Mend > Computer Hardware

how can i findout if my laptop cpu has packed up?

I have a laptop that is about 3 years old now. It started becoming difficult to boot up and this problem was intermittent for a few weeks. It now won't boot up at all. You can hear it trying to read the CD Rom drive because it clicks so I don't think its the CMOS battery. I can also hear the fan on the heatsink coming on when it tries to boot then shuts off again. I get nothing at all just a black screen and it just goes through the boot sequence over and over again.

I wondered if anyone has any experience of this particular model as I would like to try to repair it. I suspect its the CPU as the laptop used to get extremely hot. It would appear that its a common fault as I noticed when looking on ebay for a second hand CPU, someone else was selling the same laptop for spares or repair with exactly the same fault.

bikermaddad
March 2009

Computers, Computer Hardware Years Difficult Problem

sound like the memory has packed in or the hard drive
if you have more than one memory module try changing them around

craig
March 2009

Its highly unlikely that the CPU has gone west. They are incredibly reliable.

It is far more likely to be the hard disk. Having said that, it isn't really possible to guess what is wrong with a computer. (Otherwise I would not have had such a lot of expensive training.)

You need to go thorough a proper set of diagnostics to find out what is wrong. See if you can get a repair manual from the manufacturer's webs site.

T
March 2009