Compal PBL21 barebone built - black screen but stays on

Dear all,

I've built a Compal PBL21 barebone ( ::: Marasst Inc :::) with HM65 chipset which supports the CPU, with the following components:

CPU: i5-2520M ( ARK | Intel® Core)
RAM: 2x4GB Corsair DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM (CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9) ( Corsair Memory)
HDD: 1TB Toshiba 2.5" (MQ01ABD100) ( MQ01ABDxxx (MQ01ABD025, MQ01ABD032, MQ01ABD050, MQ01ABD064, MQ01ABD075, MQ01ABD100) - Toshiba SPD - Product Detail)
SSD: 120GB Kingston SSD Now V-Plus ( Business | Solid State Drives | SSDNow | Kingston)

The problem is that the notebook powers on (fan spins shortly), the power-LED is blue, the charging LED is orange. It stays on, but the screen is black as night. It needs a 5-sec power button push to turn off - odd thing is, it powers up if I open the lid again..! (as long as there was some kind of continues power source)

What have I tried:
- External monitor
- Testing all RAM / slots
- Removed SSD and HDD

I had a gen3 CPU in it before, which obviously didn't work and made the system shut down after 10 secs.

I get the feeling the GPU chip might be defective, but I received the notebook from Ebay as tested but 'new'.

Any thoughts on this?


Thanks in advance!

 

Hey I am the seller and also good that you are here. Like I said I purchased this laptop a week ago, installed both Windows 8 and Windows 7. Theres no way it is broken. Lets get to bottom of this.
Ok, since I already tested the laptop before sending it over to you, the only thing that can give you problem is the cpu or RAM. Since you already tested the RAM(I would suggest getting a ram from another laptop and trying it if it is brand new.)
Also I tried the exact same cpu as you are right now. But still I suggest testing another cpu.

After you tried those do the following
Try one hard drive at a time. Once with only a harddrive in the HD bay and once with only a harddrive in the MAIN hard drive slot.

Actually TEST WITHOUT ANY DRIVES. Just CPU, ram thats it. WIth that you should atleast see the BIOS screen and bootup error message for not having a hard drive.

 

Thanks for responding here, that's great!

As I received the CPU from a renowned source, I don't expect it to be broken. It can be, so I'll have to make sure somehow.

I'm curious though, as the book seems to run, so the CPU can barely be at fault.

I'm just wondering whether there may be something else in play..


Again, thanks for your prompt response!

EDIT: Battery LED is now blue from charging... no change
EDIT2: Okay, now it gets interesting. Regardless if I power it off by holding the power button, it simply reboots. Could there be a short circuit, somehow?
EDIT3: it stopped happening... No clue how witched it is.

 

Do you have another laptop at hand? I want you to get an optical dvd drive from another laptop and put it there. Im just curious about something.

Also when you test the laptop, try posting the result for each setup.
And are you sure that the cpu is placed properly and did you secure it by turning the screw?

I can assure you that the laptop works. I even have a video of it after I assembled my build. I meant to use the video to sell on ebay. But no one was interested in the custom built laptop so I decided to sell it. PS - It is the worst video I produced so far, I stutter a lot and video production is garbage but you can see that the laptop works and it shows that I have two hard drives in there.

 

Yeah I can try another optical drive tomorrow. Why's that, though?

I believe you had it working. It's just annoying if it doesn't work here, but I know you understand this

 

First thing I would do is verify the cpu is seated properly.

You may also want to try plugging in an external monitor to one or both the ext connectors (vga/hdmi).

Failing that re-seat the memory as well, and remove the hard drive. Essentially take it down as bare bones as possible so you can get it in to the bios, once there its all down hill.

 

My apoligies to the seller, the product is working fine.

Don't understand why a reseat of the CPU would help so much, but I did, and it worked. (only had time to try just now).

Cheers mates, on I go!

 

Lol It is completely fine that you contacted me right away. I was worried that it was damaged during transportation. Hope the Dual Hard Drive setup works out for you. Every laptop should have it imo. Enjoy your laptop!

 

Thanks It's a build for a friend, but I just ordered a caddy for my NBLB2. Who uses a DVD-drive anyway!

 

I'm happy to find a place where people talk about this brand in english! I also just purchased a Compal PBL and I have a question and an issue. My question is; Can you upgrade the processor to a 17-2670Qm effectively? My issue is, my wireless isn't working at all, i keep getting adaper errors and it can pick up any of the networks in the area (including my own) I tried updating drivers to no avail.

Can you help?

Wil

 

The i7-2670QM is definitely supported, I use this chip in mine and it flies!

Did you attach the antennas when you installed the WiFi adapter? If so does it appear in Windows device manager? If not you will need to pop off the cover and re-attach the antennas.

 

The adapter was installed when I bought the laptop. When i first got it, it would see all the networks but wouldn't connect. I uninstalled and reinstalled the drives and now it doesn't even see the networks.

 

Yes you can Any 2xxx i series cpu will work. What does it say in device manager about the wifi card? Again solution might be just taking out the wifi card and back in again.

If that doesnt work, then I would suggest delete any preexisting driver for the wifi and installing it again after a reboot.

 

An obvious but possibly forgotten question, have you toggled the wifi switch (left side below the palm rest)?

 

I'll stick to the advise of loudgas and akbisw:
- Any 2nd gen Ivy Bridge mobile CPU will fit and work (i3, i5, i7; dual or quad; even Extreme)
- Check the WLAN switch or button on the laptop casing;
- Uninstall the WLAN-adapter in the Device Manager (tick: remove installed drivers);
- Download the most recent drivers for your adapter (probably found on www.atheros.cz);
- Double-check the WLAN switch or button after a re-install;
- (as the WLAN-adapter came pre-installed, I'd say it fits the system, but Check the antenna-cables on the WLAN-card, and if needed take the system apart;
-- Alternatively you can try a different WLAN-adapter and see if the problems persist.

These barebones are lots of fun and usually come for a great price, but sometimes they're a bit annoying or unclear when building / installing.

And so hard to come by.. I got both I purchased from Ebay (NBLB2 from Germany and the PBL21 from akbisw in the US)..

 

Any updates on your WiFi issue poeticwil ?

 

Finally got the time to check the Wi-Fi. Antennas were connected, there are so many drives listed for the WLAN I have no idea which is correct.

 

How about the wifi switch I mentioned in a previous post?

 

The switch is on. I can see networks again, it just won't let me connect.

 

That sounds more like a Windows or network config issue.

 

I just got one of these on eBay from a different seller. It turns out the drivers on the disk aren't for the wifi card that was in mine. Mine is a Ralink 5392, which I had to download drivers for. Not sure if that helps.

Also in Windows 8 mine won't go to sleep when I close the lid, but Windows 7 does. Probably another software issue to chase down. Good luck with your wifi.