hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

[Susanhill36]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

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[ferryvanhot]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

how its conclusions? what could be normal again?? (the cq60)

[garyd]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Hi,

I realise this an old thread but it equates to my current problem.

My son has a CQ60-218EM displaying the same/similar symptoms.
I tried a replacement inverter but no joy.
Stripped down completely but no sign of any damage.
So, on reading the suggestions re re-flowing here I remembered my old basic electronics repair training and flexed the laptop and voila!
The display came on and all appeared working.
Further pressure applied on the keyboard etc caused it to switch on and off.
Therefore I shall attempt the oven process and see what the outcome is.
However, can someone (Th3_uN1Qu3?) confirm what the 'shim' is for, please?
I will obviously clean off any paste and pad and apply new but am confused by the requirement of the shim.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

garyd

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

It's really weird that I keep seeing this with HP notebooks.

HP disables the temperature throttling of AMD processors in their notebooks. And the small ones run really really really hot unless you undervolt them. This could be the explanation.

[yyonline]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

To follow up on this further... I have another HP in the shop at the moment that I just got around to disassembling tonight. TX2500 with a Turion X2 RM-70 CPU. It appears to have a dead memory slot. After swapping the CPU, the slot is no longer dead.

It's really weird that I keep seeing this with HP notebooks. I haven't seen this with other manufacturers, but then again, most of the AMD notebooks I see are HP.

[yyonline]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

I have not seen a CPU advertised anywhere.

They don't make them anymore. Buying used on ebay or similar is your only affordable option.

[oldpal]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

I first assumed the motherboard. I replaced that, but the memory slot was still dead. After replacing the CPU the memory slot came back to life, so I swapped back in the original motherboard and I returned the replacement motherboard.

HP laptops may require an HP wifi card. Not necessarily made by HP, it could be Intel or Broadcom, but tweaked by HP with custom firmware. With another brand wifi card, many of the older HP laptops would not boot. I don't know if this is still the case, as I haven't replaced a wifi card in a newer HP, but it's something to keep in mind.

This is finally starting to make sense to me. I have mentally gone though all sorts of possibilities all assuming CPU was NOT the issue. But it all makes more sense with the CPU possibily being the culprit. I will keep the MB that was in this machine just in case I see another CQ60. I have seen the wireless adaptor refurb for $19.00 US (mine is a broadcom) and considered that. Good info on the HP firmware changes, will keep in mind. I have not seen a CPU advertised anywhere. Wonder about the cost and availability. After watching the video suggested above on heat gun use, I bought a #24.00 Wagner that looks capable. I have an infared Temp sensor, so I am now armed (and probably dangerous) for a fix.

[yyonline]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

I did see the cpu replacement, and wondered if you meant mb and cpu. I will watch for a cpu and may try that. For what this thing is worth, I may just live with it. I will look for a wireless transmitter and try that. I will try another reflow next week on a "lost cause" machine to see if I can finally fix one. One good thing is that I can take apart a cq60 and put it back together almost blindfolded..........(no screws left over).

I first assumed the motherboard. I replaced that, but the memory slot was still dead. After replacing the CPU the memory slot came back to life, so I swapped back in the original motherboard and I returned the replacement motherboard.

HP laptops may require an HP wifi card. Not necessarily made by HP, it could be Intel or Broadcom, but tweaked by HP with custom firmware. With another brand wifi card, many of the older HP laptops would not boot. I don't know if this is still the case, as I haven't replaced a wifi card in a newer HP, but it's something to keep in mind.

[oldpal]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Sounds like it may be a bad wireless mini pci express card. The transmitters do die on those from time to time.

On the CQ60 I dealt with, the flaky memory slot was cured by replacing the CPU.

I did see the cpu replacement, and wondered if you meant mb and cpu. I will watch for a cpu and may try that. For what this thing is worth, I may just live with it. I will look for a wireless transmitter and try that. I will try another reflow next week on a "lost cause" machine to see if I can finally fix one. One good thing is that I can take apart a cq60 and put it back together almost blindfolded..........(no screws left over).

