X21 failed to turn on

[cofreth]

I have this X21 which fail to turn ON, there is power supply of 16V from adapter to notebook power connection. Tried using only battery to boot get the same problem too. No LED indicator light at power panel, CPU fan not working. Hardisk not funtion too. Nothing show on screen, no beep sound, no bios shown. Checked with multi meter there is 16V found on both end of the 2 pieces of ceramic fuse.
Any idea what is the possibility of this failure?
Could it be on/off switch erratic?
Is there any minature part on the motherboard where can be repair or replace?
How to test and confirm motherboard is dead and need a replacement?
Thank you

[rkawakami]

Power on problems can be caused by the following:

- AC adapter
- battery
- DC input jack
- fuse(s) on the motherboard
- other motherboard problem
- keyboard (power switch)
- MiniPCI card

In your case, the AC adapter has the proper voltage. I'm assuming that the battery is okay but if you could check it in another X2 system then that would eliminate it as being a problem. The DC input jack should be okay if you are reading voltage across either end of a fuse, if you are using an AC adapter. It's possible that the power switch on the keyboard is defective or that the keyboard connector is not plugged all of the way into the mating connector on the motherboard. Swapping the keyboard out with a known good unit would verify that as being the problem or not. You could also mount the X2 in a port replicator and use the power button on that to turn on the system. Finally, I've seen some systems act like they have a power problem and it was really due to a defective MiniPCI card. Those problems could be anything from what you are seeing (a "dead" system) to one which mostly powers up (only the fan spins or it might get stuck at the BIOS splash screen).

There's many parts on the motherboard, which if defective, can cause a dead system. About the only thing you can do is to pull out the motherboard and closely inspect both sides for any parts which look damaged. That would confirm the motherboard as being the problem, however it still might not be repairable. You could also try finding all of the fuses and check them for 0 ohms; there's probably close to a dozen of them on the motherboard. If you are handy with a soldering iron and have had some experience with surface mounted components then it is quite possible to replace some parts. However, is usually just easier and less time-consuming to swap out the entire motherboard with one which you know is working.

The one other diagnostic tool to use is to remove ALL "extra" hardware from the motherboard and then see if the system powers up. This means the hard drive, the memory module, the MiniPCI card, main battery and anything which is plugged into the USB, PCMCIA or CF slots. Since the X2 has memory on the motherboard, it should be able to boot without any beep codes. If that works, then one of the things that you removed is the problem.

[cofreth]

To remove all extra hardware as mentioned does it include LCD monitor cable too? Thank you.

[rkawakami]

It's generally not necessary to remove the LCD ribbon cable, however it won't hurt to do that. It's been suggested that for the infamous "Blink of Death" that affects the T20-T22 and A2x systems, that doing this can sometimes help. The thinking is that there's too much current being consumed when the system is first turned on and the power controller circuits are automatically shutting down. Sort of like a fuse, but in that case nothing is physically being damaged (i.e., a blown fuse which would require replacement).