can you sense a strange smell from the laptop when it's connected ( I believe your power-supply is OK).
You should be able to check the MB with a volt meter. A common problem with older HP laptops was the connection between the charger and the MB, which required resoldering..or an alternative power supply through the Expansion Port (special cables available through HP).

Is the battery OK? Any damage to the compartment? I'm asking because a year ago HP recalled a number of batteries which could potentially harm severely the notebook. I know it because I have zv6000 (the HP twin to R4000) with very similar specifications.

 

vassil_98 thanks for your reply

No thing happens when I press the power button. All the LEDs stay off. I noticed that the laptop was open before.

I took the laptop apart to get access to the second memory slot. I also checked the CPU. It looks fine with no messing pin and no burning marks. I didn't check the connection between motherboard-charger I'll do it later.

Could you give me more addvice on how to check the mother board with a volt meter, or point me to a website that discuss the subject.

No idea about the state of the battery. Can I check it with a volt metre too?
The battery compartiment looks OK.

The general state of the Laptop is more than fine. The previous owner was keeping it in a carring bagge if not in use. I thought I'll fine the interior of the laptop dusty, but no it was rather clean.

Thanks again

 

Just a brief hint, as I got to go. Take a look at this HP manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00364919.pdf

Here are some other guides as well though the one above is the useful one for your case.

 

I find it kind of suspicious that the laptop just randomly died. Electronics don't usually just die without warning. When you opened it up was there any signs of spill damage such as stickiness or corrosion?
I'd also be willing to guess if the computer "just died", the LCD and inverter are probably fine.

 

Hi there,

Thanks for the link for links though I already downloaded them and use them to open the laptop.

There was no sign of any damage of any kind, no stickiness or no corrosion

Is there a way to test the lcd?

Thanks

 

Hi everyone,

This what I decided to do. I'll buy a cheap AMD sempron socket 939 CPU and use it to test the laptop. If the laptop turns on, this means that my CPU is dead. If not that means that the motherborad is dead.

But before I go ahead, any comment on what I'm attending to do?
By the way, did anyone heard of a laptop dead CPU?

 

Hi, it's me again.

I did a bit of homework and after chating a bit with an HP technician I've been pointed to the below link.
http://bpr.hpordercenter.com/ebpr/landingpage.aspx
this link shows all the laptops that had or may have similar issues to the one discribed by "vassil_98" at the beggining of the thread.

This confirm, I think that the battery is OK.

 

Quick suggestion if you haven't done this already. Even if the battery isn't bad by design, remove it and try to turn the power on with only the AC power connected. Old batteries past their useful lifespan can cause the power circuit to malfunction, causing random shutdowns and preventing computers from turning on.

 

The CPU tends to be the safest part in any laptop...I would be very very surprized if the CPU is down. It would be easier if you can find a desktop with an AMD processor and test the CPU on its motherboard (your Athlon should be a desktop CPU)

 

Hi there,

I tested all possible configurations, with and without battery and the result is still the same.

This is good news, unfortenately I don't have a socket 939 motherboard to test the cpu and I don't know anyone who has one.

I also checked the connection between the charger and the MB and it seems fine. (see attached photos)

I found a motherboard in ebay.com for $240 (£123) + $40 for delievery to the UK. Should I buy it.

Many thanks.

 

Theoretically, if everything else works, the new mobo will solve the problems. Yet, it is risky, having in mind that we don't know what the real problem is. The new MB is a solid investment as I can imagine you gave at least 100 pounds for the laptop itself, which means that you'll be almost at the price of new low-end notebook.
Changing the MB may cause problems with windows activation (OEM versions are locked to the MB and the BIOS) but a bunch of other thigns may go wrong. How much would HP charge for a repair?

Btw, what's the yellowish line in the low-right corner of mobo1.jpg? It seems like a spilled liquid or is it a cable?

 

Hi vassil_98

The line in the low-right corner under the transparent plastic is a cable. and you're right I payed £170 for the laptop.

I don't know how much HP will charge. I would have thought that they charge for the complite replacement of the motherboard.
I know that the price for a new mobo is $550 (from hp.com)

 

Sounds like a wire that's encased inside the hard plastic of the motherboard fried, as you indicated all parts and power supplies work fine. I don't think it would be worth it to shell out for a new mobo for the Compaq, but if you're interested in doing it as a learning experience or hobby then by all means go for it. Also, the LCD should be fine if the connector from it to the on-board video card is intact and your inverter is functioning properly. Unfortunately I do not know how you could test this without a working mobo.

 

first a big thanks for every one for the help and the advice.

I received the new motherboard on monday. it took me about 2 hours to install it, and every thing is ok except:
1- The bios shows the motherboard/laptop as an HP Pavilion zv6100. (but I'm not worried about that cause both laptops are similar)

2- I'm not able to get the mouse pad (TouchPad) to work. I'm pretty sure that I connected the ribbon that goes from the mouse pad to the motherboard. furthermore, the Touchpad light lighten up when I push the Touchpad on/off button (page 1-21 in the maintenance guide - link below). I'm using the Presario R4000 drives, but I've just noticed that the Pavilion zv6100 uses a different Touchpad driver. I'll test it later when I get home... Please if you think that it has nothing to do with the drivers but it some thing else, please let me know.

3- I didn't play a lot with the laptop yet, cause I was a bit busy. I'm bit worried because during the time when I was installing windows I didn't hear the fans spining. So my question is: if the temperature goes up an the fans don't spin the laptop will only turn off to protect the cpu from frying, isn't it? Is the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ a cool processor (I though that desktop cpus run usually at high temperatures)? or is there something wrong with the board temperature sensors?

4-I installed all the drivers and tested the usbs, the wifi, the memory card reade, the speakers. Can anyone tell me how I could test the firewire, the express port and the docking station port if I don't have devices compatible with these ports? the motherboard I bought was sold to me as new, I just wont to confirm that every thing is functional.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00364919.pdf

To finish, my old laptop (compaq evo n1015v) is giving me a headache. since last summer the windows button on the left side of the keyboard alter between working and stopping. About a month or so ago all the following buttons: 5, 6, R, T, F, G, V, B start to act the same as the windows one. When they stop responding I have to lift up the laptop a bit to get them to respond again (most of the time I use the laptop in my laps). I checked the connection between the laptop and the keyboard and it's not loose. I even added two layers of type to the back of the keyboard ribbon to make it thicker, thinking that the origin of the problem was a lose connection.
So my question is: do I need to get I new keyboard because one of the wires connected to the 5, 6, R, T, F, G, V, B buttons is broken? or is it my motherboard that developped a crack or need to be resoldering due to the stress generated by using the laptop in my laps instead of a desktop?

You see the evo is my first laptop and I don't know exactly why but I'm able to let it go. I think I'm been sentimental.

N.B. Gator you said that probably one of the board wires of the Presario R4000 have fried. Any idea on how and why this has happpened?

 

No suggestions?