Laptop problems.

[gilm0re3]

I have a 9 year old IBM R51 laptop. I've been waiting to get a new computer until the computer actually croaks. At the moment I don't have all the money to buy a new computer and it appears that my laptop is on its last breaths. It has had multiple problems over the past week. One of them is when I turn it on my computer sits on the motherboard splash for a few minutes, and then shows a "Resource error - PCI network on motherboard" error. Another problem it has is the screen will go black for no apparent reason and nothing I do can make it turn on again except rebooting. The third problem it has had is it sometimes gives BIOS beeps. It is a Phoenix motherboard and the error it gives is one long beep and two short beeps with no other error on the screen. I know this is a lot to ask, but does anyone have any idea what the problem is? Either that or how I should go about fixing this? Thanks for your help.

[Tea1337]

Any way you could get me the full laptop motherboard name?

 

Looked it up, one long beep and 2 short beeps is the code for a Video (Mono/CGA display circuitry) Issue.

[Quaker]

It could just be that one or more of the internal connections has come loose, or is oxidized, or in some other way 'unstable'. The way to fix that would be to take it all apart, but that, of course, can lead to breakage if you're not experienced with such things. (While you have it apart, clean any dust out.)

 

Or, it could be that it is indeed dying of old age.

 

You can, if you're not willing to take it all apart, at least re-seat any components such as the RAM, battery, hard drive, etc, that are readily accessible.

[gilm0re3]

It could just be that one or more of the internal connections has come loose, or is oxidized, or in some other way 'unstable'. The way to fix that would be to take it all apart, but that, of course, can lead to breakage if you're not experienced with such things. (While you have it apart, clean any dust out.)

 

Or, it could be that it is indeed dying of old age.

 

You can, if you're not willing to take it all apart, at least re-seat any components such as the RAM, battery, hard drive, etc, that are readily accessible.

Think that might have been it. Took it apart today and did some reseating; its been running fine (except for one hiccup) all day.

[Cwazywazy]

Yeah, it could be overheating too. Blow out any dust from the vents with compressed air and if you can take it apart and replace the thermal paste. (If you know what you're doing.)

[gilm0re3]

Yeah, it could be overheating too. Blow out any dust from the vents with compressed air and if you can take it apart and replace the thermal paste. (If you know what you're doing.)

Unfortunately, I know it can't be overheating. I've left this thing on on accident inside my laptop case multiple times, and though it has gotten unbearably hot, when I would pull it out it would be working just fine. And overall, it has never had problems with running too hot, in fact, most of the errors that I get on it occur right after I power on. Thanks for your suggestion though.

[Cwazywazy]

Unfortunately, I know it can't be overheating. I've left this thing on on accident inside my laptop case multiple times, and though it has gotten unbearably hot, when I would pull it out it would be working just fine. And overall, it has never had problems with running too hot, in fact, most of the errors that I get on it occur right after I power on. Thanks for your suggestion though.

Doesn't mean overheating is bad for it. A chip can overheat and survive, but it receives a lot more wear when it's running too hot. Before I modified my laptop heatsink it was overheating a lot. I could have just left it like that but it would have died a lot sooner. Now it runs 140F max with fan on low.

 

Anyway, it's 9 years old. Why not just get a new laptop? If you wanted to keep everything the way it is but without the problems you should be able to just buy another one of the same model laptop and move the hard drive over.