CF-74 power issue

Ok guys here it goes.. I am new to these forums do go easy on me.....

Here is what I have
Panasonic Toughbook CF-74CCBAXBM from govt. auction, Cosmetically perfect in every aspect. It even has a new LCD. (Originally came without HDD) but installed a new 160GB HDD. Has CD/DVD drive, new battery and new power brick (panasonic)

Here is the problem that I am having:

when I go to power on the laptop it doesnt power up. the CD drive clicks and if I have a disc in there it will spool up and what I think I hear is it reading the disc and thats after I connect the battery or the power supply. The MP light flashes in conjunction with the CD drive. The screen is dead. It wont toggle to a secondary screen and the dim buttons do not work, there is no POST beep, But after a few minutes the power on LED comes on and thats it. the screen is still dark and none of the keys on the keyboard respond, and the power button still does nothing. If I put my ear up to where the HDD is I can here the platter spinning. I really want to get this thing up and running.... Anybody have any suggestions.. Im at my whits end with this thing. Thanks in advance.....

 

Remove all memory, hard drive, CD drive, and battery. Put in a new/known-good stick of the right kind of RAM. Plug in an external monitor. Then try to boot.

 

I did exactly what you described and still no difference with the issues at hand... any other suggestions?

 

I have one like yours. Have heard that there have been some faulty samsung 160gb hdd that were causing issues. do you have access to another hdd that you can try to swap in, one known to have worked previously. If you have the pana restore discs for this you might want to try to boot with one of these just to see what it does. You did say it was a pristine govt' auction laptop so we KNOW IT'S TOO BIG TO FAIL! jokes aside, there are known touchscreen issues as well with these models as well but they are FAST! just the same. I believe this model is an ide hard drive so make sure you didn't put in a sata drive(of course it wouldn't fit) just checking. rusty503 I believe has some of these I think so maybe he can offer suggestions. Good luck, Driller

 

If you already tried booting without a hard drive, that's can't be the problem.

Since the CD drive spins and MP light flashes, it must be getting power and trying to read the CD during boot up process. So basic power circuit works, core hardware and BIOS likely good.

Did you connect an external monitor BEFORE applying power? If so it should automatically enable external monitor, no need to manually switch. No video showing internally or externally probably means the video circuit is bad. Not sure but if the GPU is separate, try replacing it. If it's build onto the mobo, not a separate component, I would try replacing the motherboard.

Note the above is predicated on plugging in an external monitor before applying power. If not done in that sequence, try again to make sure.

HTH

 

Well crap!!! I did install a SATA drive from a CF-30 to test the computer... I didnt even think about that. I just pulled the HDD out of the other caddy, put it in the CF-74 caddy and put it in... The black plug looked identical so I assumed it was a SATA that came out of it.... CRAP. I was thinking of replacing the motherboard if nothing else worked but now I see that I have to get a different HD. What a PITA....

 

Hopefully that is all you needed, hope there are no other issues and you can enjoy your cf-74 for Christmas. Merry Christmas and to all a happy toughbook! Driller

 

Believe all CF-74 models use SATA hard drives.

Not clear what you're saying, but don't go buying an IDE hard drive for your CF-74 unless you're sure that's the right kind. I believe it uses SATA.

 

mine is a cf-74CCB model. I'm almost positive it is an ide hdd. I will check it when I get home. I origionally purchased it with hopes of installing a sata drive and to my surprise it was an ide. will get back to you as soon as I get back to my house....Driller

 

It is a cf-74CCBAXBM model with an ide\toshiba 80GB MK8032GSX hard drive. Device manager says IDE, not sata. Again I purchased it hoping for a laptop with sata so I could bump the hdd up to 500GB. but to my surprise, IDE.....Driller
If this is a sata drive why would it say ide\disk toshiba 80 GB MK8032GSX, note ide? I will get an early christmas present here if I'm wrong.. believe me I'd like to be wrong here...Driller
ATA-7 still an old school ide cable hookup

 

From Toshiba's website:

The MK8032GSX incorporates the Serial ATA (SATA) II interface and is ATA-7 compliant, supporting high transfer rates of up to 150 megabytes per second.

In this auction you can clearly see the SATA interface:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-80G...ultDomain_0&hash=item5199e0bfbe#ht_4609wt_905

 

I agree on the hard drive specs, but I read somewhere that the old ide cable hookup was retained and I'm sorry but can't remember where. At the time I had a sata hd and tried to put it in the cf-74 caddy and it wouldn't mate up so I'll take things apart and recheck my efforts. If I'm wrong, hey I'm wrong my apoligies but I even purchased pana restore disc for the mk1 as I believe this is and when I went to install the hd no go. They say the mind is the first thing to go. I will get back on this..Driller

 

Thank you guys for setting this straight. My mistake in thinking this earlier version of the cf-74ccbaxbm was NOT a SATA. I just disassembled the caddy for it and halleluah! it is a sata! When I purchased this laptop in the device manager it said ide\ then the toshiba drive I mentioned earlier. I was disappointed to think this was the old ide setup and had gutted a hd from a backup that was sata ready to install it into this laptop. Thus my mistake by my misinterpretation of what was listed in the device manager under the details heading. My apologies to you guys if misleading anyone on this forum to this being an ide hdd. But the bright side now I can bump the hdd on up now and have a bit more in this laptop. This is so far the first and only cf-74 I have but not the last. thanks so much for your expertise and knowledge on this unit as I will be picking up a few more of these now..Merry Christmas and to all happy toughbook modding!..Driller

 

My apoligies to you sir if I confused you here. The guys on this forum are always willing to help and I've learned for myself some good news here as to an upgrade I can do. You will find many interesting things about any of the toughbooks out there as there can be interesting quirks in the many models available.... Driller
for what it's worth web search(bing or juggle) ata-7 old school is the article I was referring to. Said there was a misprint in specs. Yes it is now old info.

