Help with Studio 1537

I have a 1536 that I thought had a dead motherboard. I bought a 1537 motherboard, T9600 CPU & a CPU fan & heatsink. Finally all the parts showed up & I got it installed. Unfortunatly all this new hardware & still same problem. When you turn it on the media lights flash on & then off & the DVD drive makes some noise. The display doesn't turn on & no HDD activity. I know the 4G of DDR2 is good & the HDD is good as I tested them in another laptop. Any help would be helpful. I would think that I would get some HDD activity ( noise & HDD light ) if the display was dead.

 

That's interesting... usually swapping out the motherboard fixes these types of problems.

Since you said RAM and HDD are tested and working, I'm going to guess it's screen or power supply related.

Here are some things to start testing:
Make sure your screen is not broken. Try hooking up the laptop to an external monitor to see if displays anything.

Another possibility is that your laptop charger is broken and isn't supplying enough power. Usually, Dell's power bricks are smart enough to let you know when they're not working properly... it never hurts to confirm by using another Dell power brick or trying yours on another Dell system.

Make sure your processor is seated properly on the new motherboard. Also check that the heat sink cables are properly connected to the motherboard. Some boards will not POST if the heatsink fan is disconnected. (Usually applies to desktop boards.)

Make sure the hard drive connection to the motherboard is good (not damaged and is working).

Make sure the RAM is seated properly.

I'm out of ideas...hope it helps.

Good luck and keep us posted

 

I just got done reseating / checking ALL cable connecion / CPU - RAM seating & all was good. Also hooked up an external monitor with no luck. There is a battery level tester built into the battery & it shows fully charged. I wish I had a working 1537 laptop to swap componets around until I found the bad one. I think I might have to go find a bare bone 1537 for sale on E-Bay. Could the BIOS on this H281K motherboard not support the T9600 CPU? Could a dead BIOS battery be the culprit?

 

BIOS support for the T9600 might be a problem; however, a dead BIOS battery shouldn't cause POST failure...it should just reset your BIOS settings every time you disconnect battery and ac power.

 

Would I have to buy a 2GHz processor to be able update the BIOS? If the BIOS didn't support the T9600 would it not power up at all?

 

I believe you just need a CPU that was originally listed as an upgrade option for the Studio 1537. For example, when they were still selling these laptops, you could customize the CPU to be:
T6400
T6500
T6600
P8400
P8600
T9300
T9500
etc.

I think it just has to be one of these CPUs. I think finding a bare-bones 1537 is probably your best bet, unless you can find someone with one of those CPUs willing to let you borrow their CPU to test / flash BIOS with.

 

My wife's Toshiba Satellite A505 has a T6600, but it's under warrenty. It dosen't look the easiest to get to the CPU unlike the 1537. Maybe I could find an upgrade CPU for her.

 

I ended up buying a used 1537 off E-Bay. It should be here in a few days, then the parts swapping begins. I'll let you know what my finding are.

 

Oh wow, you are very dedicated to getting this 1537 working. Best of luck to you my friend and do keep us posted. I'd want to know what to do if mine breaks one day...which by the looks of the build quality, isn't that far off.

 

I guarentee you I will figure this thing out. I've spent a grand now trying to get this stupid thing working. The good news is hopefully I will be able to make atleast half of it back by selling off un-needed components / laptop. I'm just not sure what I have to do to update the BIOS.

 

Okay we have made some progress. I installed the T9600 into the 1537 I bought on E-Bay & everything is working great. I took the T6400 from the new 1537 & installed it in the other computer. That computer actually comes to life as a Studio 1535 ( not the 1537 motherboard I thought I was buying ) BIOS revision A05. It stops with a ***Processor Microcode Update Failure*** The revision of processor in the system is not supported. After I strike the F1 key to continue & try to start Windows normally it very quickly flashes a blue screen & starts to reboot which takes me back to the ***Processor Microcode... If I Launch Startup Repair it comes up with Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically. I need help, where do I go from here? Different CPU? Wipe HDD & start from scratch?

 

Yes, it looks like you received a 1535 motherboard not a 1537 one. I would write an email or something to the seller who sent you the board... If they were advertising a 1537 motherboard, they should provide what they advertised.

