To Rick "Toughbook"

As i can't post a picture in the private mail, i do it here.
See the spots for the fuses.

To all, if i am wrong, don't hesitate to say it

 

what model are we working on?

 

CF-29N, Rick asked the placement of the fuses.
I explained him there are 3 in the upper spot and 1 below
All on the upperside of the main board (Keyboard side)

 

Check your PM's

 

Derick... Thanks... That is what I was looking for. I couldn't spot them on the board layouts as they weren't listed. I have 3 CF-29Ns with apparently blown fuses. In all other respects they look 100%... Almost like new.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Thanks!

 

Sir, Yes Sir! good to see you back and hear your replys.......teach me something..........Driller

 

It's a rare day off and I have Toughbookitis in my blood....

I have found and tested F4, F5 and F6 and all are good... I cannot, for the life of me, find F1 or F2... Or F3 for that matter!

EDIT- Found F2 and it test okay... Now to find F1...

 

WOW! Rick has almost 6000 posts... DAMN! lmao!

 

Yeah... I WAS on here a lot... Trying to get back to it... Now I am pulling my hair out figuring out why thee three Toughbooks won't light up.... I think they ued to be used in Gamber Johnon mounts a one I bought still had it attached...

 

It may sound insulting but, Are you sure the power supply/source is good? I have made that mistake before. Trying to figure a power issue and after several hrs, I realized the breaker was tripped on the outlet. Duh!

 

Yup... I am using the power supplies that I use for all the others that work. I bought 4... 3 dont even light or ant to boot... the 4th one fired right up.

Plus they don't boot (or do anything) with either a fully charged battery, just the DC adapter or both togethger...

 

RICK! Missed you.
I have two in the same boat. I get a quick flash on the battery on one. The other is deader than a hammer.
The thing about the dock....something causes a fuse to blow. I wonder if they originally shorted out in the dock connection. Hmmmmmm. Where's the magnifying glass?
Good to see you.

Jeff

 

If they don't run on a fully loaded battery, there is something more than just a blown fuse.

If something was wrong with the input voltage, i think only the main fuse would have blow, not the battery fuse ( the one near the backup battery) and it would run on battery.

So my guess is that the cpu is fried.

 

Btw, did you measured the input voltage while booting up?
could indeed be a short circuit in the docking connector
You can remove the connector and try to boot

 

I did not try that... But will later... Had MANY "Honey Do's" today and had to stop diagnosing at around 1pm... It will take me a few days/weeks to get back to it.

I figured it was something to do with the dock as they all were in docks at one point. I did manage to score 4 CF-29N models and one Gamber-Johnson mount for $400... They all have the emissive keyboards and one had a DVD Rom (the one that works fine!)... All others, just a floppy... But still a good score overall... Even if I need to buy motherboards for all of them eventually... Or I may use them as parts units if I cannot get them up and running...

More later...

 

Did you try a media bay battery?

 

I have a feeling that if a regular battery and the DC input do not work... A media bay battery would not. These just seem dead. Besides... I do not have a media bay battery handy.... I'm all sold out.

When I have the time I will trace the schematics from the port connector in the rear. I have a feeling that the thing they all have in common was that they were in Gamber Johnson mounts.

The cool thing is... I ended up with one of the mounts so I'll use that in my next vehicle... I'll mount it under the seat and run everything off of it. The passthrough on the back is a dual setup so I could ostensibly use one for wifi and one for GPS if I needed it.

 

Hey boss,

I tried one of mine (dead ones) with media bay battery. No luck.

Also I read a tidbit no more about how to put TB in mount. Ignition off etc. PMT has a guide.

So.. if you jump in the car and slam the TB in the mount and the the ignition is on ....what gives. My guess is a fuse. Hopefully.

If you replace the fuse and it blows again then denrostens idea to pull the docking connector is right on.

I'm not an electronic wizard by any means but have done a bit of remodeling (mostly at fire stations) Anyway if a fuse blows something caused it to blow. That's why I like the way you are looking for the source of the short. Good luck. If that's all it is then it's cheaper than a mobo.

Welcome back again.

Jeff

 

I cannot find, nor can I even see any hint, F1 on any schematic or on the board. I can't believe they would start it all out with F2 through F6...

 

F1 is there. It's really tough to find. I went through this while helping that guy from a far away country who put 19v into his cf 29.
I can't remember where it is though.

