Help with Voodoo ENVY M360 (motherboard or video card prob)

I recently bought a used Voodoo ENVY M360 laptop. (Based on the Compal CL-56 chassis)
I bought it broken, and I got it for the cost of 4Gb of ddr2 memory and $30 to cover shipping. I was hoping that the problem was easy, but it is not.
The system cost $3800 2.5 years ago, and I really want to get it back up and running.

I need to figure out whether it is the graphics card, or the motherboard or both which have failed.

Is there a way to determine whether the video card or the motherboard is causing the system to fail to post?

Here is what I tested:
the processor (2GHz Pentium M) works
the (2 x 512mb) crucial pc 2700 cards work
the wireless card works
the dvd burner works the two ac adaptors work
the battery works
the harddrive works
the screen is new

Here is what I am unsure of:
the motherboard
the ati Mobility radeon 9700.

when I go to power her up, the indicator lights for the harddrive and optical drive come on. (they also come on when both are not installed in the system)
Then the fan comes on full for about 5 seconds. Then the fan and harddrive shut off, and the system light still stays green. then I have to unplug the battery and ac so i can restart it. The same occurs everytime I try to restart.
The bios fails to post and the backlight fails to come on. The processor and video card do not get warm. The battery charges, when the system ac is plugged in.

I have tried booting with all of the extras removed, nothing. I tried booting outside of the case and nothing. I tried an external monitor and no display.

Here is what I think:

I was thinking, if the graphics card was dead, the screen inverter would still be powered and it would turn on. I have tested the processor in another computer, and in the M360 it does not get hot. This is how I tested the motherboard. I took the heatsink off and I held my finger to the pentium M's core. I powered it up, and it did not get hot at all. I know the processor works, and even in 5 seconds, it should get warm. I powered it on and off
repeatedly about 10 times and the core did not even get remotely warm.

I also noticed, that no matter what I do, the speakers will never beep. the speakers are connected to the motherboard. I cant get anything to make it beep. If it were the graphics card it would beep, and the screens backlight would at least come on. Well the backlight does not get power, because the board does not work.

The indicator light for the harddrive and optical drive come on when I put the ac power plug in, even when the harddrive and optivcal drive are not present. I also traced the leads of the fan, and found that the fan is controlled by a maxim controller, a thermal diode and a violtage regulator, which are on a separate circuit from the rest of the motherboard. This is why the fans come on.

I know when my Quadro died on my Voodoo ENVY U709, the screen inverter would still come on, and the screen would come up all artifacted. Since the M360's bios and screen backlight do not come on, I believe it is the motherboard.

The Bios battery has 2.75V, so it is not a dead bios battery. Everything is connected properly, so all I have to say is that the motherboard has failed. I sure hope that the graphics card still works.

I have two options for what happened:
the motherboard died, and the graphics card still works
or
the motherboard and the graphics card are dead.

I am going to call Voodoo sales tomorrow and see if I can get any price estimates.

Guys if you can think of anything, I am willing to try


It is so pretty, I want it to work again:



K-TRON

 

Hmm... thats a tough call.

EDIT: Its a compal... I just looked at the specs.

 

It is definitely a compal CL-56. Every part says cl-56 on it. the motherboard and graphics card are made by hannstar, and they have model number dcl56-xxxxxxx

It is about 2.5 years old.

K-TRON

 

K-TRON,

Since you bought the system used and pre-broken, did the original owner mentioned what exactly happened to the system to be in it's current state?

Anyhow, onto the actual problem. From what I can tell from your analysis, its actually quite thorough by using the process of elimination. It definitely sounds like the motherboard is the source of the problem. I'm actually thinking that it may be a bad BIOS from either a bad flash or something. It' s highly unlikely that the graphic card is also broken.

There are a few things that might just do something that you have not tried yet.

1. Force BIOS boot error by purposely not installing RAM or CPU. Pull all the mini-pci adapters and drives and leave it completely barebones and power it up. Perhaps you might get a beep somewhere, unlikely but worth a shot.

2. Try pulling the BIOS battery and leave it out for a good 20mins, before trying to boot again. When you do try booting up, hit all the top Function F1-F12 keys as well try holding insert and delete key. Perhaps you might trigger the BIOS firmware upgrade screen?

3. Perhaps the Graphic card/9700 is not properly connected. Try reseating the card and inspect the connection, although it's unlikely to beep(well maybe depends on the Notebook BIOS, most don't have a PC speaker).

4. There should be an open JP1 or J1 Jumper located near the RAM slots, that is the CMOS/BIOS reset, use a screwdriver to short the jumper. Remove the battery before doing that. This procedure is similar to desktop boards CMOS jumpers. Use a HDD jumper, if you don't feel comfortable using a screwdriver to short it.


These are all the things I can think of for now...

 

K-TRON I managed to find a CL-50 on Ebay, not sure if this would be worth it, however it might be something you may want to get. With this you can have a perfectly working M360 with the 9700, sell the CL-50 after your done with the broken board, you might get about $100 or so just as a parts machine and therefore cutting your losses.
Here's the ebay link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Compal-CL-50-Laptop_W0QQitemZ290208081769QQihZ019QQcategoryZ177QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Of course his $300 is a little high, wait til there is absolutely no interest and throw an offer at him via email.

