NP8170 won't turn on, two yellow lights even without being plugged in

Battery has been in trouble for a little while, if I unplug the charger it won't stay on very long. I was trying to hook my computer up to my TV via HDMI connection last night and something went wrong. My brother and I thought we smelled something burning, obviously not a great sign. Computer was still on and running fine. I restarted it because I read somewhere that restarting the system might help the HDMI hook up correctly. I restarted it and now it won't come back on. Normally if I unplug the computer the yellow and green lights on the computer will turn off but now they are both yellow no matter what. I left it alone for the night and when I woke up one was yellow and the other was green. No luck turning it on.

I can still charge my phone via USB and the computer is obviously running the LED lights. I assume that it's a PSU problem and it's getting enough voltage to charge my phone etc. but not enough to actually turn the computer on. Holding the power button does absolutely nothing, no fans start, no sign of anything. I've held it for 30s+, done every combination of things I read about, nothing. I took it apart as best I could and could not see any obvious signs of a short or soldering problem. Again I'm assuming that I need a new battery but I thought I would at least post and see if there was something I could check or try. I really don't have the money for a fix right now so anything I could do on my end would be highly appreciated.

 

Might be worth removing the battery and adapter, then pressing + holding the power button for 4 - 5 seconds to drain and reset the EC chip. Once you've done that, leave it alone for a few minutes, then try reconnecting the battery and/or charger.

 

I've done that and I get nothing. As soon as I put the battery back in both yellow lights are on and I get still get no response. Maybe I didn't leave it alone for long enough, I'll do it again and just let it sit. Thanks for the help.

 

I tried that and it didn't work. As soon as I put the battery back in the left light with the battery icon turns yellow and then a second or so later the light with the power and adapter symbol turns yellow as well. That is without the adapter being plugged in. Ideas?

 

Does this still happen if you use the ac without the battery in?

 

I haven't tried using the AC without the battery, I will do that right now...

Took out the battery, and when I plugged the AC adapter in I heard a slight 'crack' sound. Power/AC came on yellow, no response to the power button.

 

Ok, I just finally got the keyboard off and there was an unholy amount of dust and dog hair on the RAM and motherboard. There was one particularly large clump on a portion of the motherboard where it says X15 and X16 (if that means anything to anyone) right above the keyboard ribbon connection. I'm cleaning it out best I can and I'm about to remove the RAM and try to make sure it's as clean as possible (I'm just using air/not touching or using cleaners).

EDIT: Also I think the 'short' or burning that we smelled happened right after my brother started to put the AC plug into the computer upside down. I don't know if the connections hitting each other could have caused that but it's a thought.

EDIT2: None of the cleaning or anything helped.

 

not asked yet but are you booting with the hdmi cable still plugged in to lappy.
no idea if this will help but read in the past that having some externals plugged in on boot up can cause problems.

 

If the connector made contact the wrong way it could have done damage, you would have to be pretty forceful though.

 

I unplugged all of the peripherals.

I left the battery in all night to see if it would run down. This morning the battery light is now green and the power/AC light is still yellow. Any thoughts as to why the battery light would turn green overnight when the AC adapter wasn't plugged in?

 

The smell could have also been from all the dust and pet hair. That sort of thing can be a fire hazard and is liable to put out a distinct scent as the system pushes out hot air.

There could be a problem with the controller chip.

 

Is there anything I can do about a controller chip problem? Never had to deal with one. Anything you recommend I try with the green light on?

 

when taking out the battery and ac u forgot to also remove the bios battery (located beneath the keyboard). remove that as well, THEN press the power button for at least 10 seconds, reassemble and try again.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Removing the CMOS battery doesn't reset the EC but it is certainly a good idea while you're troubleshooting.

If the chip is faulty, then there's really nothing you can do. Typical repair would be to solder a new one, although a lot of technicians will simply replace the board. The green light is a bit of an oddity to me at the moment.

 

Yes the EC is powered by the main system bios but the bios could have been scrambled a little I suppose.

 

So it seems like even if I get a new battery it won't solve this problem, correct? Just trying to judge whether or not I can do this myself by ordering the parts or whether or not it needs to be sent in. I'll have to do more research on getting that bios battery out. It's encased in a rubber coating and I don't want to just rip the damn thing out.

 

No, with a bad battery running off AC with no battery would solve the issue. Time to send it in.

 

Sent it in, thank you everyone for your help.

 

Not a problem I hope it gets sorted quickly for you.

 

I have exactly the same problem. My sager NP8130 does not boot up (press power button but the power led turns green then orange, screen off) after trying to boot Hackintosh.

Solution is to remove the keyboard to reach the CMOS battery, remove the battery and insert it back. The machine will boot up again.

 

That sounds like a different issue to me to be fair. I don't think his would have been solved by a cmos reset.