CF-19 bricked motherboard

Long time not been on.

Anyway I've moved up a few notches since last I was on, now got a CF-53 to replace my CF-51 and also 3 CF-19s.

Unfortunately being a complete numpty I bricked the Mobo in one of the CF-19s, a MK4 while swapping the dual touch screen from a MK3 onto it (forgot about removing the battery of all stupid things). Does anyone know if a MK5 motherboard is a straight up swap into a MK4 as MK4 mobos seem to be rare as hen's teeth. At the moment I have another CF-19 MK4 which I now have swapped over the dual touch screen from the MK3 and it's working good and the MK3 working with standard Touch screen but would like to get the other one up and running and then I'll probably sell one of them.

Alternatively someone may be able to diagnose the problem I have, on startup the power, wireless and screen brightness tablet buttons flash. I know it's not a screen problem as I then swapped the screen onto the other one and it worked fine, the battery is fine (tested on another one). I'm wondering if it is the power board that has gone.

Still if I don't get it working, it's not the end of the world as I have one fully maxed out MK4 with Dual Touch, GPS, GOBI, 128GB SSD, emissive keyboard and a MK3 with touch, WWAN and rubber keyboard. The MK4 is running Windows 8.1 64bit great, the MK3 is running Windows 7 32bit.

Plus my CF-53 is like a breath of fresh air running 8.1 64bit with 8GB memory.

Gonna have to start clearing out my old stuff as it's starting to get ridiculous - CF-28, CF-18, CF-07, CF-51 and now 3 x CF-19, CF-53 and 3 Itronix IX325 Duo Touch. Starting to look like a collector.

Cheers
Andy

 

Try removing the main power, battery and cmos battery, and it would not hurt to pull the ram as well. Cycle the power switch multiple times, holding it on for a few seconds each time. Install the cmos battery, one stick of ram, and plug in the main power. See if it boots into BIOS. If it does you can install the rest of the ram and main battery.

The correct term is 'enthusiast', not collector.

 

Thanks, good points, I'll give it a go. I was hoping that maybe there is a chance I haven't completely killed the motherboard especially as I have just received the memory upgrade for it .

Got to put a new hinge and screen harness together for the screen then I'll put it together and see how it works doing those things.

And I must be very enthusiastic

 

I hope it works for you. If not, you might have to replace a fuse on the system board. Worry about that after you see if the power pull reset works.

Yes, it looks like you are getting to be very enthusiastic. Nice selection of units.

 

Thanks - is the fuse easy enough to replace?.

I have to say it's like moving forward 20 years with the 53 and the 19 MK4. I've always loved Toughbooks for the strength and functionality however the performance on my older ones (although the 51 was fine) was a bit slow. These ones are impressively quick and still have all the other nice things (still don't think the CF-18/19 would be as strong as my 28 which I'd still rely on if strength was the ultimate thing - not sure my house is as strongly built as that thing.

 

The fuses are small surface mounted components. I have never had to replace one myself, but others here have. It is easier if you are good with soldering iron. Here are some post bout the fuses and replacing them.

https://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=TEST+site%3Aforum.notebookreview.com%2Fpanasonic#pws=0&q=fuse+replace+site:forum.notebookreview.com%2Fpanasonic

Like I said earlier, worry about it if the power pull reset does not work. Research on the fuses is not a bad thing though.

 

Sounds like concealed mode might be on. Press Fn-F8....

 

If u toggle Caps Lock or Num Lock, will the LED light up?
If yes, ur board is working. Check next with an external monitor. Maybe u have a similar failure as someone before.
Had u meanwhile checked the fuses?

 

Well after much messing about, trying different things and finally taking the motherboard out and having a good look with a magnifying glass I found what the problem was. Simple one in the end, a bent pin in the connector for the screen (the larger of the two connectors). Must have been a bit ham fisted with it when putting it back together. Straightened the pin out carefully and it's back working again, touchscreen only but I've also managed to get a MK2 with a knackered screen but working digitizer so I'm going to put that one in the Mk4 and it will then be a working dual touch - that will be two working MK4 dual touches so I'll probably sell one. I've also got a MK3 with dual touch, GPS, GOBI etc which I'll either sell or keep and then on top of that two CF-18s, one a MK2 with GPS and one a MK1 just basic digitizer model so I'll probably sell both of those. Thanks for everyone's help on this MK4, as usual this is definitely the place to come.

Cheers
Andy

 

Well after getting it working, in the end it went again, short on the screen caused the fuse to really go this time. So I figured a new motherboard was worth a go as my soldering at that sort of level isn't up to much. Couldn't get hold of a Mk4 motherboard but a MK5 one came my way and I figured I'll give it a go. Well it swapped straight in and works great so now I have a MK5 in a MK4 case (albeit without the 6000nit screen). So for future reference the MK4 and MK5 Mobos are interchangeable if anyone needs to know.

I might now see if I can either get the MK4 one fixed or try my best to fix it myself (need to practice a bit first but I have a couple of busted Mobos that I can practice on and just got myself a decent magnifying glass and small soldering iron.

The addiction is getting too much now as I now have 4 working CF-19s (mk4, Mk4/5 hybrid, mk3 and mk2 camera edition) and only one pair of hands

Cheers
Andy