 

Okay... Well... Consider the gauntlet thrown down... I've been over the board and schematics dozens of times... Unles I'm mising something... Or I'm snake-bit... I don't see it anywhere. Can anyone post a pic?

 

I was taking pix as you spoke. Look at the red magic marker ares near the screw holes. It's marked T. not F1

 

It says T then a 5A as in 5 amps? I will post other side with the other 3 in a minute.

 

Here is the other side. There are 3 on this side. 2 are together. They are also marker with my red magic marker.

 

Shawn,

Thanks for the pix... Yes... I saw the "T" and the 5A and tested for continuity... It doesn't show a F1... But I had peeled the sticker and checked originally... It's good.

The second pic you posted shows F4, F5 & F6 if I am not mistaken... and they are all clean as well. Your red marks seem to include more than 3... Am I missing something?

Looks like "Needle in a haystack" time!

 

Sloppy marker. I just marked the area. I figured you could find them if I pointed you in the right direction.
I can take much better and detailed pix if you need. I just didn't feel like doing the whole macro setup, with flash and all at the moment. I was being lazy.

 

The G/J docks are fuse protected. I blew one in mine awhile back, my fault. The computer worked fine though, just no power or USB. I would dig into the docks and see if the fuses are blown. If not, you can rule them out as being the culprit.

 

Toyo... I am not trying to power it via the dock... Just an AC adapter.... I'll worry about the dock later.

Shawn... I hate to be a pain... But pics of F1 would be great... Like I said... I've been over the board AND schematic with no F1 in sight... And a I said... The "T" tested okay.

 

Ok, I'll take some high quality pix for you. No problem. I am thinking that the fuse marked "T" is F1.

 

Have you tried one of these post cards?

Mini PCI post card

 

Rick,

I do believe you can stop pulling your hair out on this one. According to the following Service Manual, there are only 5 fuses: Note page 89

http://www.toughbooktalk.com/privat...Manual/cf_29mk5/CF_29N3LGZBM/CF_29N3LGZBM.pdf

"F 2 K5H502Z00003 FUSE, 5A 2
F 3

F 4 K5H202Z00005 FUSE, 2A 3
F 5
F 6"

I know this doesn't help in your troubleshooting, but at least you might be able to stop looking for F1. Have you considered that the CPU might be bad?

 

I think that is what it is going to end up being... A fried CPU... Too bad though... They are super clean units otherwise... I guess I have a good supply of parts. heh, heh....

 

Just for grins. I installed a hard drive in caddy (with weak glasses) and set the hard drive one set of pins off from where they should have been. I was rewarded with a green light but no flashing lights as usually occurs when loading correctly. I knew it was the drive so pulled it and found my problem.
Makes me wonder if some issues that I have had might be in the hard drive connectors in the TB. I sent the one away that acted like this (steady green no flash) so don't have it to test.
Definitely FWIW.

Jeff

 

I am ASSUMING that the OP did try it without any drives or memory installed.

 

Just for grins = laugh at me.
I didna doit on purpose. I was reporting another dumb mistake.
Works fine now, no smelly smells or weird colored smoke.

Jeff....so laugh

 

No memory or hard drives installed.... The one thing I did not try to remove was the WLAN card... But I doubt it is the culprit....

 

Let's leave the porpoise out of this. The dolphin is fair game.

 

Rick,
I didna think it was ...it was just one of those "Hmmmm that's interesting" things that happen that I hijacked your thread to share.

I would never have suspected a bad connection on the hard drive plug before this. The caddy end yeah that made sense but as they say "Hummphh!"

Just a clumsy but not fatal (to the hardware) error.

 

Although, if one of those misconnections made a direct short on the mommyboard, it could cause this issue. And I have seen direct shorts on a variety of devices that did not blow fuses.
Rick, did you try removing the docking port connector? Or at least cut all of the traces to it.

 

I did not try cutting out all traces of the docking port... Mainly as I usually use my Toughbooks to resell.... At times. This time I thought I had a deal... I still do... 4 CF-29N toughbooks bought at $400... One works fine... The other three have extended batteries (I haven't tested them for time yet)... All have Sprint modems with antennas, etc. and all have emissive keyboards.... I figure (if I parted out now) I would have <does quick math> $1300+ worth of stuff... Or thereabouts... But I would MUCH rather have a working Toughbook!

I HAVE had bad HDs prevent my Toughbooks from booting though.... FYI... And/Or Bad hard drive caddies.... Usually with torn ribbon cables... But barely seen as torn...