Member Avatar for Mandog

My brother already posted about this a while ago here: http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread99367.html. He's not so technically savvy.

Anyway, this has been gathering dust until it was given to me recently. I don't have the charger for it right now, and there's no power in the battery. I was going to purchase a motherboard on eBay, but I wanted to ask a few extra questions and try to pinpoint the actual problem.

When this laptop "worked", so to speak, it could never keep the time. The hour would always be way off after every boot.

I also remember downloading and installing software just fine. The problem would be after closing a program, it would give a strange error upon restarting it, but wouldn't run (this wouldn't happen all the time, but would eventually). I'd download the software and install it again and it would work, yet the same problem would come up. Sounds like a hard drive issue to me. By searching Google, I've also seen other people having the same problem with this particular laptop.

So my questions are whether this could be a motherboard or hard drive issue, or both (or would RAM and/or CPU be more common?). Also, I've noticed in some photos on eBay that there is a CMOS battery on the mobo, but mine doesn't have one. I'm not sure if it was there originally, or if someone took it out not knowing what it was. Can it function without one?

It couldn't be a software issue because I tried formatting and reinstalling (which worked for a little while, but the problems would happen again).

Thanks for your input.

By the way, there are two 512-megabyte sticks of RAM installed, standard Pentium M 1.4Ghz, 40GB Travelstar DK23FB-40 hard drive, motherboard is model number 6M856. Everything seems to look OK on the inside.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by west7478

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Generated

Short expert summary and a focused troubleshooting checklist based on the thread (notes tied to posts by , , , and ).

The combination of symptoms described — persistent clock resets and BIOS/RTC loss, intermittent application corruption that temporarily disappears after reinstall, and the unit powering on only briefly or responding to a keyboard tap — commonly points to two separate failure classes that can coexist: storage media degradation (bad sectors/SMART failure) and motherboard/power-rail faults. A missing or dead CMOS/BIOS battery explains the clock/BIOS-reset behaviour noted by /, but it will not reliably explain the abrupt power-offs and intermittent POST behavior that / reported. The practical approach is to isolate components methodically.

Recommended diagnostic checklist (perform in this order, using ESD precautions):

  • Verify the AC adapter/DC jack with a multimeter for stable output.
  • Remove main battery, HDD, optical drive, PCMCIA cards; attempt to power on with AC only (minimal-hardware POST test).
  • Test RAM by booting with one stick at a time and in different slots.
  • Remove HDD and attach it to another computer (USB/IDE adapter) to run SMART/bad-sector checks and copy critical data. If the drive shows bad sectors or SMART errors, treat it as the likely cause of repeated software corruption.
  • Inspect the motherboard near the DC jack and voltage regulators for bulging/leaking capacitors, lifted solder joints or corrosion; wiggle the keyboard/power connector and reseat it (a keyboard tap-on boot can indicate a loose connector or flaky power switch).
  • Replace or fit the missing CMOS battery (cheap)—this will stop RTC/BIOS resets but will not cure failing power rails.
  • If the laptop still dies immediately or fails POST with minimal hardware, the fault is almost certainly in the board’s power circuitry; a tested donor motherboard or board-level repair is the expected next step.

Priority: recover data from the drive first, then decide whether a donor board is worth buying versus salvaging parts.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for Mandog

Anyone?

Some extra details in case you didn't read the other topic. This is basically completely dead. It won't power on (only the status lights, then it goes back off). But it started to boot once when the keyboard was hit a few times.

Member Avatar for dez21

Not sure about other questions, but i think you need the CMOS battery replaced. I'm quite sure all MOBO need CMOS batteries.

Member Avatar for Mandog

Update: motherboard replacement fixed all.

Member Avatar for DellOutreach

Update: motherboard replacement fixed all.

Hello,

This is Richard from the Dell Online Community Outreach group. The previous poster "dez21" is correct that the motherboard has to have a CMOS battery to function properly. If it appears that the old motherboard is missing one then most likely the board itself is not bad.

Regards,

Richard B
Dell Online Community Outreach

Member Avatar for lodivar

Anyone?

Some extra details in case you didn't read the other topic. This is basically completely dead. It won't power on (only the status lights, then it goes back off). But it started to boot once when the keyboard was hit a few times.

GOOD DAY! the problem is in the mobo, try to disconnect the bettery. or maybe your processor overheat, or the video chi.

Member Avatar for west7478

I am haveing a issue with the motherboard powering on then shutting off instantly on a dell d600. Any one no if there is a way to check for a bad transsitor or maybe had same issue and was able to repair the motherboard?

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