[yyonline]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Sounds like it may be a bad wireless mini pci express card. The transmitters do die on those from time to time.

On the CQ60 I dealt with, the flaky memory slot was cured by replacing the CPU.

[oldpal]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Well, my fix did not last either. I ran for one day and then failure again. I put it outside at 31 deg F for 2 hours, and it rebooted and wireless worked fine. Turn off and wouldn't re post. Certain a proper reflow would do it. But the new board came so I put it in. DVD connector was damaged in shipping, but I went ahead. Worked fine , but no dvd. Got a new board and put it in. Bette,r but still had some issues. Wireless not working. I took out a 1 gig memory stick, and it started to behave. Wireless comes on at boot and then shuts off. Hold the button and it comes on and stays on. I updated the bios and wireless card drivers, but still not working correctly. I am still using the machine daily for 2 hours or so, so will live with the extra step. Not brave enough to put the 1gig back in. 2 gig works just fine. I watched the air gun video and still learning a lot. I consider this a new tool, but I am still a bit unsure until I actually fix one. The quirky CQ60 seems to be same with me as posted above. I did try all of the hints. Complex machines have various iterations of similar problems. I constantly check this thread for new info, and felt obligated to report my incompetence in reflow. Many learning experiences here.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Good idea, but the method you want to use is bad. Pressing the chip on top is risky because it may slide, bridging the solder paths underneath.

Yup. Do not, under any circumstances, press on the chip. Maybe yours has a different problem - i just recovered another laptop using the oven method - an Acer Aspire 5220 with geforce 7000 that would crash after a couple minutes of being powered on. It had been reflowed before 1.5 months ago or so the owner told me, but whoever did it did a bad job at reinstalling the heatsink.

Refluxed and "baked", it's been on for an hour now. But now it needs some heatsink mods as the thermal pads used are absolute garbage (and it doesn't help that they've been re-used after the first reflow), and the heatsink has no screws in the GPU area. Just on the CPU and fan, GPU is in the middle and relies on pressure from the case... talk about a bad design. GPU runs at 70C idle - no wonder it failed again. Also the fan is thermally controlled by the CPU only.

[momaka]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

I want to try now with the one that spins the fan with the Air station to flow under the chip and pressing on top.

Good idea, but the method you want to use is bad. Pressing the chip on top is risky because it may slide, bridging the solder paths underneath.

The right way to do it is to put some liquid flux under the chip you'll be reflowing, then pre-heat the board to about 80C-90C (either with air station or in oven). After this, slowly heat the chip and surrounding area with the hot air from the air station by moving the nozzle around the board in circular motion. When you see the liquid flux start to bubble near the chip (or after 2-3 minutes of heating), focus the hot air on top of the chip (but still keep the nozzle moving in circular motion over it - this will prevent the chip from heating up too quickly or in just one spot). 2 minutes at 300C should be good. After this, pull nozzle back and start heating the chip and surrounding area again - basically you want to let the board cool down slowly. Don't touch or move the board until it has cooled down (for this, give it 10 minutes just to be safe).

The video below shows how to reflow a PS3, but you can use the same procedures to reflow your chip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr1zyAGwnuU

[dritan]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

I tried both of the motherboards "baking" in oven for 8 min each at 220 degree. The result was that nothing worked, so even that motherboard that his fan is working , all the lights power, but the screen is black. The other one has blank screen, no fan, no front AC power led, just the power led at the button. I have tried removing battery, etc, I have removed all, tried with different ram-s but nothing seems to work. I want to try now with the one that spins the fan with the Air station to flow under the chip and pressing on top. Do you think this motherboards are dead, or I should try something else?
Regards

[yyonline]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

If there's garbled display, reflow it. If there's no display, but you have fan and power lights, see my earlier post regarding how to make the board post. If that doesn't work...then reflow it. I've never worked on a laptop that was so difficult to power on. The board I was working with was new from HP, so I think there's some sort of weird defect in the board vs. the one I was working with being damaged. I can't find it now, but I did find a few other message board postings at the time with others having similar issues getting the same model to post. One of them listed a procedure similar to the one I posted.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Yes, it could be something else. But on those that power on but have no or garbled display this is the fix.

