Tecra S2 intermittent startup problem after pressing power buttton

[brimar]

Hi all,
I have a Tecra S2 with the 6600go GFX card.
The machine is great but exhibits the following problem.

After the machine has been off for a while it will not start reliably.
You press the power button. Either immediately after you release the power button or a second later (changes each time) the green power LED comes on. The cooling fan runs at high speed then slows to a crawl a few seconds later (as normal) but LCD does not come on.
Also when it does not boot USB devices are not initialised (I have a product key dongle that flashes if it is not initialised - when the laptop boots correctly this dongle lights continuously - in a normal boot it is initialised before the BIOS ramtest)

I have upgraded the bios a couple of times - it is now at 2.4 (I saw that the power button timings were changed in V1.9) but this has not solved the problem.

I have tried booting on AC power with battery removed, ac battery & battery only - the result is the same.

I can make it start up eventually by holding the power button until the laptop turns off, waiting a few seconds and then trying to turn it on again.
After several of these cycles it will eventually start up. It seems recently that it is taking more attempts to start than it did before.

If I have been using the laptop for an hour or so and then turn it off it will almost always start again first time.

If I put the laptop in standby (orange slow flashing power LED) then half the time it will continue when the power button is pressed - the other half the power LED will go green but the LCD will remain off & I have to cycle the power button.

As you can imagine this is driving me nuts!

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,
Robin

[brimar]

The plot thickens....

I have since got my hands on a mini PCI POST display card.
When the machine does not boot POST hangs on DA Hex which I believe is 'Return from extended block move" (Phoenix CMe Firstbios Notebook Pro)

Anyone know which memory areas are accessed during the extended block move.
(could this include graphics memory?)

I have also found one other post for a tecra with an identical intermittent boot problem.
That one was in warranty.
The service centre replaced his graphics card but he did not post if this had fixed his problem or not.

If I have any luck I will post the cause and fix here.

Regards,
Robin

[Giz]

Dear Robin,
I have a Tecra with exactly the same problem. Did you get any help with a solution
Regards
Giz

Hi all,
I have a Tecra S2 with the 6600go GFX card.
The machine is great but exhibits the following problem.

After the machine has been off for a while it will not start reliably.
You press the power button. Either immediately after you release the power button or a second later (changes each time) the green power LED comes on. The cooling fan runs at high speed then slows to a crawl a few seconds later (as normal) but LCD does not come on.
Also when it does not boot USB devices are not initialised (I have a product key dongle that flashes if it is not initialised - when the laptop boots correctly this dongle lights continuously - in a normal boot it is initialised before the BIOS ramtest)

I have upgraded the bios a couple of times - it is now at 2.4 (I saw that the power button timings were changed in V1.9) but this has not solved the problem.

I have tried booting on AC power with battery removed, ac battery & battery only - the result is the same.

I can make it start up eventually by holding the power button until the laptop turns off, waiting a few seconds and then trying to turn it on again.
After several of these cycles it will eventually start up. It seems recently that it is taking more attempts to start than it did before.

If I have been using the laptop for an hour or so and then turn it off it will almost always start again first time.

If I put the laptop in standby (orange slow flashing power LED) then half the time it will continue when the power button is pressed - the other half the power LED will go green but the LCD will remain off & I have to cycle the power button.

As you can imagine this is driving me nuts!

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,
Robin

[brimar]

Dear Robin,
I have a Tecra with exactly the same problem. Did you get any help with a solution
Regards
Giz

Hi Giz,

No solution but a partial work-around.

Turn on as usual and wait for it not to boot.
Wait > 1 minute with it on & not working.
Hold power button to turn off.
Wait until the on led goes out.
Count 3 seconds
Turn on as usual.
On my S2 this boots up every time using this retry.
This does not help with the standby / hibernate issue though.
If you wait less than 3 seconds (say 1/2 second) and retry powering on too early it will still boot but there is a >50% chance the cooling fan will come on FULL and stay that way until you reboot.

Regards,
Robin

[elmarkezdezade]

I Have the same problem, I've been moving up staff, and I've found that there was a cooling problem with the gpu (nVidia), the computer gets hot, and the plastic's gpu slot, produces a bad contact, (sorry if I don't express ok in english, i speak mostly spanish), so when I put it ok, the screw holes doesn't match fine, and if I put them ok, the slot keeps in bad contact, so it doesn't boot, I'll try with a hot air gun to make it match, anyone have a suggestion? Thanx

[bietjebatje]

This evening after a while my Tecra S2 just turned off. No lights on.
Pulling out and in again 2 green lights. Power and battery. Pushing the power button lights go off.
Have taken out HD, Memory, Battery and reconnected them. No luck.
Taken out the fan, to look for dust, no problem. Removed the heatsink and there is still cooling pasta on it. So, no problems I think. Closed up the laptop. The problem persists.
Who can help me out.
Thanks.