Clevo x7200 no power after GTX 675M install. Reinstalled 460M Still no power.

I have a Clevo x7200 with an i7-970/460m. The system is a 1 owner system never had issues before. I switched in a gtx 675m and now the computer will no longer power on. I have reinstalled the gtx 460m and still now no power. The indicator lights on the front show when it is plugged in but both lights stay orange. Even if I unplug the 330w psu brick the indicator lights still both stay orange. I have tried resetting the CMOS by removing the battery and holding power button, I've tried leaving it plugged in for 12 hours, I have taken both heatsinks off and repasted both the GPU and CPU as well as replace all of the thermal pads. I also have dusted very lightly with compressed air to insure all connections are clean. Also tried removing the ram, both HDD/SSD's and nothing. I don't get it I've done work on plenty of different laptops and even a few clevos and never had a no power after installing an MXM card. There was no popping sounds, no burnt smells, nothing at all. I have ordered a new CPU i7-990x and also have a gtx 580m on the way in hopes of maybe the cpu has given up. I've tried powering the system on also with both the GPU and or the CPU removed and still makes zero difference at all. Can anyone help here lol cause I could use it and I cannot seem to find motherboards for sale so I will have to buy another entire laptop to fix this one.

 

Yeah, this sounds like something on the MOBO is wonky for whatever reason after the MXM attempt.

It could have been a static discharge and one of the components got fried.

The only thing I don't see attempted is remove power, cmos, and battery and then discharge everything by holding the power button like before.

As to the MOBO replacement there might be a clue in the service manual as to upgrade options for different model #'s to use when hunting something new down.

 

Yea I did remove cmos bat, power supply, and the normal battery while holding the power button for 60 seconds and still no difference. It's crazy cause I wear a static grounding band and also use a static grounded mat for all my repairs and never have I encountered such an odd issue. I would think if the motherboard truly shorted then it wouldn't recognize when the battery is plugged in or whether it is being charged or not. I am wondering if maybe the daughter board to the power button has failed or something I mean it just don't make any sense to me. I've put gtx 480m's into my alienware m17xr1 before just to test it and still didn't have any issues.

 

If you're comfortable with it then you could try shorting the power switch to see if it kicks on or not. If it works then your hunch is correct and you only need to replace the switch.

 

Going to go ahead and say board is dead. So def in search of another board or a donor x7200/7280

 

@Khenglish

 

Hey Prema heard a lot of good things about your builds etc. Hopefully someone can figure this out or at least put me intouch with someone selling an x7200 MoBo or entire x7200 laptop to use as a donor. I do notice with the cpu, gpu, ram, cmos battery, and keyboard removed that when I plug in the battery the led indicator used for showing if the system is powered on turns green fast, orange fast, then one long green, then back to solid orange. Not sure if this is some kind of system code or not. I've never heard of installing an MXM card bricking an entire motherboard. I was wearing a grounding strap, and even had the laptop on a grounded static free mat as well. At this point I'd even pay someone to repair this board if it needs repaired.

 

If there was a short preventing power-up, one of the power lights blinks when you press the power button. If the mobo's embedded controller was dead then the power LEDs likely wouldn't light up at all. It sounds like it's just flat out not reading the power button.

The connector I boxed is your power button connector. Bridge the two pins shown and see if it turns on. You can poke them with a small screwdriver, needle, whatever. Also I can't see the connector labeling so I may have the pins backwards (it may be the 2 upper pins). If you short the wrong pins nothing bad will happen, so try both the upper and lower pair.

FYI with no CPU or RAM installed the mobo will turn off after about half a second, but that's enough for this test.

For a quick test of the embedded controller in case it's partially burned up, hold your finger on the chip labeled "3". If the chip is hot when the system isn't even on then the embedded controller is dead. If it's cool then it is likely fine.

 

I will defiantly give that a try tonight when I’m home. I took this picture this morning. This is all it does both lights like this 24/7. I’ll let you know how the power short procedure works out for sure.

 

Just got home. with the power button unplugged the lights are off. As soon as I short the pin's the 2 lights both come on and stay solid orange and does not power on. Really weird indeed. If i plug the power button ribbon in while the battery is in the 2 lights instantly turn orange. Any new ideas from here?

 

Odd. Battery light should be green, not orange. What does it do with the battery removed?

I would think the battery is too old to be able to power the system.

 

I have tried to power it purely with the PSU and it does the same exact thing. This laptop was fully functional for over 10 years before I tried to boot it with the GTX 675m.

 

This was taken right before I put in the gtx 675M

 

Ok, well the orange battery light just means the battery isn't fully charged. This is expected with an old system.

How warm is the EC chip (labelled "3") with the motherboard plugged in to power?

