I have an NC6000 which without warning will not start up. The power light comes on breifly, then the battery light comes on, fan starts, shuts off and nothing else.
Any help would be appreciated thanks.
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my nc6000 has the same problem. i have been told by a friend that it was problem of the mother board. mine havenot been fixed yet and i still look for solutions.
Mike I have a nc6220 I get the same problem and not sure where it lies. Sometimes I get a machine fault msg, not an OS fault. I think this problem is with the WiFi system. But really not sure. And mine too will boot only sometimes. I am trying to find how to clear the BIOS settings to start anew.
As of now all is working. I have removed all important info, and shut down and restarted with and without the battery without any problems. This is very odd because I tried for almost a week and it would not power on.
Have yóu already checked memory modules- if two installed please check One by One. Could you please tell me, if the left latch loop on the nc6000 gets lost ( fall into the unit ) > could destroy the LED board. Is the display dark, could you remove the switch cover and disconnect the display connector and check on external display. On the nc6220 seems the issue occurs from faulty memory.
Most likely the problem you described here is a bad system board. Sometimes the battery fails and prevents the startup, also check other devices by removing the CD Rom, replace the memory. By the way, if the battery is failing, check HP's web site and see it is subject to a re-call. They had bad lots of batteries for this model before: http://bpr.hpordercenter.com/bpr/
My roomate has a nc6230 that does exactly the same thing. Here is a question for all of you out there with this issue. Did anyone recently add memory not purchased through HP?
My NC6000 froze suddenly last week. And then it wouldn't turn on in exactly the same way as you describe (power light on, fan on, power light off, that is it).
Here is what I have observed about my failure:
(1) if I let the system cool and then drive only an external display, it seems to work.
(2) after about 5-10 minutes from cold - if it drives the LCD display - it shuts down (and then cannot be restarted)
(3) it seems to be sensitive to moving the LCD display on the hinge (i.e. it will lock up if I wiggle the display)
The system was built around April of 2004 - with a 3 year warranty. Any idea how to follow up on the warranty?
I had the same problem with a nc6000. After resetting the memory and the CPU, I thought the problem was solved. But then the error returned. After taking it apart once again, I noticed two wires, blk & wht, which come from the display panel and run across the system board. The blk wire was knicked due to the metal shield near the fan assembly. I wrapped this wire with a small piece of electrical tape and reassembled the laptop. It has been working since. I believe this wire is subject to this kind of wear simply by opening and closing the LCD screen. I hope this helps someone else.
Sorry to report that the laptop is back to it's old tricks of not booting up properly. I'm thinking the only way to solve it is to replace the system board. Ouch...
I have the same problem as you described and I'm starting to think it's something wrong with the processor or with the main board.
Those two wires you were talking about, black and white are the wires that lead to the wireless antennas that are attached to the LCD display (those two rectangular shapes on the sides).
What I've discovered after taking the laptop apart, is that if I move that radiator near the cooler, the computer sometimes starts. Seeing this, I thought that it is the socket of the processor that is causing this but in the end I so that the socket is very stable.
Now I think that the problem can be generated by a bad temperature sensor. I'm not sure what to think any more. I'm still digging and I'll post my findings if I can solve this.
After testing 3 boards, 2 h/d's 3 sticks of ram, 2 power supplies and batteries. I decided to not hook up the screen and it boots. I am going to test all 3 boards now. Is there something in the screen that can go? Or does the entire thing need to be replaced?
About two weeks ago I began experiencing the same problems listed in this thread. HP says that this could be caused by an out-of-date BIOS, or loose memory modules. So, after MANY repeated attempts, I got the machine to boot from the BIOS update floppy, and did the update. The computer booted again (oh, how hopeful I was) but froze on the XP log-in screen. Now, it will only boot 1 time in 20 or so, and it will freeze on the same screen. So far, I have:
-Updated the BIOS -Swapped batteries -Swapped power adapter -Reseated memory -Swapped memory modules -Reseated the HD -Removed the WiFi
Why did the no-boot problem with the nc6000 suddenly arise at the end of July of this year? A search of these forums shows no similar problems prior to the start of this thread on July 28.
Spent about 3 hours this morning swapping parts, here is what I found. ALL 3 motherboards I have work. When I plug in the screen and try to start, nothing. If I boot the laptop w/o the screen and then plug it in it does not come on, but the machine keeps working. I am using the "laptop" now with a desktop monitor.
OK, the nice serviceman from HP's regional affiliate service center came by the other day, new motherboard in hand. It was a couple revision points newer than the one that was installed. Upon dismantling the laptop, he quickly spotted what he felt was the cause of the problem: A blown diode in the power section, right at the Multibay connector. Blown clear off the board. What could have caused this? He didn't know, but did hazzard a guess that it could be a bad Multibay battery. Funny. I bought a NIB Multibay battery off ebay about six months ago, and could never get it to work. About a month ago, I put the battery back on the stand-alone HP charger and recharged it, then put it into the Multbay. Still didn't show up. That was around the time I started having problems with the startup. Anyway, the new motherboard seems to have solved the problem. Question: Has anyone else used a Multibay battery with the nc6000?
It first raised its ugly head around Dec 21, 2006. My NC6000 is around 2 1/2 years old. I've tried reseating RAM and using different battery packs, pwer supplies etc all to no avail.
If I'm lucky, I'll receive another NC6000 today and I'll hope I'll be able to switch my harddisk across and eveything will be fine on the other machine. Will report back here later.
BTW, I presume that I can send in a broken NC6000 for repair without a hard disk but can someone please confirm.
Gary, normally HP services wants the machine witha a HDD in order to do the necessary tests with exactly the environment that fails. But you may call HP service and ask them if they can make an exception.
I for one would rather make a backup/image of the disk and then wipe it (using dBAN or something alike http://dban.sourceforge.net/ ) and hand in the machine in a complete state.
Swapped RAM and HDD over to a different NC6000. Works fine. Interestingly the fan blows a lot less on this machine. I think that's a clue to the underlying problem - on my broken NC6000 the fan would blow like there's no tomorrow for extended periods.
Just to follow though on this - I had the motherboard replaced under warranty. Everything just fine now, and the fan runs a lot quieter. Not sure what triggered the failure so mileage will probably vary but I run my CPU pretty hot most of the time and the fan was blowing pretty much constantly. Guess something finally overheated.... All in all I'm very pleased with my NC6000 and I'm glad to have a rejuvenated one. Last thing I wanted was a D&!l replacement.
As I reported, pretty much everything is OK thanks to my new mainboard. Interestingly (actally frustratingly) since running my NC6000 with the new mainboard, I had major problems syncing my PDA with Outlook via ActiveSync over Bluetooth. When I swap my HDD over to another NC6000 which I have ActiveSync over Bluetooth works just fine !
I presume that the Bluetooth adapter is directly mounted on the mainboard - do I have to twiddle something in the BIOS to get things to work properly ?
Would be great if you could somehow help - sorry it's no longer related to the original thread.
Dary, I'm soory, but I can not help you wit the BT issue. Never managed to get my iPAQs (3970 and 5450) to synch with either my M700 or my d530 desktop (with USB BT dongles) or my tc1100 (BT bult in).
You might better ask in the iPAQ forum for help on the BT synch issue.
If anyone is still on this thread, I have sad news... My beloved nc6000 hit the wall last night with this problem exactly. It powers on, HDD spins up, CD spins up, charge light comes on and it just goes quiet with no display on the screen at all. Whether on AC or Battery the result is the same.
I'm outside my warranty. It's nearly 4 years old, but still...
Any Recommendations? With no warranty should I begin hunting down a new laptop?
In your experience what is salvageable (apart from the HDD, I will be recovering that data tomorrow)
We have at least a hundred of these LT's and they are noted for this issue. The root cause many times is the heat sink gets clogged with dust(We call it the wool blanket syndrome) causing the system to overheat and thus damage the system board. The display or the memory can do it as well although that would be rare. The best way to troubleshoot is to bring the LT to minimum config. One mem chip, no HDD or multibay device and no battery just the AC power pack. Try another mem chip (or rotate the one you took out) If that doesn't work then disconnect the display.. That doesn't work try disconnecting the TP and Point stick cables.(be carefull of the ziff connectors they are fragile)If still no help you definately have a bad system board. If it's still under warranty have HP fix it. If it's out of warranty get a new one. I saw a used one for $450 on ebay.
I'm working on a friend's nc6000 with the same problem. After about 5-10 tries it would finally boot into Windows XP and then hang repeatedly without warning (while doing simple stuff like reading a text file in Notepad). Windows XP would not shut down properly in any case, pre-login or post-login. After a few times booting into windows, the computer would revert back to the non-boot situation. Swapping (or removing memory), wireless, DVD/CD, battery didn't help. I even pulled the connectors for the touchpad and still crashed. BUT, I'm currently posting this from the same nc6000 computer running a live Linux CD (Beatrix.2005.1). Multiple bootup/shutdowns later and it is still functioning. Does Windows XP hate some hardware so much that it affects the boot sequence? Burn a CD and see if it helps out... Is a Linux install the way to go with this "Designed for XP" computer?
My problem was without a doubt the LCD. I tried swapping every other thing first (never thought the display could be the problem). For anyone out of warranty, I purchased all the parts on Ebay to troubleshoot. I also sold them all on Ebay, total cost to me was nothing. Just my 2 cents.
Update Ignore my previous post. The problem in my case is not dependent on the operating system. I reinstalled the battery and the computer promptly stopped booting (blue light + orange = shutdown). By pressing down with the palm of my hand on the right side of the keyboard it would boot normally. Now without the battery the computer is functional and boots without pressing on the keyboard.
It seems that there are multiple reasons for this boot problem (motherboard, memory, battery etc). I suspect that in time my friend's nc6000 will fail to start even with the battery removed.
A follow up to my previous post. I took my LT into HP. They diagnosed a faulty MB and Hard Drive. I disagree with the faulty HDD diagnosis because it works just fine in an external case.
I believe that it was a faulty MB and may have been caused by heat issues over a long period. How accurate this diagnosis is is debatable but as I have said elsewhere, in hindsight, the fans have been busy lately.
Anyway. It is the end of the line for this laptop (the replacement costs are, to my mind, not worth it). Sad but true. Users in New Zealand might like to keep an eye on Trademe (Kiwis know what I'm talking about) for NC6000 parts at $1 Reserve.
I have had this same problem with my nc6000 for about a week now. I've had it since Jan 2005 but it's a few months older than that - so still a few months inside warranty. I found the same as Kevin - it boots when you press on the right hand side of the keyboard, but it also sometimes boots if I wiggle the screen on startup. I took the keyboard off to try and isolate what I had to press to make it start and found it worked when I pressed on the keyboard plate directly above the processor. Whenever it did boot it would hang either on the login screen or randomly during use of windows, or the screen would turn off without warning. I tried it with an external monitor and although the laptop lcd turning off didn't affect it, it still hung randomly. Now the problem has become worse: even if I do try to boot by applying pressure to the keyboard, the laptop then gets stuck in a continuous cycle of reboots, where as soon as it gets to my bootloader (I have dual boot windows/linux) it reboots again. I think it's probably time to call in the warranty, though I'm thinking of disconnecting the screen and trying again.
hello everyone. i've been having the same problem with my nx5000,i've had it for about 3 years now and its warranty has expired. i tried several things such as starting with and without the battery, removing and putting back the processor and tightening it n stuff. i also noticed that when i push hard above my keyboard (right-hand side) where there is power button n stuff, it seems to start up. so i opened it up and checked whats in there. there are 2 small black boxes that has orangish wires in them and has these things on bottom of the motherboard that are attached to them (im attaching the picture- note that it is the bottom side of the motherboard..) whenever i push on one of them thats close to ac power input, computer seems to start then when i let it go the power light stays on but everything else stops including the screen. so what do u think it is?
I've had this problem on my nc6000 for about 6 months now. I could get it to boot by bashing the right hand side of the keyboard - it was annoying but I lived with it. Now it has started shutting off while inuse...
I have a same issue. it is the problem with the grounding. There is small copper plate behind the system board which is meant to ground. just make it properly grounding.
I have the same problem and tried a few different solutions. In the end the (rather unintuitive) pressing down on the RHS of the keyboard is the only thing that worked for me.
I used my whole hand on the triangle between <-- (backspace), Ctrl, and 'k'. I press down around twice as hard as I would depress a key when typing and hit the power button. Magically, the three green lights of happiness once again light up.
But it is only temporary. Once Windows has loaded, after about 15 minutes the fan starts going whirring like a good thing and within minutes the screen goes blank again. :(
I have the same thing happening to me... nc6000 would start if I left it off for several hours run for about 10 min and then it will lock up. If I try to start it again it will give the the flash of lights and the the hd and fan will spin.
I thought that it might be a spyware or virus f some kind so I re booted in safe mode with and with out networking and it worked fine for several hours????????
I've acquired one of these as well. Out of warranty - need to press on right side of keyboard to boot - random freezes while running. There were some dust clots built up in the fan/heat sink fins but I seemed to have OK air flow from the rear. Pressing on the very right hand edge of the motherboard with light pressure from an pencil eraser - anywhere from near the power connector to the side along the multibay - seems to allow it to boot.
The CPU/heatsink connection seems 'loose' (that bar can swivel slightly) so perhaps I need to seat it better and re-thermal-paste the area. I'll have to run the above mentioned monitoring app again - but I think it was running at about 45C.
Where is the sensor for the CPU located? If the heat sink it poorly connected will that give me a false reading or is the sensor directly associated with the CPU itself?
I'm also trying to see if the freezes occur more frequently on a flat surface vs 'resting on a knee' - perhaps center-case-flexing was involved with the damage.
I'm hoping the 'can't boot' and the freezes are related and fixable without component replacement.
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents worth in here. I am a laptop technician that takes care of well over 6000 nc6000 & nc6230. It has been my experience that this problem has MANY solutions. The lights flashing 7 amber and one green with a shut down have instigated some very heated discussions not only here in my office but also with HP Tech people. My suggestion is to remove each item you can ONE AT A TIME and try starting the unit. If you find one that will allow it to finally boot DONT TRUST IT ! Try it a couple times WITH that part still in place if it boots then you HAVE NOT found the problem. Its my opinion that this is not a cut and dried solution and I curse HP for not defining this better for us. My office has spent countless dollars and time TRYING to narrow this down to one specific problem but we have been VERY unsucessful. Best I can say is trial and error is how I have approached this problem.If anyone has actually figured this out id LOVE to hear about it.
yes i have this problem aswell on my nc6000, just checked the warranty and its 6 months out :(, the only way i can get it to boot i press down on the keyboard. any one else got any new ideals ?
I have had this problem on and off for the last 6 months, frustrating to say the least. I have left the laptop on 24 hours a day to bypass the problem but unfortunately I currently live in a crappy country with very unreliable electrics so always end up with the same old start up thing again.
The latest episode (today) I spent 6 hours trying to start it, about 300 times pushing the power button. I tried pressing the keyboard, removing all components, booting it physically with a size 12. Out of desperation, I took it off the docking station, turned it upside down and pressed the power button. Started first time.
Me thinks its time to get shot of it anyway and go back to a pc, laptops are over-rated, especially Compaq/HP.
I have had this same problem with my nc6000 for about 3 months now. It boots when you press on the right hand side of the laptop, below the keyboard where the Pentium and WinXP stickers are. Whenever it did boot it would hang randomly after about 10 or 15 mins use. Weirdly if I booted into Safe Mode it would not hang - even after hours of being turned on - so I thought it must be software related and formatted my machine. *DON'T DO THIS* It won't work. The solution that worked for me is below.
On the good advice of another user (Dhakir) on the forum below:
- Remove the keyboard - Remove the LED board (unscrew 2 black screws on the back of the laptop) - Remove the memory and keyboard plates - Push down hard the lower left corner of the fan assembly (the thick metal around the fan) - Try booting it on while pushing this part down - I then unscrewed the screw at the top left of the fan casing and then screwed it down tight.
Laptop has booted successfully now 30 times in a row without an issue. In the middle of re-installing XP as I write this.
I have the same problems. After testing(I tested all day yesterday) and reading this thread, I identified two problems: 1. Boot problem(blue&orange) leds up, and it shuts down after 5-8 secs. 2. Randomly the screen goes black, green(power) led is up, the fan decreseases speed. You can only reboot the machine. After 2., when I reboot, I get first problem. :D I have the 1. problem from Jul this year,and the second from last week. Some results while testing: a) If I boot with all the components(except RAM, MB, CPU) removed, it seems to boot ok 90%. b) If I add the HDD and/or the keyboard, I start to have problems. c) Pressing on the CPU(down-right corner), or pressing with a coin(must be something metallic) on the cooper radiator and the aluminium part of the fan helps passing the first problem. d) There is no problem with the display. I tried to use an external monitor, and it goes black when the problem 2. occurs. e) Sometimes, if I stop pressing(read c)), after a normal boot, problem 2. occurs. f) Problem 2. occurs at shocks. I think that opening/closing the lid is just another form of shock. It can occur only if I move the notebook. g) I found A LOT of dust in the space between the cooper radiator and the fan, but removing it had no effect.
Questions I have: 1) For first problem, I found the solutions(presented at c) point), but for the second problem I have no idea what to do. I checked the WiFi antenna cables, and they are ok. 2) What part(s) should be replaced? 3) Does anybody know where can I go with my notebook in Romania, for service?
I have about the same issue. Carried this laptop for several years never had an issue. Nothing changed except recently installed Avast anti-virus, and any windows updates. I think it is strange that this issue has started happening around the same timeframe. Some observations. Whent the PC is powered on if you don't see the BIOS screen it ain't going to work. When this first started I unplugged the charger and let it rest a 1/2 hour and on power on it would work. Now when I do see the post screen, login, it gets to the desktop and promptly hangs. I went in wiht safe mode and uninstalled Avast and several other things. Now, when it does boot I am able to use the touchpad to move the mouse but once I am on the desktop the mouse freezes (no response for anything) and I have to hold the power button down to shut it off. On a second attempt it usually won't even show the BIO post. I am out of warrenty unfortunetly and wonder if servicing this LT is even worth it if I am going to continue to have issues. It may be time for a new one. One thing I would like to try is to uninstall any windows updates since the end of july. Has anyone tried that? Any ideas guys? How can I disable the mouse in safe mode? Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
Interesting, I have removed the cd, disabled pcmcia and usb and removed all windows updates since the end of July. Guess what... it is working! Fist thing I suggest trying is to disable USB from device manager. I am going to add things back now and will see what happens. I have rebooted about 10 times with no issues... Actually heard the Windows shut down sounds for the first time in quite a while! I am interested if anyone else can try this (USB) without all the other stuff and see if it works. (Boot into safe mode F8, go to device manager) I'll update again later.
OK, these are my findings. I had two issues. System Hang and won't boot.
For the system hang - looks like a faulty USB controller on the motherboard. Disable them from device manager in safe mode - I never had a hang again (if the system booted) Will look for a PCMICA to USB solution.
System boot issues - seems related to the battery pack at least it is related somehow. For now, I removed the battery and am just using the power adapter and it has booted every time. If not try pressing above the keyboard by the F10 key. The power on lights are different under fail/no fail.
Wish I had a total solution but for now this is "working" for me without a service call. Time for a new laptop I guess unless someone knows how to fix these hardware issues.
Another sufferer of the boot problem here - only since a few days, but seeing as I rely on this machine for my work, this is serious.
Maybe I'm over-optimistic, but seeing how many people are having this problem, I think it's time HP step in and have a look at this issue for us. It would save many wasted hours of frustration for all of us.
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Hi HP,
I've recently started experiencing some serious problems with my notebook - an NC6000 (see below links to your forum, and another). On checking the WWW including your HP forums for tips I see that many other people are having the same issue, but that nobody -even corporate IT technicians- have an answer.
This is not an old notebook, and other than this problem I can only express satisfaction with it. However, it looks quite likely that unless I find a concrete solution soon I will have to buy something new that I can rely on - and needless to say that it will not be an HP unless I can get a solution from the company itself.
I'm bored now (and I'm certain plenty of others are also) of spending hours scouring your forums, so seeing how many people are having the same problem with the same product, I'd like you to take this up and get your people onto finding a solution for us your clients - many of whom are large corporations.
I'd also like to say that while user forums are great, what real use are they if they are only for frustrated users ? They would be far more useful for all involved if your technical staff kept an active watch on them and intervened to help users with their problems. Obviously you don't have time to fix every minor issue, but where there are mutliple users trying multiple solutions to solve a problem -without success- your intervention would be invaluable both to save your users time and to cement their brand faith & loyalty.
I'm having the same issue. the last contribution seems to be a ptentially efficient solution. If it's just a wrong overheat signal that causes the shut down, how does this explain the pressing-the-right-keybord-area technic? Thanks
Same problem on a laptop I am trying to repair. Believe it or not the old push on the right hand side will allow it to boot. Gotta be a grounding issue or something similar. Will continue disassembly and check for ground fault.
Seems to be a power jack problem, if I push lightly with a screwdriver on the jack it will boot up everytime. Real bugger to get this jack off the board so I will try resoldering the joints. I suspect it will need a new jack as it is probably a problem inside the jack itself. Have fixed plenty of laptops with power jack problems but have never seen one power up the fan but not boot. All the others have been simply dead jacks or broken pins. Don't have a charged battery for this thing so don't know if it would boot with a battery. Will keep posting with results when I get them...
Hi, I don't thing it's (only) a power jack issue, I still havve the same problem even with a fully charged battery (no boot without pushing hard on the right side of the keyboard + shutting down for any minor mouvment of the laptop) However, few weeks before this probleme appeared, I had a power jack issue: I needed to push the plug hard to make sure the computer is charging. No problem at all while working with the battery. May be during this time, the frequent switching (on/off) damaged some of the electronic components (I read somewhere about a possibly busted diod?)
Still think it's a powerjack problem where it connects to the board. If I put slight pressure on top of the power jack the unit will boot. Let off the pressure and it dies. Could be in the same circuit as the battery, if the battery power has to run throught the same traces that would explain it. Pressing down on the top of the keyboard as others are doing will put pressure on the jack. This is either a problem with the jack or a grounding problem somewhere in that circuit. If it was a diode or anything of that nature being burnt out the unit would not boot at all no matter how much pressure you put on the board. Think I will change out the jack first, if that doesn't work I will re solder all the chip connections in that area.
Do please keep us informed of your results Mr. Blackadder.
