Dead Laptop :'(

I bought a zepto 6214w a year and a half or so ago, turned it on this morning and it was dead- no harddrive activity and the screen doesnt turn on, ive tried plugging in to an external monitor as well with no joy either.

Basically ive emailed Zepto about it and I wanted to know what their support was like and whether they will fix or maybee even replace it as its an old model and they no longer sell it (am I still covered?). Am I in for a rough ride? I recentley bought a replacment battery and charger for it which I couldnt really afford being a student

I just hope that im not left with two expensive paper weights - a laptop and a twelve cell battery. The laptop itself has been stellar up until now, great machine I hope it can get fixed

So any advice/experiences of their support would be great to hear

Cheers guys

 

You should provide more information. In particular, is the laptop completely dead? I.e., can't you even access the BIOS?

Also, have you tried putting the hard disk into another laptop to see if it will work? It probably will have lots of errors while booting (because of different hardware), but if the hard disk is OK it should at least partially boot.

 

Yep no bios (although I cant be sure because the screens dead and the laptop refuses to output to a monitor), I was going to try putting the harddisk in a friends machine but Im not sure whether removing it would void my warranty.

 

Oh I forgot to add when I boot the laptop there is a small four second burst of harddrive activity then nothing it just stops dead..

 

Ah yes, warranty voiding... that sucks (my laptop is 4 years old -- so I can tamper with it at my pleasure).

If you are still covered by warranty time (in EU minimum is 2 years, not sure about your location), I would demand Zepto to fix or replace the computer. Although they don't sell it anymore, they are obliged to comply with warranty terms.

 

Yep seeing as its still in warranty I thought I might as well send it back, anyone got any experience of their service?

 

Hadn't seen this post in my last reply. If this is the case, there's a chance that your HDD has gone bad (some HDD errors prevent even the BIOS booting, I think).

One thing you might try is to put a Linux Live CD in your CD drive to see if it will boot. Live CDs are CDs that allow you to boot to Linux without installing anything into your disk. I'd say it won't work (because you can't even get to the BIOS), but it doesn't cost anything to try.

You can get for example Ubuntu Linux Live CD at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Then burn it to a CD and try it. If this boots up, almost certainly your HDD is scrapped but your laptop is otherwise fine. If it still doesn't boot (likely), the problem might be the motherboard, and if so only a replacement will save you.

 

Thats a really good idea +1 rep for you

If my screen is bust then will the cd be able to output to a monitor?

 

Im not sure whether there is no bios because the screen isnt working

 

I would remove the RAM and then try each module one at a time.

If there's a RAM problem then, in my experience, you will get a blank screen.

Do you get any indicator lights?

John

 

Yep ive tried removing the modules and even replacing them with the origonal zepto ones. I get all the indicators ect just like normal except that:

a) The harddrive stops abruptly within 5 seconds of the laptop being switched on.
b) The screen doesnt turn on.

Im burning the live cd now

 

Ok, I tried the live cd - heres what happens:

The harddrive comes on for five seconds and then the cd drive goes off like its doing something but the screen and the external monitor remain blank. Then after 15 secs or so the cd stops whiring and the laptop goes silent with only the wireless and the power lights on.

 

Did you already try the remove mains and battery and then hold the power button for 30 seconds to try to clear any settings? Is the CMOS battery in the RAM compartment? If so, removal / replacement should definitely reset the BIOS.

I can't think of anything else unless you want to remove the HDD and see if will boot from CD.

John

PS: Zepto service isn't that fast since they use 3 day UPS plus an unknown amount of time in the workshop.

 

Removing the HDD won't void your warranty...
I've done that in several Zepto's (my 6214W and 6224W)

I've had had contact with Zepto NL and they also say it doesn't matter!
And last but not least there aren't little stickers on the HDD-screws so

 

This reminds me of one thing: recently I opened up my laptop to resolder the AC jack. When I reassembled the lappy after one or two days my screen seemed to go "dead". However, if I pointed some light from a lamp to it, I could see a very dim screen -- the backlight cable was not plugged well. I reopened the lappy and I fixed it.

The thing is, the cable that powers the backlight and the LCD is not the same as the cable that takes the screen image itself. So maybe you have a similar problem. To check if you do, try pointing a lamp light to the screen from several directions, while booting, to check whether you can see the boot-up screen appearing. If you can see your screen, but with very little light, almost certainly your backlight power cable broke/disconnected.

As for the Live CD outputting to a monitor, almost certainly it can, but probably you'd need you laptop's monitor active to switch to the secondary display. Most laptops have a key combination to switch displays -- mine is Fn+F10. Have you tried that after your system tries to boot?

Sorry for all these "your problem might be" tries, but you seem to have a non-trivial problem there.

 

Sorry, hadn't seen this in my last post.

