Clevo P170HM wont boot

Hey guys,

yesterday i got all my parts together and i started to build the system.
it is a clevo p170hm barebone, a i7 2630qm cpu, a clevo gtx660m gpu and 4gb ram (kingston ddr3L 1600MHz). after my work, ive tried to start the system but it doesnt boot.
there is only a kind of coil noise, the power led and the bluetooth leds are flashing for about 3 seconds and then the system goes off. after 3 seconds both leds (bluetooth and power) are flashing again, you can hear the noise and it goes off again and again.
all parts were buyed from ebay as functional, except the ram (it was ordered in a store).

why it doest boot up? is the gpu faulty? or the cpu? what can i do?

i would be grateful for any help.

greetings from germany

 

I would check to make sure that everything is seated properly in the system, like all the cables and ram, etc...

The one thing that I'm not sure about is the ram in there, if it will work with DDR3L and 1600mhz.

http://ark.intel.com/products/52219/Intel-Core-i7-2630QM-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-2_90-GHz

 

o.k. good, thank you for your assistance
i think ive try it tomorrow with ddr3 ram 1333MHz (without an "L").

i hope it is the ram

 

Oddly enough, there was another thread of someone asking about a 170hm just a few threads down. Picture of the ram in there is 1.5v, not 1.35v DDR3L.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/owners-of-p170hm-nvidia-gtx-680m.787561/

I don't think the 1600mhz would be an issue (would maybe just run at 1333). But I would try the 1.5v ram though and let us know.

 

Using intel utility software can allow for 1600mhz instead of running ram at 1333. Pat is correct, 1.5v works with no issues. I assume its the gtx 660m vbios thats probably not supported and if it is the correct bios then you're facing a similar issue... that being the motherboard revision which for some odd reason will only work with the gtx 580M being the last card it supports. Possibly you may try a AMD raedon 7970M (comparable to the 680M) and see if it works but you will have to blind flash the vBios for p170hm. There are plenty of threads of this including jaybee's amazing guide. Try it out. Also, check your motherboard revision under the first Ram dimm. Lastly it could possibly be that the gpu was DOA

 

unfortunatly the ram was not in available today in the store :/ i will try it tomorrow again!
i took some pictures from the mobo and the gpu. i dont know whether my mobo is ready for the gtx660m. i thought, it is just plug and play xD
i never expected, that there are limits for the chipset etc.
i'm noticed a diagonal soldered capacitor (red circle in pic 2). is it normal?
it is under the graphics card position on the motherboard.
which ram is most suitable and compatible?


regards

 

No, and not because it's diagonally oriented per se, but because it's out of place (outside of an outline) and soldered together with a resistor. It should be in the C49* rectangle, close to 'L60', which makes it part of the SATA power circuit.

Not sure what happened; manufacturer error or shorted/killed drive at one time or another? Either way, not that difficult to correct and it will make the hdd happy.

 

The 660M (flashed with the correct bios) should work. Your motherboard revision is 3.2 and not 3.3

 

Lol. xD
So today i installed the 1.5V 1333MHz RAM and the issue occured, has changed.
now the system starts, both fans are running. the amber colored bluetooth led disappears after 3 seconds but the screen dont power up
i'm partly happy about that because there are no more the restarts every 3 seconds. THIS WAS SCARY!
i dont have the screws for the heatsink at the moment so i hold the heatsink on the gpu die with my hand. the system was ~20 seconds on but the gpu fan goes louder and louder. i turned off the system to avoid an overheat of the gpu. i think the contact of the die and the heatsink was not completly given.

ive replaced the cmos battery as well. mayby the system needs an amount of time to show something on the screen becouse cmos was cleared? what do you think?

i see: we solve the problem step by step

 

Is the GPU still flashed to the correct vbios or should be flashed with the correct bios?

 

You will have to check with the seller you purchased it from. Otherwise you should flash the correct vBios onto it.

 

So if the card was not flashed from the seller, and it is actually the original vbios (80.07.22.00.07), it should work fine in my system?

 

No there's a specific vBios needed for it to run on P170hm. Prema has a post on this. I'll see if I can find the thread.

 

Could you found the thread?

