F5F Stay Refreshed Hardware Desktop The laptop powers up for a brief moment, then shuts off. There is no screen visible, only the fans operating.

The laptop powers up for a brief moment, then shuts off. There is no screen visible, only the fans operating.

The laptop powers up for a brief moment, then shuts off. There is no screen visible, only the fans operating.

M
Machi_Gamz
Member
204
04-13-2021, 05:30 AM
#1
Hello everyone, so I just bought a broken laptop because I'm an idiot. Some guy was selling a second-hand HP Omen 17t-ck100 laptop for 600€ and I don't know why I thought to myself "Sure, why not? I can fix it". Well, no, I couldn't. Now I'm stuck with a probably dead laptop, 600€ less and sadness (Also, I can't return it or service it because, well, as I said I'm an idiot). The guy told me that the problem was that the laptop actually turned on, but it didn't display anything. Also, no keyboard or screen backlight. When I received it, the first thing I tried was turning it on, and to my surprise, the problem was slightly different, it also turns off automatically after 30 seconds. I figured it could be the BIOS, so I tried turning it on while pressing Windows + B and after a while, the keyboard backlight went on and the screen also turned on, with a message that was complaining about no recovery BIOS files. I tried downloading a BIOS file from the website and I found something strange. The model is ripped of the back of the laptop. Also, the box label is missing. Someone wanted to hide something which seemed quite shady. Anyways, I knew the laptop model so I just downloaded the files and put them on a USB. Great, the files copy and verify, but after that... Nothing. The screen goes black, the keyboard shuts off and the fans slowly decrease in speed until they stop and the computer turns off. Then it restarts and changes behaviour, if I try to boot with the USB connected, after 40 seconds it tries to do something, the keyboard backlight turns on, the screen turns on and immediately the computer shuts off. Then starts again and displays a message about BIOS being corrupt and restarting to recovery. Then the cycle repeats. At first I thought I was out of luck, and the problem was that this computer unlisted model required a BIOS that was nowhere to be found, but actually, the problem seems to be the same as before. So then I thought well, let's see what's inside. It looked normal, besides the amount of thermal paste used under the heatsink, which went everywhere, so I cleaned it off and saw something that surprised me. The GPU is actually a qualification sample 3080ti. It has the words QUAL SAMPLE written on it. And then it hit me. That's the reason why it was so cheap and everything so strange. Someone sold me a test/sample unit. I don't know where they got it from or how, but that explains the missing model, the ripped of labels and, well, the GPU. So I cleaned everything and disassembled the laptop, then assembled it again to ensure it wasn't something loose or whatever. And something did happen, for the first time, the laptop didn't shut down after 30 seconds with the USB connected, the screen backlight was on but still showed nothing. It remained on for 3 hours (To ensure that if it was installing the BIOS update, even if I couldn't see anything, it could continue), but I ended up shutting it down because I was afraid of a short or something damaging the MB. Sadly, after trying to turn it again it went to the same cycle and assembling/disassembling another time didn't fix it at all. So that's it, that's everything I know. I also tried the following things: - Disconnecting the battery, performing a hard reset/static discharge and trying to turn it on with only the charger. - Testing the power supply with a multimeter, it shows 20V instead of the 19,5V from the label but I think that's okay. - Reseating the ram, using only one module at a time in each slot, also, cleaning them. - Turning on the computer outside the case, so I could ensure that nothing is shorting the MB. - Disconnecting every ribbon other than the keyboard, which contains the power button. - Removing RAM, SDD, heatsinks...etc. Removing both RAM modules causes Caps Lock to blink, indicating a RAM issue (Obviously). - I tried using the multimeter to check for shorts on the MB, but it turned to be quite difficult. I found that GPU power coils/capacitors to ground displays the same resistance as ground to ground, so maybe that's a short? I'm not sure. If someone can enlighten me, I'll gladly try something else. - Trying different USBs, different BIOS versions and even a different model image (Last year's version of the same model) to ensure that it wasn't the fault. It doesn't recognize the different model BIOS, which is good because it means that I flashed the correct one. My theory is: The MB somehow has an alternate system to deal with BIOS problems, so it can install, update or fix it in case of failure. When it copies the files, it tries to install them, which may be done by the actual system. So it turns everything on but when it's time for the rest of the computer to wake up something fails, which prompts the motherboard to shut down. That's why the BIOS remains corrupted, because it isn't able to install it. After the reset, it recognizes the BIOS image from the USB and tries again, propmting another shutdown. Then repeats. This could mean a dead CPU/GPU (I hope not, sincerely) or a shorted system that kindly leaves alone all the expensive unrepairable things and just requires some love (Which I hope is the case) so when it's time to wake up, the system detects the short and shuts down. And... That's all I think. I'm thinking about taking it to a repair shop on Monday, though I'm a bit sad, not because of money, but because I had a little hope and the situation turned a bit surreal quite fast. Anyways, if someone know anything I could try or what could be the problem, advice is always welcome!
M
Machi_Gamz
04-13-2021, 05:30 AM #1