If it is what you say - it would be fantastic to get a proper diagnosis, even if a long term solution is hard to carry out for the amateurs like myself.
If some people aren't personally involved as users with this laptop I doubt they'll realise what a gem it is. In attempting to discover the cause of the problem over last few weeks I've read several similar threads for other laptops as well and generally, people are happy to see the back of those laptops. With this one though, I get the feeling that all regular users love it and are going to be loathe to throw it away. That definitely applies to me and I know for sure that my next laptop will not give the same satisfaction. As someone said, it's been absolutely flawless for 3 years, with no hint of annoyance in anything.
So, as HP are seriously failing us with the lack of information (which they must have) on what is clearly turning out to be a congenital fault, any knowledge that the real tecchies out there can pass on will be gratefully received.
So please don't give up when you've found out something worth passing on!
I'm starting to come to the same conclusion regarding the jack. The pressure point to get a boot is exactly over the jack so I think you're onto something here. For the record, my earlier mail to HP illicited follow-up by the local office who are now looking into the problem (they say). I'll point them at your posts, and I'll post any progress from them here. Cheers, Charles.
There are obviously numerous reason why they may fail to boot e.g. connections into motherboard, dodgy video card connection, poorly seated memory etc. and the problem with threads is that all contributions get mixed together and we get taken off on tangents.
There's something weird about some of these booting when you apply pressure to the RHS of the keyboard and that should be taken as a category of boot failures which have a common cause which probably have a common solution.
All the other failures, which don't respond to the applied pressure will need to find the individual causes, of which there will be many.
But sticking to the category of failures which can be made to boot by pressing the keyboard, may I ask a layman's question which the techies may be able to answer.
If you are coming around to it being a power jack problem then is there any reason why these laptops should perform perfectly once booted but not on startup? Surely, if there is a power supply/line/circuit failure, they'd occasionally die whilst in running? (OK, they may do intermittently and we may not know it if we have working batteries because they'd take over, but on mine, as I suspect with all the others with this similar failure, the problem randomly occurs on battery boot and AC power boot - it makes no difference.)
So, is it not necessarily the case that if there's a failure/crack/weakness in the power circuit, they'd be failing while running as well as booting? Yet that doesn't seem to happen. Once mine boots - it's perfect.
I've come across two incidents like this from customers in the last month. In both cases the nc6000 was just out of warranty.
The first user was not attached to the laptop and did not want to pursue motherboard replacement.
The second, however, wants me to fix it and give her laptop back. We do not outsource laptop repair, but neither are we HP authorized (yet -- in process of becoming so).
I was astounded to find I could boot by pressing on the RHS! I did not try that with the first one.
After it boots, however, the machine freezes rather quickly.
I will attempt the fixes presented earlier regarding the false overheat signal, and will report the results.
Hellow there...(first, sorry for my english, soy de argentina) i have a nc6000 and have the same problem, when you press on the pipes of the cooler it boot... but i think one thing, the problem is the POWER CONNECTOR, because when i press the pipes, the pipes press the power conector. I have read here about gounding stuff.. well the ground thing is near the power connector, and if you put something big under this part, mi nc6000 boot like always, but if i move, the lcd turn off, and i have to reboot... when i have more time, i will test the entire zone with a tester. the problem is there. We have to find the solution... Other i have done.. put a piece of wood(madera) between the cooler and the PC Card Slots container and... it helps. see you soon... all your ideas help.
I thought I would get into the mix with my weird experience.
I have purchased 14 used NC6000 laptops. Initial boot properly showed no system disk as they were all wiped. I closed the LCD on 13 and installed XP on the 14th. The install went fine - rebooted several times and closed the LCD.
Next morning - ALL 14 - power on - No display. have only green power and orange charging lights on, although 3 top left lights come on briefly on power up.
It is not possible that all 14 would go at once.
Vendor reports his last operation was to install wireless module and update (to proper) BIOS.
I have tried all of the tricks - take out battery, memory combinations. In fact I have completely disassembled and reassembled one.
I am also experiencing these problems. So far I have tried the fan/thermal sensor software solution and that did not help. I have also tried a few other solutions which I describe below.
My machine will boot 99.999% of the time but it freezes if I move the screen while windows is running. I have run the machine while it is partially disassembled and I agree with others on this thread that the problem lies somewhere near the AC jack or with the AC jack itself. If I pressed down on the AC jack while the machine was running it would cause the Windows to freeze. I think what happens is that when you move the monitor it flexes the entire back side of the laptop and moves the faulty part on the motherboard that causes the problem.
I have tried sliding plastic under the AC jack in case this is a grounding problem but it doesn't seem to help. I also tried to just prop up that piece of the motherboard (the edge where the cooler fan assembly is) a couple of millimeters with a thicker piece of plastic and was hopeful when I could boot and press on the AC jack without the computer freezing. But when I put the machine back together, sure enough, it froze again. At this point I am taking the motherboard completely out of the case so I can do further tests and inspect the entire motherboard closely. I will report back with what I find.
I simply do not believe that HP/Compaq, one of the biggest companies in the world, does not know the cause of this problem.
I accept there will be multiple reasons for non-boot overall, that's only to be accepted, and we all need, for example, to check the memory, graphics cables and connection etc. but what most of us are talking about here is a SPECIFIC problem causing a SPECIFIC non-boot, with a SPECIFIC cause, that frankly has nothing to do with normal wear and tear and all the usual reasons given for a computer not booting. All of us have become experts on this topic now and we know something is happening that should not be i.e. it has a cause all of it's own that would not serve as a cause for the non-boot of any other make of laptop. We are talking, in most cases, of a unique problem to the NC6000.
This simply should not be happening. For instance, I doubt I've removed my power cord more than 20 times in the laptop's three year life, because I've used it as a desktop replacment and it's always just plugged in. (Even if people do remove them regularly, then the laptop must be built to allow that anyway.)
HP/Compaq must have had thousands of these back in for repair and they really must know what this particular problem of the grounding/power jack/pressing down on RHS of keyboard is. If they don't, then they ought to get involved. It's their duty, if they are a responsible company that is, and until now, I've always believed that they are.
It's not like we are asking them to fix it, as I guess they are all out of warranty anyway. All we are asking is the solution because they must know and they ought to tell us so we can effect our own repair. It looks pretty much like there is a design fault with these and it's just not fair to the owners who've paid good (in fact, premium) money for a high-end laptop. I accept if a laptop is out of warranty then there is an argument to say its had a reasonable life, but that's not enough to get them off the hook, surely? What laptop lasts for just the length of time of the warranty then dies for something which would not happen on any other laptop (yes, I know they all eventually may not boot, but only for what can be called "regular" reasons. i.e. reasons which might be explained in any "laptop repair manual.") My laptop, in every area where you would expect wear and tear to have had an effect has lasted and still performs like new. Overall, it's a wonderful design, probably one of the best ever.
It's just this specific problem which should not be happening, which has a specific cause because the problem has been built in from the beginning. No matter how carefully you treat your NC6000 (and I'm incredibly careful) and no matter what other problem you overcome, I guess this specific problem will hit you in the end. That's not right. It simply shouldn't be.
Hey guys, had the same problem, fortunately its an easy fix, as stated before it is the power jack, not broken per say but looks like positive post get really hot after a long time and has a bad/barely connected solder, which has turned grey instead of the usual shiny tin,remove board and look at bottom of powerjack, desolder, scrape around hole, resolder.. Ta-dahhh
Only took me an hour to figure it out, Hail Canada! ;)
Excellent!! Thank you for the update and confirming what some of us were thinking! I just ordered a new jack just in case the current one was broken but I don't mind since it was just a few bucks. I will be doing the repair very soon, hopefully wih the same positive result!
Hi Denis, A mate of mine (Welshman with Fijian origins now resident in Australia) promised to help, but has been rather busy the last few weeks alternately pulling alien incisors out of his boots and celebrating sporting victories.
However, it sounds like you might well have a solution there. It would certainly explain the hysterical fan (which stops when the power is unplugged), and location is spot-on. Can anyone else corroborate this before I as a rank amateur attempt to do it myself ? Thanks to both of you, & hail England!
Hello again (sorry my english Soy de argentina), in a previous post i say that the power connector was the problem, and when i see the post of DenisB i was so happy thinking "my problem as been fixed..." and i was wrong. When desasemble my nc6000 again, and desolder all and solder again the connector... and nothing, i test all the parts and nothing, So i begun to try others thinks, and what i found.... the motherboard as the problem, but found a fix. In the side where the FAN is Screwed on the mother, OVER the mother And Under de FAN i put a Socket-pan so can give some force down, and down the mother under de socket of the processor put a piece of plastic so can do force to UP and... now is working, but when you move the laptop... freeze. :(
About the freezing. As I read on another forum. Put a memorystick in the upper USB - I don't have had a freezing since I tryed that - strange - but it worked for me.
Still think in the majority of cases it is a power jack problem. If there is a problem with the jack it is not always fixed by resoldering the old jack. Get a new jack (less than 10.00 on ebay) and try soldering it on. At that price it is worth the chance, other solution is new board.
Can anybody answer - why, if the problem is the power jack, the laptop starts, fan spins etc. before it dies during the POST? Surely, if it's a power jack problem, you'd either get power, or you wouldn't, so you'd either get a proper, full, start, or you'd get absolutely nothing, but not the symptoms as described in the 1st post which started this thread.
Really, how can it be the power jack when power gets through initially before the laptop dies after a few seconds?
If the unit is getting intermittent power from the jack or shorting it will certainly shutdown the laptop. If when I change the jack on this board it works we will know.
Yes, but consider - all our laptops "begin" the startup process i.e. lights come on, fan spins, 100% of the time, without fail, then they fail after a few seconds. If it's intermittent power, how come sometimes the lights don't come on and the fan doesn't spin? The process always starts, then it either continues if we're lucky (or press the RHS of keyboard) or it stops shortly after - but it never fails to begin, so intermittent or not, power always gets through for those first few seconds. Why?
I just don't see how this can be a power jack problem, but I hope it is just to get the solution because it's driving me mad.
Just got a new board the other day, had the same problems as you guys, with orange light when pressing the power button. Took the board out of the case & used it on AC & battery & found by pressing my thumb hard over one of the components in the top right corner & pressing power button, it would come on, must have used me as a ground signal. When i released, the m/c would turn off! On the new board i found that there was a slightly different colour on top of one of the components compared to the old board, unsure as whether it's a resistor or a diode, but the top of it at one end was a darker brown than the rest of it. On the new board it was clean all the way over. I can only assume that this component had blown.
I used a mini pci card to see what signals & voltages i was getting & it showed that i has a 5v/3.3v a clk signal & a reset signal which was always on, not just flick on/off as i know it should do.
An always on reset light, if im correct denotes an 'electrical short', which if that component as blown, then that is where the short is!!
I really do hope that this goes someway in helping you guys. My power connector by the way is in good condition & does not move or wiggle about.
If you don't mind me asking what kind of price did you pay for the new board. I am going to change the power jack first and if no luck I will need a new board.
Hi Edmund, i paid £66.50 off ebay (yes i know probable problem in the future, but at least it works now with no problems). It was a used board, but looking over it, it appears to be re-furbished & some of the components appear to have been replaced, i can tell as the board itself & component connections appear to be in excellent condition.) Another thing i noticed on the old board power jack is a slight browning on the contacts, i suppose this is from heat.
When & if i get a chance, i will put some pics onto the forum if it lets me to show what i am on about.
Would love to see some pictures so that we are all on the same page as far as discussing the parts we are refering to. I think as well it may be something as simple as changing a capacitor or resistor (or what ever you call them mlb's (magic little buggers). Pleased to here that your unit is now functioning hope to report the same in the future.
OK so, I bought a new DC plug off of Ebay, but it was the wrong plug. But after going over the issue with a techie friend of mine we think that the problem might not be with the power jack at all.
Has anyone taken a close look at the leaf spring looking thing next to the power plug? My friend said that it looked like a pressure sensor, and if it wasn't compressed correctly it would cause the computer to not turn on. He had one of these devices on an old computer and said that it was a safety measure that would keep anything from turning on if the motherboard wasn't in its case. We hypothesized that the problem could be that it has gotten out of shape and is not making the contact necessary for the laptop to turn on. This could explain why pressing down on that region of the laptop helps it turn on. When you push down you are compressing that sensor enough to allow the computer to boot. Unfortunatelly in the middle of testing this theory my motherboard really did fry, something under the processor roasted and now I can't get the machine to turn on AT ALL. Time for a new motherboard for me!
I believe that the metal spring device could prove to be the key and might fix some of the problems we are all having.
I also wondered about the spring looking thing, but I am not so sure. I found that when I took everything apart if I put the end of a screwdriver between the motherboard and the screw mount that the fan mount closest to the cpu goes through then my laptop would turn on every time. So basically lifting the board at this point worked as well as pushing down. I also don't think it is the power connector as I got a multimeter and checked all the voltages around this area. The 18v from my power supply was getting onto the board ok. That spring type thing could still be the problem but I have a couple of queries about it: 1, why does pushing and pulling both work? 2, where is it connected to, I could only find ground on it.
In the meantime my laptop is working with a small washer placed between the main board and the bottom case mounting so that that part of the main board is lifted upwards. This solution was suggested on another forum. It seems to work, at least for the 10 times I have tried starting up so far.
We have more than a hundreed nc6000s working in our company. I started my research after we (IT) got six laptops back with the same simptoms during July, August, and September this year. We were lucky to get one laptop fixed by HP, its hardware warranty was still active at that moment. There are some facts that make me think the problem is not a power jack or any of surface mounted electronic components. By my mind this is a CPU socket issue, or its power bus to be exact. And because a main board is a multilayered PCB there is no way to fix this - we simply can't pinpoint the right track, especially if it is placed inside. Sad to say but replacing the main board is the only way to deal with the problem. Pushing the right side of a keyboard area (which is right above a CPU socket) is just the way we apply pressure on a case and it distributes the impact deeper on a main board where the CPU resides. Bending a power connector does exactly the same - creates tension inside the main board - and the bad connection gets temporarilly restored. Opening and closing a LCD screen releases the tension and the main board looses the CPU again. That's why the laptop dies while still connected to power (or has a battery inside). CPU power track suffers most when you turn the laptop on, electrical current consumption is at its maximum. That's why this connection fails first after time. If you release your finger and the laptop still works - you're lucky to have it for now because the connection has not failed completely and it restores itself as it gets warmed up. Actually resoldering the power jack does the same trick but not for long. I'm sure the worst is coming. A battery always get a charge (this part of schema doesn't depend on your CPU) so we always see the 'charge' light comes up when we put the power plug in. It just proves that the power connector is fine. A fan works even if a CPU is missing because it has its own power bus. All our laptops (I have already mentioned we lost six nc6000s) were obtained in July/August'04 in small parties of 4-5 PCs and I assume this issue is a technological defect. HP just doesn't want to recall this model as 3yr warranty is about to expire and this would cost them a lot. And to be sure for myself - I removed a CPU from the working laptop and I was able to reproduce the issue.
As some of you have already mentioned, placing some object under the main board (Fernando Adrian, fat kid) to create permanent tension helps to fix the issue. This proves that the source of the problem lies inside the PCB, not on its surface. Another thing: I noticed many of users in our company carry laptops by holding a front corner (left or right) with one hand with LCD screens open. The laptop's frame and case are mostly made of plastic, now you can imagine what happens to the motherboard after years of using the laptop.
P.S. Sorry for misspellings in my previous post. Hundred symptoms temporarily...
Oleg, thanks for your contribution - you make a lot of sense!
If this is a defect (and going by the numbers on here, it seems that it is) rather than a random fault, and HP do something on this. I can state here and now that much as I liked my laptop - when it was working.
It's simply not honourable for them to leave it to us if there is a design fault, just because it might cost them a few dollars. They are one of the world's biggest companies aren't they? Don't they care about their customers? Who will buy their products in future if HP don't care about their customers?
Maybe, they would be prepared to repair these faulty models at "reasonable" (nominal) cost, rather than normal "rip-off" cost, i.e. without charging more for a new motherboard than you can buy a new laptop for?
HP should tell us what serial numbers are affected - or is it all of them? Were any models free of this problem or is it ultimately, going to hit every single NC6000 owner.
Hi Oleg,
Likewise - thanks for your post which made a lot of sense.
Regarding HP taking responsibility for what certainly looks like a defect with this product, I did e-mail the top to ask them to read this thread.
My mail was passed to Oscar in US CS who followed up by contacting my local HP office who in turn contacted me.
It would be great to see HP take this up and find a solution for us. Obviously for us as we don't need to buy new machines, and obviously for them as they will retain some happy and loyal customers.
Thanks for you postings Timotheus and Charles, very good idea to get HP involved as soon as possible as number of cases increases.
I am 101% sure that HP was aware about the issue long time ago. As a manufacturer they can't recall all nc6000 (only HP knows how many of them sold around the world) if an issue is not health/life threatening (like the battery recall) or number of failures is not very significant. But this is up to HP to define the 'significance' of the matter. I am glad to see that the laptops purchased by our company after Sept'04 are not coming back from our users (yet?) which makes me think that HP engineers do their job right and these laptops hopefully have a revised main board inside or decent quality control has been finally implemented on an assembly line somewhere in Taiwan. As for users who already experience the issue... Based on our statistics I would say less than 6% (6 out of 106) of all ncs CAN be repaired for free even if their warranty has been expired but only if they FAILED. If a user doesn't complain (may be he never moves his laptop off his desk?) I don't see the reason to recall his PC. HP is big. And as any other big hi-tech companies (Cisco, IBM, Sun) it creates original designs and component layouts but hires 'subcontractors' to manufacture its components and assemble PCs. It takes time in some cases to see the expected outcome because this is production and if changes have to be implemented all stages of the process should be revised. Although this issue might be not a HP fault this is still their responsibility.
There is no other way to survive in this highly competitive industry as to be a half-step ahead of others in design and production and be very loyal to us, customers, responding to feedbacks on time. As I can say we are very satisfied with HP customer support and warranty repair process. In most cases it takes one business day to get a laptop fixed and shipped back (we are situated in Markham, Ontario). Our users have been using nc6000 model for more than 3 yrs. This is a pretty long term for a business laptop. Previous N600c/N610c was not that good. The only real big issue and inconvenience so far were original 40GB Toshiba hard drives which cost us 2-3 business days per user. We replaced 37 out of 106 (hope some of you familiar with 1720 error, SMART attribute 05, Reallocated Sectors Count) and in some cases it was too late, users didn't pay attention or didn't want to bother IT hoping the error goes away one day. HP purchased this component from Toshiba and I can't blame HP because they did whatever it took to provide us with an instant replacement from Hitachi and make us happy as an end user.
After reading three months of postings, I took my time to find my TWO old NC6000 with the same problems. I did ALL of the things posted on this thread but nothing worked. Since i had two identical laptops and neither would show any kind of life (besides the orange/blue lights and the confused fan) I finally found the time and took EVERY PEACE apart. The funny thing is that i never thought i would find where the problems location would be but i did. On the bottom side of the mainboard (you have to open all screws to reach this) right by the connection for the AC, I found two IC burned really bad. There was four of these right next to eachother so I read the inscription on one of the two healthy ones and it said: | I()R 403H | ZX88 | FB113 Since i have two nc6000 i'm going to take two healthy (there are four similar) chips from one and try to mount it on the other. Hopefully :) I will get one of them to work. I don't know what the Ic is. It is probably a diod but i'm not sure... I've measured around it alot and what i found out is that a large part of the main board doesn't get power because of the circuit brake caused by the Diods. So for all of you wondering... The laptop can show signs of activity even though the power connection is broke. :D
Anyway.. This seems like a construction error from HPs part and the funny part is i have three other friend with the same problem. My suggestion to everyone who reads this is to never buy a nc6000 because it's just a matter of time when the startup problem occurs or the diod burns.
I've attached a picture.. But it's from a mobile camera so it's not too good. :D
The parts you found burnt on your main board look very good on all of my six boards and I am sure they work.
These components are Fairchild 30V N-Channel MOSFET Power Trenches. They work as high-speed power switches/converters when you use your power cord or battery. When you unplug the power cord power circuit should be instantly switched to a battery as a second source so your PC doesn't die at that moment. There can be many reasons why two of them failed. By my mind one of them is loose power cord/motherboard connector. Your power adapter/battery should supply 18.5V/14.4V DC power (accordingly) which is safe for the laptop's input. But if a tip of the cord/motherboard power connector is loose or your battery is bad (its controller doesn't reject charge when the battery is fully charged) these ICs will be working under stress of constant switching of high current and eventually die. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I am glad you have found the source of your problem and I hope you fix it. The top two microchips (as they are placed according to your picture) are Fairchild FDS6694, and the bottom pair is Fairchild FDS7764A. This is what I have on my boards. Please don't replace the two burnt ICs on the top with the two good ones from the bottom. They might have different functionality/parameters. Better to get the exact replacement.
Same as power connector re-soldering, unfortunately it is not going to help me. There is nothing worst in troubleshooting than a partially working/functioning circuit. Very hard to catch until a component finally dies.
Good luck and thanks for sharing your information here!
Sorry but your speech doesn't convince me at all, you sound like an hp pr (I'm not saying you are one of them)
First of all, I don't understand when you say that we should be happy after 3 yrars of the nc6000 good services. I'm typing now on an older Toshiba that is still functionnal, and I'm not happy at all that I have to spend 2,000$ just to get a laptop that I don't need.
But what bothers me more, is that hp is certainly reading those threats and ignoring all of us here that are trying to find a solution.
Subcontracting is not an excuse, it's hp responsability to make sure their suppliers are reliable.
I give up, just bought a NC6000 without the LCD, will pull the board and replace mine. Keep you posted when it arrives.Payed $90 on Ebay, keep my fingers crossed LOL
I have a similar problem to what is beeing described here. my nc6000 starts more often then not without any pressing or force on my part, although sometimes it takes 3-4 attempts. but it constantly freezes. I tried disabling the USB controllers as capt grail described, this didn't work. And I tried using the settings that CO John had for Fan6000, again this did not work.
I tried yesterday calling HP tech help, my machine ended its warranty in April. The first tech told me to remove the ac cord and the battery then hold the power button for one minute. then replace everything and try again. This did allow the computer to turn on and it ran for 10 minutes, basically just long enough for me to hang up the phone. The second tech would not help me because of the warranty. he said it was an OS issue and XP would need to be reinstalled.