With this information, I'd bet either on faulty BIOS settings or a bad HDD. Trying to reset the BIOS settings is a good idea (no idea on how you can do it without entering the BIOS though). Also, try completely removing the HDD (since it doesn't void your warranty) and booting from a CD. This might help if your BIOS is set to boot from HDD without attempting to boot from CD first, and if your HDD is screwed.

Keep us posted!

 

Yep theres a little round battery in the ram compartment, I will remove and replace it

How do I acess the hard drive? Its wrapped in foil (no idea why )

I will try that, however the cd stops spinning afeter 20 secs or so, so im not too sure whether its actually doing anything.

Sure

 

Ok ive reseated the battery and tried shining light on the screen, still nothing. The screen doesnt even flicker or anything when I boot up either. I have a spare 18gb 4200rpm hard disk from a really old lappy lieing around some where, is it work trying putting this in to the zepro and putting the zeptos into the old laptop?

Also if the cables are bust (at the back of the screen) is there away/is it advisable to take a look?

Also is there a member of the Zepto team on the forums at all that I can p.m.?
Oh and im based on the Uk if that helps.
Cheers for the replies, I apreciate all of them, none of them are trivial IMO
Rep for all of you

 

I'm pretty shure that your old hard drive has a different connection than your Zepto's one, so you can't simply switch their places and see if that would solve your problem.

There's usually Zepto UK's manager roaming in these forums. He is known as "ZeptoUK". PM me if you'd like his email adress, i think i have it somewhere written down.

 

An old 18GB hard drive will no doubt be an IDE hard drive, You probably have a SATA hard drive so there will be very little chance of it fitting or working.

 

Awwww

I guess I will probablly have to send it back then, I need it for exams in a month or sos time though. I supose at least it conked out now rather than in july otherwise it wouldnt be still in warranty

 

make sure you let zepto know you need it back for your exams. hopefully they will give you a good turnaround on it.

 

The foil around the HDD makes no different to the removal. You will need to slide it off the connector while lifting the free end. If, for some reason, the HDD is locking the machine, then you should get the BIOS screen showing no HDD.

ZeptoUK hasn't been around recently. Peter ( pef-zepto) is the international support person, but I haven't seem him around either. Rene has been around.

At worst, they should get the computer back to you in a couple of weeks. A dead computer should be easier to fix than mine, which just suffers intermittent shutdowns.

John

 

Thanks for the reasuring posts guys

Its gonna be a long two weeks especially with all the work I get set, at least it will hopefully get fixed

 

ZeptoUK is no longer employed with us, so that's why he's not on anymore. PEF is mostly only on here when i see there's something he needs to reply to.
I'm basically the only regular here. I know that PEF is responding to the emails sent on the web forms on the UK site pretty quickly.

The error sounds most of all like a RAM error, but as it has not helped re-seating or taking out the RAM it sounds most of all like a motherboard error to me.

 

Ok thanks rene, I have emailed someone at zepto but I think I should probablly fill out a web form as that will get a faster response. Where on my laptop is the serial number located? Also is there anyway for me to find out the customer number and the date of purchase as I have lost the origonal invoice when I moved house (this was back in the day before you did email invoices ) or do you noot need that info? Also do you want my current adress or the adress where I was when the laptop was bought, also my dad was the person who bought the laptop for me - shall I put his or my name in the adress field?
All probablly stupid questions but I want to make this as smooth as possible to avoid any potential delays.

 

The serial number can be found by removing the 6 cell battery and reading the label with the barcode on the machine starting with 86 or 87.

Just add the needed information in the message field. The serial number will show the information used when the machine was ordered, but if you are unsure the information are still the same just add it in the message field.

 

Ok cheers Rene, webform sent. Will the laptop be sent to a uk service center or will it have to be sent to all the way to DK?

 

It will be shipped to DK, but it all depends if you have a 2 year pickup service or not, but PEF will be able to check up on that

 

Yep I bought a 2 year warranty for it at the time of purchase, it wasnt called pickup though I think it was called collect and return which is probablly the same thing

 

Yes. It means that Zepto organise the shipping. Some warranties are RTB (Return to Base) which means the purchaser pays the shipping to the service location (but they pay to send it back to you after fixing - Canon printers seem to be RTB).

John

 

If it was bought through NuSystems then they had their own arrangements, but that shouldn't matter or make it any worse for you now even though we don't have them as partners anymore.

 

I had the same problem on my 3415w. I sent in back to zepto and they said that there was a problem with the motherboard. So there replacing it, i should have it back this week.

If your warranty's gone maybe you could by a replacement motherboard for your laptop of zepto.

