A75 driving me nuts!!

I'm trying to set up an A75-S206 for one of my daughters. I've gone in and cleaned the heat sink and replaced the thermal paste on the CPU. It had a broken power jack, which I re-soldered. It powers up just fine and will sit at the BIOS screen all day without a problem. However, as soon as I try anything like a memory test or to load an O.S. -- even a simple Linux version, the unit just shuts off. The fans seem to be working normally, and the area around the cooler outlet is not hot. I've changed memory to no avail. Many of the posts I see regarding this model have to do with CPU cooling, but I don't think this is the problem here. The shut down will happen the same if I try to load an O.S. immediately after turn on or after sitting at the BIOS screen for several hours. Can anyone think of what I should try next??

Thank you in advance.

 

I wouldn't be to sure that the heat issue is not the problem... I think it might be.
In some laptops the fan doesn't even start spinning untill after the bios post screen to get the cpu to warm up quicker.
In your bios does it show the temps of your cpu?

 

Thanks for the thought. The BIOS doesn't show CPU temp and I can't load any programs to check temp (since it won't boot). In this unit, as soon as you power up, the fan starts at a high speed and then quickly (2-3 seconds) slows down to a lower speed. I can feel air coming out of the cooler vent, and hear the fan, so I know it's working. I did find lint and dust on the cooling fins initially, but this has been all cleaned out and now it's very clean. To test the temp idea, I also tried to spray compressed air canned cleaner at the cooling fins and continue as I tried to boot. Same result -- shut down.

 

Is there an updated bios for it? Or tried a different hard drive?

 

I tried to update the BIOS but the program won't run to completion -- same issue: it shuts off. After reading your suggestion, I pulled the hard drive and tried to load a version of Linux to RAM only. Same thing: it shut down. Now do you see why this is driving me crazy? Thank you for the ideas anyway.

 

I had an A75 one like it, only mine had a 3.06GHz P4. It was doing the same thing. It uses the same cpu as a desktop. I switched it with the P4 2.5GHz in my kids desktop and both worked. In my opinion the laptop couldn't cool the 3.06 good enough, but the desktop could. The 2.5 ran cool enough to work in the laptop. Those old cpus are dirt cheap on eBay, it might be worth it to try it.

 

You're not going to believe this, but I happen to have a 2.5GHz CPU from a desktop mobo in my pile of computer 'stuff.' As soon as I finish this, I'm going to do as you suggest. I had assumed this unit used the "M" CPU's and so didn't bother trying to swap in what I had on hand. I'll let you know how it works out. Thank you. It's good to hear that someone was able to solve this exact problem. This is more hope than I've had since I started with this thing.

 

No dice! @$#@! I tried the CPU swap and it didn't work. I know the CPU was a working one because the board I got it from was working and I upgraded to a faster mobo. When I power up, I can hear the drives and fan working, but no video. The screen is a total blank. Thanks, anyway, for the idea. Now, it's another swap back to the old CPU.

I also have a 2.0 GHz Celeron with a 400MHz FSB on hand that fits the same socket. The original CPU is a 3GHz with a 533 FSB. Anyone want to guess if it would work and is it worth a try? Oh, well, whoever said fixing computers was easy?

 

No one It is hard and frustrating as heck and you get sick of working on the problem b.c nothing you do is working... but it still has to be done. ATM my xps 1340's web am just disappeared from device manager and I am clueless on what is wrong with it.

I would offer you advice if I had any Uhh... It possibly is the ram... can you try some other ram in the laptop?

 

Thanks for the RAM suggestion. This unit has 500MB of built-in RAM on the mobo. I've used only this RAM and I've also added 500MB or 1GB to the slot, all with the same results. This is why this problem is so curious. It boots OK to the BIOS setup, but as soon as you put some stress on the system by loading a program, it shuts down. If it gave me some kind of error code or beeps or something to go on, I could figure it out. But the darned thing just shuts down with no warning as soon as you try to use it. I would prefer if it didn't start at all, so then I could just say "it's broken" and be done with it.

 

Pull the built in ram out and try it with 1 stick installed in the bottom slot. The built in stick is located under the keyboard in the same kind of a slot like the one on the bottom. It is possible to get it out with out splitting the case. To replace it you will need to split the case or at least loosen the palm rest. It's possible that the ram is bad or needs reseating.

 

Just got back from a short trip. Thanks for the suggestion regarding the built-in RAM. I didn't think of that! I'll pull it apart tomorrow (for the 20th time) and try it out. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

 

When taking this thing apart (many times) I didn't remember seeing a separate RAM module inside, although I've seen this on other laptops. I took it apart again and found that my built-in RAM consists of 4 chips surface mounted on the mobo directly under the RAM slot, and so it's not removable. I did notice something else, however. When looking at the BIOS with only the "500MB" of built-in RAM, the BIOS reads only 446MB. Is this some missing RAM due to video RAM sharing, or does it indicate that the built-in RAM is defective? Does anyone have any idea? If you have an A75, could you please look at the BIOS and let me know? If the on-board memory is defective and it's soldered on the board, then this thing is toast. Any one have any comments or a good Toshiba motherboard kicking around that they don't need? Thanks for the comeback.

 

Sorry, it's the A85 that has a memory slot under the keyboard. I'm gettin too old to remember what I worked on 6 months ago.