MSI GT660 Touch panel (turbo, fan, bt, etc at top of keyboard) problems

hi,

had the unit serviced and upon return the touch panel was doing things of its own - lights coming on/off and enabling disabling hardware
it's been very flaky - managed to get it working for a while but I use it as a desktop replacement so it isn't moved much nor is the touch panel used often

now at the moment it is completely dead, nothing will come on - this after a power down and restart

tried pulling battery and doing the EC reset etc. had used it a few times and it would sometimes help it work again

would anyone here suggest doing a EC firmware flash in DOS as a method of possibly fixing this or is it likely they flexed the cap board or the connecting ribbon cable is damaged? or could it be the EC firmware is flaky (EC reset sometimes seemed to help it work again) and a flash might fix it, i don't want to risk the flash of firmware unless its likely to help - i believe it might be the root of the issues but I'd like to hear form people who have been through similar and/or know this hardware better than I do

another thing I can't quite understand - the power button itself is on the same connector cable and cap board so this also makes me think that if it were a board issue it would affect the power button but that has never failed even with all the flakiness nor has the unit gone to sleep or shutdown on its own, any input on this from anyone?? and if this thinking is right does it lead back to flashing the EC?

would love to get the unit back to full functionality,

really appreciate any feedback, input, advice, help and/or 'duh, why didn't i think of that' etc.
thanks to all

 

You could remove the panel and check the connector.

 

Thanks for your reply - I have done that and reseated it, it 'looks' fine but then those ribbon cables how can you tell.

Do you have any idea if EC firmware flash might do the trick?

 

It also does not appear that this area flexes even if you move the screen hinge up and down but it might move ever so slightly from that or the fan vibration.
Do you know if the 3 metal flanges that poke up are grounds for the cap board? They are directly over copper coated areas on the capacitive board and there is a cutout of the mylar type tape in those 3 areas. The flanges seem to be made of regular metal and not copper/gold/silver plated - if these are grounds could they get slight surface corrosion over time?
Maybe I should pull it and apply an eraser tip to them and clean them.

 

http://forum-en.msi.com/moderator/assembly-guides/gx660-disassemble.pdf one of the flanges is visible in 6.4 and again in 6.5
I don't know if those are just supports or if they ground somehow - if you look at 6.2 you see the copper areas on the bottom of the cap board, there is a mylar special tape that goes over this and leaves open 3 areas (copper color) that I believe align over the top of those flanges - anyone know if this is a potential failure area?

Thanks again to all

 

Those copper areas are just for capacitance for the touch sensitivity and the screwed supports there attach the lcd to the base unit.

 

Do these touch the small flanges that come up as indicated in the pdf I left a link too? The screwed supports are something else.
Maybe flange is the wrong word to describe what I meant - you'd have to see the pdf and reference the shots to be clear.





Would flashing the EC possibly fix the issue I'm describing or should I assume the cap board is defective or the connecting ribbon cable?
Thanks again

 

Point blank is there all that much risk in flashing the EC - I can use the USB/DOS method which should have low risk - battery power and AC power with UPS

 

You can flash the EC and bios (they should be kept in step).

No, those areas are not electrically connected.

 

thanks Meaker, - are you saying if I plan to flash the EC to flash the BIOS first then the EC and then do the EC (full power down) reset procedure?
Would I run into problems flashing just the EC?

I can't find much information on whether the EC is apt to become corrupted on its own accord or not.

Both the BIOS and EC firmware are at the latest release

Have you ever run into a problem where the EC firmware was corrupted and caused similar by chance?

 

No, it's not something I have run into.

 

If EC is corrupted, then you can't even power on the system at all because all of the physical buttons are controlled by it, including the power button.

 

Hi, Thanks for the reply. That is what is odd. The power button has never failed. All other buttons on the Panel are inoperable at the moment

Also I found this post about the GT70 where apparently flashing the EC firmware resolved the issue for several of them.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi...nel-not-working-gt70-dragon-edition-1-a.html#
the Post by KEDTR


What do you think the cause may be then?

 

Could be a glitch, but we don't know for sure unless that user could verify by reversing the firmware to the original version that he had.

 

There is only 1 EC firmware for this model.
I have verified that both the BIOS and Firmware EC versions are the latest from MSI support site.

Kevin do you think there is much real risk for me in just flashing the EC firmware to the same one to see if it helps?
I will boot off USB into DOS mode as per MSI instructions.

Thanks again for your reply

 

You can try, and be sure to perform EC reset when flashing is done.
But if problem persists, then try the version that you previously had without issues.

 

Thanks Kevin, I did the EC firmware (replaced with the same one freshly downloaded as there is only 1 on the website for this unit and it was already installed)
Did EC Reset

No luck

I'm guessing they may have damaged the cap board and/or ribbon cable when It was in the shop as that is when the problem started.


I guess I could flash the BIOS just for the heck of it to see - it already has the latest official BIOS as well
But I doubt I'd have much luck there

SCM and VGA overclock are installed, removed and reinstalled twice to be sure



If you have any ideas let me know, thanks to everyone who replied

 

In this case, contact MSI office to see if you can send the system in for repair.
It's likely that the system has gone out of warranty already, therefore there may be charges associated with this repair request.