Failed startup - vortex II

[omens]

Seems like my first major problem with my laptop. Vortex II bought over a year ago.

If I try to power up, the white power light comes on and so does the orange bluetooth light. Normally at this stage the fans kick in and the screen lights up. None of this has happened. After the power and bluetooth lights come on, they stay lit for 2-3 secs and then shuts down. No dvd drive or hdd spin up. No cpu fans kicking in.

Any ideas on what to do next?

 

[vanthus]

Try reseating ram or using one ram stick at a time.

 

[omens]

Stupid Q but where's the ram on the laptop? Is it under one of the hard drive slots?

Have also noticed a screw missing in one corner - something I've definitely not done!

 

[vanthus]

Normally to access the ram it's just a matter of removing a small plate on the back of the laptop held by one or two screws

 

[omens]

Figured out immediately after posting that. Tried one stick in each slot with no effect.

Any other ideas? Strange as everything was fine last night and I've not had any issues with the laptop before now.

 

[vanthus]

Looks like a hardware issue,best phone PCS.

 

[omens]

Yeah I've emailed through an RMA.

 

[omens]

Aaarrrggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!

The laptop's started working. God knows why it didn't boot up yesterday but switched it on to see if it was still dead and it has started working.

The question now is: do I leave it alone or do I still send it back to PCS?

 

[omens]

Oh FFS!

It's stopped working again after being fine since my last post above.

Is there a minimum operating temperature? My room is cold until I arrive home when I might stick the heating on. The only thing I can think of.

 

[omens]

So I left my laptop upside down on the bed for a couple of hours. When I turned it the right way, I pressed the power switch and the power and bluetooth lights came on as before. But then the HDD light lit up briefly before the entire thing shut down.

I'm starting to think there's a loose connection somewhere inside.

Any thoughts?

 

[vanthus]

Try reseating ram sticks,failing that check the hard drive hasn't come loose.

 

[omens]

Ram and hdd seem fine. Puzzling

 

[omens]

Oh FFS! It's working again. I wonder if there's a dodgy solder joint or something that only works when the laptop's warm enough?

 

[omens]

Well RMA'd it after it worked intermittently over the past few days. DPD picked it up today so hopefully will get a response soon enough.

 

[omens]

Well got an email stating it's ready to dispatch. They reckon it's down to the battery being close to being flat each time it happens. Given that it would happen despite the AC plug being in, does this mean the laptop boots up off the battery initially?

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

I'd say no, because if you take the battery out the machine in pretty sure it still operates. I'd check on mine but its RMA at the moment too due to a GPU failure. I used to run a laptop without the battery but i cant remember if it was my Vortex II or not. I've seen laptops do weird things when the battery is low.

 

[omens]

I know my 8-year old Acer laptop would boot with an AC adaptor in place and no battery. The battery on that was rarely discharged so by the end, on max power savings, it went from 2.5h to 30mins! But still never had a problem from booting on a low battery.

Will see how the laptop is by Friday (will arrive tomorrow but away in the afternoon) so will report back.