Can There be New Life for a Clevo D9T?

Greetings,

I recently acquired a Clevo D9T, it was given to me because the monitor quit working (or so I was told). I couldn't get it to boot so I pulled everything apart, blew all the dust bunnies out, replaced the battery, cleaned up the GPU and CPU, reseated everything and used fresh ArcticSilver5 on the heatsinks.

I fired it up and it ran great! I was jazzed. I even paid $76 for a new keyboard (the c key didn't work) that should arrive tomorrow.

Then last night it stopped responding, after waiting for the operating system (Kubuntu/KDE4.1/64-bit) to respond for about an hour I shut it down with the power button.

Now I get nothing, apparently it's not booting - no post or BIOS, no sound (as if it's booting and I'm getting no "picture"), no beeps. Nada. The CD/DVD drive spins when I power it on, the lights come on, the fans over the CPU come on after a few seconds but that's it.

I pulled the battery off and unplugged the power, held down the power button, plugged the power back in . . . . nothing.

I popped the battery out and put it back in . . . . no joy.

I pulled out the CD/DVD and hard drives, tested the RAM modules one by one, made sure the wireless card was seated, made sure all the connections to the monitor were seated . . . . nothing. Except that now I will occasionally get a flashing white or light gray screen that goes black after varying amounts of time, this has happened three times.

So? Any thoughts? Did I just blow $76 on a keyboard for a dead computer? Any and all assistance is very much appreciated!

Peace,
Gail

 

ArcticSilver's conductive. Maybe it shorted something out? Check the heatsinks to see if anything dripped.

 

I can do that, had no idea that it was conductive. I do try and be careful with it and not get the stuff all over the place but this is worth looking into. It's a great notebook when it's working. Ran KDE4.1 like nobody's business.

 

Nope, no luck there. There was a nice coat of ArcticSilver but nothing spilling over onto anything else around either the CPU or GPU. Rechecked all of the connections again and reseated everything, still not booting although I did get a flicker out of the monitor for a moment.

Also, the clock on the front is working . . . . wouldn't that mean that some part of the BIOS is firing up?

Another thing that I forgot to mention earlier is that I did try an external monitor but got no signal.

 

the videocard module might need to be reseated.. that and/or other main parts like CPU, RAM.

A number of people, including myself, has had issues with the videocard module's mounting to the motherboard... where the solder for the screw's standoffs can actually un-adhere itself to the mainboard... especially if you were too forceful during the remove and re-seating of the videocard.

 

I have checked and rechecked and reseated, I did that again just now making sure the CPU and video module was seated tightly. I kind of hate to pull the video module up again just to make sure but I will do it again if this is likely to be causing the problem. I was very careful about not using a lot of pressure or force.

You should have seen it the first time I pulled it, the thermal paste was dust, literally. Whatever these things are build with, it obviously doesn't age well. It made getting the heatsinks off very easy, they basically fell off.

I suppose it's also possible that both RAM sticks went bad at about the same time, wish I had the same "extra" RAM lying around to test that theory. Another thought I had was maybe the new battery wasn't good or was old or something like that. It's not likely but since we're grasping at straws anyway. . . .

 

I used to troubleshoot my notebook by pull all non-essential components:
- Optical drives
- miniPCI cards (wifi card and tv tuner)
- HDDs
- battery

You just need a CPU, RAM, and videocard .. which all have to be functional of course.

 

Everything has like that has been removed for this process, I've even got the keyboard removed. The only thing that I am not sure about are the mini PCI cards. The wireless module was obvious but where are the others?

I've taken this thing apart without a service manual but if anyone knows where I can find one for this laptop you'll be my friend for life

Of course it helps that I've disassembled a fair number of other laptops for repair, this one has definitely been the easiest of them so far.

The more I think about it the more I suspect RAM might be the issue. Tomorrow I will go over it all again, especially looking out for the video card module mounting you mentioned. I'll probably grab another battery from a different source and try that too.

I hate to spring for more RAM when I'm not sure that's the issue . . . . anyone else live on Whidbey Island?? :-D

 

here is the closest to a service manual that I can provide:
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=171212&page=3

 

Tried booting with 1 RAM at a time?

 

Hi Rambo,

Yes, several times and rotating through each of the 4 slots.

 

just for info guys:

 

Thanks for that info, I looked everywhere for it the other night and didn't see it. Of course it was late at night and I was half asleep . . . .

 

Electrical conductivity (in this case bad) and thermal conductivity (in this case good) are directly linked. It's very difficult (though not impossible) to have one without the other. I've never used the stuff myself, but you can test out its electrical conductivity with a multimeter and know for yourself rather than taking peoples' word for it.

 

you reseated more than just the parts right... i would start reseating any wires in there too, that go from the monitor to the board etc... your best bet is pretty much taking it ALL apart and rebuilding it urself. I mean, you have nothing to lose if it dont go on as it is.

