R52 won't boot up

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jjmclean · #1 Post by **jjmclean** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:54 pm

I've posted the previous post about removing the fan from a R52. This is my daughters computer and was brought to me to try to fix. The first time I tried to boot, it went as far as showing the progress indicator on the Win XP loading page then cut off, Next time, I hit the "access IBM" key and got as far as clicking to start the hardware testing device and it cut off, then from that point on, you press the power on button, the little green lights under the monitor light up, it beeps and cuts off. I was thinking heat but the fan is ruuning however it's very dirty. I did remove the hard drive, CD drive, and battery and it still does the same thing. Any suggestions?

jjmclean · #2 Post by **jjmclean** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:54 pm

I've found out that it will keep running if I remove the memory under the keyboard. It has none in the other (outside) slot. However it's not doing anything but running the fan with the memory out, it shows nothing on the screen. Is this normal?

ajkula66 · #3 Post by **ajkula66** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:56 pm

When you power it on with no memory inserted whatsoever, does it beep? If it doesn't you can likely kiss the motherboard goodbye.

jjmclean · #4 Post by **jjmclean** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:09 pm

Yes, it beeps some code at first. I didn't count the exact beeps but that's all it does, beeps the code then just sits there running with black screen.

I just checked it, "beep, pause, beep beep beep, pause, beep beep beep, pause, beep" (1,3,3,1). Also, the time before I removed the memory, it went through the XP page that shows the progress bar then when it started to go to the next step, it's not exactly a black screen, it was blank but had a little light and the mouse pointer was on it and you could move it but that was all. It sat there like that for probably 30 seconds or so then cut off.

sjthinkpader · #5 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:22 pm

It seems either it is infected with a virus or the HDD had gone bad. If you have an USB housing, scan the drive with a malware checker from a healthy machine.

jjmclean · #6 Post by **jjmclean** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:39 pm

Would a virus cause it to do this? It doesn't normally get this far into booting up. It almost acts like heat problem because it will go into Windows far enough to see the blank screen sometimes after it has been sitting for a while switched off. It seems to stay powered up for a shorter time the more times you try to power it up until it eventually just gets to the point that the fan gets up to speed then it beeps one short beep and then shuts off, about 5-10 seconds. I've tried to power it up with the hard drive removed and it still doesn't change the length of the run-time

emeraldgirl08 · #7 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:21 am

Hi JJ.

Have you taken the fan off and taken a look at the Thermal Compound??? I know I've read threads where people have the symptoms of the machine just shutting off and it turned out it was the Thermal Compound.

Or the lack of. Give it a peek and let us know.

jjmclean · #8 Post by **jjmclean** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:17 am

That was the first thing I tried but I can't get the fan out. I've got another post on the r, a, g, and z series forum, "Remove fan from R52". I've removed the three screws that are in some type of spring loaded fastener around what I think is the processor and then the strap that goes over the part protruding out on the lower right side (rectangle about 1" x 1 1/4"). That's where it will not release and I can see nothing else holding it. I've applied enough pressure to break something and it still will not release. Not ever having a fan out of this particular machine, I'm unsure about exactly what to do and I definately don't want to break anything else. I need to contact someone that actually has removed one of these fans. As for the trouble, sometimes when the machine shuts off, the fan will stop a second or so before the rest of the computer will shut down but most of the time it all shuts down at the same time. That's one reason I think it could possibly be fan related. It acts more like an electronic circuit or component heating up and breaking down because it never runs long enough for anything the fan cools to get too hot. The time it runs before cutting off is usually a minute or less , most times a lot less, like 30 seconds or so.

#9 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:56 pm

IIRC you lift the fan up (the part where the screws are) to about 45 degrees, then pull it out from under the left side without any hassle.
Don't forget to first disconnect the fan power cable!

jjmclean · #10 Post by **jjmclean** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:25 pm

That's the whole problem, you can't lift it up. The small rectangular part that would be to your lower right is stuck very tight. You have the copper layer, then a layer of something black, maybe a plastic substance and it protrudes up through the copper in three small holes, then there is a thin white layer and then the chip or whatever it is. Where the black substance protrudes through the three holes in the copper fan housing, it looks as if it's been hot, don't know if that's factory or if it's been hot and damaged it causing it to stick.

emeraldgirl08 · #11 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:29 pm

JJ. Do you have a camera handy??? I'm currently typing from my R52 and will take the keyboard off to see if I have the same type of fan you do. If you have the ATI then I think we have different fans. I have the Intel Graphics on my mobo.

jjmclean · #12 Post by **jjmclean** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:49 pm

I've got a camera but I think it's in my wifes car and she's not here now. I just went to ebay to see what was listed and it looks like they are two different fans for the 52. On one, the fartherest protruding part to the right (to the right of the part where the three screws are) is pretty much in the center and the other one, it is offset to the lower side (closest to you with the computer sitting in normal working position). Mine is the one that is offset to the lower side. They both look like there's nothing that should be holding it down or sticking it down like mine is.

emeraldgirl08 · #13 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:30 pm

JJ. Model type please. I'm thinking you have a long fan and that the part that sticks out to the right is right over the GPU. Which means you have the ATI GPU.

