My laptop wont post!

[Halfblood11]

My E-systems laptop has stopped posting and i beleive that the heatsink fan has died

when the power button is pressed it lights up the power light on the front of the case the optical drive sensor is heard moving and the hdd spins up then the process repeats

I have tried removing and replacing the ram and resetting the bios (by removing the cmos battery)

would the heatsink fan being broken prevent the system from posting and if not what else do you think could be the problem with the laptop preventing it from posting

(hard drive has been tested in an external hard drive enclosure and still works)

E-systems 1412

Intel Dual core T1500 1.86ghz

1024mb ddr 2

120gb

Windows Vista

(tried to upload a picture but it wont let me)

[Blankie440]

The fan should only affect it if the processor was already hot, hot enough that it would be forced to shutdown. I wouldn't think that it would reboot though as it's primary profile should be to completely shut down. It actually sounds to me like your processor might of got hot enough to shut down the laptop and has been damaged. When referbishing Dell computers and laptops I encountered the same issue where the zif socket (processor socket) solder connections had been damaged due to intense heat and would need reflowed to work properly again. I don't want to jump to conclusions as there are things you can check before thinking this though it is the same exact error.

First I'd try to boot up with nothing but what's required for it to boot, meaning no: HDD, only one stick of RAM, have the battery removed and the power cable plugged in. Test it that way and see if you get any change whatsoever. If not you can try swapping memory modules and DIMM slots along with testing it in this configuration. I would definitely physically inspect the motherboard to look for any swolen/blown capacitors as well as any dark spots, or damaged components. I hope it's something simple, good luck!

[Halfblood11]

I can't see anything on the motherboard obvious board is still attached to the laptop though have tried booting without hdd and it just has the optical drive sensor move and lights up.

I would try it with 1 stick of ram or in another slot but it only has 1 stick of ram and one slot for that ram have tried it without any ram though and as expected nothing worked .

I know it shut down alright and the processor was working on about 66 degrees (I was taking it apart to clean it out to see how much difference the clearing of the heat sink would actually make to it) went to turn it back on and was no go looked at it all and worked out that the fan wasn't working wondered if that was why it wouldn't post.

[Blankie440]

You should be able to get a look at the opposite side of the motherboard if you take the keyboard panel off the top. Swap in a new fan on the heatsink as well while it's all apart. Let me know what it does.

[jmfg187]

I can't see anything on the motherboard obvious board is still attached to the laptop though have tried booting without hdd and it just has the optical drive sensor move and lights up.

I would try it with 1 stick of ram or in another slot but it only has 1 stick of ram and one slot for that ram have tried it without any ram though and as expected nothing worked .

I know it shut down alright and the processor was working on about 66 degrees (I was taking it apart to clean it out to see how much difference the clearing of the heat sink would actually make to it) went to turn it back on and was no go looked at it all and worked out that the fan wasn't working wondered if that was why it wouldn't post.

If it was working before you took it apart then it is possible you may have disturbed the thermal compound. My old laptop had gotten hot and cooled so many times that the thermal paste had turned like rock. Maybe try reseating the heat sink with a new thermal pad or paste and see if it will boot again.