X10 freezes when you move it or if I tap on the chasis?

I have a Samsung X10 / Gateway 200ARC.

I am having an issue with the laptop randomly freezing / locking up. It works great, and then if I put some movement to the chassis by flexing it (picking it up by a corner, or pressing or tapping on the palmrest) the laptop freezes.

It happens if I walk around with the laptop (frequently),
use it while on my lap(frequently),
open and close the LCD (infrequently)
tap /push on the palmrest (infrequently)

I am thinking a bad trace on the motherboard, or poor ground? When it freezes, the video remains and shows whatever it was showing, but you will not get any responce from the keyboard, mouse, power button, etc. You have to hold the power button for 3 seconds to shut it down.

When I got the laptop it was randomly rebooting when taking the same actions. I took it apart, and reassembled it, and I've fixed the rebooting, but now it locks up.

I have a new IDE Ribbon cable in it (common part to fail for this model)

Any ideas?

 

I would definitely suspect a connection problem. Connections tend to work loose with time.

Perhaps your should redo the disassembly /reassembly and even go further, if that is possible. Would a keyboard connection problem have the effect of locking up the computer? Do you have access to an external USB keyboard. You could could connect this and remove the internal keyboard to see if that helps isolate the problem.

John

 

unfortunately, i only have ps2 keyboards. I tend to think something is grounding out or something. Its almost like if I torq the chassis that it will lock up, so that could even be a broken or bad trace on the motherboard - which seems like it'd be common with as much movement as the bottom half of laptop has.

I was also thinking a speaker problem or something - because if I press near that area, it locks. However, my pressing there could flex it somewhere else.

I dont have a clue.

 

i knew i'd stump you guys.

 

bumpity bump

 

I think you have already diagnosed the problem in general terms. The problem is determining exactly which component or connection is the cause. This can probably only be determined by a process of elimination. Start by disconnecting anything not essential for core functions and see if the fault still occurs.

John

 

Hi there
Spookily I have exactly the same problem!! My X20 was locking up for so apparent reason. All activity ceases. Over time I realised that this was happening when I work on my "laptop" ie. when in bed or something with the computer on my lap. This suggested a positional problem and it was more stable on a tabletop. By playing a video... I could probe the lock-up by touching the case and seeing when the video halted. I narrowed to down to the left side and more specifically near the left speaker.
I opened the case.. suspecting a shorting problem... and I see there are large copper plates fixed to the casing - probably heat sinks.. but who knows? I tried insulating these myself with trimmed pieces of card and the problem seemed to improve.. but really it is still bad. I can't believe that the internal conformation has changed such that the circuit board is touching where it did not before. But clearly something is going wrong. The problems started with the loss of my network adaptor... now my USB tends to drop out and I need to reboot. There is something seriously wrong with the machine. Perhaps the "heat shields are really an electrical path? an earth perhaps? I notice that the hard drive contacts the casing through two metal mesh pads??? Perhaps the casing SHOULD touch parts of the circuit.
I just don't have enough information... but for sure this is happening to others.

Phil

 

This does look like some sort of connection problem. However, I would expect it to be more likely that a connector somewhere is working loose. Often, such problems can be fixed by dismantling and reassembling the computer.

Notebooks which are opened and closed and moved around a lot are move vulnerable to this type of problem than ones which live on a desk.

It's a shame that Samsung do not make available any disassembly guides such as Dell provides.

John

 

Hi

I did remake all the connections I could see... right down to removing all the detachable components such as the screen, keyboard etc. The various ribbon and plug connectors all seem OK and well home.
I have had the motherboard almost completely off and looked for foreign objects lodging beneath. My laptop has had some battering and the rather flimsy speaker grills have lost a couple of small pieces. I guess they could be inside now - and they are metalized plastic. Certainly lifting the motherboard off the base and tilting the machine at an angle seemed to solve the problem for a while... but it still goes on. Dropping of USB support at random times is the most annoying.. and booting can be a problem.
Interesting that someone else has come across this odd problem.
Phil

 

Cable fatigue could be another problem, particularly the cable going into the display.

However, I get the impression that your X10 has had a hard, but productive, life and is wanting to retire.

John

 

My R50 has had exactly the same problem - it will randomly freeze if i move it in anyway - i think it may have started when my laptop bag came apart while walking to school with it - iv stripped it down and i think iv worked out that its coming from the hard drive area - the only problem i have now is that i think i may blown up the motherboard now as iv turned it on and off far too much - my suspicions arose when i had it turned on and the blue screen came up with a weird name saying it caused a problem, i turned it off and then turned it back on and it worked however i let it hibernate then turned it bk on and elft it for 5 - 10 minutes and it went to blue again - it now wont turn on at all (

im now taking it apart to see if there are any loose connections and if anything is still intact.


Does anyone have any information that could maybe see if i can blame Belkin for a faulty laptop bag?

 

I wonder if a BSOD after a few minutes indicates a cooling system problem. Impact could spoil the thermal connection between the CPU and the heat sink.

As for Belkin, I found this here:

So limit of liability is the cost of the bag. They do claim "lifetime" warranty on their bags. However, I have never figured out the meaning of "lifetime" warranty. Is it the life of the owner or the life of the product? That is, when the product dies then the warranty dies with it.

John

 

I dismantled my X20 again tonight.. took everything out, including the motherboard. In my problem area.. the left-front near the speaker... one of the plastic-embedded screwmounts had come away from the base. I reattached with epoxy and screwed down the motherboard once more.. getting it pretty snug. Touch wood - the problem seems to have gone now and I can move the machine around quite freely without lockup.
Hopefully it will settle down now. One cautionary note.. the plugs for the speaker cables are really quite brittle and likely to fragment if you attempt to disconnect the speakers. I was obliged to rebuild one with more epoxy. Take care.

Phil

 

Cheers for that John - i took the R50 apart and couldnt find anything - think i may have made it worse as i noticed iv pulled the ribbon connection for the screen out and another connection - which could have been the speaker but as i was peering in to a 10mm gap i couldnt quite worked out what else it could be.

Il see what Belkin actually say because i bought the bag less than ayear ago and - well i need a new one anyway (mite see what i can get) If the "lifetime" warranty does mean the lifetime of the product then the lifetime of the bag is up - me thinks

Il see what comes up from my dads mate looking at it tomorrow - thats if i didnt break the hardrive ribbon taking it out :S