This computer was given to me by my work, they purchased a number of refurbished NC6000s to give to the salesmen. And it appears to be the second laptop in three years that I have had an issue with. I had a Toshiba who's motherboard fried.
I believe I could pull the hard drive and put it into a case I have for my toshiba hard drive but would that solve my problem?
First of all, I was not going to convince anybody here. I just share my personal experience hoping this helps other participants of the discussion. Unfortunately you didn't read my posts carefully. I said 'we are very satisfied with HP customer support and warranty repair process', and '3 yrs is a pretty long term for a business laptop.' This was my personal opinion and how this turned into 'you say that we should be happy after 3 yrars of the nc6000 good services' is a mystery, at least for me. I think your imagination works better than mine. Please never say 'you say' if I have never said but that's OK, your 'I don't understand' might work well as excuse...
Secondly, I am pleased to know my posts sound like speeches for you. Hope they are well built logically and provide enough information to discuss, not just bare words. I really worked hard. Luckily for me I have never heard HP PR speeches. Usually I make my decisions based on many different sources and my personal experience. In my second life I spent a couple of years troubleshooting Cisco BPX/MGX switches and Sun SPARC server boards at Celestica, and having a master degree in microelectronics I am familiar with schematics, statistics, and analysis. This helps me to deal with what I was given because very often I am not in a 'be your own boss' situation.
I understand your concern and I would not be pleased with two grand spent either. People here already said 'this is HP responsibility' so let's repeat this another hundred times. Eventually HP will do something about it but is this going to bring YOUR laptop back to life?
Your posts are terrific - an example for all - and surely much appreciated by virtually everyone on here.
Most of us (like me) are just amateurs, desperate to find an easy solution. When there is someone more technical like yourself, who understands the electronics, it really does help. It makes a massive difference to us. We won't get anywhere without it.
Of course, some of us are frustrated because we also badly need help from HP, but until that help arrives (if it ever does) your input into solving this is vital.
So thanks for your input so far - please keep posting!
Here Here, It's good to have a decent tech onboard, like the guys have on the wimsbios boards, & like the other tech guys in germany on the PCchips website that someone put together, the boards & forums like this is where i have learn't everything that i have. I watch this msgboard very closely, & a few additional notes i would like to add.
a)To the chappy who mentioned the copper strip underneath the motherboard next to the DC jack. My refurb board does not have it & works fine!
b)I have a small problem where my battery willn not charge in the primary bay, but have tested it in the Multibay (m/c stripped to motherboard out of the case & battery charges fine, have had a chat with the guy who i bought it off, of & he said send Whole machine back & they will correct the problem @ no charge, pick up cost of re-posting to me! (Landed on my feet there me thinks)!! About time to.
c) Even though this board has this small problem, it works very well on AC & does NOT crash/Freeze or blue screen for the 24 hrs per day i've left it on for the past few days, as a burn in test, like iv'e done with the two PC's I've built for my two daughters!! d)I may send the old board to them, so they can repair & sell on, as they are doing me a good turn.
Talk again to you guys soon (PS had similar problems with IBM T20/21/22 Laptops, ordered new boards from the US & re-fitted & sold the lot separately)
Like you guys i do this as a thirst for knowledge, & one day i may come into my own.
ok-it cought me-yeasterday my nc6000 died. THe same syndroms:-blue led and yellow and it is not turning on. After i push in the place where "p,o,l,i,9" are it is starting. Yesterday it started but the fan is not working at all-is not turning on ever. I think that my problem could be caused by overheat. how it happened: temperature of my CPU warm up to 70C and i decide to restart-and i couldn't start it again. My fan is never turning on right now and last days a had problems with high temp on CPU going to 64C degree. After it happend i blow into fan and many dirts went out. I THINK I'M THE ONLY ONE PERSON WITH FAN NOT WORKING.
I have exactly the same power problem with my NC6000. The blue and orange light will come on for a moment, fan starts, and than will shut off. It all started few weeks ago just as my warranty has expired :). Sometimes the laptop starts, and then is working perfectly fine. For the past few days my laptop was left for a service, but they could not find what seems to be a problem.(they were not HP authorized because there is none close to place where I live). I really hope that someone will come up with a solution for this problem, because it's really annoying. Also I'm sure that people from HP are more than aware of this problem, and they should at least explain, and point at how to fix the problem, because they are well known brand, and this problem is obviously serial fault with all the NC6000.
I also have a NC6000 that recently exhibited a version of the "NC6000 power-up problem". My laptop is off warranty by about 5 months.
When I press the power button the fan turns on for about 3 seconds, then the battery LED (orange) also turns on for about 6 seconds. After 9 seconds the fan and LED stop and the boot sequence is over. If I press on the upper right side of the keyboard the NC6000 will boot normally but the system is unreliable.
This problem appears to be so widespread that HP must have performed failure analysis (FA) on many of these failing motherboards. If HP does not yet understand the root cause of this problem then we would have to question their FA ability. It is more likely that they understand the root cause, but a business decision has been made not to provide the information to their NC6000 customers.
To HP: ====== Please provide your customers with some information about your findings on the "NC6000 power-up problem" - Is this problem restricted to a certain build lot (date range or manufacturer)? - Do all revisions of the motherboard have this design issue? - Is the problem related to an internal component failure, degradation of a component mounting or to a stress break on an internal module etch? - Are there plans for an out-of-warranty repair program to address this issue?
The frequency of this specific failure mode certainly seems to suggest a design or manufacturing flaw. I have a real fear of having the MB replaced and the same problem showing up again. This has been a great laptop, but then it should be a great laptop, we paid a premium for a high end laptop. I really like this machine and do not want to see it tossed prematurely into the world's electronic junk pile. "Think green!"
Michael - your summary of the problem is excellent, as are the questions you posed to HP. They are exactly the questions we'd like (and deserve to get) answered.
Unfortunately, I don't think they (HP) will answer them through this forum (otherwise, surely they would have by now.)
I believe we need to contact them (HP) individually (via phone/fax/direct email) and ask them directly to address the issue.
Of course we can't expect them to comment on every single failure described in this thread as there will be diverse individual causes, but the circumstances you (and many others) described are so specific and common to so many of us, that surely they can address that particular one?
I've also e-mailed HP regarding the NC6000 power issue problem, and I believe that everyone with the same problem should do the same, and complain to them. This issue is so common, and HP are well know high end brand, and they should really do something about us (their customers) especially because the power issue problem is obviously caused by a design or manufacturing mistake.
OK-i will try to explain what i found out. First sorry for my english (jestem z Polski). So like i wrote before i had the same case like all the others. Blue and green LED and no startup. After pressing on the right upper corner sometimes laptop start up. Like I wrote before I was the only one with fan problem. Fan was not working. I opened laptop (just keyboard out) and I have found that I have very very dirty fan and cooler. A lot of dust. I was so so surprised how much dirts is there.(SEE PICT.). After I have cleaned fan I plug it back and it started to work. Because high temp can have influence on making our problem I can say that before my nc6000 gets broken temp have been quite high. Sometimes it was rising up to 64-67C degree during using processor or 54C during doing nothing. After cleaning it is 39C and is rising up to 47C. BIG DIFFERENCE. Ok-now about solving problem. I found out that when I put something very thin like a small screwdriver under upper-right corner of mother board (SEE PICT) just on the upper-right from processor laptop is working. Also pressing in this place was giving the same results. So under mother board I have putted small washer (SEE PICT) and than laptop was working every time. But after I putted everything together the problem was that when I was moving screen laptop was turning off. I have opened it again and found out that when you move/tilt screen the motherboard in the upper right corner is bending a little bit. Some of the persons was writing about AC plug-the same situation. When you plugging power in to your laptop the mother board in the same place is bending. Probably it is causing that something is getting cracked âmaybe (tin) solder. Something is disconnecting and when we pressing is connecting again. The only one idea is to find out which of the parts is cracked and maybe just to solder it. Now- every 2 days I have to screw (tighten) or unscrew screws from keyboard and usually it is helping to start laptop. Now Iâm typing this massage totally without screws from keyboard. In my opinion changing the Mother board supposed to help. But ANYONE IS SURE ABOUT THAT?? We also supposed to start think how to prevent this problem. Because I will not be happy If I will buy next MB and will get broken in next 2 years. Also Iâm so supprised that no one have solved this problem. I think that there is thousands people on the world with this problem, and it is impossible that no one had a guarantee when it get broken. CAN ANYONE AT LEAST CONFIRM THAT PROBLEM IS WITH MOTHER BOARD AND CHANGING IT IS HELPING?? And I think that all of us supposed to write email/complain to HP by email(directly). I DONâT KNOW ALSO because no one write if HP answare to anyone. GOOD LUCK FOR ALL OF US from POLAND-TOMMI ps. there is 7 pict-because i can not attache 7 pict one time i had to make self extracting archivum.
Tomas, you gave us high hopes, but you didn't bring anything new to the topic..
I have tried resoldering this power jack and I must say that maybe it didn't solve the issue, but laptop works much better now. I haven't tested it for longer period of time since I don't have hard disk, only linux LiveCD, but: Laptop always starts and it hangs over when I shake it really strong. So it's still not solved, but it's better now..
I don't know about anyone else, but I suspect a lot of you are the same as me, in that I find it a very fickle problem, very hard to diagnose because it seems to come and go and there seems to be no reason why one day it starts, and another it doesn't. Some days, I want to try something to see if it makes a difference, but it might well start anyway that day and I can't even test it or make it fail. On others, when it won't start, just the act of taking the keyboard off and touching a few connections here and there always seems to be enough, although always temporarily, for it to start again. It can't be that something has "blown" and I don't think it can be the power connection (otherwise, how would even the fan and lights come on, which they always do?)
It might well be a broken circuit somewhere on the motherboard, very hard to diagnose, sometimes making contact, sometimes not, but does anybody think it might be nothing more than needing a thorough clean? I note that HP themselves say that dirt and dust are major killers of the circuits and although I've cleaned it as best as I can, it's impossible to do it professionally. For instance, suppose just a bit of the dust which gathers around the fan, has somehow got into the processor connections, maybe not even visibly?
I don't know, I'm just thinging out loud, but if it were a hardware/manufacturing fault, how can they seem to last just over 3 years, then fail? Isn't it just as likely, that the internal design in some way, lends itself to the gathering of dirt/grease/dust somewhere which causes unseen damage to one of the circuits which gets checked on the POST startup and thereby stops the process? It's indisputable that applying pressure on the fan side of the keyboard seems to make a lot of these work.
I think the processor area is one of the most likely culprits. It might be the connections it makes to the motherboard, or maybe the processor itself, rather than the motherboard is the problem? Is that possible? So that just exerting a bit of pressure on or around the processor is enough to make it start - could that happen, or if a processor has a problem, would it be all or nothing (i.e. total failure, or fully working, which I tend to think?)
It's just the fact that fiddling around inside while not actually doing anything always seems to be enough to get it working - until the next time so it's maybe not necessarily the case that something significant has to be broken or cracked. It might be something really insignificant, just a speck of dust in the wrong place.
What do people think - it it more likely to be a circuit failure due to a crack or failed solder on the motherboard, or failure due to dirt on some contacts, or processor failure, (other) motherboard failure, or intermittent failure on some other component which is connected to the motherboard?
I wrote few days ago to HP, and here is the answer that I have received from them.
Dear Aleksandar,
Thank you for contacting Hewlett-Packard's Commercial Solutions Center.
This is with reference to your e-mail regarding the HP Business notebook Nc6000,
From the information provided in your e-mail, I understand that the notebook is not powering ON.
I would like to inform you that we have heard reports of this particular issue. However, it is not a model specific issue. I would suggest you to try performing a dry boot procedure on the notebook. To do a dry boot:
a. Turn off the unit.
b. Remove the battery and the AC adapter from the unit.
c. Remove all the external devices attached to the unit.
d. Remove any additional memory upgraded on the unit.
e. Press and hold down the power button for 30 seconds.
f. Re-plug the AC adapter and turn on the unit. Check for the occurrence of the issue.
If the issue persists even after performing a dry boot procedure, then I would suspect this to be an issue with the hardware of the notebook. All e-mails are routed to the North American region because of which I am unable to arrange for service in your region through e-mail support.
However, you need not worry. You could contact local HP support in your region that would be able to assist you with servicing the notebook. Please visit the following web-link to locate the nearest HP support centers:
Please e-mail us for any further assistance. We would be glad to assist you.
Once again, thank you for contacting Hewlett-Packard's Commercial Solutions Center.
Warm Regards,
Guruveer, Technical Support Engineer - PSG Portable
"Our aim is to deliver best in class customer service".
Do help share feedback with my manager (mailto:roshan.dsouza@hp.com) NOTE: Our advice is strictly limited to the question(s) asked and is based on the information provided to us. Problems and solutions may depend on the nature of your system environment and various other parameters that are unknown to HP; therefore, HP cannot assume any responsibility or liability. Please be advised that technical information changes as new data becomes available, therefore, HP recommends that you check back at our technical support web site located at http://www.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html regularly for possible updates. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the use of this information. _____________________________________________
However, I still think that this is some manufacturing mistake with this particular model, even though they are denying. Dry booting did not help at all, and the situation is still the. I'll write to them again, although I don't expect much help. I suppose that I'll have to go an hp service, and I hope that they will be able to do something.
When I called HP the guy told me to remove teh ac power and battery then hold the power button down for one minute. The computer booted and ran for about 10 minutes after this. Long enough for me to hang up. I think they know somthing is wrong because he said if this doesn't work then it has to be sent in for repair. he took all my information proir to trying this, like he know the laptop would have to go in. Unfortunitly for me, the warrenty just expired.
The problem is that they are just giving out general replies, rather than answers to specific issues, because most of us do have very specific symptoms with the fact that we can get the thing to boot by applying some pressure to the RHS of keyboard. That's a very weird phenomenon which HP must have some ideas about. It doesn't want a general answer they give to millions which won't start for diverse reasons. It's no good if they just give the standard HP response to any old no-boot up problem. We have far more specific symptoms and we need a more precise answer.
Wouldn't HP have to agree that to get a non-booting laptop to start up, by pressing the keyboard on the RHS, as applies to many of us, is likely to have a single cause?
Also, that single cause is quite likely to also apply to many of those laptops which still won't start even after applying the pressure. It's just that maybe their fault is a little bit worse and can't be overcome so easily, but it might well be the same problem.
In my honest opinion I dont think we are going to get any answers from HP but the two most realistic answers I can give for how to fix this are:
1: Replace the motherboard with the latest version
2:Sort out the grounding of the AC socket, if you touch the socket on the coper above the laptop will boot every time. I resolved this by putting a copper nut in between the two and get a boot up every time.
I have an nx5000. I have experienced the same problems as described here. Fan spins up for a few sec, and then the power shuts down. I can start it by applying pressure to the upper right corner, but with no AC jack attached it will freeze within a minute or two.
For a few days I have taken the whole lot apart and put it together a couple of times. But today I tried something new. After reading some of the posts in this topic, it is possible to belive that the source of our problems is related to the CPU bus. What I did was to remove the cpu heat pipe clamp. Between the clamp and the heat pipe, I placed a 3mm thick bit of metal sheet. I also created more tension in the clamp by bending the four legs upwards. I installed the whole thing again and put all the pieces together.
The laptop booted all the way while I was assembling. With all plastic covers in place, LCD and HDD installed it has been running for an hour on battery - without freezing.
GP101, I can confirm that my newer nc6000 (purchased in March'05) have a motherboard Rev 1.5. What a surprise: there are N-Channel power MOSFET chips IRF7811AV/IRF8113 produced by International Rectifier, not Fairchild FDS6694/FDS7764A. Those are IR chips Mohammad was talking about (please see his post and my response to him) so I assume Mohammad is a lucky guy with burnt ICs but a newer revision of the MB.
The PCB of my Rev 1.5 MB was made in Nov'04 (time stamp 04-48) at UniMicron facilities in Taiwan (UMT logo) and the MBs in my dead laptops have stamps 04-08 to 04-16 (Feb'04 - Apr'04), made by UniMicron (UMT) and someone else (Cosmotronic? - diamond CT logo, not sure). I assume this is not a technological defect but rather design was not perfect for Rev 1.2 as two different manufacturers are involved.
Anyway the nc6000 with newer Rev 1.5 was abused pretty heavily and returned for repair (damaged body, spilled drinks, dead CPU fan) but the MB survived so I have to say Rev 1.5 is better.
Hi, I have had about 20 nc6000 notebooks from different regions. Many from North America and many from Sweden/Finland. Both regions have the same problem. This is a motherboard issue and replacing the board will solve this. In fact I have one in HP service right now because of this malfunction (in warranty till Dec).
The <CT> logo is Chont Tai Industries with a headquarter in Hong Kong.
Three major issues and the ways we fixed them. Please make sure you have a power cord connected and a battery inside (some of our users never pay attention to this). Please read carefully, I tried to summarize different symptoms, see if they apply to your situation.
1. When you turn the power on and hear a fan blowing for about 6-8 sec the laptop doesn't start. A battery charge light may stay on.
Pressing the area where a CPU socket resides underneath a keyboard (top right side of the keyboard, around F9-F12 keys) may help to start the computer (the green power light comes up). Replacing the motherboard (preferably with a newer revision) fixes this issue.
The solid amber battery light indicates that your power connector is OK. If you notice it's blinking - your battery is not good. Replace the battery. If you see the light disappearing when you touch a power plug - your power connector and/or the power cable tip is not good. Replace the cable and/or try to re-solder the power connector on the motherboard.
2. When you turn the power on and don't hear a fan blowing (or don't feel air coming out), your laptop starts (at least shows a green power light), runs for some time (1-5 min) and then suddenly dies.
A CPU is overheating. Cleaning the fan and heat pipe fins fixes the issue if the CPU temp sensor is OK. Removing a keyboard and opening a top plastic cover gives you better access to the fan. I have never played with CPU temp sensor settings, this can just make the problem much worse. I remember clearly at least one post here with a link to some free software which allows you to do this trick but as a result of thorough watching (thanks HP, this proves you are reading our posts, hope we don't look like Guiney pigs in a glass box for you) the link disappeared.
3. When you turn the power on and hear a fan blowing the laptop keeps restarting (going in circles) but doesn't boot. The only way to stop this is to disconnect the power cord and remove the battery. If the laptop boots the OS it may crash later any time with a B.S.O.D.
Problem with a RAM module(s) or slot(s). Try to remove the memory module one by one (if you have two) or move the module into another slot to find out which one is causing the problem. Replace the RAM module or stop using the slot (you have to switch from two 512MB to 1GB, for example).
Thanks for the clarification, but I think we all knew replacing the motherboard would fix problem #1, that is what everyone is trying to avoid is the expense and uncertainty of changing out the board. I have done this and after a while this board has failed with the same problem. The problem is HP has supplied flakey motherboards in this laptop and won't help with the problem. Unless there is a newer motherboard from a different manufacturer available I would not again replace this unit. Obviously there is a problem with this series of M/boards so it is foolish to replace a board with a known to fail board.
I just got my laptop repaired by HP(it was in warranty). Now, the problem:
I they just replaced my motherboards, this means in some time(months to years), I will have the same problem again, when I will not have warranty anymore. Anyone knows what is causing this problem, and what should I do to generate it?
I think if we'll have the same problem again and again, HP will need to do something.
My proposal: let's find how we could generate this problem, generate it, and send the laptop to HP. Of course, only the ones who have warranty.:D
What do you think?
Andrei
P.S.: Did anyone received an official response from HP regarding this problem?
Well bit the bullet and bought a bottom half of NC6000 on ebay. Said it will boot to bios. Ya it boots to bios if (you guessed it) you push on the right side of the machine. Now have two motherboards with the same issue. Can't think of what is happening with these boards. Doesn't make any sense. Could it be the CPU socket is loosing contact with the CPU when the board flexes with opening and closing of the LCD? With this board I can actually load windows and run it for a bit but I am getting constant screen freezes needing restart. Also once again the system is very unstable when you open or close the screen or push anywhere near the right hand side of the unit. Have tried just about everything but can't see what could be the problem with these boards. Can't be a chip problem as the machines will actually run. Gotta be a solder problem somewhere that is expanding with heat causing lockups or a cpu problem with the cpu loosing contact with the connectors when the board flexes. Anyone had any success working on this unit yet? Also anyone know where to locate a newer board for these units. My rev. # is 1.2 but I here there is a board with rev. 1.5
Who is deleting all the posts? Are you not allowed to post anything that might offend the God's at HP? We are trying to diagnose a very serious issue with this particular model of Laptop. Deleting posts is not a very helpful act. As far as the NC6000 m/board pos, I think the problem is with the cpu socket. When pressure is applied by opening and closing the lid it pushes on the heat sink and stresses the area where the cpu is located. If you press down on the corner of the cpu, it will start everytime. Same applies if you press down on the heatsink tube when the unit is running it will shutdown. Now if only there was a way to tell what was happening with the socket that is causing this. Also all the freeze issues associated with the boot problem could be due to heating up of the cpu and causing expansion and loss of contact with one or more pins in the cpu socket. Sound plausable to anyone? Or am I just losing it?
My problems started like this: I was using Ubuntu, and it had some "sleep" problems. The computers was going to sleep, but never waked up. So, I needend to restart it using the power button. After some restarts, I got the led up&no boot problem.
This appears to be a very common problem with this notebook.
This all points towards their being a manufacturing defect with this notebook.
I am currently corresponding with HP to get feedback on this, so far they are suggesting I get an HP service technician to have a look, and they will charge me for this.
This is not good enough, the product is clearly a lemon.
All of us need to make it clear to HP that this is not acceptable. HP should stand by their product and recall / repair faulty products.
By the way the problem with the nc600 it is definitely manufacturing fault. I went to HP servis in Bulgaria to check if they can repair my laptop. I quess you all know what they said. They didn't have to look at my laptop, and they just tolde me that the problem is motherbord, and that this is the case with every HP NC6000. For the new one they wanted 500 euros.
you know what I find interesting about HP, I had an Ipaq for my work. About 5 months after I bought it, the screen cracked. I contacted HP, because the Ipaq was out of warranty (3 months from manufacturing, not sale) I was S.O.L. they would sell me a new screen for more then the cost of the Ipaq. I looked a replacement part, but no one had any because HP stopped selling this item to repair facilities. apparently this problem was common enough that HP decided to make more money off the repairs instead of fixing the underlining problem.
