Sager with Clevo B5130 computer wont post

I have a Sager laptop with a Clevo B5130 motherboard. I was using the computer on Friday night and the battery ran out. Upon plugging it in, the computer would not boot. The fan takes 10-20 seconds to turn on and then the computer just beeps forever with no screen or anything. I have tried to disconnect most non-essential components and also reseating the RAM and all that.. what could the problem be? Sager technical support advises that the video card might be dead and that I need to send the computer to them for $400+ worth of repair. Not going to be able to do that! Would like to address and fix the problem myself and am willing to learn whatever else I might need to do (like chipset work, etc.) to address this problem. Anyone have any ideas?

 

the more info you give then members might be able to advise.
whats the full spec
how old is it
have you overclocked
when was the lat time you cleaned fans and vents
what sort of beeps are you getting,long or short
when did warranty run out

 

The beeps are the interesting part. Try reseating the ram. A bit more info would help though, try to provide us with everything that MrDJ asked for. It is quite unlikely that the card just died like that instantly. It can happen, it is just an oddity.

 

Clevo B5130 motherboard
Intel M640 core i7 Processor
8gb system RAM (2x4gb DIMM)
On-board Intel graphics
NVidia graphics also

It's about 2 1/2 years old laptop. Never been overclocked to my knowledge, I am not the original owner though but it was a computer used at my work. The beeps are longer than the standard POST beep. I assume the warranty is gone.

Yeah I was thinking it was unlikely myself that the card died. Now the laptop has always had what appeared to be issued with the monitor (originally when I got this machine the built-in monitor did not work at all. Adjusting the cable fixed that but it always had to be tinkered with. When the system battery died it was acting funny. Perhaps a way to disable one of the chips hardware jumper or something and use the working one? Tech at Sager said there was not. But he seemed to want me to send the system in for $400.

 

any idea which nvidia graphics card it has as this could give us vital clues. go to control panel and then nvidia control panel. click system information on bottom left and graphics card should be shown on left side.

long beeps could also be to do with the hard drive. if its a western digital black then its covered for 5 years.

 

Computer will not boot, but I have the hard drive hooked up to my desktop externally searching for a log file or something that indicates it. Anyone know where NVidia places this information?

 

B5130 User Manual

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes.

I'm not sure what beep sequence you're getting, but hopefully those will be of handy reference for troubleshooting.

 

DOH! its been a long stressful day. so its not the hard drive then

 

Good list for troubleshooting! The beeping I am getting is a 'finite one though until I power down the machine. I have not let it beep more than maybe 20 times for fear that something could be overheating. Although I did reapply the thermal paste to the heatsink (what I pulled off yesterday did not look too good).

 

Do you know where NVidia stores a log for what video card it's installing drivers for? I am trying to Google it but can't find an answer. Figured that would give up the video card - or maybe Windows has it stored somewhere?

 

Hmm, no description for a single continuous beep... You said you've tried removing all non-essential components. Have you tried removing the GPU to see if you get a different beep code? Or possibly the CPU? You also mentioned you reseated the RAM; have you tried first removing all memory modules and then booting? I worked on a Dell Optiplex recently that would start, and about 5 seconds into POST, the fans would rev outrageously high. It turned out to be a bad memory module.

 

ive had a look through my folders but theres no mention of which graphics card ive got. wonder if it will show it in the bios but of course you cant bootup so that doesnt help.

 

Its a Bx130M, which is a 15.6" Optimus based laptop.. Its decedents W1x0HM and W1x0ER. The GPU is soldered to the motherboard. If its making a single beep with no post, you either have a dead CPU or a dead GPU on the motherboard, neither is cheap. Its probably the GPU, they get too hot at some point and just stop working.

 

Not a single beep but a 'infinte of longer than normal POST beeps

 

Are there lights flashing also or just beeps?

 

Yeah the three lights on the right flash when the beeping starts. keep in mind the beeping does not start for about 20 seconds, after the CPU fan kicks on.

 

Yea thats the EC screaming about not being able to or getting invalid data from a component, you know there is enough memory good to post up the machine to that point, but its always worth a shot to swap memory. But yea probably GPU related, which is new motherboard time.

 

any chance an oven bake could help?

 

im not sure how that works on this model as its been mentioned that the gpu is soldered to the motherboard so unless the whole thing is baked im guessing the baking method would be no good for this.

 

I have heard of this oven bake deal but what does it mean? Do you actually put a mobo into an oven? I'm new when it comes to chip level work.

 

not sure about the mobo but dedicated graphics cards work after an oven bake.

The Oven Trick (repairing your broken video card with an oven) | Overclockers

http://forum.notebookreview.com/zep...znote-6224w-but-works-all-brands-modells.html

all it does is melts the broken solder so it can reconnect and so bring the card back to life.

a search on here works wonders http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=794622

 

This is some great information - maybe I can research this and try it? A broken GPU (I suspect the NVidia?) could be well the culprit.

--- Anyone figured out how to get the exact model of the video off the files that were on the HDD when the HDD is hooked to another computer?

 

no expert on this but im not sure that its actually called a dedicated card as its part of the motherboard and soldered to it. dedicated cards are stand alone and not part of the motherboard.

wheres the experts when you need them

 

The NVidia chip is soldered onto the Mobo on this laptop. I think it's dedicated if the chip has it's own GPU (check) and uses it's own memory and not the main system RAM (check). At least, that is what I think would be the difference as opposed to an integrated graphics chip which uses system RAM.