 

Try and connect with chowbow on the Mutthaboards. He completely tore apart and rebuilt his machine. There were pictures and a looong review of the process posted there, and, I think here, too. You could search I guess for his posts here, but I don't remember his NBR screen name. He described everything he did, day by day, including what he bought, where, etc. He works now for HP and might have a connection with somebody who can help you. Good luck.

 

I will give brian an email.
I figured out the difference between the Compal Cl-50 and the CL-56. the Cl-50 has an ati radeon 9000, and the cl-56 has a ati radeon 9700.

I will try some of the suggestions, and I will let you know what happens.
First I need some sleep
and then I need to find a soldering iron to remove the bios battery
and then some patience, and luck.
I dont want to have to call Voodoo and spend a lot of money on this laptop.

K-TRON

 

Yep, I think the CL-50 board is different from the Cl-56, however, I've also found that Acer also released the same Compal notebook under the model name 291LMi, so you might be able to find parts there. Is the graphic card modular, as I don't see in the pics you sent me.

Solder iron to remove battery? From the pics you sent me, the battery just looks like it slides out from under the clip.

 

Found this repair service on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Acer-TravelMate-230XV-291LMi-630XCi-Motherboard-Repair_W0QQitemZ150112031797QQihZ005QQcategoryZ51162QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

 

Chowbow said that I have to:
Short jumper J1 on the bottom of the mobo, right by the RAM slots to reset the BIOS. That's the last ditch effort before ditching the whole setup. The mobo beeps if no RAM is present.
Just as you mentioned D3X, awesome. I wil + rep you for that.

I hope that this works when I test it in the morning.

K-TRON

 

Well if all goes well, looks like you might just get my momentus? lol

 

Okay, I found the J1 jumper



Now what do i do?
I take the memory and battery out, then hold a screwdriver across the jumper, and then I press the power button?

K-TRON

 

Well I tried shorting the jumper, but I have had no luck. I should probably remove the bios battery. I need to find a soldering iron to do so.

K-TRON

 

I tried again, I removed the bios battery, and no beeps, no anything. The fan comes on for 5 seconds, and shuts off.

No processor, memory or anything installed
I only have the motherbaord, fan, video card, speakers, and power button installed.

K-TRON

 

Try doing it with the Processor and RAM installed?

 

Just tried, nothing

I think its time to call Voodoo, and find out how much a board goes for.

K-TRON

 

I tried powering it up without the graphics card, and it still only rund for 5 seconds. That means it is not the graphics card.

K-TRON

 

Damn. Well, looks like it might be the board then. I was really hoping J1 would breath some life back.

 

So I am 100% sure that the motherboard is dead. I tried the processor again in another laptop, and it booted up.
So time to call Voodoo.

Thanks a lot guys.
I really wish that Jumper would have fixed it though.

K-TRON

 

Good luck! Let us know how it goes and what the damage report will be(to your wallet).

 

Voodoo has not given me a quote yet, but all I know if it is expensive, I am going to have to buy a good fatherboard to straighten my motherboard out.

K-TRON

 

ive had a voodoo m350 project going for a while now, i bought it off ebay for $70 sight unseen and am very pleased with it. the seller repersented it with a dead motherboard, i took everything out of it, held the motherboard in my hand and shorted j1, the cmos battery is that green battery on the wire, i dont think that thing that appears to be a battery thats soldered to the board is a battery.

with nothing connected i then proceeded to plug in the power button board and ac adapter to it and turned it on and let it shut it self off, then i installed the, video card, one stick of ram, cpu and cpu heatsink. and it came right back to life, powered up and posted. im not sure if that will help you but i revived a d900t mobo the same way in the past. (powering on with no cpu, no ram, no video card ect)

good luck with your m360 if you havnt already revived it

its sitting with windows xp loaded on it, waiting for me to find a screen, if anybody knows the correct brand and part number for a cl50 please let me know. currently there is a hitachi from a cl52 in there and its the wrong resolution.

 

thanks Matt
Unfortunately my system will not boot with any configuration set. I have tested all of the parts in a identical system my friend owns, and everything checks out except for the motherboard.
I cant find a new motherboard for less than the $400 Voodoo charges, so it will sit on the project table until I can get the time to test each component on the motherboard.
My current job has me going from 6Am to 8PM, so I will not have a chance for some time.

I hope you can get your m350 to work, the 350 is a compal cl-50.
the m360 is a cl-56. The only difference between the two is the graphics card.

K-TRON

 

alright i found a screen. after alot of cross referencing i determined that any sxga+ screen off of a dell inspiron 8200 will work perfectly on compal cl50 just felt it was note worthy the test screen i used was out of my 8200, its a samsung LTN150P2-L01 (l01 is manufacturing location)

its alot cheaper to get a used lcd from an 8200 as parts are more plentiful vs lcds listed for the cl50.