Yes that is also strange with HP. The new motherboard which is perhaps faulty again is almost as expensive like the laptop whit no guarantee whatsoever. Also the warranty yes expired from purchasing date of the laptop, not from the date of the sale. If it was the latter case my laptop would have been still under warranty.
This laptop is so weak, because I have used it for about 2 years now, even though I have bought before that. Also I have used it most of the time almost like a desktop, and it was hardly even moved. In another words it has been take great care about this laptop and still it's now out of order.
Hello everyone, my nc6000 have the same problems as ours: start up und freeze problems. And all the attempt to solve the problems didn't work for me neighter. I have my laptop attached to a docking connector (HP series RP1006 Advanced Port replicator) link: http://www.brisbanecomputerrecyclers.com.au/images/pr1006-front.jpg When the laptop is connected to the docking connector, it works fine. It´s a very strange problem(s)...
"At the end of July buys second-hand NC6000, buys uses for probably for one month, presents NC6000 the classical question, the starting sufficient electric lamp is bright, ventilator extension, 5 seconds later power failures, if presses the keyboard with the hand to be able starting, has like this used probably for one month, day before yesterday finally could not starting, regardless of how to make an effort according to the keyboard to be unable to start ......
Then on-line searches, the reason has wide divided opinions, power source module question, CPU place faulty soldered joint, obviously card faulty soldered joint, north bridge faulty soldered joint ......
Illuminates is capturing opens machine, starts to suspect that is north the bridge faulty soldered joint, exerts pressure to the northern bridge, tries to start, invalid. Continues to suspect that on the power source mold block the power source chip, exerts pressure, invalid ....... Several passes through the troubles (N hour), discovered finally when holds down nearby the power point. PCB, can start, looks up the material, at the back of discovery here PCB is CPU core voltage power source chip MAX1987. MAX1987 should be on the power source mold block the MAX1715 coordination use from the PWM controller, what is strange in MAXIM website not this model of chip material ......
Recognised initially was the MAX1987 faulty soldered joint, behind is easy to do. Because in the hand does not have the tool, the special de-electronation market buys the tool in the afternoon on Sunday, the electric iron, the soldering tin, the rosin, some small tools, altogether 40 Yuan. MAX1987 is the QFN48 seal, welds the plate to be very small, with sharp soldering copper careful all base pin patching .......Starting, success start.
Recently were very many human to meet NC6000 not to be able the starting question, do not make BGA to JS (to be very expensive anxiously first .....), has begins ability to be possible to open machine, tries to press nearby the power source connexion, looks can starting, if can starting, the ten to one be at the back of here PCB MAX1987 faulty soldered joint. Certainly CPU place also in neighbour, but because the CPU place has frontage and the back tinsel does strengthens, I thought that the CPU place faulty soldered joint the possibility is quite small. Because designs the flaw, nearby the NC6000 power point. lacks the support, pulls out inserts the attaching plug easily to cause PCB to be curving, in addition welds when the craft question, very easy to cause the MAX1987 faulty soldered joint which QFN seals, causes CPU not to have the power supply.
The attached figure red frame position is MAX1987."
ok, so.. I have to find hot air and resolder this chip and check whether it works or not. Text seems to be quite reasonable, this max chip indeed is in place that is flexible.
So I hope it's our holy grail and it will work. I've just cancelled all my ebay auctions with parts.
Sounds like a very likly source for the power problem with this model. I am convinced it is a solder joint somewhere in that area. Why else would the unit work if pressure is applied. If it was a burnt chip it would not work no matter what you did to it. Wonder if this can also cause the freeze ups when the unit is running. As the board warms up it expands causing a faulty connection. I have an old board that does not work anymore so will try playing with the soldering iron on this connection. Problem is you are going to need a good magnifying glass to be able to solder this one. It's awfully small.
My question is: Why HP haven't told us? it was so easy..
My nc6000 is working now!! I fixed it in way it was described on that chineese page. Soldering iron isn't very good solution unless it has very thin ending and your hand isn't shaking. I recommend to find someone with hot air soldering iron.
Lukas: Did you solder this yourself or have someone else do it? If so did you use hot air or iron? Also did you have any issues before with the computer freezing up? I also have the same power issue but when I do get it to boot, it will freeze up after a short time. Is this still a problem with yours or is it working 100%. Would love for this to be the Holy Grail... Will look into hot air soldering, just don't know if I can find anyone around here who has experience with something this small. I usually do all my own soldering but this one has me a bit worried.
I don't have big experience with soldering, but fortunately I'm sudying on Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, so all I had to do was to write a quote if someone has hot air and would like to help me. And so, today I went to a guy who offered help and that's what he has done: He used hot air soldering station, but I don't know what temperature exacly, Important thing was to add some rosin so this silver metal makes balls insted of beeing sticky and connect to everything (have no idea how to explain it) Then he warmed up this chip by moving soldering iron (if I can call it so) arround that chip, after it started to "swim" on PCB, it ment all connections should be reconnected and wait for it to cool down. When it was cool he cleaned up traces of rosin with isopropanol. I think thats it.
There are already two more people on polish electrionc forum, with nc6000 back to live.
Someone asked about my issue.. It was like every other on this forum, ok maybe 90%:P no turning on, pressing right-top side of keyboard, then after moving display hang over.
Another question is: For how long.. I'm going to install an aluminium plate, which I hope, will resist flexing back case and motherboard.
Tried your fix and burnt out my max1987 chip, I have a chip on another board will try to remove it and hot air it back on. Damn knew I should not have played with it. Had a bridge between 2 legs and fried the chip when I powered it up...
Unfortunatly this method will not always work, the reason is some of legs,connections, or however you call it, are oxygenate, which means you have to unmmount the whole chip, clean up these connetions, place tin on them and then mount again.
It seems quite a tricky procedure for us amateurs out there. "Re-soldering" a faulty chip seems even harder than ordinary "soldering."
Would anyone having a go with the fix, be able to take pictures of what they are doing along with making some detailed instructions of exactly how to go about it?
It would be very helpful indeed to what seems likely to be a great number of people with this same problem, fearful, like me, that they'll merely make the problem worse, rather than better unless they do it exactly right.
Thanks in advance for anyone prepared to help with pictures and/or additional detailed information.
I have same problems on my NC6000: somtimes no startup, randomly freeze, blue and yellow Led + Fan for a few seconds before automatically power off again, startup is better by pressing keypad,...
Today I read the posts and will now try to resolder the Chip without hot Air but a very small soldering bolt. I will resolder pin by pin through the whole chip, then reassamble the laptop and test.
I attached a HiRes picture which shows the part of a NC6000 SystemBoard in which the MAX1987 is soldered.
LOL. Looks a lot bigger in the picture than it is in real life. It's a real tiny bugger to solder even with a magnifying glass. I think it will have to be with a hot air solder station. I don't think this chip even has legs, just solder bridges from the board to the chip. I sourced out a new chip and the picture does not show any legs. This is the website for purchase: http://www.pchub.com/uph/laptop/507-29494-6753/Maxim-MAX1987-ETM-IC-Component.html
Will probably buy a hot air station off ebay, about $100 for a cheap one. You can also buy the correct size nozzle that jets air from four slots around the chip on the solder joints instead of the chip itself. somewhat protects the chip from overheating.
Yeah!!! I'm writing this Post with the faulty nc6000. It seems that it will work. I resoldered the max1987 Chip with an ERSA-Digital Soldering Station without HotAir. The bolt is as big as i only can solder minimum 3 pins at a time. I checked the solder points after the resolderprocess using a magnifying glass with builtin light. All looks fine so i tried to reassamble. And now I think it's working.
Thanks @ all, i won't have founded a solution without reading this thread.
I resoldered this chip this morning, put a small piece of foam under it for support and put it all back together. So far unit has worked perfectly. Have been giving it some abuse to see if the problem comes back, pivoting the LCD back and forth rapidly, pressing on the right side of the keyboard and so far no power issues or lockups. Looks like a winner.
BTW, I have access to a pretty good soldering station, I did look at this chip under a scope and resoldered with a very fine tipped soldering iron with plenty of flux. Several solder connections looked pretty weak and almost looked as if they did not have much if any solder on them.
Thanks for an easy, cost effective repair. I was having a big time for diagnosing this problem.
I cannot solder very well at all, so I chose the route of a new board. I bought one off of ebay that the seller claimed was a newer version. What I find interesting about this new board is the area around teh power connector. On the back of my old board there is a connection that runs out the back takes a 90 degree turn and connects with the board. This appears to be slightly burnt. my new board does not have this piece. Also on the old board, a piece with C299 by it was almost totally broken off, in fact I touched it and this piece fell right off. The new board has a different layout around this area. I tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out.
I left the computer on for an hour and no crashes.
It would appear that maybe HP is quietly doing something about this issue.
I will change how I use the machine in the future, just in case.
Oh, and after I put it all back together, the touch pad doesn't work. I don't know if I forgot a connection but the knob in the keyboard doesn't work now either.
I tried to take some but my camera is old and I could not get a good close-up. I can try again. However, I have the new board installed (I am writing this on my NC6000 that has been running for a few hours)and fear taking it apart to get teh pictures. Although I do have to decide if I am going to try to get the touch pad to work.
Alright, I have had this new board installed since Dec 6. I have used my laptop everyday. So far the only thing I have not done is place the laptop on the seat next to me in my truck and ran it there. I am going to try to figure somthing out so that it does not sit on the seat. I have left it on for a few days, I have brought it to job sites, I have moved the display around, so far it works great.
One thing I found when I replaced the board, there was not as much dust in the machine as I thought there would be. I had this computer on the seat in my truck, sometimes on a hard surface, but most often not, and I expected to find a lot of dust in there. However, I did find some broken parts.
This weekend I may have access to a better camera, I will try to take some pictures of my old board and try to describe the differences in the new one.
Ok, but what's the point of showing differences between old and new revision? Unless you're going to buy new mobo and want to see if it's old or new.
I've resoldered this chip in another one by myself, using regular soldering iron and all i had to do was to sharp the bolt and find magnifying glass. Works great so far.
Is the inactivity on this thread in the lst few weeks an indication that everyone is happy we have reached the end of the matter?
I too have a machine with the same symptoms (i.e no screen, green LEDS don't light up, fan makes a relatively loud noise for a few seconds and then system shuts down). Pressing in the right places gets things going again etc, as per everyone else's experience.
I've looked at the motherboard in the area of the MAX chip and done what I can to tidy up suspicious looking solder joints/ through holes etc that didn't look right. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong that can be seen with a magnifying lens with the MAX IC itself, tho' I guess I could be wrong. Unfortunately, I don't have a fine enough tip on my soldering iron (or a steady enough hand) to re-solder it manually. May have access to a surface mount re-work machine early in the new year, so may give that a go. Anyway, whatever I have done so far still hasn't produced a permanent resolution.
What I'm also still curious about is an explanation for why the machine shuts down in the way it does when the problem occurs! Does anyone have a full explanation of why that happens yet? Does fixing the MAX chip actually make sense in that context, or have we inadvertently fixed the problem just by working around that area? Does anyone have a circuit schematic?
Anyone else had any specific success with fixing the MAX chip that they can share with us?
For what it's worth, I've referred these symptoms to HP as a formal case, even tho my machine is out of warranty, and suggested the Product Manager should be looking at this and publishing an FAQ or something similar, so nobody else has to waste their time trying to research this problem like we have all had to do to get to this point.
I agree with those making the point that replacing the system board with another that is going to fail in the same mode is not a good option, and HP should be making sure that this doesn't continue to recur. We should at least be told what rev of the board fixes the problem (if that is the case). BTW, can anyone tell me how to determine what version of the system board I've got without having to pull it out of the case?
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. It has helped me a lot!
Tried to solder mine and blew the chip when I tried to boot it up. Bought a new board (used board) revision 1.7. Seems to work great now. Don't know of a way of finding the version without pulling the board and examining the underside. These laptops are fairly easy to disassemble so don't be too intimidated by it. Apparently the MAX chip supplies power to the CPU so it makes sense if the CPU is not getting power the laptop is not going to go any further than booting the fan like it does. I too would be interested in HP's response to this problem. If it is any comfort HP is not alone in having problems with cold solder joints. Apparently it is going to be a continueing problem now that they are all soldered with non-lead solder. It is certainly not as forgiving as a lead based solder which is softer and more pliable and not as prone to cracking. As far as soldering I have tried with an iron but you really need a hot air station to rework this chip. I have examined the chip with a mag. glass but couldn't see any problems with it. Almost need a microscope on this sucker it is quite small.
Thanks to everyone on this thread for the great information. I have an NC6000 which started to have the boot-up problem about two months out of warranty. I tried to call HP, but got nowhere. Once I found this thread I found out I was not alone.
The odd thing I wanted to add is that until today when I wanted to boot my NC6000 I would have to place it on top of an electric household toaster oven and give it one light toast cycle. The machine never got even as hot on the bottom as when it would run normally. However, after one toast cycle the machine would boot right up. I decided to try this after having trouble with booting in the springtime (inside room temp around 60 F), but then everything worked fine all summer. Once the fall season came and the room temperature started to fall again I couldn't boot the machine.
The great news is that it now boots (even cold) with just the right pressure on the top of the power cord. Plus, when I press hard down on the keyboard around the I, O, P, 9, 0 area the boot process goes a little different (doesn't work but is noticeably different). I think my NC6000 suffers from the same fault as many others discussed on this forum.
Time for me to go solder and see if I can fix this myself. THANKS to all who contributed to this forum and helped me out. Maybe someone out there who is "toasting" their NC6000 will see that they also belong to this same "club".
The first part no: denotes that it has 32mb video mem & the second one denotes it has 64mb video ram, i too had these part no's & i am writing this message on the Nc6000 that i fitted the new motherboard to. AS for the revision number i'm not sure.
In short: I can start the computer, it shows the Windows XP screen and then goes to a screen with the mouse active and stays like this for ages. When it is on the screen with the mouse I can hear some knocking where the HDD is with the two lights on and of when hear the knocking.
I have recently bought this notebook and the HDD was bad but the seller replaced it infront of me with another one and I could work on the computer just fine for about a month. Then a long trip with a plane followed and when I tried to switch it on (first time switch on 220V) it behaved like shown in the movie.
Well, so far it looks like I can report another successful repair of the nc6000 system board's MAX1987 chip, based on the info provided in this thread. I took my board to a local firm that professionally repairs hi-tech electronic equipment and had a friend there re-flow solder the MAX chip. We even got an xray pic of the chip before repair (attached), which shows up what look to be voids in the solder plane underneath the MAX chip. This is all conjecture, but my friend thinks that it is the failure of the connection between the MAX chip and the PC board that may be causing the particular behaviour we experience. Flexing the board in just the right way re-establishes contact (thermal or electrical??) and makes the connection appear good again for a while. But heat and movement eventually result in separation again, somehow causing the shutdown. Haven't had time to look at a MAX1987 datasheet to verify that this scenario is even possible, but whatever the fault mechanism, re-flow soldering this chip definitely fixed my system! Yay!
I had this same problem and after reading this post I was 99.9% sure it was the motherboard. I was fortunate to have a second piece of memory to swap in and low and behold the laptop came back to life. I was not able to boot my laptop by pressing anywhere on the keyboard. I would get the green light and then the it would go off and then the amber battery light would come on. Also the fan would come on and then turn off. I really looked like it was trying to boot and then it would stop and then cycle it self on again. The only way to stop it was to pull the battery out and pull the power out. I am happy to say that RAM has fixed the problem for me. Hope this helps anyone out there.
Hello all, I recently was given an nc6000 due to the fact that the machine was hard to turn on and also it was hard to keep running. I have looked over everything and have come down to this.
1 - The max chip on the motherboard is in a bad spot but if your willing to try a re-sodder your just about as crazy as most people.
2 - Using a heat gun is also crazy i mean yeah sure it sound cool but how many people out there are willing to spend 129$ on a heat gun when you can just buy a new motherboard that fixes this issue (2.0+ fixes this issue)
3 - How did i fix this issue? Simple...I used a piece of hard rubber and electrical tape. I made sure to put the rubber right onto the chip (this rubber can't be to big but has to be big enough to put pressure on the chip when you screw everything in) then placed the electrical tape to one side of the motherboard and the other on the other side ( thus keeping the rubber in place while i screw back in the mobo). Once i have done this i have no issue with the laptop not charging and it boots up no matter what the weather is or how hot i keep my room.
So if your cheap or don't know how to sodder this is a workable work around on the max chip fix.
Tried to put pressure on the chip, but over time it will breakdown again. Opening and closing the laptop will stress the chip area and you will have problems again. Only true solution is hot air station rework. (solder station is cheaper than a new motherboard or a used one for that matter.)No big deal to rework this chip with the right equipment.
Understandable, i'm not saying that it can't be done but at the same time people are having an issue with trying to soder but what they don't know is that not any old sodering iron is going to work, you will need a VERY VERY VERY fine tip and steady hands. Or try the tempoary bootleg version. So far i have had this up for a week with no startup issue. I will try to keep this up to date with the results.
I would not attempt this repair with a soldering iron. Only real way is to refloat the chip with hot air. It is certainly not a job for the fainthearted and I have destroyed a few boards and chips in my time. It is the chance you take when doing something like this. If your solution is working for you that is great. It is wonderful to know that someone has come up with the correct chip to repair on this board to fix the problem. For months no one knew what the real problem was now we do have a workable solution. I have talked to other people with the same issues on other laptops and they also have a Maxwin chip on them. The same solution has helped them as well. Don't know why HP or some of the other companies don't fix these returned boards and sell them at a reasonable price as replacement boards. Guess they are only interested in selling new boards at exorbinate prices.
For some boards, it won't matter how fine a soldering iron tip you have, or how steady your hand is. The problem with mine was the solder plane underneath the chip!
I Tried the Rubber spacer idea last week, it worked for 3 reboots on mine then I moved the LCD and im back to square one.
Im buying a Dual hot air/Solder Iron Station, mainly for ease for my various electronic projects :) but the company I work for has nc6000 lappies aswell and 2 are displaying this problem, Any tips on hot air Reflow soldering, id prefer not to fry the chips if possible, and I may get free laptops when they buy new ones ^_^.
This forum is great it has, through no help from HP, diagnosed the root cause of this particular issue, which in my opinion is caused by design for HP to continue to make money.
I think HP should have been able to make the problem known. I am sure one of their engineers could have figured this out. I don't know if it is really an isolated case only with HP. I am seeing a lot of people have solder problems these days due to the discontinued use of lead solder. I am sure that lead solder was a lot more forgiving than lead free. The problem is really agravated by all the opening and closing of laptops. Puts a lot of strain on the motherboards. Don't know any way of avoiding this. HP was certainly remiss in not aknowledgeing the problem. As far as working with hot air station, practice, practice, practice. Find an old circuit board and just play around with it. I think this particular chip will take quite a bit of heat before frying it. Take your time and heat it slowly.
>> Per your comments The forum is great in no thanks to HP is VERY true.
Watching these posts come over the weeks and months we have all been dealing with this problem, I am surprised your'es is still here. (most of mine have been removed)
I have written a letter of dis-satisfaction to Mark Hurd about the moderator deletions and lack of HP response to this problem as I suggest everyone does.
My out of warrenty NC6000 is still dead, writing this from a friends PC. I'll try the rubber option next but doubt I'll buy a replacement Mboard if it still fails.
I don't think HP is the only MFG affected by this and all are subjected to issues with the non-lead solder going forward but it's just the way they are handeling it (not) that dis-satisfies me most.
Thanks to all the people who have posted here.
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PS: This thread posts have been edited as it does not adhere to the HP Forums guidelines – HP Forums Moderator.
I have exactly the same problem. Is it not possible instead of using the hot soldering technique, to instead use a graphite pencil and rub it horizontaly across the contacts around the MAX chip. I believe people have used graphite pencils as electical connnections on CPUs for overclocking.
So, my question is, would the fragments of graphite be enough to 'fill' the hairline cracks? If it would work, you could then seal the graphite and joint with something like a nail varnish lacquer?
Sounds reasonable, The thing is the AMD chips that you are talking about with the Pencil trick were a bit smoother and could take the pencil lines and keep them there, If you look at this chip you will see that you really have no space for etchings, if you do use the pencil trick you might end up scratching of the connection all together...so the real question is...are you willing to drink your own KoolAid?
Graphitte could do the trick, but it won't make permanent connection, like tin would, so it can crash anytime.
Oh come on, it's not that you have to spend 150$ on new hot air station if you're not into electronics, you just need to find someone who can help you. About soldering iron - As I've mentioned before, friend of mine did the trick with hot air, but it worked only for about 3 weeks. Then I soldered it by myself with soldering iron ( <10$ ), worked another 3 weeks then crash, soldered once again but with adding some leaded-tin with rosin and it works great so far.
I could try to solder it for you and anyone else, but as you can see in my profile, I'm from Poland so you'd have to send it to me, then I send it back, with no guarantee of repairing and that you'll see your latpop again and I don't mean that I won't send back it's just that internet is full of scammers now and unfortunately you can't trust people.
Now three days in a row, what has worked for me is pressing hard on the space on the silver bar right above the F12 key. That is approximately where the power cable goes in.
For the record, Bobby Roberts' fix worked for me... so far. I only had problems with the random shutdown thing, and occasionally was unable to get it to boot at all. It's been going strong now for several hours since I put in the rubber today, so I hope it keeps working.
FYI, I put in a couple pieces of rubber that came out to about 3/8 of an inch (I think - I'm not opening it up ever again unless I *have* to). It was a tight squeeze when putting it back together, but I figured it was better than having it too thin to make a difference.
So far so good, the more rubber the better :-) But at the same time I am looking at getting a new laptop.. i mean yeah sure this one was free. And i fixed it using every day rubber.
Many thanks to all of here. I bought this NC6000 as "not working" from Ebay for 81,00 Euro, only to get some parts of it. But with the hints here I can completely use it. I am using it since 3 month nearly every day. And for all who are not familiar with soldering, I summarize what works for me:
1. Always use the upper USB Port (stick, mouse...) to keep windows from freezing.
2.Push area above F11 while starting.
And another question:
Can I change to a Dothan CPU (725, 735 ...)? Newest BIOS is flashed.
My nc6000 will some times lockup and require a hard shutdown. Too, it may not boot after sevarl tries. A post suggested that I hold down or apply pressure to the right upper portion of the laptop. This method worked to force a boot. It works all most all of the time. the machine may still seize at will. It has been suggested that the revision of motherboard that I have may be the problem. Hp denies knowledge of any problem and offer no suggestions. I found this hard to believe that they have no knowledge but rather they are playing the percentages. The problem may be a known hardware problem (with a cost factored in) that they will not address unless they are forced to.
