Re: Presario 2100 Motherboard Testing

"edman62"wrote in message news:edman62.3vmfog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was given a Presario 2100 which in frustration was intentionally
dropped a few times - by the original owner. I would like to possibly
use it basically as a home computer connected to an external monitor,
keyboard, mouse, etc. However upon pressing the power button the blue
power LED and three adjacent LEDs and the CPU fan turn on for about 2.5
seconds and go off. The continues to repeat after a couple of seconds
except only the power LED and fan come on. Pressing any of the adjacent
buttons have the same effect. I started removing components, swapped
RAM, tried without RAM (replaced RAM afterwards), without hard drive,
without shattered monitor, without DVD drive, etc. with no effect. The
battery was not included so all the testing I have done was without the
battery. Is there a way to test such a motherboard standalone or with
minimal peripherals installed, or with external peripherals installed
instead such as an external VGA monitor, USB keyboard and mouse? I don't
want to spend any money on this computer I just thought I would try to
get it working before I throw it away minus a few parts (memory,
hard-drive). The motherboard appears to be in good shape - no visible
cracks or loose or damaged parts. I am an electronics design engineer so
I know that there could be invisible hairline cracks in any of the
hundreds of traces or broken solder connections. I just do not know what
to expect the motherboard to do when powered up like this. It is not
worth buying a service manual and I don't have schematics. I was hoping
for some diagnostic codes to flash on the LEDs or speakers (which are
silent when connected). Can anybody help before I send it to the
electronics resting place in the sky (or ground)? Thanks.

Hi edman62! As an electronics design engineer, I am sure you have heard of multilayer PCBs. As virtually all motherboards have multiple layers with runs on them. And you won't find a broken run without a x-ray machine. And even then, maybe you won't find it.

Did you try having the hard drive and DVD drive removed at the same time? You should see the POST screen or something on the screen if it makes it that far. And the service manuals I have seen on computers won't help you at all (unless the computer sends out a series of beeps). And schematics for computers can't be found since the 90's. So finding one is rarer than winning a multimillion dollar lottery.

Before you give up, I would feed your own power supply into it if you have something that would work. Ideally twice the rated amps just in case it is drawing more current then it should. And I might feed it a volt or two more as well if the correct voltage didn't work. After all, this is a last step before using it as a door stop.

--
Bill
Windows 7 Ultimate (build 7100)
Asus EEE PC 702G16 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC

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