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Old hardware
Boo hoo. My vintage '08 laptop died. It was branded eMachines D620,
but its heritage was Gateway acquired by Acer '07, and the name was dc/d about 6 y later. Its hardware was a mobile Athlon 2650e, 2G ram incl the Radeon graphics, 160G hdd, optical and ethernet in add'n to the wifi. Cheap hardware purchased on sale running Vista. It was my first laptop, all previous machines having been desktops, but I wanted something for travel. Over the years it later got an experimental Win7 installed which ran fine, and typically it ran various linux distros from USB as live persistent. I haven't toted it around for years. Nowadays my travel devices are a chromebook, Blu android smartphone (no plan), and a ZTE clamshell feature phone running some linux deriv. It looks like something went south w/ the power; blackscreen, no bios, AC will charge the battery (sometimes) but the power indication comes on very 'erratically' (or not at all) and I don't think the hdd spins up. Of some interest, there's a YouTube vid (I normally HATE vids) which appears to show similar symptoms. The vid tech disassembles the machine, multimeter determines that the power button contacts need resoldering and does, reassembles with successful outcome. I don't think I really want to do all that for this old laptop, but I haven't completely ruled it out. -- Mike Easter x-posted to alt.comp.hardware |
#2
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Old hardware
Mike Easter wrote in news:h7hd5gFs799U1
@mid.individual.net: Boo hoo. My vintage '08 laptop died. It was branded eMachines D620, but its heritage was Gateway acquired by Acer '07, and the name was dc/d So? What's the problem? You are a Linux user so just find another dumpster to dive in and I'm sure you'll find another computer. Linux users love bragging about the **** hardware that they run Linux on so you'll be in good company. You might want to reach out to RonB as he is a prolific dumpster diver. Maybe he can give you some tips and tricks of the trade? Good luck! |
#3
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Old hardware
VanguardLH wrote:
If it still has its original battery, that's too old for the battery. I 'preserved' its battery. Almost its entire life it was 'sessile'. I read somewhere that the best way to prolong a battery's life was to 'adjust' its charge to about 35%, then remove the battery and run on the mains. Occasionally, or if traveling, I would charge it up to 100%, but then I would take it back down to 35% and remove it again. The battery seems to be healthy; and this situation doesn't act at all like a battery problem. Before it got sick, it ran fine on the mains alone. This dying business was discovered w/ the battery out. During external troubleshooting, by 'fiddling' w/ the power situation and leaving the power connected, I was able to charge the battery from amber indicator to green indicator. I also read a little article about how things on the D620 might act up unpredictably w/ a dead CMOS battery, but I really don't think that is the situation here, altho' I may look into how much trouble it is to replace that. I have one around here. -- Mike Easter |
#4
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Old hardware
Mike Easter wrote:
VanguardLH wrote: If it still has its original battery, that's too old for the battery. I 'preserved' its battery. Almost its entire life it was 'sessile'. I read somewhere that the best way to prolong a battery's life was to 'adjust' its charge to about 35%, then remove the battery and run on the mains. Occasionally, or if traveling, I would charge it up to 100%, but then I would take it back down to 35% and remove it again. The battery seems to be healthy; and this situation doesn't act at all like a battery problem. Before it got sick, it ran fine on the mains alone. This dying business was discovered w/ the battery out. During external troubleshooting, by 'fiddling' w/ the power situation and leaving the power connected, I was able to charge the battery from amber indicator to green indicator. I also read a little article about how things on the D620 might act up unpredictably w/ a dead CMOS battery, but I really don't think that is the situation here, altho' I may look into how much trouble it is to replace that. I have one around here. So, the laptop used to work okay on A/C only (no main battery inside) but now is flaky that way? You said you get a blackscreen. That could be the lack of power, but it could also be the backlamp(s) burned out in the monitor. Usually you can put a very bright flashlight against the screen or pointed at it while nearby to see if you can see a very faint image on the screen. That means the LCD panel is still working but the backlamps are off. LCDs work by twisting to determine through which pixels the light from the diffuser panel (spreads the light sideways from the backlamps) get passed through the LCD panel. Although the backlamps are usually replaceable, it requires dismantling the screen panel, some soldering, and perhaps some butyl tape. Some suppliers sell a kit with the backlamps, solder, and butyl. However, as the backlamps go bad, more current is needed from the inverter used to power them. That means the inverter might be bad, too. Besides the backlamps, you may have to replace the inverter. With it all apart, you don't want to do it all over because you replaced just the backlamps but not the inverter. Yet those together can be pricey. For a standalone (desktop) monitor, it would've cost me $80 to $120 to replace the backlamps (2) and the inverter PCB depending if I got the kit or not and if I got brighter backlamps. I decided to buy a new monitor instead instead of trying to repair the old one and perhaps failing in that attempt. Alas, your screen is integral to the laptop. Sometimes you can find old units for sale but for parts. It doesn't work but maybe the screen does. I've not tried dismantling the hinge for the screen to the base of a laptop. There are Youtube videos on how to replace backlamps in a laptop. There look to be some for your model or similar. Just remember that the parts you buy (backlamps, inverter board, butyl seals, etc) is a lost expense if you fail in the repair. For that old a laptop, especially since you already have a Chromebook, I wouldn't waste the money or time repairing the screen. The coin cell battery in laptops is usually a royal pain to replace. Often the shell has to be dismantled: take the two halves apart, the keyboard off, and the CMOS battery is on the top-side of the mobo instead of on the bottom (which rarely has an access cover if on the bottom of the mobo, anyway). The CMOS battery keeps alive the /copy/ of the BIOS settings from the EEPROMs into the RTC chip (where is the CMOS memory). Those are the BIOS settings you use on power up. The EEPROM copy gets read only when you reset the BIOS back to factory defaults. If the CMOS battery is weak or dead, it can cause corruption in the CMOS copy of the setting or they are lost (in which case the EEPROM copy should get copied back into the CMOS copy). Make sure to put in a fresh CR2032 (likely type) whose shelf life is a few years away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH4UyR27ocA The author says just the keyboard needs to be removed to get at the CMOS battery. That's easier than having to disassemble the shell to get at the mobo. Alas, the coin cell battery doesn't just slide into a holder. That would be easy. You have to get a coin cell battery that has the leads and connector attached. That'll raise the price and lower the availability. You could unsolder the wires from the old battery to solder onto the new battery; however, you need to use silver solder and silver solder flux with the stainless steel case for the battery. That requires more heat, so you'll likely damage the battery. You don't have the equipment to do a quick electric or tack weld. If you're lucky, maybe they designed the holder with the attached leads to let you pop out an in the coin cell battery. |
#5
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Old hardware
Mike Easter wrote:
I also read a little article about how things on the D620 might act up unpredictably w/ a dead CMOS battery, but I really don't think that is the situation here, altho' I may look into how much trouble it is to replace that. I have one around here. You'd be right to check it. Because you've been removing the main battery pack, the laptop doesn't have anything to bypass the CR2032 with. As a consequence, if it is a CR2032, it will need to be changed after three years of "storage". The battery usually comes with a tether on the end. Try and find a "take-apart" for the D620, so you can visually confirm what it needs. Paul |
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