HP Mini-Note motherboard failure rate?

[mikez]

See directly above, someone had a newer version than yours die already.

It is a real shame, I have been a supporter of HP products for decades;
Now I have one of their NetBooks that I am afraid to turn on and use.

Meanwhile, my decades old HP, PA-RISC system continues to be problem free.

[Twisted]

I was able to still find the discontinued 2140 online. (YES! new and not a refurb) Got it and am installing XP pro on it at this moment. I was an early user of the 2133... but it is not a reliable unit, sadly. I played with the 2140 for 1 day with the XP Home version that it came with it, and am quite happy with how cool it runs. I may buy a second unit just to put on the shelf for the future..... I'll test it for a week then make that decision...

[Twisted]

HOLY CRAP.... forgot to mention I fell asleep during my commute today, and the train jerked quite hard. My 2140 flew off of my lap and landed quite hard on the floor. I picked it up, and saw the drive light was orange. HP uses something called Drive Guard to park the HD head as soon as it feels "weightless" (a.k.a. a fall) My 2133 was sooooo sensitive to the movement of the train, the Drive Guard was kicking in every 30 seconds. I had to disable it. I looked at my 2140 and the screen was blank... I thought "oh crap, I broke my mini on it's first day". People around me were betting that it was destroyed... I waited 5 seconds and the screen just came back on where I left it. I am quite impressed...

[LaDiabla]

In need of cash, I was prepping my HP 2133 for sale to a friend who wanted a more portable machine yesterday, and as a holiday gift for my friend, I intended to create a dual boot with Crunchbang.


BTW: I never had any problems with this machine, but I hadn't bothered to slipstream the proper SATA driver from Via after downgrading to XP; thus the screwy AHCI resource settings typical of such an XP installation, as well as rather unsightly [to me] allocations for IRQ sharing had inspired me to tinker w resources.


I set about cleaning all this up. During this process, I experienced problems with the USB-boot mechanism, not just in creating a bootable flash drive, but in even getting my mini to run from an Acronis boot CD. It'd start, but after choosing a tool, further loading would fail. The unit would only run from 2 external sources: a Windows system installation disc or UBCD. So I restarted up into XP again.


Vexed & fixated by the resource assignments for the USB controllers, which seemed obviously erroneous & problematic, I disabled the whole lot of them. Yes all 4 (enhanced & universal). I paused, then checked back into the HP Service & Config Guide for the 2133 & related docs. At this point I noted that the PCIe channels appeared to be misallocated as my wifi driver had 15x (should be 1x, right? ...with AGP assigned 15x) So I uninstalled the wifi driver, and manually reassigned the graphics driver to viaagp1.sys [just for fun]. At which time my phone rang, and I distractedly approved the unit to restart (wo any of the USB controllers enabled).

BSoD. [any one surprised?]

BSoD doesn't scare me, but the hard restart gave me a different result this time: symptomatically, I appear to have another dead motherboard.

Perhaps it is fried. Perhaps I'm just looking at a corrupted BIOS. My intuition suggests the latter. And were it even possible otherwise, I now lack capability to boot alternatively via USB. I also lack (currently) the Torx8 T8 screwdriver to remove the bottom shell of the machine so that I might remove the BT & audio assemblies to get at the RTC battery in hopes of resetting CMOS.


So, I'm hoping someone here might have definitive info for me.

1) If that AGP/graphics driver reinstalled erroneously, would that fully fry the motherboard, as appears to have happened?

2) Am I pipe-dreaming that I simply have a corrupted bios, and that provided I got that Torx8 I could get at the RTC & reset CMOS?

3) If I bricked the machine which parts are worthy of salvage, aside from the display assembly? And if this is my fate, forum members are welcome to contact me if they would be interested in my parts. Machine specs below:

Returning to HP is not an option as the warranty expired 5 months ago.


I have the hi-end biz release of the 2133... KX870AT#ABA

...i.e. VIA C7-M ULV processor spec'd at 1.6 GHz, 128 KB L2 cache & 800 MHz FSB
with 2Gb 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM Memory; 120 GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD,
8.9" WXGA display & VGA webcam... Shipped w/ Vista Pro, and I also have the XP
Recovery discs from HP...


Happy Holidays, folks!

-Kym

[mikez]

I don't recall reading anything about mis-installed drivers frying the M.B.
One person did report the machine dying while installing an OS, but that was just bad luck/timing.

[jerry6]

sent out that day had mini back 1 day later , all fixed working well again . Glad i bought the 3 year ADP warranty .

[LaDiabla]

thanks for your 2cents, mikez. the response is appreciated.

I glanced thru your site. looks like there's some interesting reading therein.
I'll be revisiting it in the near future, when I have more time for such projects.

but as you are a modding guy. i wondered if you might suggest some diy-oriented resources outside of this forum & hp.com where I might research an out-of-warranty resolution, or find enough info that I might make that determination myself.

Thx
-Kym

[mikez]

thanks for your 2cents, mikez. the response is appreciated.

I glanced thru your site. looks like there's some interesting reading therein.
I'll be revisiting it in the near future, when I have more time for such projects.

but as you are a modding guy. i wondered if you might suggest some diy-oriented resources outside of this forum & hp.com where I might research an out-of-warranty resolution, or find enough info that I might make that determination myself.

Thx
-Kym

Look at the upper left corner of the M.B. near the hinge - see if the fuse looks cooked.
You will probably need a good magnifing glass to inspect it (or even to find it).

I purchased a dead machine from one of the members here last summer, hoping I could spot what was wrong...
But I sold off all of my electronic test equipment decades ago when I retired, so haven't had any luck.

I am about to ban myself from this site - I have my own site to run now.
If the admin here doesn't give a damn about this site, I don't see why I should, I don't get his ad revenue.

[Zim_256]

The HP 2133 has the devil inside, i was publishing it on an online sales site and it died. I was using it for months without any issue, it just died when i was about to sell it and replace it by a VAIO netbook.

[c0ldb00t]

I have been reading a lot of the Oven Repair Trick all over the internet. Has any of you guys tried it yet? Maybe there's still hope for the dead motherboards out there.

THE- OVEN TRICK - WORKED - Overclockers Forums