Hello everyone, so I just bought a broken laptop because I'm an idiot. Some guy was selling a second-hand HP Omen 17t-ck100 laptop for 600€ and I don't know why I thought to myself "Sure, why not? I can fix it". Well, no, I couldn't. Now I'm stuck with a probably dead laptop, 600€ less and sadness (Also, I can't return it or service it because, well, as I said I'm an idiot). The guy told me that the problem was that the laptop actually turned on, but it didn't display anything. Also, no keyboard or screen backlight. When I received it, the first thing I tried was turning it on, and to my surprise, the problem was slightly different, it also turns off automatically after 30 seconds. I figured it could be the BIOS, so I tried turning it on while pressing Windows + B and after a while, the keyboard backlight went on and the screen also turned on, with a message that was complaining about no recovery BIOS files. I tried downloading a BIOS file from the website and I found something strange. The model is ripped of the back of the laptop. Also, the box label is missing. Someone wanted to hide something which seemed quite shady. Anyways, I knew the laptop model so I just downloaded the files and put them on a USB. Great, the files copy and verify, but after that... Nothing. The screen goes black, the keyboard shuts off and the fans slowly decrease in speed until they stop and the computer turns off. Then it restarts and changes behaviour, if I try to boot with the USB connected, after 40 seconds it tries to do something, the keyboard backlight turns on, the screen turns on and immediately the computer shuts off. Then starts again and displays a message about BIOS being corrupt and restarting to recovery. Then the cycle repeats. At first I thought I was out of luck, and the problem was that this computer unlisted model required a BIOS that was nowhere to be found, but actually, the problem seems to be the same as before. So then I thought well, let's see what's inside. It looked normal, besides the amount of thermal paste used under the heatsink, which went everywhere, so I cleaned it off and saw something that surprised me. The GPU is actually a qualification sample 3080ti. It has the words QUAL SAMPLE written on it. And then it hit me. That's the reason why it was so cheap and everything so strange. Someone sold me a test/sample unit. I don't know where they got it from or how, but that explains the missing model, the ripped of labels and, well, the GPU. So I cleaned everything and disassembled the laptop, then assembled it again to ensure it wasn't something loose or whatever. And something did happen, for the first time, the laptop didn't shut down after 30 seconds with the USB connected, the screen backlight was on but still showed nothing. It remained on for 3 hours (To ensure that if it was installing the BIOS update, even if I couldn't see anything, it could continue), but I ended up shutting it down because I was afraid of a short or something damaging the MB. Sadly, after trying to turn it again it went to the same cycle and assembling/disassembling another time didn't fix it at all. So that's it, that's everything I know. I also tried the following things: - Disconnecting the battery, performing a hard reset/static discharge and trying to turn it on with only the charger. - Testing the power supply with a multimeter, it shows 20V instead of the 19,5V from the label but I think that's okay. - Reseating the ram, using only one module at a time in each slot, also, cleaning them. - Turning on the computer outside the case, so I could ensure that nothing is shorting the MB. - Disconnecting every ribbon other than the keyboard, which contains the power button. - Removing RAM, SDD, heatsinks...etc. Removing both RAM modules causes Caps Lock to blink, indicating a RAM issue (Obviously). - I tried using the multimeter to check for shorts on the MB, but it turned to be quite difficult. I found that GPU power coils/capacitors to ground displays the same resistance as ground to ground, so maybe that's a short? I'm not sure. If someone can enlighten me, I'll gladly try something else. - Trying different USBs, different BIOS versions and even a different model image (Last year's version of the same model) to ensure that it wasn't the fault. It doesn't recognize the different model BIOS, which is good because it means that I flashed the correct one. My theory is: The MB somehow has an alternate system to deal with BIOS problems, so it can install, update or fix it in case of failure. When it copies the files, it tries to install them, which may be done by the actual system. So it turns everything on but when it's time for the rest of the computer to wake up something fails, which prompts the motherboard to shut down. That's why the BIOS remains corrupted, because it isn't able to install it. After the reset, it recognizes the BIOS image from the USB and tries again, propmting another shutdown. Then repeats. This could mean a dead CPU/GPU (I hope not, sincerely) or a shorted system that kindly leaves alone all the expensive unrepairable things and just requires some love (Which I hope is the case) so when it's time to wake up, the system detects the short and shuts down. And... That's all I think. I'm thinking about taking it to a repair shop on Monday, though I'm a bit sad, not because of money, but because I had a little hope and the situation turned a bit surreal quite fast. Anyways, if someone know anything I could try or what could be the problem, advice is always welcome!

I
ItsTheSoul
Senior Member
410
04-13-2021, 11:52 AM
#2
It might just be a damaged bios chip on the main board. This could explain the problem since all methods to locate the model number seem to have been removed, possibly because it was obtained through an untrustworthy source.
I
ItsTheSoul
04-13-2021, 11:52 AM #2

It might just be a damaged bios chip on the main board. This could explain the problem since all methods to locate the model number seem to have been removed, possibly because it was obtained through an untrustworthy source.