 

Ok here's an update:

Ive left my computer on my desk for the lat day or so since it broke, I dont know why but I got a feeling to switch it on so I picked it up and out of the ram slot that was open fell a small bit of black plastic (from one of the battery clips that hold in the battery I think).
So anyway I thought what the hell and plugged it in and turned it on: the screen came on and the bios loaded but it was really faint and grainy and then it kept on getting brighter then nothing. Then I realised the live cd was in so I ejected it and suddenly the laptop stuttered and kicked back into life, and the erroe screen for safe mode appeared except it was full of jibberesh (it replaced the word windows with Gorken for example ). I tried booting normally but all I got was a black screen, I tried again and this time plugged in an monitor and the laptop could output to monitor. I then tried booting in safemode with networking and lo and behold im typing this.
Im backing up all my stuff and then im going to try booting as normal and if that fails then im gonna clean install xp. If I cant boot normally after that then I will send it back as there may be a hardware failure.

Any body got any clue on what the hell just happend, because I certianlly dont

Oh and thank you every one who posted for the support

Will keep you guys updated, I doubt this can get any weirder though

 

You mean you get something like "Gorken is starting up in safe mode"??

That is VERY weird. But it's good that you can back up your data I mostly agree with your reasoning, after backing up everything try normal boot, if that fails try reinstalling. However, even if normal boot works I would still reinstall XP just to be safe (once you learn to keep all your installation files and data stored and organized, you can do it in one afternoon).

I won't risk any more possible causes. Your laptop is officially FUBAR.

 

Also another thing: the colouts on my laptop screen are a bit weird I get faint orange lines when I view the screen from an angle. I couldnt boot from the cd I nad but im sure ive got another backup of the cd somewhere.

Yeah gorkens the word it says - what does this mean? Also what does FUBAR mean?

 

Ok when I boot off the cd the spelling is still weird - should I still reinstall?

I just found out what FUBAR means too

I cant boot normally either.

 

Ok further update for those of you who are till interested

I uninstalled the video driver and reinstalled it, now my screen is back to normal

I have run chkdsk and its found errors but it says it cant fix because its in read only mode- how do I get it to boot with my computer?

So much for FUBAR

 

I wouldn't have expected the video driver to mess up the screen display in safe mode.

Does the Windows CD have a chkdsk option? Perhaps use the recovery console and input CHKDSK /F (the /F means fix any problems).

In my experience if CHKDSK can't do its job then it puts a flag in the boot file to run at the next boot-up.

John

 

Indeed it does.

 

Ok everything was working fine last night for about 40 mins and then the display just turned off. I restarted and had the same problem as before - the lasptop could only boot in safe mode - everything before boot up for example when you opress F8 was gibberish, I couldnt boot from the ubutnu live cd and when I took the hard drive out there was still the same problems so im guessing its a hardware issue- probablly the graphics card as I can only boot in safemode when the graphics card is disabled.

Ive emailed zepto and they loftily decided to send me an email promising a response by 8:30 today but I am yet to get a response. Im pretty much fed up/ The laptop was bought through the website uk.zepto.com

 

Thanks for the next installment. Yes, definitely something not right. These erratic problems are some of the worst to troubleshoot.

John

 

Well i can tell you as much as we are closed today because of a public holiday in Denmark. I guess Peter forgot to set up that we where closed in the email system even though i told him to yesterday

 

Ok no problemo. sorry I had no idea that it is a holiday in DK

Thanks for the responses Rene and thanks for responding despite the fact that you are on holiday! Have you had any problems like this with your 6214w?

I guess I will get a response on monday then

Just want to get this sorted as soon as I possible can.

 

Indeed, just when you think everythings fixed and back to normal it suddenly plays up again. I really thought it had miraculouslly fixed itself. Although its weird that reinstalling the driver had such an impact.

 

Haven't had a single problem with my 6214W and it was one of the first to leave our production when we fist got them almost 2 years ago

It just became even nicer when i got the standard 1280x768 glossy LCD exchanged with a 1440x900 matte 6224W LCD panel from a total damaged insurance notebook

It does tend to run hot when i play World of Warcraft (but has never overheated), but it's also equipped with the revision 1 CPU/GPU cooler.

 

I have never had a problem with overheating either

Or any other problems until now

I bought mine in june/july 06

 

Dang this is one long topic of problems and possible solutions

 

Yep. That's one of the things I like best here at these forums: you get help from people who know what they're talking about (best example: a guy from Zepto answering to the problems in this thread), and people are friendly enough to reply to you and KEEP WATCHING the thread.

I usually subscribe to the threads I post in. All of them. And I think many people here do the same.

 

Ok ive reinstalled xp on the machine and im pretty sure its the graphics card which is messing things up as when I install the graphics driver the screen goes blank and I have to reboot in safemode and uninstall the driver to get the laptop to boot normally again.

Whilst I wait for a response from zepto is there a way to make pages scroll better and not jump - its pretty annoying, like a driver that makes the computer do the graphics mroe effectivley without using the graphics card. Ive turne all settings down to minnimum.

Also the orange lines also appear on the external monitor too.