Professor Gregory A. Vaughn Sr.,
Department of Computer Science
A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.
Ironically enough, my NC6000 just died again while reading Mr. Vaughn's reply... coincidence?
The rubber thing definitely helps, but mine continues to lapse into blank-LCD mode without warning occasionally. It seems to happen most when I don't have it on a flat surface.
What really gets me is that the board I'm using right now is the original. I replaced it with one that I bought working off of eBay that was marked as v 2.0 and it doesn't even work occasionally.
1) - How old is this laptop? I mean yeah sure other laptop's last a long time but did you get your money out of it? In the end by you not getting an laptop next time will lower there overall profit and hey they will start to crank out better stuff...
2) - The rubber trick is more of a hail marry of computer tricks, I mean if you google computer fixed by rubber i think this is the only one..kinda scary...sure it helps but sometimes it won't help for ever.
3) - If you bought a new motherboard off of the bay..congrats you have just tossed in more money into an already on going issue. I mean a mobo is going for 150$ you can almost get a new laptop for that for those other guys so you should slap yourself for that one...i know i want to ( Yes i got a new mobo to upgrade to the 64mb video and to remove my rubber). I't works but at the same time it just feels like i just spent money on a ford pinto).
The NC6000 problem doesn´t exist since yesterday, and HP_Compaq refuses to admit that there is a real problem with the motherboard. But they ARE aware about it.
So instead of officially acknowledging the problem they refuse to admit the truth.
And please tell me Bobby, why should I throw my notebook away shortly after the warranty perio is over? I could still use it
Well i am really in shock, I mean they give you a warranty....then your warranty ends..then the laptop breaks and your mad because they won't just send you a motherboard? or acknowledge that the motherboard is prone to go bad? Not everyone has a bad motherboard it's a crap shoot i mean there are nc6000's out there that don't have an issue right? I am thinking business...they gave you the option to get a warranty and you either extended it or you didn't. And i didn't say toss out your mobo once the warranty is over, I am saying if your mobo dies because you didn't want to spend the extra money on the warranty. I would do the same thing on my forum. I know that it's not the fault of HP that the mobo doesn't work after the warranty. If it is under warranty then yes send me a replacement that fixes my laptop. If not then you are on your own. I hate it when users sit there and complain about broken hardware. BUY THE WARRANTY.
I don´t complain that my MB is broken. I complain about the way HP deals with it respectively ignores all the facts.
It is clear that this problem occurs quite often. This means, there is a widespread failure with this notebook, and if you´re "lucky" that your notebook dies within the warranty time, you get a replacement. So this is like a time bomb, you never know when it explodes.
I don´t expect HP to offer me a new or refurbished MB. But I expect them to acknowledge the problem and offer us users a cheap repair solution. HP could split the costs with the MB manufacturer. Or give us a nice rebate when buying a new notebook. Etc. etc.
Oh by the way, some companies exchange or repair broken parts for free even after the warranty has ended. This is called customer service...
For example Yamaha: They repair some amps, which are at least 20 years old, for free, because some capacitors might get bad and damage the amp.
Guys, Guys, Guys! (or Gals). This forum is not here for a slagging match. It is here for the like of myself who is a poor man who cant aford to buy a new laptop never mind a motherboard. I dont need a new laptop to play games or crap! i want to surf the net and write letters.. period! There is no harm in people sharing ideas in trying to get what otherwise would be a great laptop working again. If you are here to slag others off saying 'go buy a new one' then this isnt the forum for you. Period!
I agree Sunday, if it were not for this forum I am sure no-one would know the fix for this problem. I am not all that happy with the response from HP but if someone comes up with a solution like we have here (solder the chip) then I am more than happy to take on the challenge. Keep up the good work and enough of the flaming,slagging.
All we are looking for from HP here is acceptance that certain revisions of the nc6000 may be prone to this issue with booting up and a possible solution - we're not looking for them to move heaven and earth.
Customer Service is all about keeping your customer happy, going that small extra step that lets your customer know that you are looking after them as best you can.
Refusing to look at an issue because the warranty is 2 days out of date is HP's prerogative. But surely, with the amount of users who have reported this problem on this forum alone (that excludes users who are working off of different forums and those that have not bothered to report the issue at all) then HP should feel some sort of an obligation to try and persuade it's users to stick with them for future purposes?
I would have expected a HP rep to have made some suggestions on this by now but obviously that is not going to happen.
My daughter's NC6000 has been caught by the no start-up problem. She got a new laptop and gave me the dead NC6000 in the hope that I could do something to save data she had on the HD.
I tried the pressure on the right top of the keyboard, and the NC6000 went back working ! I don't know how long it will work again, but up to now, it boots each time I put it on, and I have been able to save all the data which needed to be.
If it fails again, I will try Bobby Robert's fix...
IMHO everything is caused by poor quality parts from HP (the AVR or something with the power-management) and the funniest thing is that the problems occured 1,5 years after purchase but the standard warranty from HP is only 1 year...they figured it out...
All NX/NC-Series from 2005 have this problems so why HP don´t change all Mainboards of the 2005 LOT´s for free ?
So HP give it a try, my nx6125 still working but only with a book or DVD-Cover on the left side under the notebook so it stands horizonttally 7 degrees and the System don´t freeze or hang up.
For startup my trick is to push down the cover up over the F-Button and on the left at the HD/Power LED´s.
My NC6000 refused to boot again, and I had to apply the pressure on the right top of the keyboard remedy again. That's enough, I took advantage of the low $ to order a motherboard...
I bought the motherboard from the US on eBay for $168 (shipping cost included), I have been billed 113.35 euro overall. It's not a new one, but it's sold as "tested", and it's a 346885-001 model with 64 mb video memory.
I have spent way too much time working this problem, but here is what I've learned (I already bought a new laptop, but I couldn't just let this go):
1) There are some serious design flaws in this machine, not the least of which is the fan intake placement - it sucks dust better than a dyson.
2) The LCD hinges are very stiff and cause flexing of the motherboard whenever you move them. And there is a "Maxim" chip located on the underside of the motherboard very close to the right hinge (and beneath the power socket). The connections tend to break over time.
3) There are MANY defective batteries distributed for these laptops - I have TWO of them, and neither is subject to the recall (and yet they are defective - thanks HP).
4) You can't change #1, but you can - and should - clean the "wool blanket" that forms over the copper cooling blades adjacent to the fan. You have to remove the fan to do this properly. This won't fix anything, exactly, but it will reduce overheating.
5) For #2 - You can use the "piece of rubber" solution - this HAS worked for me. Make sure the rubber is thick enough to create pressure between the board, the chip, and the case when you re-assemble. However, the stiff hinges will continue to flex the board and over time the problem will likely occur again. This is also true for re-soldering. I have heard that there is a type of hinge oil you can use to loosen the hing, but I have tried this just yet. You can also replace the MB with v2.0, which may address this chip problem. But I cannot say for certain this is true. And the hinges will still flex the board.
6) For #3 - you can always buy a new battery, but if you have not yet experienced other failures, you will eventually. If you can afford it, just by a new laptop. If you can't, and you're getting the "starts-then-stops - weird light behavior-etc..." then you should try a) remove the battery, b) unplug the power cord, c) hold down the power button for 10 seconds to clear power, d) plug JUST the power cord in (no battery) and push the power button again. If this does not get the laptop re-started, then you may also need a new RTC battery (a little battery on the motherboard). If it does get the laptop re-started, dispose of your old battery properly and make a decsion about whether or not a new battry is worth the $60 or so.
7) The power management settings in Windows XP Pro seem to give this laptop fits. When I have a battery in, the system defaults to power management settings for battery power, even if the AC adapter is plugged in. And once this machine goes to standby (if you've been having probelms with the "balck screen"), forget it - you'll likely have to hard power down and restart. So set power management to an "always on" scenario for AC power, and only use a battery that you KNOW is not defective (good luck finding one).
8) The cable connection between the LCD and the MB is in the upper left corner - next to the (very stiff) hinge. And the cable itself goes through a very narrow passage, and is subject to repeated pressure and friction. These issues can cause connection problems - bad plugs on the MB or frayed wires. But the wires are wrapped, so it is impossible to check all of them withoutunwrapping and I do not recomend this as you'll be certain to have damaged wires after the bundle is unwrapped (eventually), unless you can get them properly protected. Frayed wires in this bundle is an unlikely scenario, but is remotely possible.
And that's it so far. Like I said, I already bought a new laptop. Even though I now have this nc6000 working reasonably well, with NO battery, I just can't rely on it for anything other than...well...diagnosing its problems. Interesting, but not very productive.
If you're not interested in taking the laptop apart and jumping through all of these hoops, then you should absolutely buy a new laptop. The nc6000 will never be a fully reliable device once these problems start. This is not a shot at HP - my new laptop is an HP anda it has been flawless. But these nc6000, as good as they were when they came out, just had design flaws in all the wrong places.
1) I never had power management issues until AFTER I upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows XP Pro.
2) One of my two batteries never worked (but I didn't try to use it until the other one went bad, so who knew?)
3) The battery I used from day one with this laptop developed its problems very suddenly at about two years old. At that point, it would only last about 30 minutes on a full charge. Then it just went downhill from there, and all of the other problems started happening.
4) If the battery is bad, it "confuses" (for lack of a better word) the laptop when you plug it in - so you have to go through the "power-down, discharge, power up on AC only" process detailed above.
5) Whatever you do, NEVER swap betteries while the machine is running and plugged in, at least not with WinXP Pro installed. This laptop really hates it when you do that. Shut it down, unplug it, swap batteries, cross your fingers, re-start. This scenario should not occur all that often, but if you are testing or re-charging multiple batteries, then you should be very careful about this process.
Just received the motherboard I ordered (quick delivery). I have not installed it yet. I have been given the NC6000 with Windows XP installed, but without the installation CD-Rom. As I don't like XP, I was considering replacing it with Windows 2000 Pro I am using with my desktop PCs (DIY assembled PCs). Considering what I read in the previous message, I think I'll do that...
Failed to find the way to open the NC6000 without breaking anything, so the motherboard replacement is postponed... If someone has a precise "how to" guide for this kind of operation I would be grateful to have it. I am used to deal with desktops, but this is my first experience with a laptop. Next step is going to be installing Windows 2000 Pro over XP. Just have to download all the required drivers to do so...
I wasn't able to find a step-by-step guide when I was taking it apart, but have done it recently enough that I may be able to tell you what to do or take a helpful picture. The part I found most tricky was pulling the case itself apart, which involved taking a flat blade screwdriver to the plastic flap covering the headphone/microphone jacks. Where are you encountering trouble?
I've had the "power" issue in my NC6000 for almost a year now. I've tried everything I could that didn't require buying new parts or soldering. As in life, nothing lasts forever.
Every week I had to try a different solution; I posted some "temporary" ones in a forum, but they later proved to be only temporary. My MB must have been so torn up by constant usage and attempted solutions that it is more sensitive than ever - I cannot even use an external laptop on my desk, or the minor vibrations caused by typing will make it lock.
My temporary solutions included: pressing hard on several parts on the mainboard; putting a screwdriver between the fan and heat pipe (to put pressure on it); unscrewing and screwing several times the fan; pushing the MB down when booting; bending the laptpo a bit on every direction; etc. The best solutions lasted for about a week or so, but after the MB got "used" to it, it stopped working so I had to try something else.
Fortunately, I'm finally getting a new computer, but from what I've learned, this problem is:
1) not software related in any way
2) caused by the MB
3) not related to dust or overheating
4) impossible to be definitely fixed
5) can be temporarily 'fixed' by applying different forces on different regions of the mainboard (including the heat pipe, fan, CPU dissipator, right laptop hinge, etc), the closer to the power circuit, the higher the probability of success. My latest fix includes removing the fan, inserting a screwdriver below the board and using it to 'push' the board upwards. It's quite stable for the moment, but I'm avoiding intense CPU usage under these conditions.
I stopped posting 'solutions' several months ago, until I could find a definitive one. It has never happened, so I'm quitting the laptop and moving on. Good luck to everyone. I learned the value of reliability, and that's precisely what this laptop lacks.
Had the same "no boot" problem with my daughters Compaq NX6110. After trying most of the topic fixes listed here I took it apart and used an air compressor to blow all the dust off the fan, motherboard and everything else I could find and tightened the screws I could find. Now it boots fine. I know she has the habit of resting the computer on her lap or blanket and sucking in all that fuzz.
There is one remaining problem. The charger would get very hot with battery installed even though the Lap Top will still run on the battery. The battery is most likly defective and it will not boot with battery installed but works fine without it.
We understand your concerns. In this context, let us recollect that Forum is a free online community for peer to peer technical support and knowledge sharing. Community members who are not associated with HP provide the bulk of the information found in this support forum. However, this issue has been escalated to the concerned department.
great a HP Moderator paying attention... Here is the discussion about the nc6000 but now my 2nd HP Compaq nx6125 also refuses to work with the here described problems. My 1st nx6125 works with the presure near the touchpad at startup and is only usable for Desktop usage because when moving the notebook, System will freeze. Vendor of the motherboard is HannStar, machine worked 1,5 years without problems my 2nd nx6125 motherboard Vendor is GCE and worked 2 years without problems. So it is definitely a quality problem of HP or their Vendors. In my opinion its a blame for a world Company like HP (or should I say HP is a reseller of cheap Chinese Compal,Clevo,Hasee etc. Barebones?Yes, Apple, Fujitsu-Siemens,IBM/Lenovo doing the same but their Quality Control is maybe better)
Diego, Thanks for the maintenance & service guide. I have downloaded it from Rapidshare. Since I have replaced Windows XP by Windows 2000 Pro, the NC6000 is starting and running fine. I'll keep the motherboard and the manual just in case...
After jumping through every hoop I could find to get this thing working again (detailed above), it is now once again a paperweight. It starts, but then randomly freezes, with the desktop locked-in like a picture - nothing works at all and I have to reboot, only to have the problem return.
So I think the final step is to roll back to Windows 2000 - the last stable operating system I had on the machine.
Hello, everyone! Just like everybody else I hit this forum due to my HP NC6000 failure. I'll try to be as specific as I can. As I was using my notebook one evening, the display went into black, and I couldn't control the situation from the keyboard or anything. I was using also a stand-alone monitor at that moment. I tried to Ctrl-Alt-Del but nothing happened. I turned it off from the ON/OFF button and tried to turn it back on. Pressing the ON/OFF I got BLUE and ORANGE LEDs lighten and FAN at high speed. Nothing on the screen and the notebook turned itself off in about 6 seconds. After reading this topic on my cell phone's screen I have tried many of the solutions described here. Booted with and without - battery - cd-rom - ram - hdd - keyboard - touchpad - modem - fan And nothing helped. Still one of the advices here lead me to success. Better screwing the top left screw of the fan case. It seems indeed that there is a contact problem leading to a missing ground connection. That's why maybe many of you succeeded by pressing the keyboard in a specific area. Maybe you were just making that contact work.
Back to the solution now. You have to get the reparations manual in order to properly make your way inside. You have to remove the keyboard, ON/OFF and WiFi buttons plate and the metal sheet underneath. Now you can see in the top left the FAN. In its top left there is a screw that makes contact with Motherboard. That screw needs to be very strongly screwed.
I have to mention that lately I have traveled a lot with my laptop and also for about a month my FAN didn't work due to some dust accumulation. All I can hope now is that this solution to last and help as many of you as possible.
Unfortunately my solution is NOT working. I ran into this problem again. I'm pretty much sure that this problem is related to moving the display. More than that I think that the pressure that the display is making through the joint makes some components touch each-other leading to a short-circuit. If I reach to a conclusion I'll write back here. sorry for false alarm on fixing the error.
Alex, I am not sure if your issue is the same as everyone elses. So far in the Forum there have been people talking about how they can't boot the machine unless they press down on the 096 area and people talking about how the cpu just freezes up on them.
From the sounds of it your issue is that your monitor is just going black, I haven't seen or heard of this one yet. Although if you are having the boot issue like everyone else, if you have some "rubber" laying around or a soder gun or something that can do the work you might be in the same boat as everyone else and i hope the best for you as i know how it is......
My problem is that after my system faints, I cannot reboot it unless I strongly press on the fan. After this randomly (or not ) it stopss working. Assuming that I have the same problem as everybody else, how can I fix it?
I have just removed the display plug from its socket but the problems still appears. I have connected an external monitor. It manages to boot now and then but if I move the display back and fore then the systems blocks. So this is why I think that something mechanic is involved. Maybe, as you said, is a faulty connection some place that needs to be remade. Please, point me the possible problems if you can. Thank you!
I choose the "rubber solution". It works now for 2 days closing and opening the lid. However it blocked once again and I had to start it by pressing again in that area. Afterwards, I screwed stronger one of the screws nearby max1987 and then it worked every time. I let it work more the 4-5 hours in a row without failing. So it seems it works indeed. But I'm not going to stress it as much as I did until now. I'll keep it not mobile as much as possible, with the display in the same position and praying that this won't happen again... to soon. Thank you guys for support!
Reporting similar issue with nc6230 model after 2.5 yrs of working amazingly well. Does anyone know what is MAX 1987 equivalent in NC6230. I took apart my lappy (hopefully I will be able to put it together) in search of this MAX1987 (hoping that it might still be the same chip).
Till now, 1. I have cleared dust clogging between fan and heatsink 2. checked two sets of RAMs 3. checked with and without my DVD rom and HDD.
This problem started a month back and lasted couple of hours, and then everything was fine but today it started again and does not seem to go away.
Just reporting some update on my previous post. I was able to install and boot Linux via USB port. I have noticed following behavior: Cold 'power on' system starts BIOS screen to choose booting device is shown, and within few seconds fan seems to rattle and then goes silent and machine switched off.
I tried booting the machine from USB drive (external HDD - USB powered), I had backtrack 3 (beta) on it and when I tried this on a cold state (machine had some idle cooling time) machine, it did booth with fully functional Linux and worked as long as I kept it running (tried for 5 hrs). If however I tried this in 'hot' state (machine previously running for long or recently attempted to switch on), system was not able to boot Linux. I eventually installed Linux on internal main HDD (after several attempts to boot, re-install, fix boot for windows XP). Now I can boot this system from a cold state and keep working on it as long as I want. ACPI function within Linux does not indicate any high temperature. I wish I could install Windows XP from USB HDD (I tried BartPE method of doing that - but failed). Now after this experience I am wondering what is forcing BIOS to switch off my machine just at the start of booting process, and how can I fix that. It seems to be some kind of BIOS corruption, or bad temperature sensor processing, unfortunately I can't boot this machine from my CD (it switches off). May be I will try early cold morning outside -- if the issue is heat!
My HP nc6000 has broken again. I need to press on the upper right side in order to have it boot and however at some point it will stop. Maybe I should have tried with a thicker piece of rubber... Anyway I have decided to take it to a service man. Hopefully it should only make some cleanup there and have the MAX 1987 re soldered.
Refering to Bobby Robert's fine solution with the hard rubber: I would like to try it out on my NC6000. However I am not quite sure how to do it. Do I have to loosen (unscrew) the Motherboard before attaching the rubber?
you have to take out the motherboard completly, once you have the whole board out turn it so the bottom of the board is facing up, then with the Ports facing away from you look in the top left corner for a Square chip very near the DC power in terminal, its about 80mm square thats the defective chip which needs to be pushed to make contact, this solution is a very temporary solution
Its best used if you dont move the laptop at all (monitor or base unit) when the chip makes contact, but due to heat (expansion and contraction) it can still fail randomly, but its a better solution that what HP has done, which is nothing i might add.
I found a really cheap supplier of HP motherboards i think i paid ~£150 a board :) so i bought 5 ^_^ to reapir the 4 which have FUBARed
contact them as they dont update there website consistantly with stock, there polish btw :D talking to them on the fone is confusing
apart from a massive delivery c0ckup (3 weeks or so) and barclaycard witholding thier money till I got them, a very good company the boards are brilliant the suspect chips have had resin on each corner to hold them down securly just like toshiba fix with the dodey connector on the Satellite pro 6000 :D
I might add that when selecting you fine piece of rubber that you make sure it's hard but at the same time can give somewhat. You do need to take apart the laptop and just remember electrical tape only!!! you really will need that to hold the rubber in place as you screw back in the mobo. I'm glad that some people have been able to atleast get to a point to backup there data with this. :)
To anyone that has a motherboard easily accessible, can you please identify a certain chip located on the backside. Please see the following post for more information. I would like to get a replacement chip and see if I can fix the board.
Ouch! looks like your mobo is gone. Usually if a chip has leaked/exploded like that you have another issue somewhere else and if you replace it...i'm guessing the same thing will happen again. Sorry i tossed out my old mobo in witch i'm sure i had that chip intact....sorry
hello, i'm having the same problem of you all, no start up, blue light, yellow light.... trying to find how to fix it, today i tried to use my notebook (nc6000) with windows mediaplayer playing music, and for my surprise, it work's!!!, i'm happy to share it with you guys, i know its not the cure but we can use our machine while we don't find the way to fix it. by the way, i'm using it now for about 6 hours and untill now it not freeze.
My nc6000 lappy also ran into same problem. The pc was gifted to me one & half years ago. Had good times playing with it. But on last 8 April, 2008. I put the pc into standby and returned home from my friend's house in my bicycle. On the way, had some hard jerk that made the bag having my nc6000 to hit my back hardly.
After reaching home, I saw the standby LED blinking ok. So I pressed the power button to checkout if its alright. But the amber LED glow up. Thought the battery was charging. Nevertheless, pc got shutdown after sometime. And when I turned it ON again, the cooling fan runs but no post screen and after some time amber LED glow up, after which pc gets shutdown.
Its been couple of weeks, I've been going though the posts in this forum. It is really annoying to press at the top right of the pc with your hand and wait for the XP to boot and wait at login screen. And you never know when the screen will go blank as the pressure on the hand is not constant. Likewise, it was working few time when I untigh and again tightened the screw located at the top left side of the cooling fan. But this approach stopped working as well after few days.
I've tried every options posted in this forum so far. Have even tried the soldering in the DC jack pins only on the mother board. The only option left was using the hot air station in that MAXIM 1987 chip which is a SMD having tiny pins. Don't have the idea about the hot air soldering things. So I just went to buy the magnifier with the torch and used my old fine tipped soldering rod as mentioned in this forum.