[dritan]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Thanks. In fact before reading this post I have put the first laptop to the Oven with liquid flux under the Nvidia ChipSet and 5 min at 200 degree temp. Nothing happend so, mayybe I need to try with higher temp. The first laptop may have different problem since it doesn't start the fan, when I press power it starts only the power led and nothing else.

Use flux if you have it. Should help it last longer. I use 7 minutes at 210 degrees C, that works out to 410F. I monitor with the temperature probe of my multimeter, even the cheap ones are good to 300C so no problem sticking it inside and closing the door over the cable. You put the board on the cooking tray GPU side up, and make 4 small aluminum foil balls to put under it. The board must not touch the tray, that's what the foil balls are for.

Preheat oven before putting the board in. After the 7 minutes are past, open the door and pull the tray only halfway out. Let it cool down at least 30 minutes before reassembly. Needless to say, remove anything that's removable including cooler and CPU, but don't insist in stripping any plastic or tape off the board - it won't melt. When you put it back together, replacing the thermal pad with an aluminum or copper shim will help greatly as well.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

Use flux if you have it. Should help it last longer. I use 7 minutes at 210 degrees C, that works out to 410F. I monitor with the temperature probe of my multimeter, even the cheap ones are good to 300C so no problem sticking it inside and closing the door over the cable. You put the board on the cooking tray GPU side up, and make 4 small aluminum foil balls to put under it. The board must not touch the tray, that's what the foil balls are for.

Preheat oven before putting the board in. After the 7 minutes are past, open the door and pull the tray only halfway out. Let it cool down at least 30 minutes before reassembly. Needless to say, remove anything that's removable including cooler and CPU, but don't insist in stripping any plastic or tape off the board - it won't melt. When you put it back together, replacing the thermal pad with an aluminum or copper shim will help greatly as well.

[dritan]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

So you recommend the OVEN method instead of hot air station or hot air Gun?
What about this case of the first laptop that doesn't start the fan, power led in front is off, blank screen, do you ever have this kind of problem?

To reflow in oven, should I put any liquid to the chipset, what procedure should I follow in order to have success? how many degrees C temp. and how long?

I have this air station with all the Soldering nozzle and I found One is for this chip measure and flows air underneath the chip. I have worked only to substitute small chips not complicated chips with this, but I never used for this kind of procedure.

maybe I am trying to "bake" the first motherboard and after that if it's not successfull I will try with the air station. but I need to know the procedure, temp, time and if I should use liquid flux or not?

Regards!

If you don't know what you're doing you can more easily kill it with the hot air station. I reflowed a DV9000 with GeForce 6150 more than 8 months ago. And no news from the customer is good news.

I'm gonna have to do my dv9000 (8400GS) soon as it finally seems to be giving up after >1.5 years of heavy use. But heck, it's worth it, i got it for $300 with a very minor issue (you'll laugh if i tell you what it was, but i believe i've mentioned it earlier as well).

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: hp compaq cq60 power light turns on itself but no display

If you don't know what you're doing you can more easily kill it with the hot air station. I reflowed a DV9000 with GeForce 6150 more than 8 months ago. And no news from the customer is good news.

I'm gonna have to do my dv9000 (8400GS) soon as it finally seems to be giving up after >1.5 years of heavy use. But heck, it's worth it, i got it for $300 with a very minor issue (you'll laugh if i tell you what it was, but i believe i've mentioned it earlier as well).