 

Unfortunately I can't reach the EC with just the keyboard pulled so I will have to take off the top case when I get off work. If per say the EC is bad is this something that you are capable of replacing? I cannot track down a motherboard for this or the sager 7280 anywhere in the world right now. There is only 2 entire laptops for sale currently on Ebay with some seriously high asking prices.

 

It's something I could replace physically. There are complications though. I don't know if on that system the EC code is flashed into the EC, or if it is loaded from the BIOS chip. If it needs to be flashed on, then a replacement EC would need to be pre-flashed in order to have it work.

 

With the age of the laptop it seems hard to find much information on it at all. I'm still baffled about this whole gpu making it quit working. I've ran this gpu in other laptops that I own and usually even on ones that its not compatible with they still would turn on after being put back to how they were.

 

There is no IGP on this system so it wont boot if there is an issue with the slot.

 

At this point I am going to wait and see when a motherboard may pop up or a parts computer because I can't justify spending $750 on an entire complete x7200 just to steal the board out of that one. Really would like to see if there is someone out there who could repair my mainboard hopefully. I have a brand new i7-990X that just arrived and gtx 485m as well but I am skeptical in attempting to put them in the system and boot because I would hate to ruin those parts as well.

 

It can be tricky to track down a fault like you are describing which is time consuming and is expensive. Need a Louis rossman style person on it.

 

If you can put me in touch with someone who can fix this board I'm all ears

 

It depends where in the world you are.

 

I am located on the east coast of the US in Maryland Near Westminster

 

What does anyone think about maybe a reflow at this point? Should I try baking the board for a few mins or should I await for my 990x to arrive and try using that cpu? Remember when I plug in the battery the power indicator turns green orange green orange and stays solid orange

 

Reflow won't make it turn on.

That blink pattern is probably a dead battery code.

 

It does the same blinking code with the AC adapter plugged in battery or no battery.

 

Makes sense if the battery is 100% dead and needs to be replaced.


Silly question...have you tried another power supply?

 

Yes I tried my supplies from my MSI GT 75 Titan still the same issue.

 

I couldn't recall. Just something that came to mind.

 

the only thing I removed to do this job was the gpu fan, heatsink, and gpu. Swapped in the new one with fresh paste and thermal pads turned it on it turned on and shut down right away. Now won't power at all. I switched back to the 460m still does the same exact thing. I've removed everything off of the board cep the wifi module and bluetooth nothing seeems to reset the EC. Wish there was a way to short it and see if it would boot. Evidently the gtx 675m I installed really did a hurting to this motherboard which makes literally no sense. I've done so many gpu swaps on laptops and custom bios mods and vbios flashes it just makes literally no sense.

 

Oh interesting. So it does 2 green blinks? When exactly does it do these blinks?

 

Only after the battery has been plugged in and or ac power. I just took the entire laptop apart and this is what i Have just found. This looks troubling to me for sure.

 

Khenglish does this look normal to you ? This is the solder joints for the dc plug on the laptop and it has this brown residue maybe flux?

 

I also found this when removing the protective cover behind the mxm slot for the primary GPU the same looking brown residue. It actually flakes right off with a plastic splunger. I am going to take a fine brush and clean this all out with rubbing alcohol. I can't tell if those are burns or just leaks or what

 

Just plugged it in and also as you said to feel the EC. The EC does warm up it is not scalding but it gets hot for sure. I can hold my finger on it but i can feel the heat in the chip.

 

The slot is odd but the power plug just looks like flux.

 

@Drammar09 The DC jack almost looks like a prior repair? But certainly does look like flux.

 

The EC shouldn't feel warm at all with the system off. Looks like we found your problem. I had an EC die on a P150EM. It was running at 80C with the system off. Replacing it fixed the motherboard.

 

That is the first thing I thought as well that it looks a bit odd but I have owned this since new.

 

The second i plug in the power from the wall into the bare motherboard the 2 lights come on in the front of it the power led flashes green twice then turns solid orange. Then after that the EC slowly starts heating up but it defiantly gets hot at one point. Where do I go from here essentially?

 

ite IT8512E 1023-NXS DE3LQC L is the number/part number on my EC

 

Knowing at this point that possibly the EC is bad are you located in the states? If so could I ship you my board and pay you to repair it?

 

I am in upstate NY. I can give it a shot. There are replacement chips on ebay. It's extremely cryptic, but it looks like the EC does not have an internal flash for EC code, so it should be a drop in replacement. I could be wrong though.

To clarify, it does absolutely nothing when you try turning it on? Zero change in the LEDs? If that's the case then I just need a power supply for the motherboard to check if it turns on for a split second. Shipping the system in its frame though would be safer for the board.

If you are interested in having me take a look and change the EC chip PM me.