It was not my first attempt of soldering but then the pins in that chip is extremely tiny. So my hand was shaking as I brought the soldering iron near to the pins to re solder. But finally I practiced the soldering in some useless mobile phone pcb having the SMD devices. And tried soldering this MAX 1987 chip. This time the hand wasn't shaking that much.
So I finally re soldered all the pins of that chip. And yes, I got the mother board working guys. Thanks to the people who shared the idea of the solution to be re soldered. And have suggestions to those who are trying to solder the chip, plz don't burn out your mother board and spend your precious money in buying new one. Get the people who are expertise in soldering to re solder the chip. Good Luck.
What size and type of soldering iron did you use? How many watts? Better still, do you have a weblink on Amazon to a similar iron? watts = heat, if i attempt soldering myself i wouldnt want to burn out anything.
Thank U SundayLunch for the question. Well, it is not clear in my soldering rod how is the watt. But I guess it must be either 30watts or 35watts cause the soldering rod got heated after long time only. Besides, it didn't melt the bulky soldered area in other boards that I tried.
Well, Sunday Lunch I don't know if u can find this type of rod in Amazon or not. But just get the simple fine tipped one. And try it out in some PCBs to have you practice in soldering.
Same problem for me, I've bought an used Nc6000 and after a few days it refuses to start showing the orange an the blue leds blinking for a few seconds then shutting off. I feel very depressed because I've already ordered other three notebooks in those happy days... now something tells me that when they'll arrive in the next days there's a good chance that I've spent my money into pure crap (I was so happy to found an affordable and complete model still capable of running win98)
Hoping to be of some help to the many other HP buyers... Pressure method on the notebook seems to help in starting up the machine, as noted by others, but not every time.
Putting a pendrive into one the usb ports is much of an help, it makes the computer much more stable and seems to prevent the usual freezes once the machine is running (don't ask me why), if something is plugged into the usb port before starting it's also much more probable that the computer turns on properly, need further investigations... but turns me from being completely desperate, still waiting for a more reliable solution from HP, where are you guys?!
Hi everybody, the ultimate solution for all the people who get's the nc6000 booting when pressing on the right hand of the keyboard. The problem relays on the CPU. I've never get it fixed and only could boot when pressing the keyboard and then it restarted several times while using it for a couple of minutes. After 2 days I've figured out that there is a relation between pressing the keyboard and CPU. I've just unscrewed the single silver screw and suddenly it starts booting without any problem. Even it doesn't restart while it's up and running for 2 days now. Strange but true. Right now it's to much stable to assume it's just a coinsidence.
The CPU has 4-5 screws which are black and needs a star screwdriver. Just on the right side there is a single silver colored screw which is needs a flat (-) screwdriver. Just release this with one turn. Don't unscrew it completely.
I don't think it has to do with the CPU i mean i got my new mobo in and swapped the cpus. Maybe i'm reading it wrong but if you have the same issue as everyone else and people have fixed it with the max chip i would think then it's the max chip and the screw holding down your cpu...i don't think i would remove that as i'm sure it has a good purpose and it would be a shame if your cpu overheated on your lap....IMO.
You're heading for trouble messing with screws holding down the cpu. I think you have just got lucky and the Max chip is making contact on the cold solder joint. Give it a bit more time and it will for sure fail. Only true way to fix it is resolder on the max chip or new mboard.
Forget about any screw. My nc6000 went back to his fault. But it's still amazing that it works for 3 days without any interruption and suddenly no way to boot it without pressing the right hand on the keyboard i.e. kick the max chip.
I also got a NC6000 with the same problem. I've unscrewed the screw from the fan to motherboard which worked for a while, then rescrewed & worked. But it is no long term solution & doesn't always give results.
Any chance someone can post a pic with the band idea so I can see what to do? Or even, if someone was willing to do the repair (Leeds, UK) for a fee for me as it is a great machine.
Also, if anyone has got a complete scrap model which I could buy for parts (namely keyboard, LED panel, screws, cable to LCD screen) please let me know.
Hi I was just reading anouther thread about this same issue and was going to reply to it, but was sent here instead. Anyway this is a proven fact about this board, (See pic) the max 1987 chip solder becomes loose becouse of heat and movement of the lcd The stiff hinges bend the board. breaking the contacts.
Oh and by the way That little silver screw that was mentioned a little earlier,,.. happens to be the lock mechanism that "locks the cpu in place.!!! it should only turn half way and that is to take it out. I have three of these boards at the shop all with this same problem,. I was under the impresion it was actually a bad solder on the other side (top)of the board just over the MAX chip, (again by applying pressure there) but after readng this thread, I will definetly check the MAX chips first thing tommorrow morning.
I just wanted to thank all that contributed to the solution here. I ran into this problem with my four year old nc6000 and used the rubber on top of the MAX chip solution with pretty good results. It is not a permanent solution, as I've had to re-tighten things a couple of times in the three weeks since I did the fix, but it seems to be a good alternative if you don't have access to a hot air solder station. I'm planning to try the hot air solution after I replace this notebook (its my work unit, so I can't risk it without a backup).
For the rubber on top of the MAX chip I used some left over rubber padding (must have been intended as the "feet" for a VCR or something). The nice thing is that one side is sticky, so I didn't have to mess with tape. I just cut a number of squares to match the MAX chip and stacked them up to the needed height. It worked perfect for about 10 days and then the problem was back, probably due to the rubber deforming a little over time (with the heat and pressure). Instead of doing it over (and having to take the entire unit apart), I simply tightened the "silver screw" that has been discussed above. This adds a little more pressure again and got the unit working again for another week or so. I've had to tighten it one more time and we'll see how long that lasts.
Thanks again for all the information, especially the identification of the MAX chip and its cold solder joints as the root cause.
I had the MAX re soldered and still I have this problem. I had my laptop investigated for almost a month in a service and the guys over there tried all kind of heating tests and cleaning everything that looked oxidate. However they didn't manage to fix the problem so I end-up in buying another laptop (another HP 6820s - hope it will last longer). I have heard that 2.0 motherboard cost a few hundred euro so I thought that is not worth it.
Sorry to hear your board didn't work. wednsday I soldered two NC6000 MAX chips with a regular solder gun (and a magnifying glass)and testd them. both boot up no problem. then as an afterthought I shrounded the contacts, chip and board with nail polish (overcoat poxy hard as nails) once dry put them back together, booted no problem, reinstalled xppro on both turned them on and off over a dozen times, vigoriously shook the screen and laptops and then left them running all night. Yesturday when I got in (still running both) turned them off. let them sit for about 1/2 hour, turned them back on. Fired right up no prob. went threw the same proccess all day again yesturday (on off shake screen laptops, not even a hick up. So MY question is did your techys (that soldered the chip) KNOW that these chips DON'T have the usual "legs" that most chips do? (a easy oversite) most people will concentrate on the connection at the board, and not the chip itself!! This could of vary easily missed the brake in the first place. Oh yeah don't know is this is anything or not, but since I had the things open anyway I also resoldered the power jack power pin as well, they both were pritty cruddy looking. tronsss a1 computer clinic
I allso have an NC6000 which acts like yours How ever i followd the instructions abbout soldering the max chip and it was 100% success, now my computer runs as before hi from Denmark I hope it helps
I think they're referring to the MAX chip that's already on the board. Seems people are able to remove it & resolder.
I hope it works for you. If not, & you decide to get shut, give me a shout. If it does work & your friend would be interested in doing mine, let me know please.
Hi I have had very similar problems and I have seen this on other boards. I had solved my problem by using a high powered vaccum cleaner. Oddly enough, my dad did this to his pc many years ago with the same problem. I used the tube attachment connected to the vaccum cleaner and found there was two balls of cat fur inside of it :) Silly as is seems now my NC6000 works like the day it came out of the box! Make sure you DL mobilemeter from Softpedia or Download.com to track how the temp fluxtuates. I think the random crashes come from the heat limit on the processor. This may or may not work depending on your circumstances. But I have to admit, I'm the first success story I've found LOL!
OK, so I went ahead and looked at the max chip on the bottom of the Mobo. Those solder points are WAY to small for anyone I know to solder themselves.
I went ahead and tried the putting the hard rubber under the chip and tightening it back down and it seems to boot 90% of the time (the other 10% being that I jerked the AC power plug a little hard).
BUT when I got back into windows, my wireless does not see any access points and now its asking me to add new hardware (base system device and ethernet controller). the ethernet controller is no longer in network connections.
I can not say whether or not HP released a new version of the motherboard without the system problems discussed here. AFAICS you'd have to talk to HP on the phone after escalating the case high enough to arrive at some knowledgeable person.
In the HP parts store they offer a motherboard "Exchange 1" for USD 461.32 under the part number 346885-001 (same number for the same board without exchange which costs USD 986.50). It could be that this is a revised version. But who knows ... :-( :-(
Phil, Were you able to get the parts working again?
Does anyone know if the screen from the NC6000 will fit another NC model? Or if a motherboard from another NC model will fit in the NC6000?
I'm getting ready now to through mine out the window!!! I can manage to turn it on, occasionally. Then 2 mins in it shuts off! Though once it did beep when it did it.
couple of things since the last time I responded to this link,
first The max chip everyone is repairing (like I did) is the same chip on the board. I didn't even remove it, I just resoldered the connections. The chip itself seems fine, its just the way it attaches to the board
As for the wireless issue,
The wireless card might have been disloged when you put the machine back in, ergo the new device. just a guess, I'd make sure its still sitting properly in the slot.
I'd be more then happy to solder these chips for you guy's but god knows where you all are LOL! I own a1 Computer Clinic in London Ontario.www.a1computerclinic.com
And lastly (from experiance)I know for a fact the NC8000 plastics and hinges WILL NOT fit the NC6000 (Can't remember if the screen itself will but I think so)
the NC6110 same problem, the hinge space is off by about 1/8th of an inch. the boards them self are all different as well so no luck there either.
Cheers Harry. At least I know to keep looking for the NC6000 rather than waste money on bad ideas!
As for the soldering - brilliant! But I'm over in England so buy the time I've paid for shipping there & back, plus your fee, I may as well buy a new one :( Though I am sure many others will be able to take advantage of your offer!
Harry Andresen,
Can I send my laptop to you to get it fixed? I really need it fixed and no one in town or in other states I've tried will fix it or can't fix it do to too many appointments or not enough knowledge to perform the job.
Hi Y Mann.
Harry here, I'd be more then happy to help you out, this is what I do for a living.
Just,. you will have to send it to me with paid return, and give me a day or two. (I only solder first thing in the morning.)
If your still intrested emil me at
computerconcepts@real.ca to conferm the address to send it to and let me know to expect it.
Hey guys, guess what i have the same problem,I get the orange light and the cpu fan goes and thats it.Ive blown out the vents from dust and it still did the same thing.Im a computer tech and I ran a diagnostic test for the MOBO,CPU,RAM,HDD and also ran a system stress test,every test passed,im thinking it might be the fan,anyone replace the fan?
Heay Kemo your a computer techie?? how long have you BEEN one? I've been CERTIFIED for over twenty years and have vary vary rarely (maybe twice)had a machine act this way because of a fan! It has nothing to do with the fan. If you READ these comments from people above, the problem is the MAX chip and its solder!!! Some people here have already fixed the problem (be it in various ways)I myself already have fixed three machines in the last month, all by resoldering the MAX chip!! tronsss a1computerclinic.com
Hey all, just an update on my progress. Can't get the MAX chip resoldered so went with rubber under the chip. This gives works intermittently so I've unscrewed the top panel (where the LED's are) & adjusted the fan screw (for pressure). This is working for me 9 of 10 times. I've had it running now for many hours, which includes moving it. Only problems I have now are: 1. freezes - screen does stay & resolved by just lifting the laptop up by the fan area. 2. Blue screen with hardwear error - restart required. 3. Screws everywhere! I've a 8 month old & it is not a good idea to play about with it when he's around.
Finally, I've heard the Rock M3C uses the same screen as the NC6000 & they are essentially the same machine. Is this true?
Had exactly these symptoms. Gave up and bought new Laptop (not HP due to disappointment at the failure after just 4 years). Then saw this thread. Dismantled fully and found (very small) MAX 1987 chip. Filed down small soldering iron to point. Borrowed lens (used for inspecting small flowers) from my wife and touched each leg of the chip with the iron to at least melt the solder. Reassembled. Now it works, which (i) at least proves that I did not damage anything and re-assembled it corectly, but (ii) doesn't 'prove' that I've truly solved the problem as it was intermittent in the first place. But after a week and many start-ups, I have not yet had a recurrence of the problem. Many thanks to the various contributors here.
Phil Thanks for your offer, but got a few things coming up in the next couple of months so looking unlikely to be able to afford anything at the moment. I have been able to find a work college of all people (an alarm/CCTV engineer) who is willing to resolder the joints for me. If it works you could ship it out here, but this is your choice & naturally you don't really know me...
If you decide to go ahead with ebay I would suggest breaking yours down & selling parts individually rather than the whole unit (from speaking to an ebay seller here, he gets a much better return than selling the full unit!).
Hi I'm curious if anyone experienced the problem again AFTER replacing/resoldering the MAX1987 chip. If so, what period of time was it? In my case after few succesful bootups when pressing the keyboard, the board stopped charging the battery and taking power from the power cable at all (was working on battery). Anyone had this also?
Thanks for the info of the MAX chip issue, managed to fix up 3 out of 4 NC6000 laptops, tried to solder this MAX chip with a thin tip soldering iron first but had no luck, on one of them I resoldered every single leg of the MAX chip but it didn't help.
I ended up just using a standard off the self heat gun, I think it has already been mentioned that you should try to do some practice on an old/faulty board first, basically all I did was to have the board in a horizontal position, heat up the MAX chip area for around 15 - 30 seconds (times will depend on ambient temperature, wattage of the heat gun etc, you should be able to work out the time required to melt the solder from your practice board, let everything cool down and then reassemble, I have been using one of the laptop for around 2 weeks since the repair and hasn't failed to startup yet, hopefully they all keep on working.
I am pretty sure the laptop that I couldn't repair had some other board fault instead of the MAX chip solder issue because I couldn't get it started properly by pressing the RHS of the keyboard (before attempting to repair it), the other 3 would bootup when pressing the RHS of the keyboard. Proceed with the instructions above at your own risk
I'm going to go ahead and jump into this thread. I have over 10 NC6000's that are broken in some way, mostly the weird booting and shutting off issues.
Today I started soldering MAXIM MAX1987 chips. I simply sharpened up my 40W soldering iron let it get nice and HOT, touched the pins one by one to get them to reconnect, and DONE! Worked like a charm. I'll be back in a few days to let you know how the others went. Attached is a good picture that should help some of you.
Same issue. Fan runs too fast and non-stop( this issue is there for ever), blank screen, system powers up for 15sec and dies. Cleaned the dust long time may be more than a year ago. After I saw this problem I opened all the parts and cleaned the fan dust( the fan dust looks similar to the one in laundry dryer). Assembled all the parts back in shape and did a re-boot, but no use. Thought of buying a Mother Board, but looked at this forum and tried various options. Nothing worked.
Amazingly the 'RHS Keyboard press' worked fine and got to wait and see if it helps.
I have a compaq nx5000, which suffered the same fate - intermittant starting. Banging or pressing on right side of keyboard or casing would often allow the machine to startup. Received a quote of NZ$800 for a new motherboard, and as I'm an electronic engineer I decided to fix the motherboard myself. I stumbled upon this thread after the fact. Appears most of you have also deduced the root cause of the problem, i.e. dry joints on the max1987. My NX5000 also has a max1987 which in my case was the cause of the problem - resoldering the existing chip cured the fault (for several weeks now). I'll just add a couple of points;
1/ Fixing the fault by tightening the fan or placing rubber below the max1987 is a temporary solution at best. Once this chip's joints fracture they will continue to degrade with movement and thermal expansion.
2/ I was lucky enough to have access (via my work), to an infrared resoldering station. This has a top side infrared optical heater plus a bottom side preheater. Because the max1987 has a large heatsink hidden under the package which I assume is connected to the internal ground plane, it takes ALOT of thermal energy to reflow. I wasn't brave enough to attempt resoldering with a conventional fine tip iron, and if I didn't have access to the IR reflow station would have been struggling to complete the job. I reused the original max1987, didn't add any more solder and used lots of smd reflow flux.
3/ The max1987 controls the 1.5v vcore voltage to the cpu. This vcore voltage is variable depending on processor temp/load. When the max1987 intermittant fault occurs (due to flexing or vibration), the vcore voltage intermittantly drops out (i.e. falls to zero), thereby freezing the cpu mid cycle. I verified this by connecting an oscilloscope to the processor supply pins as I flexed the motherboard. Often once the vcore voltage dropped out the bios would not allow it to restart without going through a reset cycle (holding power button down for 9 seconds).
4/ Take great care when probing around the max1987 or associated circuitry when the laptop is running. The max1987 is a buck convertor which directly down-converts the 18vdc from the plugpack down to the 1.5v cpu vcore voltage. Inadvertantly shorting out a pin can have catastrophic results - i.e. the smoke will escape :-)
5/ The max1987 is a QFN package which has no legs, connection is via pads directly bonded to the chip package. This means there is no flex in this package (as there would be with a legged chip), and I suspect flexing on the motherboard from the lcd hinge and plugpack connector causes the max1987 joints to fracture over time. I lubricated my lcd hinges after the repair.
Hi, I had this issue. Blink for a while, then fan runs hard and everything stopped. I however tried to remove the battery and start just with AC cable. This time it starts, and starts loading windows from the hard disc. However after sometime (sometimes even after the login), computer freezes. Nothing works then excepting hard shutdown.
I tried booting with linux from a CD, it too freezes while loading. However when I boot with windows in safemode, it works fine.
Ravi, it's a long thread, you probaly didn't read to the point where it turned out that in most cases it's the mainboard fault, specifically "max1987" chip issue (needs resoldering). Especially if you can manage the laptop to start and boot when you press on the right hand side of the keyboard, it's very likely same problem.
Thanks Tom, very interesting. Do you have an Idea why, if a usb stick or mouse is connected, windows does not freeze. I have two nc6000 here. Both work fine with usb stick connected. Without windows freezes after some minutes. It seems the usb-circuit keeps the vcore from droping, however...
Another Question Is there a tool to change the display light? Sometimes, just if the sun is shining, it is too dark in battery mode.
The fault I was referring to in my thread is entirely mechanical in nature, i.e. dry joints on the max1987 chip. On my particular machine the fault was VERY sensitive - sometimes I could boot reliably just by holding the laptop's case vertical! This became quite confusing because I would try various software "fixes" which appeared to work just because I was holding the machine at the correct angle. My machine also made the fan run fast at bootup, I'm guessing the bios somehow interprets the vcore dropout as excessive load and tries to cool the cpu - bit vague about this - others with more experience may want to comment.
To verify if your problem is related to the max1987 - monitor the vcore voltage with an oscilloscope while you flex the motherboard (especially sensitive around the power socket area). You will need a scope as a DMM will be too slow to catch any intermittant dropouts. If the vcore voltage shows a transient dip as you flex the motherboard you have probably found the cause of your freezing. Note that the bios normally varies the vcore voltage over a small range (normally sits around 1.7volts), depending on processor loading, but it never goes to zero until the machine is shutdown.
Re Ravi's post: The power cable is very close to the max1987 on the motherboard. I found by gently flexing the power plug I could make my machine work - hence that may be why you can start on AC sometimes. Re booting in safemode - if you can consistantly do this (you didn't just fluke it one time), then your problem sounds like a software issue and is nothing to do with this thread.
Re Stefan's post: Laptop motherboard's have several independant power supplies which the bios can separately startup or shutdown (at least my nx5000 does). The vcore supply controlled by the max1987 does not supply the usb circuitry and is only concerned with the processor core and immediate support chips. If your machine consistantly works without freezing with a usb memory stick installed you have a different problem unrelated to this thread. Re the display brightness, I also note my machine isn't bright enough to use in sunshine either, but I expected that was a design issue rather than a fault.
After hours of scouring forums and with respect to those believe there may be more than one cause for this problem, I ran across this posting. The man is correct. There is a design flaw that causes cracks to form on the Maxim chip connections after repeatedly opening and closing the display screen. That explains why it hangs when the display is jostled, however slightly. Here are his words!
"For what it is worth, I have managed to repair two of these so far, both the with the problem of only booting while pushing on or around the processor socket. I found that when not pushed on, the board lost the core voltage (1.4 V to the processor). This is controlled by a Maxim chip on the bottom of the board by the power input jack. Looking at the leads of this chip under a binocular scope, I could see several connections with hairline fractures at the chip. The Maxim chip is a core voltage control chip, and is unusually high off the board with very soft solder connections. The repair consisted of very carefully (under the scope with a very sharp tip iron) re-flowing the solder connections that looked cracked. Both boards have been working perfectly since."
Re Peter's post; Not sure about the nc6400 Peter. However even if you do find a max1987 chip inside your nc6400 remember that the problem is not the actual max1987 chip, but rather the location that compaq placed the chip on the board where its subject to flexing. Your nc6400 may have a better pcb design layout, or have a better hinge design, or a stiffer plastic casing, or a different IC package footprint etc. etc. Regards, Tom
I have a NC6000 which also doesn't boot anymore. Pressing the keyboard or the fan doesn't help. However, I suspect it to be the MAX1987.
When I measure the Vcore it is 0.968V. I think this is far too low. At least I expect the CPU to start on full frequency, and with a Banias 1.5GHz the Vcore should then be 1.484V. When I look in the Pentium M datasheet I see there's only 1 bit different in the VID-pins for 1.484V (001110) vs 0.972V (101110).
Can someone tell me that I'm right in my assumption that the Vcore at boot time has to be 1.484V?
My hot air station is broken, I resoldered the 1987 with normal iron and I think I did it well, but it is still not booting and I still find the Vcore to be 0.965V...
I also looked for the datasheet of the MAX1987, but I didn't find it. I think Maxim has wiped out every trace of this (mechanically) bad chip. It also caused same problems in the Compal CL50 and CL51. (both sold under many different brands, including Acer Travelmate 290)
Hi Nico, A couple of observations I made from my nx5000 repair...