 

Try a nice SSD, you won't regret it. Around $100-120 will get a 64-80GB SSD that will really perk up the 74's performance. Since it's SATA just shop the sales. I like Intel, Kingston, and Crucial but I'm no expert (yet )

 

I will try that. thanks!..Driller

 

Sorry guys for not getting back to yall... Driller, we both have the exact same model of 74's Im not real savy on ide, sata etc..... I assumed that the ribbon cable was wired differently for sata and ide.... I dont know all the technical stuff about toughbooks, all I know is that when we switched from the motorola mw-520's and went with cf-19's and 30's that a loved them so much that I wanted a toughbook of my own.... If I cant get it working maybe I can use it for spare parts or something.... Im now thinking of getting a cf-29, we will see

 

any luck at all getting that laptop to come up to bios at all? yes there is a difference in the cable in the hard disk caddy and yes you probably did have the correct hd hooked up to the sata cabel. the cf-74 is a good laptop and it is pretty fast. I bumped mine up to 4gb ram and am about to upgrade the hd as springfield suggested a ssd. I think I've got a 320gb sata around if I can find it and may clone the old hd to the new one first. they are priced about the same as ssd drive just 80-120gb range. will let you know when I get it put together..Driller

 

No I never could get it to POST... I dont know, Ive heard good things about the 74's.. I have no expierience in modding, or repairing laptops unless Im sticking extra RAM in them or a HDD. These computers are a different breed than IBM, Motorola, etc. I did however purchase a CF-29 and it is cherry! all it needs is a HDD and caddy. It has 512 on the mobo with an empty slot.

Driller, I have a question, First off, what rpm speed HDD do I need for my 29? and also I read that the 29 takes DDR2 SO-DIMM ram but the ram from the 74 wont fit in it. It looks like the notch on the RAM chip wont line up. Can you tell me exactly what I need HDD and RAM wise?

Thanks in Advance,
Ryan

 

Post the complete model #. Your 29 is a Mk1, 2 or 3. It takes ddr memory, not ddr2. The index is off by a few mm. Do not force it. You will release the magic smoke. Mk4 and 5 use ddr2 memory.

 

@ Ryanfd
Couple of general electronics diagnosis tips might help.
"General" because I've never worked on or even seen a '74 and I don't have a schematic.
Just for fun confirm that the power adapter stated output voltages & polarity for the 74 & 29 are the same (on the labels). I expect they will be and if so, try the 29 adapter in the 74. It's unlikely but low voltage from a faulty adapter could just conceivably be the problem and it only takes a minute to check.
"It even has a new LCD" makes the bells ring loud... and even without experience or tools there's something you can try.
First download the service manual from wikispaces here

http://toughbook.wikispaces.com/file/view/CF-74CCBAXBM.pdf

Disconnect power, unplug battery while working of course.
The center cover (speakers cover) appears simply to unclip - i.e. no tools - with that removed you may be able to tell if a plug has been pulled out by a trapped harness or a wire has been broken by being incorrectly routed when the LCD was replaced.
The person who did the work may have been inexperienced or careless - if I had to bet that's where my money would be.
I wouldn't recommend delving deeper without at least some experience, a working knowledge of esd precautions and awareness of the voltages to be expected.
Not saying anyone else should do it this way but next I'd check fuses on the boards - even without a schematic they're not hard to find if you're familiar with the different types - then close visual examination, especially of solder joints in likely areas, particularly around external sockets. Heat damage is usually easy to spot, magic smoke sometimes leaves marks too.
Apart from checking components with high failure rates (electrolytics, high value resistors, wound components etc.) that's about as far as one should probably go without a schematic.
Before or during reassembly it's worthwhile repeatedly inserting & removing all plug/socket connectors so the metal contacts will hopefully "scratch through" any oxidation. It's surprising how often this works.
Good luck, hope this might help someone.
Happy new year to all.

 

I'm not Driller but do have good experience with 29's. Any rpm will work but generally faster is better performance. An exception is the Samsung HM160HD, which has 5400 rpm but performance is the best IDE drive currently available, reportedly beats 7200 drives. Be sure to buy from an easily returned source since lately there have been a rash of defective HM160HD drives. The Western Digital 320GB drive is also a favorite.

CF-29 Mk4-5 (1.6 GHz cpu) take DDR2 memory. The earlier Mk1-3 (1.2-1.4 GHz cpu) take DDR memory, which is probably what you have. AFAIK all CF-74's take DDR2 memory and the slot is slightly different than DDR, for good reason. DDR2 memory is cheaper, you should be able to get 512MB cheap almost everywhere (or borrow it from another laptop).

 

Guys,

first off I want to thank everybody that helped me out with these toughbooks. I bought a cf29 caddy and as soon as it comes in I am putting a hdd in and away I go... as far as the 74, I'm not giving up on it. As soon as I get a technical manual for it I am going to try and go over the motherboard... I do have experience with mosfets and smd stuff just not computers (mainly Motorola radio stuff) thanks again and I will keep y'all posted....

Ryan

 

Are you sure RAM is installed?
I don't know if this is one of them but some Toughbooks wont boot if there's no RAM. I don't know the configuration of the 74 but there maybe a slot under the keyboard and a slot on the bottom of the laptop.

As for a HDD Caddy, some models can take a cheapo silicon HDD case as is or with some trimming.
That would be for the internal "Shock" / padded "tray" if you already have the plastic caddy that is molded and a part of the external case with a metal cage to house the shock tray.