Dell Vostro V3700

[Flashie]

I realize that this is a really old laptop by now, but nevertheless - It cant last being on for 30 seconds to a minute before turning off again. Ive attempted it without the DVD drive, without the Wifi module, CMOS battery (no post from there) and without ram (still no post), with each two sticks of ram in separately in both sockets (still turns off).

The display has been f#@!ed since ive gotten my desktop. It splits it horizontally into '4 screens' if you can call it that, but you can still kinda make out what the majority of it says.

 

I'd like to know what i should check to fix the turning-off issue. Ive got complete full access to all the internals of the laptop.

 

 

[refinedskillz]

How come you need it fixed? Tried replacing battery/power brick?

[Flashie]

Need it fixed because a second PC aint anything to be frowned apon. I've tried with a different charger, On charge without battery, off charge with battery, on charge with battery - and the same result every time.

[Nixblicker]

Fan / heating issue? Check the cabling to the CPU Fan and if that fan is clogged / broken.

[Flashie]

1 minute ago, Nixblicker said:

Fan / heating issue? Check the cabling to the CPU Fan and if that fan is clogged / broken.

The fan spins, theres no dust in the entire system (was the first thing on my checklist at the time).

[Nixblicker]

2 minutes ago, Flashie said:

The fan spins, theres no dust in the entire system (was the first thing on my checklist at the time).

Damn - I take it you have removed the old battery and are running it on the power brick alone?

[Flashie]

Just now, Nixblicker said:

Damn - I take it you have removed the old battery and are running it on the power brick alone?

Done that too

[Nixblicker]

Do you get any Post at all when trying this ? (except for the no RAM scenario) - otherwise you could hook up a VGA monitor and pipe the output there and see if it gives some hint. I only know some newer Vostros but those spit out Info if something is wrong.

[Flashie]

Yeah i've done that before - but it is not much of a help if the system turns off almost everytime after just getting out of bios

 

[Nixblicker]

1 minute ago, Flashie said:

Yeah i've done that before - but it is not much of a help if the system turns off almost everytime after just getting out of bios

 

So you can get into the BIOS? Reset to defaults there? 

Also, what happens if you remove the hard drive ? Will it turn off at the same point or complain about the lacking boot drive?

[Flashie]

Just now, Nixblicker said:

So you can get into the BIOS? Reset to defaults there? 

Also, what happens if you remove the hard drive ? Will it turn off at the same point or complain about the lacking boot drive?

It doesnt have a hard drive in it - Only a boot stick it goes straight to after bios. It turns off evens with a HDD or SSD in btw. I'll try and find the reset in the BIOS before it turns off again

[Nixblicker]

1 minute ago, Flashie said:

It doesnt have a hard drive in it - Only a boot stick it goes straight to after bios. It turns off evens with a HDD or SSD in btw. I'll try and find the reset in the BIOS before it turns off again

While you are at it - after resetting that, disable anything remotely secure boot related

[Flashie]

29 minutes ago, Nixblicker said:

While you are at it - after resetting that, disable anything remotely secure boot related

Alright, reset all to defaults, turned off secure boot - but it still switches off after about 15-20 seconds to 30-40 seconds. As if it is over heating. I do feel warmer-than-should-be air coming out of the extractor fan, evens though there is thermal paste on both the GPU and CPU.

[Nixblicker]

8 hours ago, Flashie said:

Alright, reset all to defaults, turned off secure boot - but it still switches off after about 15-20 seconds to 30-40 seconds. As if it is over heating. I do feel warmer-than-should-be air coming out of the extractor fan, evens though there is thermal paste on both the GPU and CPU.

I've had a similar scenario with an older Lenovo X-Series, that thermalpaste was just old and crumpy and there was too much of it, so I replaced it completely.

Could also be that the sensor is faulty - not much you could do then.

You've done pretty much all you can here short of replacing the CPU

[Flashie]

On 8/1/2016 at 4:21 AM, Nixblicker said:

I've had a similar scenario with an older Lenovo X-Series, that thermalpaste was just old and crumpy and there was too much of it, so I replaced it completely.

Could also be that the sensor is faulty - not much you could do then.

You've done pretty much all you can here short of replacing the CPU

Called Dell at the start of the year too - The 2 parts i wanted to replace at that time (The display and the motherboard) were the only 2 parts left in my country for this laptop as its discontinued. Probably sold by now though

 

[Nixblicker]

I've seen some vostro mainboards on ebay here and depending on what cpu is on them you can just invest a little more and get a used laptop with similar specs for it.

[Flashie]

I'd rather not go EBay again Shipping and importing rates to my country absolutely belong in a mental asylum. I'm getting a replacement laptop soon - Just waiting for the last sliver of money to come in, then this puppy is mine: https://www.asus.com/za/Notebooks/ASUS-ZenBook-UX303UB/