I did all my diagnosis with the cpu core removed from its socket. I was cautious incase I shorted something around the max1987 and destroyed my cpu plus motherboard in the process. Also it meant the bios didn't continue to the splash screen and I could hold the vcore at a static 1.7v level while I flexed the motherboard. In this state I could see the bios sequence the vcore volts from 1v to 1.5v then finally to 1.7v where it sat indefinitely. With the cpu correctly inserted in its socket the bios did its initial boot sequence (i.e. the splash screen), holding the vcore at 1.5volts.
I also noted (again with the cpu removed), that the vcore control pins to the max1987 were very sensitive (they appeared to be high impedance lines). Placing my finger around this area caused the vcore to consistantly switch up and down in steps depending where my finger was.
Of course, you have no way of knowing what the bios is looking for when it cycles the vcore voltage, so the static 1v vcore on your nc6000 may be a healthy max1987 vcore supply with the bios simply waiting for some event to occur. Not sure of my theory here, but is POST active at this point? I'm never sure if the bios or the cpu core generates POST, but this may give a hint if the bios is waiting for something before it ramps up your vcore supply.
Finally, I also could not find any datasheets on the max1987 - getting data out of Asian manufacturers is a pain in the butt (bring back the good old Philips semiconductor days). However I did manage to find a motherboard schematic which used a max1987 vcore supply. The schematic and my nx5000 seemed very similar - classic application note stuff. I'll send you a copy of the schematic if you want.
After reading through this thread, I understand that the MAX chip causing startup & freezing issues and most causes problem resolved after resoldering the chip, but does anyone know, if no display problem is also due to max chip if screen itself is fine? with my laptop when switched on, it powers up, fan runs but no display at all even with external monitor, changed memory but no difference, the screen works fine on another laptop, just want to know if it is also realted to MAX chip or not before I attemp to resolder the chip. Please help/ advise if anyone know how to fix!
Though I have not posted on this in awhile, I still get notified when someone dose post. So, The last comment "can the MAX chip effect the screen?"
Buy all means,........YES!!! the cPU is inishallized BEFORE the screen ergo, not correct voltage to CPU, CPU don't start right, CPU not start right, NOTHING ELSE dose. Also earlier on I read that the max chip is on the acer 290?? WHERE??? I don't "see" one?
anyway bye for now.
Harry Andresen AKA tronsss
a1 computer clinic
oh ya, oldfath... 32mb and 64mb are probubly the VIDEO card. (meaning video card drivers), could be on board cashe, but I dought it (that stuff is on the cpu). and if the board is from a true nc6000 be it us, new ginnie, australlia, or japan, the connection slots all are the same. if its from .... say,...6400 no it will now fit Harry
I never tested with the CPU removed, but when I do, I also get 1.7V!
Makes me wondering...
It almost certainly implies that the MAX1987 is working well...
I *suppose* that after switching the notebook on, the notebook-controller-chip increments the Vcore, until it gets some kind of signal from the CPU that it is working. Then the exact Vcore will be established by reading the Voltage Identification Pins of the CPU. And only then the CPU will be reset and booting will start (this is were the CPU reads and executes the BIOS and starts doing the POST).
Now it is the question why I only have 0.97V with a processor installed. I tested also with another Pentium M, and both are working in another laptop...
*Maybe* the VID-pins of the CPU are not correctly read out...
Anyways, I'm interested in the motherboard schematic!
It was me who said the MAX1987 is also on an acer travelmate 290. However, I happen to have a broken 290 now and I see I made a mistake here! The mistake is only that it is NOT a MAX1987, but an ADP3205. All other things are similar.
It looks like the MAX, it also controls the CPU-voltage and it is also prone to mechanical stress. It's on the opposite site as the CPU, in the corner. When you have a 290 that doesn't boot (correctly) it's a very good start to check (the soldering of) this chip...
Sounds like you have a difficult one! Certainly if your max1987 switches up in steps to 1.7v with the core removed it sounds like the vcore is working ok.
I guess your next step is to start scoping the cpu to see if its missing any core signals, i.e. is clock available, is reset cycling etc. I'm guessing you have tried all the easy stuff like ram replacement etc.
I've emailed you a pdf of the schematic for the max1987 system (although it sounds like you don't need it). Look on sheet 10 for the correct page.
Just thought I would share my experiences with this laptop. I have a client who has a couple handfulls of these nc6000 notebooks. And would like to say the HEAT GUN trick works for those that dont have a whole lot of soldering skill. Blow the heat gun on the chip....be careful...chip and areas surrounding it will be hot...make sure the chip is pushed down enough....and making good contact...then let it cool...reassemble and bam! Good to go...I've done two so far...this is a repetitive task...and takes a few minutes to disassemble and reassemble the laptop...(I would say not for the faint of heart or beginner computer repair people...)need not apply. Intermediate/advanced laptop repair people apply!
Oh and one more thing...Realize and tell this to your clients that this problem can and will/could happen again. It is all based on the same problem with the chip. Unless you resolder or replace (etc...and still may not solve prob), most likely heat and movement again will cause the chip to break off again.
Re: The schematic you asked for. I can't attach it to the newsgroup as its too large. Also, can't seem to find your email on your profile, so can't even send it directly to you.
My nc6000 bought in Oct 2004 died unexpectedly last week!
Was using it when suddenly the screen went blank and the amber led came on. Tried rebooting it - all I get is amber and blue leds coming on for a second and machine powers off!
Looks like the same issue - must be happening to many nc6000 owners now! It was a good laptop with rugged screen design ie no flexing a la most current laptops.
I expect a repair to be uneconomic and have mixed feelings about laying down over GBP1300 ($2200 +) back in 2004 for this laptop and lasting just 4 years.
It's replacement will not be an expensive business class unit from HP - but probably a more modest model - have seen various R61 models that still have screens that don't flex at the slightest touch - all under £400.
I forgot to add that like other afflicted nc6000 owners, I can get my unit to boot if I keep the upper RHS of the keyboard pressed - it's very repeatable. So it very much looks like the weakness of the soldered joints of the max1987 chip is again the culprit.
I raised this very same MAX1987 problem on my NC6000 with HP Technical Support.
I got nowhere and I'm very unhappy about the replies I got and with HP.
In emails back to me one of their UK customer relations team wrote replies, the key points of which I have pasted below.
2nd Oct 2008
"Our Product Specialist has now replied to me with regards this issue as follows:-
"We have completed an extensive search of our known issues database and this one does not appear. Regardless of what has been found on the forums HP does not recognise this as a known problem""
3rd Oct 2008
"As I have already stated HP does not recognise this as a known problem. The first record I can find of this fault being reported to us, is in August which is some months after the warranty on the unit had expired. If you want HP to fix the unit then it will be on a chargeable basis."
I find it difficult to believe that HP can continue to deny knowledge of this issue, when so may online reports detail exactly the same symptoms and cure.
I've raised an online support query in my case and await a reply.
To all readers of this thread, please be aware that HP are removing sentences from postings that they dislike. My recent previous postings are now incomplete, as are those of Gussie100.
Here is what I posted again::::
I raised this very same MAX1987 problem on my NC6000 with HP Technical Support.
I got nowhere and I'm very unhappy about the replies I got.
In emails back to me one of their UK customer relations team wrote replies the key points of which I have pasted below.
2nd Oct 2008
"Our Product Specialist has now replied to me with regards this issue as follows:-
"We have completed an extensive search of our known issues database and this one does not appear. Regardless of what has been found on the forums HP does not recognise this as a known problem""
3rd Oct 2008
"As I have already stated HP does not recognise this as a known problem. The first record I can find of this fault being reported to us, is in August which is some months after the warranty on the unit had expired. If you want HP to fix the unit then it will be on a chargeable basis."
Gussie100 I agree with you. I do plan on taking this matter further very shortly. Thanks for your postings. I think we are headed along the same route.
I wonder if HP will remove our postings? Can they be open and honest enough to leave them in place?
---
Here is what Gussie100 posted before:
Gussie100
Oct 12, 2008 11:51:50 GMT Unassigned
My nc6000 bought in Oct 2004 died unexpectedly last week!
Was using it when suddenly the screen went blank and the amber led came on. Tried rebooting it - all I get is amber and blue leds coming on for a second and machine powers off!
Looks like the same issue - must be happening to many nc6000 owners now! It was a good laptop with rugged screen design ie no flexing a la most current laptops.
I expect a repair to be uneconomic and have mixed feelings about laying down over GBP1300 ($2200 +) back in 2004 for this laptop and lasting just 4 years.
As for HP and the others - the tat that they try to sell at that price range would barely last into 2 years of ownership. I guess it's called progress!
Gussie100
Oct 12, 2008 16:33:04 GMT Unassigned
I forgot to add that like other afflicted nc6000 owners, I can get my unit to boot if I keep the upper RHS of the keyboard pressed - it's very repeatable. So it very much looks like the weakness of the soldered joints of the max1987 chip is again the culprit.
HOW MANY POSTS LIKE THIS DOES IT TAKE FOR SOMEONE FROM HP TO RESPOND HERE ???
- If repair and replacement are not possible or too costly, then the consumer can seek a partial refund, if they have had some benefit from the good, or a full refund if the fault/s have meant they have enjoyed no benefit
SO IT SHOULD BE POSSIBLE TO DO SOMETHING AT LEAST HERE IN THE UK
Let me say it quite frank an open: I simply hate to see that there is *Censoring* in a thread in which basic problems with the construction of a *series* of models (just check for other nc6xxx models) are discussed.
IMO there can be no doubt that the nc6xxx models have construction faults - whether HP wants to admit that this would be a "known problem" or not.
And in IMHO there can be no doubt about HP's responsibility for a faulty construction.
Rainald P.S. As censorship is happening in here heavily, I recommend to save all of the posting locally
HP's Indian Call Centre have informed me that this issue is an out of warranty matter - no surprise there!
The moral here is to avoid paying top dollar for technology that is no longer built to last or adequately supported. Like I said my replacement will cost me no more than £350 here in the UK.
I'd rather toss my laptop out the window every two or so years if it only cost me £350 and replace it with the latest model.
Gussie,
|| Yep - my posts have been delete or censored.
I saw this.
Too bad.
|| HP's Indian Call Centre have informed me that this issue is an out of
|| warranty matter - no surprise there!
a) They are right in so far as all possible warranty would be over for the nc6xxx series.
b) They are wrong in so far that official *warranty* would not be an issue if the problem is a problem of the construction; and the latter IMHO is the case with the nc6xxx series.
|| The moral here is to avoid paying top dollar for technology that
|| is no longer built to last or adequately supported.
RightyRight.
But:
At the time your machine appeared on the market and during the time HP sold it, the nc6xxx series were pretty well supported and IMHO one can not blame HP in so far.
|| Like I said my replacement will cost me no more than ã350
|| here in the UK.
What do you mean by "replacement"?
As with any kind of computer, there's no use in replacing a motherboard or so after a couple of years; the warranty periods IMO do pretty well reflect the periods of possible usage of a computer.
I forgot to mention that I even took out 3 years extended warranty on the nc6000 to add to my pain - that's another £100 or so.
HP is no longer the company I used to work for - it deserves no special consideration any more when purchasing laptops - like I said earlier it makes the same basic machines like everyone else - and their support is much bad.
Hi guys, Its me again Harry a computer techie for over twenty years, and have worked on the nc6000 many times now (over ten in the last two months) all with the same problem. The max chip. I have also noticed since working on these that it seems "the brakes" only accure on the side closest to the hinge. In other words, if you are looking AT the max chip, with the power jack towards you, the first four or five on the "right" and one or two on the vary left are the ones that "brake" touch those with a hat solder gun (suggest using a mag glass as well LOL) and try it apart. I do suggest checking the rest as well but thats up to you
Owning this nc6000 for over 3 years now I had the same problem today. I readed this thread and found the "press down on right side of the keyboard" solution and it worked. There's now a possibility that the same problem will come back sooner or later. If I have the more time for this I'll try the soldering solution.
Once again my nc6000 ran into same problem as I've mentioned in the post dated April 27, 2008 even after fixing it by resoldering the chip. The problem occurred 2 days ago after 6 months long time interval. My XP would hang after the desktop is ready. Sometimes it would hang at the login window. Finally it began to show up the amber light and then the laptop automatically shuts down after some seconds. Anyway I've fixed it all by resoldering the MAXIM 1987 chip again.
This time I found the soldered part of chip looking from the direction of the cooling fan to be thinner than the other part of the chip. I was totally surprised, how such heat can eat up the solder after 6 months. Also while resoldering that part this time, the solder didn't get attached properly and didn't appear to be fine or bulky as in the other part. But I just did the resoldering 2 to 3 times for the same part and just connected the display screen & the keyboard only to test. Well, the problem is gone after switching the lappy. It worked again. The XP booted without any error. And no hang problem after desktop is ready. Nevertheless, I don't know how long is it going to last.
I doubt heat is the main problem since I used to put this nc6000 above the thin piece of plywood base which is the size of the lappy itself. So I thought this wood is the problem that does not allow heat transfer uniformly.
Anyway guys, I resolved the problem again. Hope my approach might help the guys who are looking for the solution.
I just got a NC6000 to fix with this issue of not powering up and the led's flashing as described. I tested both memory modules, one 256mb and one 512 and both are ok. I tested one good memory module in the memory slot closest to the main board and the issue persisted. I tried one good memory module in the slot closest to the keyboard and the laptop worked. I then retried the first memory slot and the issue reappeared. It appears that there is an issue with the first memory slot (or the one closest to the main / motherboard.) It is not the module, as I have tried this with 4 different known good memory modules and each trial has produced the same results. Keep in mind this is the issue with my main board, in reading this thread, it appears that the issue of not powering with the led's flashing as described is related to heat. I will be attempting to trace this issue and will post once I find something.
exmind - We think you rather left the right path to the truth ;) If you had read somewhere further like middle of this thread, than you would have discovered that the reason is elsewhere: it's the maxim1987 chip next to the processor socket (underneath) which needs resoldering your memory swapping work results are probably accidental
by the way my current mobo started to have this problems in a little different way. it freezes when on battery. when plugged in usually works fine, even when moved and hinges work etc and boot up chances are like 50%, but then remains stable (if plugged in)
another mobo I got fixed with hot air unfortunately stopped charging the battery and recognizing battery existence/charge (although works on battery)
there were some temporary problems with keyboard also on two mobos - after maxim was fixed. keyboard just stopped reacting for some time. strange
Hi, I would like to say what a useful thread this is, thanks for all your detailed information and pictures.
I have been supporting this model of laptop for over 4 years and have seen many with this fault most were when they were covered by the warranty which means it wasnât really a huge problem, however now we are getting many with this problem that are out of warranty which is now causing issues, I am going to have a go at soldering and hope all will be OK, I am surprised to discover the lack of interest from HP...
Reason for post is to highlight and register that personally I have experienced many with this problem (15+) in 4 years.
Hi, great thread, and sensible fix. I took posession of an ex-company NC6000, which after 1 month developed the dreaded lock-ups and no boot...
To make it short, after eliminating everything leaving only the mother board, I was just about to re-flash the BIOS (in desperation I add), when I did one last 'Google' on this fault and found this thread. Anyway resoldered MAX1987 and presto! I used a 'ground to a point' soldering iron and a X3 magnifying glass.
Now for my contribution to the cause of this failure:
Tight screen hinges. For some reason on many LT's they get tighter as the unit gets older. Solution; Removing only the two lower screen screws (under the rubber plugs), will allow enough of an opening in the screen surround to undo and remove the hinges. Next separate the hinge pins (by drifting the pin out)to reveal the two stainless hinge 'friction pieces', simply remove one of these and reinsert the pin into the hinge body. Repeat for other hinge and reassemble... Ta Da! you now have much looser hinges that dont flex the mother board. Of course you will need to close the lid when walking around with the LT, but at least it should save any further degredation.
My wife's NC6000 laptop developed this problem a couple of months back and after finding this thread and considering all of the options I decided that re-soldering was the best choice. I contacted a few techs in my area but no one was willing to even attempt this repair. I then contacted Harry Andresen of A1 Computer Clinic who's posted several insites into this problem on this board and who seemed to have a handle on this repair. I shipped the base of the unit to him and am very happy to say he successfully resoldered the board and had it back to me within days. My wife's laptop is now back together and in perfect working order! Even with shipping charges included (from across the country) the repair totalled far less than a replacement board and those susceptible little pins on that chip now have "extra" solder on them :)
In reply to BHM Dec 22, 2008 11:24:20 GMT who wrote "Now for my contribution to the cause of this failure:
Tight screen hinges. For some reason on many LT's they get tighter as the unit gets older. Solution; Removing only the two lower screen screws (under the rubber plugs), will allow enough of an opening in the screen surround to undo and remove the hinges. Next separate the hinge pins (by drifting the pin out)to reveal the two stainless hinge 'friction pieces', simply remove one of these and reinsert the pin into the hinge body. Repeat for other hinge and reassemble... Ta Da! you now have much looser hinges that dont flex the mother board. Of course you will need to close the lid when walking around with the LT, but at least it should save any further degredation.
Regs Ian"
Has anyone else also removed parts of the two stainless hinge 'friction pieces' ?
If so I think it would greatly benefit readers of this thread if you post your experiences of this.
I don't wish to end up with an NC6000 with a lose and floppy LCD screen......however for 100% certain less flex and stress on the motherboard and MAX1987 chip area is the key to trying to make these nc6000 laptops not have the startup problem.
I recently fixed two nc6000 motherboards MAX chips. First heating up the chip's area with hot airgun. Slowly bringing the heat up to 110°C and letting it cool off. I had help from my brother who pointed a laser infrared thermometer gun to the chip. Next I coiled some fine wire around the tip of an solder and leaving a short piece of the wire to extend the tip. Then I reheated the chip's legs and did not add any extra lead to it. Last thing I put some oil where there was this hole for the pin. Then I hold the hinge hole upwards and moved the hinge. The oil came out from the bottom dark. I guess it was some abraded iron from the hinge.
This has worked for twice for me. Both nc6000's booted up in the first try with no problems. I'll let you guy's know if this MAX chip problem comes back.
This forum was very helpful. My NC6000 had the same problem and I am a novice and this is the first laptop I am fixing and was successful it took me a 8hrs, I did not solder I tried fixing a tight rubber under the chip and the laptop base and is working fine started it 4 to 5 times now no probs. I need to find someone locally to solder the chip. I need some help with the OS. when I started the first time I saw the numbers running XXXXXXX Kb OK ,on the screen and then it automatically went to BIOS and I saved the changes since I added some 2 GB RAM. when Xp started my system time was set to 1980 and some of my applications are not running windows media player is saying version issues my Oracle database is not starting throwing errors and firefox and IE not starting gives some errors any help what I screwed up. I changed the date and time and everything to current but still not working. any suggestions thanks
HI guys If you repair these machines, yes you will get the reread of memory, (due to unplugging the bios battery,). but the main problem here about programs not running right is due to the fact this machine (as others) is limited to the amount of ram it can use,( or read correctly). my sugjestion is to remove one of your sticks of ram and see if the programs work. if they do, your pushing the machine's limits. if they still don't then reinstalling them should do the trick. case in point I have a toshiba that with two 2gig sticks won't boot. with 1 1gig and 1 2gig it boots but says there is only 2 gig in bios??? but in the system manager it says it has 5.4gig??? and works fine. I have not as yet tryed to reinstall the O/S since it is all working. Harry
Hi guys I did what harry suggested did not work, also disassembled to check for any missing connections I did not connect the cable to the button board on top of the mother board, so reconnected it and assembled the laptop again but still not working having the same issues. any more thoughts !!!
sorry to hear it didn't help sunswan, but if it is not the ram, then it has to be the programs themselfs (prossess of elimination)or maybe its a file in your O/S has become corrupt. dought its a virus maybe???. Buy the way the cable that attaches to the power/ button board is for the modem and would/should have no affect on it either way. looks like you might be in need of a FRESH reinstall. sorry to say. Harry
I had a similar problem starting just in time for the new year! After spending days reading threads on Internet I decided to read that one through. Since I live in Canada and my computer was partially useless, I decided I had nothing to lose to send it to Harry. It's the best decision I could have made!
His service was AMAZING! He resoldered the chip, and found another problem with hinges and with power. Needless to say I am highly satisfied doing business with him! Now, not only my computer works as new, but it's as clean as it was when I got it out of the box the first time!!! It runs cooler and it's pretty neat and clean! And no more blue and amber light problem! Gone! And he fixed it in less than four days, including shipping time!!! I would highly recommend Harry again and I am pleased to say that I'll do business with him anytime in the future!
I had the same symtoms: mot booting - LEDs & fan on - sometimes black display etc, with my 4 years old nc8000. Good luck I found this forum, I repaired MAX1987 with hot iron and flux in just some minutes. Schame to the hp-support they didn't helped me before, so I had to buy another notebook (this time ASUS, which is also not bad, but doesn't have a display 1400*1050). I feel very happy about my "old" machine, with starts up XP in about half the time than the 4 years newer ASUS.
At the nc8000 the MAX1987 is not near to the display on the PCB, but where the right hand layes down, but same symptoms when moving display etc as NC6000. I think it is not a problem of the position of the MAX1987 on the PCB but only a problem of the soldered tin without lead.
I just recently started having the same problem with my 3.5 year old nc6000. I want to thank everyone on this thread for your assistance. I have solved (at least temporarily) the problem so I could get everything important off.
I worked for HP up until 2 years ago. I was the director of IT responsible for the development of this site (ITRC) among others. I am disappointed that HP is deleting entries from any threads. Not the intent of a user forum unless there is clear misuse or false statements. Clearly not the case here. I still keep in touch with a few folks - I'll send off your concerns for the product (don't expect much on that - this dog is too old) and the forum.
By the way, for anyone concerned the fan is the issue, it is not - see above entries for the fixes which involves the chip. The fan sounds like a freaking 727 and always has.
Mine was doing the same thing. Pressure on the fan assembly worked long enough to get the stuff I needed off of it, but it progressivly got worse, until it wouldn't boot at all.
I took it apart, all the way down to the motherboard, and removed that. The chip that needs to be resoldered is the Maxim 1987, it is located right next to the heatsink (and the hinge for the right side of the lcd screen). The screen hinge causes it to flex breaking the connection of the chip. I filed down a 15 watt solder iron with a dremel and used a magnifying glass to resolder every one of those tiny pins. And it has worked great for me, no issues at all now.
Happy to have found this thread, and even happier to have now fixed my unit. I search long and hard but failed to find anyone locally who'd undertake the work despite advertising. Also tried a second-hand replacement system board (on a try-before-you-buy basis) but it had the same problem.