Go to this link and tell me is it the top part of the fan that is your stuck part??? The picture of the fan with the little square part is the underside of the fan. The other pic is taken from the top view of the fan.

R52 Fan

If it is then that's where your GPU is located. There is a small white rubbery square thing that pushes down (not quite sure what its function is) on the GPU. If yours is melted then your comp must have been used for cooking eggs while playing WOW!

There is nothing that is screwed in on that side of the component. That leads me to believe that your fan has melted stuff holding it down. I could be wrong but I can't think of anything else! I don't know what pulling the fan off would do.

jjmclean · #14 Post by **jjmclean** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:44 pm

We're on the same page now. Yes it's the upper part that's stuck however my fan is the other style. Here's a link to the one that's like mine:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-CPU-Cooller-Fan ... 53ddfed2af
You can see the three holes in it. Mine has what looks to be some type of plastic material coming out of them about 1/16" and it looks as if it has been melted. The black plastic material is between the copper material and the white material that you mentioned. I take it that it's not supposed to be like that.

#15 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:05 pm

Looking at that fan-image, try to get a knife or small blade between the GPU and the square that covers the GPU (on the right hand side).
That's only a thermal pad, and even if you have to cut into it, can be replaced.
If that part is loose, you should then be able to work a small screwdriver between the cooler and CPU socket.
This is along that line where you see the blue rubber pointing to the right.
If you do it gentle enough, you may pull the CPU out with it, that's why you need to do it slowly, so as not to damage the CPU legs.
The cause could be using the wrong thermal paste, which may have melted and 'glued' the fan to the CPU.
Let us know if that works.

jjmclean · #16 Post by **jjmclean** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:09 pm

That worked. It took a lot of pressure to break it loose. I guess it was the thermal pad, it was a pinkish colored layer, anyway, part of it is still stuck to the GPU and part of it came off with the fan. Now that I have the fan out of the way, I took some "component cooler" and sprayed the GPU. By doing this, I was able to get the computer to run, but if I let it start in normal mode, I get the screen with the Windows XP logo and the progress bar underneath, then when it's finished, it goes to a black screen for just a second which I think is still normal, then it goes to where Windows should open up and all I get is a blank screen with a little bit of light and the mouse pointer is there and you can move it around. I have also tried to start it in "safe mode" and it goes through all the DOS commands then goes to where you are supposed to see Windows and all I get is the blank page with a little light and it has Windows XP and some other numbers across the top and "Safe Mode" in all four corners. I have also tried to start it and use the "Access IBM" key and then run the hardware diagnostic test but I can't get it to run long enough to get into it, about the time I hit F11, it cuts off. I went to IBM's site and looked at the manual and all their diagnostic codes and symptons point to either the memory or the system board. Any suggestions?

emeraldgirl08 · #17 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:14 am

JJ. Good. We have that little problem taken care of.

We'll need to rule out your hard drive. You have any kind of Linux live disc? If you can get one to run and interact with the desktop environment then it has to be your hard drive.

Hope you have a good antivirus program and an external USB HDD enclosure. Like sjthinkpadder suggested hook the HDD up to another computer and scan it with some kind of malware remover. It most likely will find some bad stuff in there. Don't know what you want to recover from that drive. You can save the folders to some kind of Flash Media and do a factory image reinstall of the HDD.

jjmclean · #18 Post by **jjmclean** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:39 am

I've pretty much ruled out the hard drive and operating system already. I'm pretty sure I've got some type of hardware problem. I can remove the hard drive, power up and go to the BIOS and it will still cut off. I've not been able to get it to run long enough to see if all the BIOS settings are correct. That's one of the things I've been trying lately. I have also found out, but not sure what it means, with the HD removed and you try to either enter the Access IBM or the BIOS, it will run around 42 seconds and cut off. You can put the HD in and let it try to start windows and it will run for around 20 seconds and cut off. However, occasionally it cuts off about the time the fan gets up to speed, probably 1 second, and beeps one time.

#19 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:08 pm

Without the fan, your CPU is overheating and switches the TP off!
Don't worry for the moment about the GPU, you need to worry about the CPU!

jjmclean · #20 Post by **jjmclean** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:23 pm

No, I've got the fan back in place. I've also about ruled out the cutting off as being heat related. I've been starting it and then restarting it several times immediately after it cuts off and it will run just as long after several starts as it does the first time you try it when everything is cool.

90base · #21 Post by **90base** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:32 pm

Try to remove all of the unnecessary peripherals like the modem, and the wireless card, every little thing will help you diagnose your problem

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