 

Check your PM Buddytag. Ok wow I just figured out my issue for my Clevo P170HM. I RMA, paid for it and sent my reseller my computer last year. They told me sager detected dead gpu. I don't know if they were being lazy and not really testing but their claimed detection was wrong. All along I've been searching for a Gpu replacement and recently purchased a AMD card. When the AMD didn't work I decided to ask a friend about testing out my Gpu (Nvidia) in his system and sure enough the Gpu worked like a charm. Observing this allowed me to think further and strip every component one by one testing to see if I could get the computer to Post. Symptoms were just the same: Laptop on, no beeps, black screen, fans high then back down to normal speed. No windows startup sound, Hdmi-out external display showed nothing and DV showed nothing. Next move was simple, strip the unit down to an empty shell barebone. Thats what I did and pulled the motherboard out. Searching online I found several reflow tutorials and decided to give it a shot. What do you know... P170hm booted normal right after reflowing the motherboard. I am now speculating that there is a short happening somewhere on the motherboard. A problem i've had but never paid close attention to is the USB ports. The 3.0 ports constantly disconnects the cables attached are bumped into. Same goes for a usbstick... if it gets bumped or I touch it while connected, it simply disconnects then reconnects. I am not sure if this is why the computer will not post at times but I just thought I'd mention it for anyone out here who happens to be more experienced in this field.

So is this problem fixable? Could it be that the motherboard isn't posting because of the usb ports? What is the typical reason for symptoms of no beeps, black screen, fans high?

My current thought is to upgrade but I am content with this laptop design, display and looks so I would like to know is it possible to just upgrade the motherboard to a mobo from a Clevo P177SM-A / Sager 8298 and use it in the P170HM chassis ? Any resellers here know if this is possible? Thank you

Here is a video showing the design of the 177SM-A and it looks very identical to the p170HM.

 

Thanks in advance for suggestions!

 

Just wondering if anyone knows about the P177SM-A motherboard size being able to fit inside the P170HM case before I decide to buy a motherboard. Thanks

 

No, the ports are different so it can't be a stright swap.

Bad solder joints can be anywhere on a motherboard but a short will cause that behavior yes.

 

Can I prevent this from happening by resoldering the usb 3.0 ports?

 

Unless they are obviously physically damaged it's unlikely to be the port soldering itself, usually it's the chipset or another soldered chip having an issue.

 

Thank you. Is there a solution you can recommend or will I have to replace the entire motherboard?

 

Just sell it for parts and get a new laptop.. Not worth throwing money at the HM... It's probably one of Clevo's worst ever laptops when it comes to upgrading...

 

Which laptop you can recommend? Future proof for upgrades

 

Any of the desktop processor machines are about as close as you can get.

 

i tested a dell card and a clevo card. both cards doesnt work in my system. i dont know whether my mobo is defective or one of the cards.
the laptop is still in a very good condition... but i have no reference card (gtx 480m etc.) to test it out

 

I am 99% sure it is a vbios issue, at least for the clevo card. You have to have the older vbios flashed. Even if you asked your supplier to pre-flash the card with exactly that vbios before sending they commonly don't care.

 

Have you tried clearing the CMOS? Simply unplug the battery, leave it like that for as long as you want (>30 seconds) then put it back on.

I had some similar issues when replacing RAMs and GPUs on a 370EM.

 

Agreed.. The P870DM is probably the most futureproof one out there but if you can't afford it, the P750/770DM is a good choice....

 

Cant say the DMs are future proof. I agree that Kaby Lake was delayed with at least one year, but up to this moment there is no advantage in going with Skylake.

Buying a ZM (Hawell) machine is cheaper and has the same performance. Better to wait for DDR4 prices to drop. At least with DDR3 you buy cheap, you sell cheap.

 

unlikely yes... the cmos was cleared min. 10 times xD
the vbios **** sucks so much... it is so easy to upgrade an pc's graphics card. why it is so difficult for an laptop? -.-

huh...

 

HM series not so great in terms of upgrade-ability. Plus they're a bit ancient.

 

Laptops have a lot of custom firmware, they are far more integrated than PCs and have to be more careful about certain aspects. That and there are no global standards as a whole.

 

Indeed, HM has had the worst BIOS compatibility with new GPUs.. Agree about getting the ZM if you can find it cheap, it can keep up with the DM..

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