Clevo D900K Motherboard or VGA problem?

Hi all,

I have a Clevo D900k that i bought just over 2.5 years ago, and it has been pretty solid until recently. Around 3 weeks ago my laptop was dropped (not by me ) The problem 1st started a week later with what seemed like artifacts all over the screen, loads of crazy colour lines, even the bios would have strange looking coloured blocks. Now the machine will not even boot, the disk drive will make a noise, then the Harddrive light will flick for a second and it will keep cycling through this process.

My 1st assumption was the graphics card. So I took out all non essential hardware (have no wificard) and just kept the ram, cpu and vga card. Same thing would happen, but it was always intermittant until now where it will not boot everytime.

I keep the computer cleaned often, all the heat sinks etc, I doubt it was a heating issue (has to be the drop), i have another cpu that I tested so i ruled out the cpu, I tested the ram already with memtest and swapping dimms and then that only leaves me with the mobo or vga card. i reseated the vga card, new artic silver etc. I have even disassembled the whole machine to check if something had come loose on the motherboard, then put it all back together again (with the help of some great photos on another forum for replacing mobos) but no luck, still no boot. I have tested the laptop on a external monitor to see if it was a inverter issue, but same result.

Now the strange thing is if I apply pressure above the left palm rest where the vga is located right underneath it will boot everytime! but i have to hold down on it with alot of weight. So I think its an issue with the connection of the vga card to the mobo. Soooo cut a long story short i think my choices are buy a new motherboard or buy a new graphics card? And im pretty sure which ever i buy it will be the other one that i need haha

Plus I live in Japan so its a pain getting a replacement delivered just to find i now need the other part, if anybody (Gophn and co.) could help with what they might think the problem is and if I am in the right direction i would greatly appreciate it

 

ok.... I think I know what the issue might be.

check the standoffs on the motherboard for the videocard module.

this is a motherboard standoff:



there are four of them for the videocard module.

make sure they are all there and in good condition on the motherboard.

 

wow! that was fast, thanks for the reply.

i previously checked them after seeing another persons D900K problem on this forum. I concluded that they were quite sturdy and dont move with a pair of pliers. So i thought maybe they were ok, the solder seems fine but there is a small bit of wear and tear where it looks like a tiny bit of solder used to be but there is still plenty keeping it place. I will take a picture when i get home (at work at the mo) and check again, maybe you are a better judge if they are looking good or not?

I thought it might be this when i was troubleshooting last week, i even tried making a paper brace (someone used a chopstick before lol) to push the card further onto the board, it kind of work but a slight tap on the palm rest and the screen would go off. But I could have overlooked these screws as i only tried turning them and not pushing them into the board, so ill get back to u

 

if the standoff are still in place then your fine.

it must be the videocard module's connectors or the motherboard connectors.

 

Yeah thats what I am afraid of :/

Its as if its not touching enough and pressure from the palm rest pushes the mobo onto the card, or a paper brace on the vga card pushes it to the mobo. The pressure seems to be needed at the longer connector of the 2.

So i keep denying it to myself but it looks like i will have to buy one or the other now which one would u buy?

Ill have a proper look at the connectors when i get home, one thing i remember that i tried as a last resort which made it work slightly more stable, was to take the metal plate off the motherboard under the vga unit, it seems to keep the graphics card closer to the board, but it was intermittant too, plus im sure that plate is meant to be there for a reason.

 

you can brace the videocard to the motherboard more by placing some small pieces of folded paper near the screws of the panel cover.

in essence, you are bracing the videocard module down with the panel cover and the folding pieces of papers between the two.

 

aye, ill give it another shot to see if it helps, at this stage ill try anything hehe, fingers crossed!

 

LOL. I have that kind of an issue as well... I used a piece of paper and folded it many times to use for bracing the videocard module down more securely since one of my standoffs went loose.

Works for me... system still as healthy as when I built it back in 2006.

 

I tried the paper brace one last time but to no avail, i think im going to have to bite the bullet and by a new mobo or graphics card

 

You can physically look at the connectors (maybe with a magnifying glass) of the videocard and the motherboard to see which one is the culprit.

 

Its the motherboard! Checked it and the connector is ever so slightly loose on one side and there is a break of solder. Just waiting on my new motherboard to arrive

 

Echim, I'm with you.
Gophn killed my motherboard the other week
and now I had to pay the price for a new one.
I should get mine in a week.

I ordered my d900k board from z-tronics on Friday 11/28/08

I dont see why you need the paper shim, the graphics card on mine doesnt move anywhere.

K-TRON

 

....

it was either me or the faulty USB floppy.

.. in either case, I am sorry for your predicament.

 

I definitely blamed you, but it was the usb floppy drive.
I sent you an email

K-TRON

 

yeah i ordered mine on friday too.

What did u guys do to your motherboard? Flash the bios?

Ill keep my fingers crossed for us

I was wanting my trusty D900k to last me that bit longer until (hopefully) clevo release a new model at the 2009 Cebit, anyone got any heads up on that?

 

I tried upgrading my bios via the external floppy drive which came with my system. The upgrade said that the flash was successful. But upon reboot the system no longer recognized itself.

K-TRON

 

Okay so my motherboard came but guess what.... there is a standoff screw missing! If I knew I would not have bought it. Anyway I thought I might aswell put it all together and at least the thing now turns on where as the old motherboard is completely dead (the break of solder on the motherboard graphics card socket is to big, would not even turn on if you push it).

However I still get the same artifact problem that I got when the old motherboard still worked. I need to push the graphics card down in order to get it to boot, so my thinking is the drop of the laptop must have bust the graphics card and motherboard.

But as I am missing a standoff screw, when i do buy a new graphics card its not guaranteed that it will work, it could be the standoff this time, not happy at all just waiting on my mobo seller to see what they can do, which i highly doubt they can do anything except sending me a standoff screw which I can take off my old mobo anyway, this is turning into a saga...... I feel like throwing it out of the window!

 

I actually have one standoff loose from the mothboard..

Contact the vendor to see if they will give you a board with all the standoffs.

If not, I recommend to make sure there are still 4 standoffs (get it from the other motherboard) and secure it to your videocard module... just to have it give the correct standoff height when you secure the rest of the videocard screws.

Then do what I said before:

 

Yeah, I have contacted them however as I bought it through an Ebay store, they have no other motherboards listed, I think it was their last one, and if you look ever so closely on the very very very small picture that it was listed with its missing, but you can not tell from the picture, only after seeing the actual board in person.

So I think my only choice is to do what you said above, now i have to buy a graphics card but have to put it on hold for a month as I am going traveling :/ was hoping i fixed it beforehand. Ill keep you posted on my progress eventually

So in the meantime Im just waiting on a reply on what the seller can do.

 

2 months without a computer and one new motherboard and gfx card later, blob of super glue on the missing stand off, and finally the end to the saga! (for now)

Everything seems to be working after multiple reboots, if/when it eventually stops i might even try my hand at a blob of solder next time, just as long as it holds out for the release of the next D900F i will be happy

Thanks for all the help Learnt alot in the process