Area-51 M7700 won't get past early-POST

It's a P4 3.20 (540), 6800 video card, two HDD's, wsxga+ screen.


If the laptop is above ~65 degrees and/or has been off for less then 6 hours or so, it will get two thirds of the blue progress bar filled on the first bios screen (where it says Press whatever to enter setup) and then hang there for as long as i leave it.
The HD light comes on when i hit the power button, and stays on for 30 seconds or so while it's doing this.


If i let it sit overnight it will get past that point once (if i restart, no dice).

I've been leaving it in sleep mode at night so i don't have to deal with it getting stuck, but it's been forgetting about the touchpad and/or keyboard when waking up from sleep mode recently, which forces a reboot, which is impossible.

Thoughts?

 

have you tried removing/reseating the components?

try to remove the non-essential components first:
- HDDs
- Optical Drives
- Wifi card
- TV Tuner

Then see if it goes through the POST.

... if it does, then one or a combination of the components might be the issue.

So one by one, re-secure each component back, and turn on the system to see if it will POST.

 

I'll do that when i get home tonight and report back (thankfully, gf has a laptop too, so i'm not completely cut off) as to what happens.
I tried the HDD previously, but now that you mention it the DVD-burnerthing is a decent bet as it don't burn cd's or dvd's (does read 'em).

 

It was the dvd burner!

Ripped it out last night and presto, it can shut down and turn on again when warm, it can reboot, it works!
Still doesn't burn dvd's for a fairly obvious reason, but a new drive runs $30-50 on ebay, which isn't bad at all.


THANK YOU for your help!
My alienware has a new lease on life now

 

its really a re-branded Clevo D900T.... with an Alien-head.

 

Yeah well... I like that alien head

 

So i got a new(er) known good dvd drive yesterday, put it in, and presto! No more booting, just like the old one.

Took it out, and it boots.


So i took the hard drives out to give myself better access to the dvd connector (there is a little circuit board that plugs into the motherboard and has the two EIDE connectors on it) and discovered that in the process of installing the new motherboard about a year ago, the guy who did it forgot the connector, and the ground the hell out of the case to make a slot to put it in. In the process he nailed the motherboard and tore up a couple of traces leading to the connector.

I'm pissed.