cf-28 failing?

Yesterday I was lying at bed using the cf-28 suddenly the screen became black and the notebook stopped working..it didn't boot anymore (there are only some lights on,no sounds of initialization from the hard disk,see photo).
Today I powered it on and it booted correctly,then after few seconds the same problem...
What's going on? Is the cf-28 motherboard failing? How can I diagnose the problem?

Specs: 1ghz cpu,512mb ram,320gb wd scorpio hd,sony optiarc dvd writer,engenius 8602,ethernet/56k combo card,ake usb2 pcmcia

 

Take out that dreaded USB 2.0 PCMCIA card and read somewhere what it can do to your unit. Hoping that the controller still fine.

ohlip

 

Yes,I know about the ake problem,but the ake card looks to be not toasted (no nasty odors,it was not hot,I will test it on another notebook) and I never overloaded it

ps.I think I could try to disconnect the pcmcia controller from the motherboard for testing. If tomorrow the notebook will boot I will try to quickly disable it in bios too.

 

Maybe a non-topic question, but i read that you use a 320 gig harddrive. i also want to buy another harddrive. Is this kind of harddrive working well with the CF-28 ? Is it easy to install without any tricks and so ?

 

yeah, usb 2.0 requires more power per port, and although pcmcia should support the cards which are made for it, those cards may be manufactured near the upper echelon of those limits.

Every older desktop mobo I've thrown a usb 2.0 card into has had....random problems (involving power).

jm2c

 

I just tested the ake card on another notebook,the card works PERFECTLY,so I don't think it danaged the cf-28...
I'm going to disassemble the cf28 and remove the pcmcia slot for testing..I see nothing wrong with the slot pins..
What other tests can I do on the motherboard?

 

Take out everything you can then try to boot: remove the hard drive, extra RAM, optical drive, battery, EnGenius wifi card, any PC cards, etc. If still no joy, unplug the CMOS battery, hold the power switch ON for 10+ seconds, then try booting.

 

+1

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."—Sherlock Holmes

Start from the very beginning, a bare mobo booting.
if you pull everything, and still have a problem, then the mobo is bad
if the mobo is good, then ad 1 thing at a time until the system fails.
unless, it a combination of things, and then you have to do it a bunch more times to figure out the combo.

that just means the card is good; that doesn't indicate that it did or did not exceed the actual capability of the other 28's's hardware.....

 

I disassembled the cf 28 piece by piece and added one peripheral each time,results: Nothing wrong found O.O



The pc just worked every time,and it's still working now.. I dont know what's happened,I cant explain that.

ps.when removing the keyboard I broke the white plastic things under 3 keys



I think the keyboard is one of the weakest point of the cf 28

 

I upgraded all my kids too rubber keyboard just so they would keep popping keys off when they all had CF-28's

 

well, look in the bst section for my need a vkey thread. if the suspension of the keyboard I posted pics of matches yours, pm me your addres and I'll ship you some. I have a cf30 keyboard that's all bent up, thatI got my missing v key from....

maybe she just needed to be put back together one time (bad connections/oxidation)????

good to hear she's ok, less the key issues

 

My guessed is that those USB 2.00 PCMCIA card will be the culprit and the mbo. is tired of having it installed and started to harm it. As interesting..felow pointed out that eventhough your PCMCIA card is working doesn't mean it is not the one that coz the trouble. As I mentioned it started to feel it.

ohlip

 

Which thread?Thank you,but I live in Italy the shipping would take time..Maybe it's possible to repair the keys.
Yes,in the case there's some oxidation,but I haven't see it on connectors.
edit: ok found it..mm they look to be a bit different but I'm not sure yet

@Ohlip: Is there some better low profile usb 2.0 pcmcia card somewhere? I have found a billionton card,but it's not low profile like the ake one..

 

Billionton used to make a short USB 2.0 card. They are getting hard to find but worth watching for on Fleabay etc.

 

The only issue I ran into was the BIOS would not see the whole drive. After installing XP it all became visible and I made a few partitions to use up all the available space.

The drive was the cheapest available from Tiger Direct at the time, I'm thinking $89.00

 

Do you know the exact model number of this billionton card?

 

Sorry, no. I have not been fortunate enough to find one myself