 

Yeah, that's what I am thinking. I'm still busy today but maybe this evening or tomorrow I'll pull this baby back apart and this time take it ALL apart.

If I can get it to run like it did last week I'll be one happy camper. This laptop will be a big help to me, at least in the sense of having something fairly portable with only a little less computing power than my desktop beastie.

 

So, a bit off-topic for this thread but what do you all prefer as the best over-all cleaning solution for a break down like this? I generally use Isopropyl Alcohol (90%) sparingly and was wondering what else you all might prefer.

 

i'm in the same boat as you Anlace....let me know if you have any luck, i'm gonna check all my connections as well and will let you know

 

I had the same problem with my dad's "old" Alienware D9T, re-branded Clevo. It stopped working and it was to heavy for to carry on business so he gave it me. Unfortunately it had a booting problem among other things. But to get it to boot I would have to power on, the wait a second or two and then hold the power button again. Eventually that stopped working and I called up Alienware. Luckily it had just over a month on the warranty and I sent it in. I got back in less than a week(overnight shipping) and they said the motherboard was faulty and they replaced it and it's been working fine ever since for about 8 months now. I did some searching and apparently that is a problem with these laptops. That could be the problem with yours. I found a website awhile ago that sold the motherboards but I don't have the link anymore, sorry.

 

The motherboard can be bought at:
- www.rjtech.com
- www.eurocom.com
.... eBay

To take care of these systems, make sure to clean out the vents once a month to prevent overheating damage.

 

Hi everyone,
Thank goodness i found this forum involves this particular laptop! I happen to have 3 of these Clevo/Alienware laptops because our company were getting rid of 'em and so i ask if i could keep 'em, and so they graciously gave them to me for free.. yay!

Anyways, i get the "no bios installed" message when i boot it up. I figured i can just reset the cmos. If so, how do i open this darn thing?!?! I tried and tried but can't seem to find which screws i'm forgetting. I have unscrewed the 14 screws on the bottom, but when i try to pry it open it seems as there are more hidden screws that are holding it together.

How do i access the Mobo?!?! Please help. Thanx

 

No BIOS installed... thats very low-level, you will need to contact a Clevo service center or OEM that can flash the BIOS for you.

 

hmmm, i was afraid of that.... However, i think there might be a solution...
According to other people, some say that since this Clevo is using SATA, the drivers are missing- therefore i'd have to install the SATA/Raid drivers during OS installation (F6 option during setup).

The funny thing is that i CAN get into the bios, but it doesn't recognize the hard drive.... and i think it's because of that fact- no SATA drivers. ???

i really don't know. If anyone has some info on this please reply. Thanx

 

does it POST at all?

 

yes, once i turn it on, it'll go through the detecting bios/drive process, then it will say: "no device found" then "no bios installed".

Here's what i've tried so far:

-Took out the hard drives (there's 2 of em), plugged the first one to my main desktop PC via USB to wipe it clean, then i did the same thing with the second one. Then reattached them back to the laptop so that i can create a partition. I was able to create a partition, but when i proceeded to install a fresh copy of XP i get an error message saying "no fixed disk found".

-I tried different jumper settings on the drives.. and nothing.

-I've even tried just using one single drive to install XP, but i get the exact same error message.

Weird!?!?

Some please help. I think i'm missing the OEM RAID/SATA drivers...
So what i did was downloaded the Clevo RAID/SATA drivers from their website and copied it on a floppy so that i can hit the infamous "F6" option when you begin to install XP, but then i get the exact same error message again!

Grrr.

Does anyone how to fix this?

 

Oh, well then thats easy.

Just install XP with the SATA drivers either on a floppy disc (so you can insert it when the XP setup says to "press F6....")
-or-
slipstream the SATA/RAID drivers into your XP CD using nLite and you wont have to deal with the floppy.

Make sure to use the correct drivers, if you are not using RAID, then do not select the SATA RAID drivers.... only use the SATA drivers.

...if you are using RAID, you must make an array before doing the XP install.

 

I think it is my video card....the clock on the front still displays the correct time...and then m/b is still active and "pinging" the cd drive cause you can hear it and see the light flashing...

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement video card? or if this might even be the problem? I took aprt the whole laptop, every connection looks good but I have no idea what it might be?

 

the videocard module is located under the left palm rest area.... next to the card reader.

if you re-seated it and it still does not do anything (even when you connect an external display to the notebook), then it would be good to try another videocard module.

contact:
- www.eurocom.com
- www.rjtech.com
... ebay has these modules at times.

 

Seem to be having the same problems....

I have a D9T here, and its coming up with 2 errors. When i try to install the OS it will come up with Hard Drive not found. (Been told its already been replaced once), or i get an error at the start of POST with "No BIOS Installed". Im a bit lost on this one at the moment as i have no idea where to start looking.

 

alienfan007 any possibility u wanna sell 1 of those? i need a case mine took a fall and case is damaged. i had the same problem once and since drivers loaded back on no probs.