CF-30 MK1 Video Driver Appears To Have Killed My Toughbook!

So I am loading W7 on a CF-30 MK1... Like I always do I run the UPBIOS first to change the BIOS... Then I run the Video Driver that I always run. Then the laptop gives me the BSOD like it always does... But every other time... I am okay after the first and only BSOD as it always loads on the second time. This time it didn't. The first BSOD took a little longer than usual to recover... I booted it up again and it BSOD'd again before even getting into Windows. I boot again and it goes into Windows.

I run the Video setup again and it looks like the driver is working as it gets further along... Like it always does. Then the screen goes blank and the only thing I have showing is the green indicator showing the laptop is on and the orange charge light for the battery. Nothing else.

I let it sit there for a minute or so and... Nothing. So I shut the laptop down, pull out the battery, DVD and hard drive and try to boot into the BIOS... NOTHING! It's like this thing is DEAD! It doesn't pass post or anything. The orange battery light is on... But that is it.

This REALLY burns me up as it was the nicest one out of the 3 I just got in today and I just finished doing all my mods to it... I took out the factory GPS and put in mine, maxed out the RAM, cleaned it all up.... Sheesh!

Anyone else have an issue like this?

 

Rick , I lost track on how many times I up and down graded my 30 MK1 but never had a problem. For sure some thing happened during the update, since you pulled the caddy it's not video drivers.

 

Yeah... I've tried every combination... Take out everything and leave AC and try to boot... Try to boot just off of battery, take out DVD, etc.... Nothing works.

This is the freakiest thing I have every had happen while working on a Toughbook.

 

Try to pull out all the ram and install only one not the one you pull it out, then the cmos battery for atleast a couple second before to plug in. And the last, take out the Wi-Fi card. Then reboot if still nothing take all out the add on hardware.


Unplugging the Cmos battery is important to force the unit into default setting


teo

 

Rick,
Try the power pull reset? When I was messin with those GPS mods, I forgot about the media bay battery being in. At one point the CF30 was as dead as yours. I was as unnerved as you are. I pulled all power sources and held the power switch on for 15 seconds or so. The CF30 came back to life. I must have confused something on the mb, or as Jeff says, "scrambled the electrics."

 

I do have a diagnostic card for laptops. It's mini PCI and mini PCIE. 2 digit codes. I have not used it in quite a while. I just stumbled upon it on New Years day. I can mail it to you to borrow if you like.

 

Nope... Teo had it... I pulled the RAM and stuck in a stick of 512... Then pulled the CMOS for a few minutes. I tried it then and NOTHING. Took off the keyboard and removed the wifi card and it booted up without the DVD and hard drive in. I reset the BIOS... Set it to default, stuck the wifi card back in and NOTHING. I just removed the wifi card and it booted back up... I put the hard drive back in to boot it up without the wifi card. I thought I would go into safe mode this time... As soon as it started to scroll the screen just went black.

I'll start all over tomorrow and reload W7... I've been working on Toughbooks for almost 8 years and I have never seen anything like this. WEIRD!

EDIT: The Toughbook Disease is rough... Reloading W7 now.... Who needs sleep?

 

One of the things I like to do before reinstalling any operating system is to fill the hard drive with zeroes. This removes any sort of corruption that lies on the disk because more often than not I've never had Windows properly reload if I don't (including viruses and whatnot).

 

Well... Just loaded W7 again... Worked great. Then I reinstalled the wifi card and it is dead again...

I'll try another card again tomorrow... It's getting too late for me..

 

Hey, Rick! That card must be headed into your bin. I have a few of that and also ram. One time I bought two unit of CF-30 and the guy said its dead for parts. When power on it only lighted the power and battery led. I knew right away that it might be RAM or Wi-Fi card and I was right when I received the item. Anyway, I bought the unit only for 80buck each without the hdd and caddy only. Its like win or loss

teo

 

Well... As it turned out there was a tiny pice of solder that had somehow gotten onto the end of my GPS ribbon cable. I removed the GPS and inspected it under the 10X. When I flicked my soldering iron to clean it when putting it together... Some must have landed on the end of the ribbon cable. A one-in-a-million thing. I cleaned it off with my fingernail and all is well.

It's the little things that drive us crazy...At least me!

Thanks for everyone's help... It was killing me so I stayed up to fix it. It is fixed now!

 

I just new you would stay up and figure it out... :laugh:

 

When I upgraded to windows 7 a newer driver was installed automatically. What is the benefit, if any, of forcing the older driver to be installed?

 

Found the answer Bob...

 

I want working hotkeys...

 

OK I installed the older driver, got the BSOD and it rebooted. Took a long time to load Windows and blinked a few times. The hot keys work about the same but now the on screen display is more visible while adjusting. Other than that, I see no difference.

 

I seem to remember it working as you describe one time for me... But I could never duplicate it. So I just install the older video driver now and it never fails... Until I messed up last night.

I'd like to be able to blame last night on Jack Daniels... But I was sober as a judge. My issue turned out to be a dirty shop! I assemble my stuff next to my soldering station. Like everyone else... When I have excess solder on the tip of my iron, I flick it on the floor. (Everyone else DOES do this, yes?) Anyway... I must have dropped the ribbon cable on the floor and it picked up a tiny spot of solder on the end of the ribbon cable. I never saw it. It's nice that the Toughbooks are so forgiving.

If it would have been a Dell laptop it probably would have caught fire and burned my house down!

I will be cleaning my shop this weekend... from top to bottom!

 

A clean work bench is a sure sign of a sick mind

 

I guess I am a very sick person then. I hate a messy work bench. Can't find anything without a lot of hunting, pieces lost/misplaced and problems that crop up out of nowhere.
I actually keep my iron on the other end of the bench from where I do disassemble/reassemble (10' bench). I use a container full of copper shavings from a lathe to clean the tip and flick the excess solder into the area the the sponge usually sits in.

As I said I must be a sick individual.

Glad you got the unit squared around Rick. :thumbsup: