Compaq Presario F700 - DA0AT1MB8H0 -Not turning but charges the battery

[LukeDavis]

Hello there!.

I've recently aqquired a lot of older computers I wish to learn and fault find with.

Among the machine there are 5 defective machines - 4 of which with motherboard issues.

This Presario doesn't turn on but the battery indicator and charging port light up, the port doesn't tell me anything as it lights up even without being attached to the motherboard.

The fact the battery charges proves at least 18v is getting to all the nessesities.

The laptop has an AMD Athlon 64 X2 and a small Nvidia chip with the model MCP57MV-A2.



I have checked the Power button with a multimeter and it shows up as good.

Where else should I look on this motherboard? Any tips would be very helpful. Many thanks

Luke

[Patol]

Heat up the MCP76M chip, you can even reflow it. The machine should start working. This chip needs to be replaced for a new one.

[LukeDavis]

Heat up the MCP76M chip, you can even reflow it. The machine should start working. This chip needs to be replaced for a new one.

Don't tell me......it's yet another machine with Bumpgate that snuck into my collection.

Or maybe it's just a chip that's fine just the HP thermal pad isn't doing its job and the chip fries itself, I heard there's a similar issue with the G6000 which is based on the same chassis

I'll reflow the chip and get back with the results.

What I'm confused about is how it could prevent the system turning on at all and not just a black screen like many are.

[mcplslg123]

Colossal waste of time in working on this F700 series. Known to have a defective Nvidea Chip.

[LukeDavis]

Colossal waste of time in working on this F700 series. Known to have a defective Nvidea Chip.

Was there ever a rectified chip with the new underfill made after the lawsuit perhaps? It's unlikely but I do recall Nvidia producing patched chips afterwards.

[mcplslg123]

No rectified chips available for this series.Whatever you get is pure crap.So dont waste your time and money on this.

[LukeDavis]

No rectified chips available for this series.Whatever you get is pure crap.So dont waste your time and money on this.

Right I'll E-waste this machine then....big shame I was hoping I'd get a nice Athlon 64 Notebook out of the deal.

Any device you'd recommend that's moderately more reliable?

[piernov]

Another possibility is to replace the motherboard, CPU and heatsink with an Intel platform, such as Quanta AT3 (I think it can be swapped but I haven't tried myself for this specific machine). Make sure the replacement Intel board does not have an Nvidia dGPU as it will also be dead. A good Core 2 machine will always be better than an Athlon/Turion.

[LukeDavis]

Another possibility is to replace the motherboard, CPU and heatsink with an Intel platform, such as Quanta AT3 (I think it can be swapped but I haven't tried myself for this specific machine). Make sure the replacement Intel board does not have an Nvidia dGPU as it will also be dead. A good Core 2 machine will always be better than an Athlon/Turion.

Not a bad idea, and it's certainly an option. However unlike the infamous DV6 I own, this wears stickers so a transfer will be "very different" but this is merely cosmetic.

Do the DGPU models have the ability to disable the onboard chip to just use GMA or is that only a luxury on some boards?

[LukeDavis]

Update: heating the chip doesn't seem to do anything, either this MCP is too far gone or the issue is elsewhere.

Or the power button is broken....which would be hilarious.

[mcplslg123]

This laptop not turning on problem perhaps can be solved but whats the point in wasting time and energy when you already know that nvidea chip will turn out to be faulty.So mereley getting it to switching state is perhaps useless. See if any mb is available with intel cpu as @peirnov has suggested.

[piernov]

Do the DGPU models have the ability to disable the onboard chip to just use GMA or is that only a luxury on some boards?

No in general the northbridge does not have an iGPU if a dedicated GPU is soldered onto the board or an MXM connector is present.
For example PM965 is used instead of GM965.
So converting these requires replacing the northbridge and then swapping a few dozens of resistors and other components to re-route all the connectors and stuff to the northbridge instead of the dGPU.

[LukeDavis]

Aha it's all starting to make sense now,

I believe this machine's fate ultimately lies with what I want to do with it, I'm on the edge with if I want to restore it or not. I have some "more interesting" Machines to test myself with

I think I'll convert this machine and remove the AMD sticker for something else to wear as everyone wins then.

I can even steal the fan from the old heatsink for another project.

Not every AMD system is fatally flawed as I've discovered so there's definitely room for improvement.

I think we can safely call this project done.

I'll post an update if I ever get around to replacing the motherboard would be a shame to dispose of it as the screen and the keyboard and most components are fully intact.

[Patol]

BTW to turn this board on without the switch, short G1 pads on the PCB.