So... same solution as others except that I clamped and bound a pin to the end of my cheap soldering iron and set to the maxim chip with this contrivance, a plastic magnifying glass, a head torch, and not a huge amount of confidence.
To follow up on the posting of BHM at Dec 22, 2008 11:24:20 GMT
Ian wrote "Tight screen hinges. For some reason on many LT's they get tighter as the unit gets older. Solution; Removing only the two lower screen screws (under the rubber plugs), will allow enough of an opening in the screen surround to undo and remove the hinges. Next separate the hinge pins (by drifting the pin out)to reveal the two stainless hinge 'friction pieces', simply remove one of these and reinsert the pin into the hinge body. Repeat for other hinge and reassemble..."
I do not agree with you, because there appear to be NO hinge "friction pieces" to remove in an NC6000!!! I looked and did not see them.
Other readers take a look at these photos of NC6000 hinges, do you see an "friction pieces" to remove?!?
The hinges are made such that they cannot be disassembled.
Ian wrote "For some reason on many LT's" Ian whatever laptop you were writing about into terms of removing one of stainless hinge 'friction pieces' is NOT an NC6000 laptop!!! Please do NOT confuse this thread about other laptops. It's very annoying.
MAX1987 problems on HP Compaq NC6000 laptops are annoying enough without people confusing those trying to fix them!
Sorry this may be a stupid question. I started having problems with my NC6000. It was definitely the MAX1987 problem described in this thread. I took my laptop apart and did a solder job on the MAX chip. I would appear to be successful but it is hard to fully test bacause after putting my computer back together neither the keyboard or touchpad mouse work. My USB mouse works but that is it. I can also only start my computer in safe mode as it hangs up at the welcome screen for XP during a normal boot up. Any suggestions?
Sorry after a little more testing the keyboard is actually working and it is just both the touchpad mouse and the joystick mouse on the keyboard. I was thinking that I reversed the ribbon cables for both but the ribbon for the touchpad seems to only mount in one direction because of lenght/bend. This cable mounts with the contacts to the right when looking at the laptop screen. The joystick cable seems to mount with the contacts to the left. The contacts on the joystick cable look pretty rough so I have tried leaving this one disconnected with no change.
I can now get past the welcome screen when booting up so now my problem seems to be strickly mouse related.
Jon: I had similar thoughts about the BHM's advice: the hinges do not seem to allow disassembling he would have to define those 'friction pieces' - best if showed on pictures (if it was really about the same laptop)
Paul: I had exactly the same issue: after resoldering the max chip, keyboard stopped responding and only later started working. but in some mobo's touchpad and trackpoint became permanently dead. The max has to be then moved up, tin removed and then soldered again (more or less like that, it's not my advice on this matter I did not try ;)
I am now working on a mobo without the touchpad and I didn't even try the trackpoint -it's so annoying to connect it ;)
the hang up on welcome screen in normal mode is also common on this board - no idea why
Hi guys Gals just got the latest input on this problem, and thought I'd put my two cents in. Now I only do this becouse I've run into this problem before myself, and have found that someimes it might "Look" like you have stuck the cables all the way in there, but actually NOT. ergo not making the best connection. Also if their is ANY "tilt" to the way the cable itself got plugged in might be just causing a little "short" and stopping the thing from working. ........Just thought I'd mention it. Tronsss P.S. you sould NOT "see" any metal connecions once the mice and keyboard are plugged in fully.
Thanks for the replies (Harry/Peter). I've had my laptop apart and together so many times I think I will just stop playing with the non-functioning mouse problem before I break something else. As I mentioned before the ribbon cable for the track point (joystick) mouse looks pretty worn so I'm not even playing with that. Really just trying to get the touchpad working since that is the one I would use anyway. In any case the cable for the touchpad and the connector look good when looking at them with magnification so can figure what the problem could be unless as Peter mentioned it has to do with the MAX chip repair. In any case I'm located in southern Ontario so if the problem really starts to bug me I may enlist Harry's services. For now its an external mouse for me.
Hi all. Yesterday i dismantled the laptop yet again and successfully managed to re-solder the MAX chip using standard 15watt soldering iron with filed down tip to narrow point and a magnifying glass. Touched each solder joint for about 2 seconds each. Took around 5 minutes. Job done. Everything running perfectly now. I will add another post in the future if problems return. Good luck everyone!
These hinges can be dissembled,there is a friction pieces inside the hinges. I have don so with nc4010 hinges and nc6000 . I polis them with sandpaper until they are turning smoother,don't over do this. There is less stress on the screen and base when you have don this .
Dear folks, I've found the same problem on two nc6000 laptops in a couple of months. Both of them are more than 4 years old.
I wonder how I could contact Harry, from a1computerclinic.com, and send him any of the two nc6000 for repair. The main problem here is that I'm in Spain and he's in Canada :-(
Any hint so far from Harry or anybody else who knows him?
I face the same trouble with NC 6000. The easiest solution is to press the Right Hand Side of keyboard (down F11 and F12 keys) and switch on power. But the trouble is, it will hang while shutting down.So press RHS of key board while shutting down. It works!. I really don't know how it works and how long it may continue working!. Hope HP will suggest a permanent solution. I think, the area we press is somewhere above the processor.
Savan, If you read this thread you would find the answer you require. It doesn't take much time to look through all 300+ postings. Actually you only have to read recent postings to see what is what here.
Your discovery of pressing the RHS above the keyboard as a temp measure which may or may not work - is not new.
I do not think HP will suggest a permanent solution other than one which either involves (a) your laptop still being under warranty or extended warranty or (b) involves you paying them 100s of dollars or 100s pounds for them to sell you a replacement systemboard (which will still have the same design failure).
The problem is to do with a very small chip called MAX1987.
For the benefit of other readers, if you use the soldering iron (with a very fine tip and steady hand) approach to fixing the max1987 chip it is not likely to last very long (maybe up to 6 months tops). If you find someone which a hot-air station with reflow flux who knows how to use it, then that is best. I'm told temperature to use is about 325 degrees C (?). This reflowing fix is likely to last longer. However as these HP NC6000 laptops all have the same design fault then the problem will, in time, happen again.
Also if you put a pad under the MAX1987 chip to try and push it up further into the systemboard then I'm not sure that is a good idea since when you open and close the laptop it is likely to rub on the MAX1987 chip and cause it to work lose.
Also I do NOT think that the screen hinges can have any 'friction pieces' removed regardless of what is stated by BHM (Ian) and Willem Bax have stated.
Willem: "I have don so with nc4010 hinges and nc6000 . "
Ian, Willem please provide us photos to prove it! And yes with actual NC6000 hinges not nc4010 or other.
As per Peter Dollar "Jon: I had similar thoughts about the BHM's advice: the hinges do not seem to allow disassembling he would have to define those 'friction pieces' - best if showed on pictures (if it was really about the same laptop)"
Looks like the hinges have 2 pins each to me, which cannot be pushed out. So as far as I can see the hinges cannot be disassembled.
At the best the hinges can, and should be oiled to try and make them no so tight.
Thanks Jon124 for your contribution. Can you provide more details about oiling these hinges for beginners ;) ? What oil, where specifically to apply and how much ? For instance in my laptop they are already less tight, so the pressure on the max chip, shouldn't be that strong perhaps?
Firstly you would be well advised to use the NC6000 Maintenance and Service Guide** in order to:
(1) Partially remove the Keyboard in order to better enable you to remove the Switch cover
(2) Then undo and remove the 2 screws that secure the display hinge covers. Then remove both hinges covers. Then you will clearly see the hinges which can then be oiled
at the points shown by the red ellipses which I have here:
By the way you do not have to remove the hinges as shown in the photo!! That would be quite involved and isn't required in order to oil them. Also you can see why both you
and I think that they cannot be disassembled.
Use oil like
3-in-1 Oil
or
my personal favourite; Silicone Lubricant (for Rubber and Plastics - so if goes on other parts of the laptop it doesn't matter. Also it's good for metal as these hinges are)
Available from Halfords in the UK a spray can.
Do NOT use WD-40 !!! WD-40 is not intended to be a lubricant -- its purpose is to expel water.
By the way both silver hinge covers have a small tab each that is all too easy to break. However as I have broken off both of mine, it does not matter and in fact makes
removing and putting the hinge covers back that much more easy.
--- Peter you wrote "For instance in my laptop they are already less tight, so the pressure on the max chip, shouldn't be that strong perhaps?".
I believe it is not a function of the screws for the hinge covers nor for the bottom hinge screws themselves, that either tighten or lessen the strength of the hinges. Rather it is
the hinges themselves and how lubricated or otherwise they are. Even with well lubricated hinges there will be some flex in the systemboard (i.e. pressure/flex on the max
chip) , though less so, hopefully meaning that the MAX1987 chip soldering will last longer before getting broken at some future point due to opening and closing of the laptop
display (i.e. using the hinges).
The less you open and close the NC6000 laptop/ move the NC6000 display (i.e. hinges) the better!
** Download NC6000 Maintenance and Service Guide from
THANKS to EVERYONE who was invited into find out the problem with the MAX1987 Chip.
I got fixed the nc6000 of my sister by re-soldering the MAX1987 Chip. Everyhing was fine for about 6 or 7 months now. But a few days before this post, the "Power on" problem came back :(
This week i will re-solder the max 1987 Chip again, and see if it fixes the problem again.
But before i do this, i have a question: **************************************** Do u really think, that the problem is ONLY mechanical (pressure) applied to the MAX1987 region ? Could'nt it be, that this is also a temperature problem ? I dont know how "hot" the MAX1987 Chip is getting when using the nc6000 ... ... but my sister told me, that the MAX1987 problem cam back again (after VERY GOOD re-soldering !) when she was using the notebook for about 10-12 hours in a row.
Maybe the MAX1987 chip is getting to hot and this causes the solder to go "liquid" and break off.
This is ONLY a Question ! I cant re-solder the chip every 6 month cause i dont have the possibilities to use a high-tech-laboraty soldering-station in the future.
Maybe it would help, after re-soldering again, to glue a "heat sink" on the MAX1987 chip ...
Mounty you're probably right. For me the problem also seems to be at least associated with temperature of the chip. My unit also went down after several hours of being hot (freezed with high CPU usage) and some other people on this or other forum had it similar I think. But as flexing definitely has an impact then I think both factors simply contribute to the cause of the problem.
It is funny to notice how all of us tend to make so much efforts and thinking to save this pretty old laptop ;)
I got my NC6000 fixed and I have several mainboards for the NC6000 here, which also have been fixed by a SMD specialist by resoldering various parts of the board (not only the MAX1987) under a microscope.
If anybody is interested in a mainboard please send me an email to pixelmaster@gmx.de I live in Germany, but shipping to European countries should be no problem. The price I´m asking is 55 ⬠each plus shipping.
A few weeks ago, I sold my NC6000 to a co-worker. I even upgraded the laptop to 2GB for her. A couple of days ago, she told me she was having problems with it. Gave her the money back and lo and behold, it is having the same problem as described here.
So, I've downloaded the service manual and will give the chip fix a shot this weekend. If I toast the chip or board, then I guess I will just part out the laptop as everything else in it is in excellent shape.
Al if you dig in this thread you should find good guidelines how to do the max chip, not toasting it ;) Am I feeling right that some recent posts beofre the last one disappeared synthauri hmm I think there was discussion about quality etc..why they removed those posts without removing yoour offer, huh ?
I don´t know why HP censored some recent posts. I already thought that they would delete my post. But you know, some companies can´t handle critics well ;-)
Hello, I have the same problems. I separate the cpu fan and the heat cooler . There ware a lot of dust in great blocks. Eliminate it and the systems works fine.
I downloaded the Service Manual, and have started going through the disassembly process. Have to pick up a #5 torque bit to remove the torque head screws.
Some of the ZIF sockets are a bit questionable. Looks like this may have already been taken apart before. One of the little plastic loops that hold the ZIF clamp in place is broken. The clamp is there, but it really doesn't hold anything anymore.
Any suggestions on what to do with this? It is the ZIF socket that holds the connector from the mousepad.
Oops! It isn't a #5, but a T8 torque bit driver that I needed.
Got everything disassembled. (Reminds me of the movie Short Circuit. "No disassemble!").
Anyway, the MAX 1987 chip is pretty darned small! I also notice the chip is mounted on the surface of the backside of the motherboard, so the pins do not go all the way through the board.
Hmmm... this is going to be interesting. Have to think my way through this one. No way I will be able to re-solder those tiny pins (not that good at it). We already have a hot air gun, so will take apart an old VCR we have and practice on that and try to get the timing down on how long it takes to reflow solder without cooking the chip.
Well, did some tests using pieces of solder and the hot air gun to see how long it would take for the solder to melt. With the gun on high, it took around 2-3 seconds. Gave it a try on the MAX chip. Re-assembled everything, and still have the same problem. At least I didn't cook anything...
No worries Al, I think it's not that easy to cook it. although I didn't do it myself I know clues it should take around minute with 350-400degrees (celsius). Use a flux or sth.
... Anyway, the MAX 1987 chip is pretty darned small! I also notice the chip is mounted on the surface of the backside of the motherboard, so the pins do not go all the way through the board ...
There are NO pins - the chip is pinless - all that holds the chip in place is blobs of solder between the pads on the sides of the chip and the pads on the system PCB.
The choice of chip package and the physically stressed location means that this laptop is a crippled design that inevitably results in premature and repeated failure.
By all means waste your energies and time trying to repair - but it will keep on failing.
You are right about the chip design and location is extreammly bad as in where the board flexes and will in fact brake again,...UNLESS you reinforce the area where the chip is, after you have made a good connection of course first. What I do for my clients with this machine, is after the repair, I will solder a finish nail (cut to size, from the power jack plug, across to the cpu heatsink hold-down (alot of solder LOL) Then I remove the plastic Piace from the base there the power jack plug "sits" (If you don't, the hole dosen't line up"". And lastly when reassembling, The silver screw that holds the cpu fan down against the board IS used, but not tight. (flush to board, then backoff quarter, half turn). Only reason I use this screw at all, is so the fan cannot shift and maybe hit the cap just close to it. My two cents worth,........again LOL Harry a1 Comuter Clinic P.S. you will / should file / sand some of the crome off the plug and hold down before soldering to make sure it is a solid contact as well!!
Did the disassemble thing again, and this time, I tried using my soldering iron. I used a Dremel to grind the tip down to a pin point, then touched each of the contacts to reflow the solder.
And thank you Harry for the nail tip. Did that as well to strengthen that area of the board.
Reassembled everything and it turned on right away. Also used some 3-in-1 oil on the hinges as I was reassembling the laptop. The lid is a lot smoother now.
Glad to hear most people are now able to resolve their laptop problems. My nc6000 is still going strong months after the solder iron tip trick. Apologies if it has already been mentioned before, but i´d like to point out for other laptop owners that the HP nc8000 and nx5000 also have the same MAX1987 chip problem that can be fixed. A friend of mine had the same symptoms as our HP ones for his Fujitsu Siemens C1110d. Sure enough there is a pin-less floating chip (around same size as the MAX1987)hidden under the cpu cooling heat sink. The laptop works if this chip is pushed upon. He sent the laptop away to a repair company on ebay who are aware of all these problems and they fixed it and returned it to him within 3 days and it comes with a one year warranty too. He paid 25 euros for the repair (cheaper because he only shipped the motherboard out) and just over 10 euros for return postage. He now has a great spare laptop for his kids schoolwork! Apparently there are MANY repair companies on ebay if you search hard enough, send them an email with your laptop model number and tell them the problem, they can probably fix it even if they didnt specify your model on thier website. Again the same fault occurs on many other models not just HP.
Since the info contained here was instrumental in saving my laptop (so far!), I wanted to share my experience.
I have an nc8000 that started showing the same symptoms of shutting down a few seconds after powering on. I pulled it apart and found the MAX1987 chip (man that bugger is small!) located nowhere near the screen hinge like on the nc6000. On the nc8000 the MAX1987 is under the top right corner of the touch pad. I thought no way that is the same problem since it was so far away from the hinges. I hooked the screen back up to do some "pushing" on components to see if I could fix it and low and behold, pushing on the MAX1987 would allow it to boot normally. No way I was getting a soldering iron on those joints though.
I have a Weller butane powered soldering iron that also has a heat gun attachment. The opening on the end of the gun where the heat comes out is no more than 1/4" in diameter and is a good size for this job. I went to a computer store and got some trashed motherboards to practice on first. None had a legless chip like the MAX1987, but it was good to practice on something at least. I put some flux on the joints and gave it a shot, but my first attempt at re-flowing the chip did not work. I tried again with more heat and that seemed to fix it. I cleaned everything up, blew the "sweater" out of the CPU cooling fins, and put it back together. I noticed that even though the chip was far away from the hinges, the movement of the screen definitely caused the board to flex. So, I took the hinges out of the screen and pulled the two metal hinge halves apart with some pliers. Cleaned what looked to be oil out of the hinge halves and re-lubed with a real light synthetic grease. I pushed the two hinge halves back together and reinstalled them into the screen. This did make it better as the the screen does seem to move more freely now. Got everything back together and it would start but would freeze at the Windows Welcome screen. I found that for some reason hitting ctrl, alt, delete would push it through and finish the boot process. Restarted a few times and eventually the freezing on the welcome screen went away.
Unfortunately though, the same no start symptoms reappeared within 10 minutes of fully reassembling the laptop. Similar to the nc6000 procedure, I tried pushing down on the top cover right over where the chip is to see if it would start. Sure enough, pushing just to the right of the touch pad would allow it to start normally. Took it apart and again diagnosed for sure that it was still the MAX1987 chip causing the problem. I decided to give it one more shot with even more heat. Cranked the butane up all the way and hit it again with way more heat than I thought it would take.
That did it. It's been a couple days now, but all seems well.
I too have the same power issue, although ironically I did get it to boot up for a few days no problem under the Linux distro known as BackTrack 3 on a livecd. However, the problem came up again, and in trying to see if the problem was the power switch board itself, I ended up destroying the actual power switch soldered onto that board. So I do have to order a new one regardless.
Here is what I do and don't know about it:
1-After reading this forum, I've found this to be a major issue.
2-I do NOT know if I have the Maxim1987 chip-haven't gotten that bold to take the rest of it apart, but will do so later in the day.
3-Also do not know the revision of my motherboard.
I had gotten this laptop back in April 2009, I volunteer for a local non-profit group that takes in computers and recycles them if they're too old or we donate them to needy families. So for free, I was expecting some issues but didn't even bother to check to see how major of issues it did have. I just looked up its specs (1.6GHz Intel Dothan M processor, 512MB RAM, bluetooth module, etc.) and was happy with that.
So here are my questions: 1-Has anyone thought that maybe the issue is the power switch board itself? It is a separate board from the main motherboard. (As stated above, I still have to buy another one.)
2-Is soldering the Maxim1987 chip the best solution?
3-Any other helpful hints/suggestions Or should I just give up on this thing?
And two off-topic questions but still regarding this model:
1-Does anyone know what the main purpose of the security module chip is? FYI-I did remove it and the laptop powered up just fine.
2-Does anyone know where I can get just the hard drive tray and adapter? Not looking for a new hard drive, I have one I can put into it, I just need the tray and adapter.
1. No this has nothing to do with the power switch - others will probably agree 2. Yes 3. You may try to reduce the pressure put on the max chip by reading the clues in this thread (there were at least 2 ideas for that I think)
The hard drive adapter - you can get it on ebay although very expensive as far as I remember
October 2009: my NC6000 developed this problem - it would start if the case was pressed near the 9 key, but then freeze randomly - the NC6000 is a nice machine, so I thought I'd try the fix described in this thread - read everyone's experience and decided to try to re-solder the MAX chip using a fine tip iron - bought a Antex 18 watt iron (CS18) from Maplin and a replacement bit from Antex directly - ref this site: http://www.antex.co.uk/prodtype.asp?strParents=183&CAT_ID=194&numRecordPosition=1 -the replacement bit has a fine point approx 1mm - Antex sent the bit quickly and it was no problem to fit it to the iron - disassembly of the PC was slow - the instructions in the HP Maintenance & Service Guide were great however, and I couldn't have done it without them. Only a couple of times did my model of NC6000 not match what the Service Guide said. One of these was the disconnection of the 2 wireless antenna cables (one white, one black) from the bottom of the main system board. I couldn't find a way of disconnecting them, so ended up clipping them and resoldering. - once the system board was free, I found the MAX chip, thanks to the info and photos provided in this thread - the pins are really close! wasn't sure if the 1mm tip was going to be fine enough. Needed to use a magnifying glass. Heated the iron up for 15 mins and then touched the tip on each leg for 2 to 4 seconds each. The solder would melt after about one second. -that was it - I didn't think it would work, mainly because a couple of times the side of the tip caught the side of the plastic chip and left its mark! - nevertheless after putting the machine back together, fingers crossed, switched on - the display came up - good - but it seemed to be some kind of Power On System Test of the RAM - let it finish. It said there was a checksum error, revert to 'default?' - yes - then, to my amazement, it started up windows fine. Reset the time and date. - I still didn't believe it, so waited for the machine to freeze - the 'adjust time' facility was useful to see it was still going, and if it did freeze the clock would would tell me when the freeze happened - so I just left it running. - its been a week now and after many restarts it seems to be working fine. - a big thank you to all who have contributed to this thread and identified this fix
I resoldered my MAX chip back in February 28th 2009.. AND...IT IS STILL WORKING!! Very Happy indeed. I use it every day and it works like a dream so i cant be bothered buying a new laptop just to run Vista or Windows 7. XP does everything i want.
It was worth the small price of a soldering iron and a few hours of patience.
I have a question to you guys that is indirectly related to max chip problem.
In one of the boards that had it resoldered I had a touchpad problem - it didn't work. So I switched to another fixed board - and this one has keyboard problem. The lowest row keys stop working randomly - alt, shift and ctrl. Sometimes all of them sometimes the right shift will work when the left isn't etc. It also appears to depend on how tough the screws are done underneath. When I loosened them a bit problem disappeared for some time and now it's back getting worse, adjusting the screws both ways didn't help (more of the time during the day is without those keys)
Any ideas on causes or anybody experienced something similar? It's not the keyboard problem, it was working fine on other board (where touchpad wasn't)
Meanwhile when I was typing this text the keys came back ;) I think this laptop is cursed!
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