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Laptop Power issue possibly caused by Pentium CPU

idata
Employee
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One of my laptops has an odd power issue in which under certain circumstances causes the fan to stop spinning and displaying odd arrangements of pixels on the screen and causes a grainy noise to come out of the working speaker. For example with the CPU frequency setting on dynamic while booting and/or regular use the computer will either show alien-like characters on the screen or the screen will 'Shift' (Where the left hand side is in the middle, ect) With the settings at 'Always Low' the computer will work normally after it has reached the login screen, it will run for hours like that, however when I try to run Ubuntu the glitch will appear, currently the only Linux distro I can get to work is the 69MB edition of nimbleX. The glitching also occurs when in 'Single Core', 'Dynamic' The Laptop's other problem is that it is designed to hold 4GB of Ram and can only hold to.

So far nothing has been a full, permanent fix. I have:

- Replaced the power jack,

- Upgraded the Bios from 1.7 to 5.2, this allowed the computer to run at the reduced frequency

- Tried starting the computer without the DVD drive

- Tried starting the computer without the speakers

- Replaced the Ram, tried also in the other port

- Run only with battery, the computer runs perfectly with the battery, until it goes flat

Model: Toshiba Pro Satellite A200

CPU: 1.73GHz Pentium (I had a check of the CPU, no apparent cracks or scratches, seems to be soldered to the caddy, or the caddy won't unlock)

GPU: 450MHz, 128MB

Ram: 2GB Kingston DDR2 @ 800MHz

I have pulled apart the laptop so that I can get a better look at it and see what the problem may be.

My hunch is on the CPU, am I correct or is it something else, like the BIOS?

I would like to know what the problem is as it would be great to have a back-up dual core laptop. Please help.

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Adolfo_S_Intel2
Employee
325 Views

The issue that you are reporting does not seem to be processor related since the processor either works or it does not work.

On this case, since even installing the latest BIOS version for your motherboard does not fix the issue, then I would suggest contacting your laptop manufacturer so they can assist you or provide any warranty option.

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idata
Employee
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The laptop is out of warranty, apparently it costs like $69 to get them to figure out the problem.

Could this be something to do with 'Errata' that occurs in some CPU's?

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Adolfo_S_Intel2
Employee
325 Views

I do not think that it is an errata issue, unfortunately the only way to determine the defective component is by taking the laptop to the manufacturer so they can perform the required tests.

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