The Studio 1535 and 1537 share the same basic board design except that the 1537 uses the newer Intel PM45 chipset while the 1535 uses the older Intel PM965 chipset.

The newer PM45 supports more processors than the PM965 (namely newer processors with 1066MHz FSB such as the T9600 you were attempting to use.)

The old PM965 chipsets were originally designed to work with older Core 2 Duo (Merom); however, they were still compatible with first generation Core 2 Duo (Penryn) CPUs perhaps requiring a BIOS update.

Processors that will work with the 1535 PM965 board are:
works right out the box
Core 2 Duo T5xxx
Core 2 Duo T7xxx

Processors that might work with the 1535 PM965 board are:
need updated BIOS
Core 2 Duo T8100
Core 2 Duo T8300
Core 2 Duo T9300
Core 2 Duo T9500

Processors that will not work with the 1535 PM965 board (but will with 1537's newer board) are:
Core 2 Duo T6xxx
Core 2 Duo T8xxx
Core 2 Duo T9xxx
Core 2 Duo P7xxx
Core 2 Duo P8xxx

Hope that information helps. Let me know if you need clarification or want to know about a specific CPU.

Again, I'd check with the seller of the supposed "1537" motherboard and make sure they didn't send the wrong part or false advertise. If you're stuck with this 1535 motherboard and want to make use of it, you must get one of the CPUs in the first or second list.

Best of luck.

 

It was listed as a 1535/1537 motherboard. I knew about the different chipsets. I just wish I knew what Dell motherboard numbers where ATI & PM45 for use in a 1537. Time to contact the seller & see if we can work out a deal. Thanks for the information above.

 

I have a lead on a ATI board with a GM45 chipset ( according to seller ) or a T7800 CPU. I think I may go for the MB as I really want the ATI graphics & use my T9600. I just hope I will be able to sell the other MB & not lose to much money.

 

Ah, sounds like the best bet. Good luck and hopefully it'll work this time.

 

KingRaptor I just noticed you have a 1537 w/ATI. I was wondering if you could tell me what the DP/N number is on your motherboard? It is on a sticker under the DIMM B DDR2 RAM. That way I now when I find a motherboard that will work with my T6400 & T9600.

 

I made an offer on a P171H motherboard ( 1537 w/ ATI ). I hope he accepts my offer. Then I'll sell my H281K ( 1535 w/ ATI ). I really don't want to go after a T7XXX CPU to make the H281K work. I also won a backlit keyboard tonight.

 

Nicely done my friend. The backlit keyboard is awesome but it has more flex than the regular one. Typing on it has a mushy feeling to me.

 

I scored a refurbished, never installed P171H for $150 shipped to my door on E-Bay. I really love the " Best Offer " option.

 

I finally have this 1536 converted to a fully functioning 1537. Here are some DP/N. You will want a P171H motherboard ( ATI Graphics ) & you will then need a 0M139C heatsink / fan. I went with a Intel T9600 processor ( 2.8 GHz ) but any Intel processor that works with the GM45 chipset should work. I had to reformat the HDD & reinstall Vista ( I think when the MB / AMD CPU failed it corrupted the HDD). As a result of buying a used 1537 off E-Bay I upgraded to a 9 cell battery & 90 watt AC adpter. I just need to sell the extra 1537, the H281K motherboard, & the extra 0M139C heatsink / fan ( I got tired of waiting for it to come from Hong Kong ). I still need to confirm if the AMD Turion X2 64 is dead, if not then I can sell it. I may try to get a few bucks off the dead motherboard & the AMD heatsink / fan.

 

Good job getting everything done. I used to have a 1535 years ago...it eventually died and they gave me a 1555, which then died a month after the warranty expired.

I wish more laptops these days had the sort of ease of access to the internals that the 1535/1537 series did.

 

I agree. I wanted to try to swap AMD processors with my grandma's Acer but that would require a complete disassemble, so I didn't. That is one feature I have come to love about my Studio 1536. I guess if it's too easy to swap parts they can't charge an arm & a leg to install an upgraded part.