unable to boot my Travelmate TMB113E-2810 windows 7

cayrick49

I own 2 of these identical computers. One works flawlessly which I call computer good or comp G. The other I call computer B or bad. Comp B and comp G are used laptops but Comp B will not boot. Both have Samsung 500 GB ssd's. So lets focus on Comp B. What have I tried?
- switch SSD's
- Switch memory cards & checked ribbon cables to SSD and memory
-reset the CMOS. The CMOS reset terminals are visible but the CMOS chip is not visible as it is in the guts of the machine. 
- 32 GB SDHC card was removed and there are no accessories connected to the laptop
- switch batteries & chargers
- The screen works because when i bought it and initially tried it I was able to get it to boot up a couple of times with great difficulty. 
- Tried press f2, Fn 5, fn6, fn 9 etc.
- The laptop was problematic from the get go
  When I start the computer the blue light comes on and after about 5-10 seconds it cycles off and then back on and continues like this. I hear the fan working. The memory expansion slot is empty but seems damaged as I am unable to get an expansion card to seat properly. If I press the on/off switch to turn the machine off it will continue to cycle on & off until I disconnect the power and remove the battery.

I would appreciate any help or ideas or suggestions. Thanks!

William_mk2

@cayrick49


It looks like a hardware issue. 

We still need to determine whether it is a hardware issue or a software related issue. 

It might also be the issue with battery, charger or power outlet.   Try to use the charger in a different room on a different power outlet.  Try to bypass the surge protector and connect it directly to power outlet.    Try to use an alternative charger if possible.    Try to turn on the computer without the charger and check it  ( as long as the battery is not drained out )  

I am really sorry for the inconvenience..   Let us do the basic steps first..

Doing the power drain and bios defaults will really help.  Kindly follow the steps given below:

Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices or any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down.  On the bottom of the laptop, you can find a  pin hole. It is a tiny hole. You can a find a battery symbol indicator next to the hole. It is like a + and – sign symbol as though somebody is trying to shift the battery out. Insert the pin on to the hole for 30 seconds. Remove the pin. Flip the laptop. Connect the charger cable, turn on the computer.  Only on laptops where the battery is inbuilt you can find the battery reset hole on the back of laptop.

If you don’t find a pin hole on the back of laptop then you might be using removable battery. There is no need to unscrew anything to remove the battery.  Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices and any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down.  On the bottom of the laptop, please look at the top or bottom depending on the way you look at it. You can find a long door. It is a battery removable door.  Just below that you can find a latch.  If you move the latch you can remove the battery door. Once the battery is removed, flip the laptop. Open the top cover, press and hold the power button for 1 minute. Connect the battery back on the back of computer. Connect the charger cable back and then turn on the computer. 

 

If you don’t see a reset pin hole on the back of laptop or if you are not able to remove the battery (if it is inbuilt) then please unplug all the cables and devices out of laptop.   Hold the power button for 1 minute.  After releasing the button you should wait a while before plugging in power. Just because the button has been pressed doesn’t bleed off all the residual electricity on the motherboard. Wait 15-30 minutes before plugging in power. Then once power is connected wait for a full battery indication before turning the system on. That allows the battery to fully reset it’s internal statistics.

Connect all the cables back and restart the computer.  

While turning on the computer, tap f2. It will go to bios. Press f9 once. It will show load bios defaults with a yes or no popup. Press enter. Popup screen will disappear.  Press f10 once. It will show save changes popup with yes or no. Press enter. Computer will restart and it will load into windows.   

 

It might also be the issue with battery, charger or power outlet.   Try to use the charger in a different room on a different power outlet.  Try to bypass the surge protector and connect it directly to power outlet.    Try to use an alternative charger if possible.    Try to turn on the computer without the charger and check it  ( as long as the battery is not drained out )  

If you are able to boot the computer.. 

Try windows x 

go to device manager 

expand Battery

right click on all the items below battery – uninstall 

Restart the computer 

 

It should work fine.. 


If it is still not working then it might be a hardware issue.    You have to doublecheck whether the components are connected properly.   Try to reseat the components, connect it tightly,  check whether they are connected properly and then try to restart the computer and recheck it. 


Turn off the computer.    Tap f8 while turning on the computer.    Check whether you are able to see repair your computer and advanced options. 

Look at the keyboard.   There are two alt keys on the bottom row of keyboard.   One alt key is on the left and the other alt key is on the right. 

Turn off the computer.    Try to hold the left alt key on the bottom row and tap f10 continuously while turning on the computer.     Check whether you are getting any thing like, Windows is loading files, please wait , Acer recovery management. 

Turn off the computer.    Try to hold the right alt key on the bottom row and tap f10 continuously while turning on the computer.     Check whether you are getting any thing like, Windows is loading files, please wait , Acer recovery management. 

If you are not getting anything  like  Windows is loading files, please wait , Acer recovery management or if the computer is not booting it might be a hardware issue.  

Please check whether it is going into bios by tapping f2 while turning on the computer. 

First of all, we need to check whether you are able to boot up the computer.     If you are able to turn on the computer atleast we can try and reload the windows using Acer recovery media or by using a Windows 7 operating system disk.. 

If you are not able to boot up the computer then it looks like a hardware issue. 

If your laptop is in warranty you can contact the warranty dept.     Go to the website support.acer.com - chose your country.   On the new page - scroll down -  click on "contact support".  Scroll down.  You can find the phone no to contact the warranty dept. 

If it is out of warranty, please contact local store or

Go to the website support.acer.com - chose your country.   On the new page - scroll down -  Click on  "Repair My Acer" - Request to have your Acer product repaired.   There will be charges for repair. 

Additional info to contact Acer Store:  Please visit the website - support.acer.com - chose your country - click on shop.   You can buy desktop, laptop, monitor and accessories.  Alternatively,  on the top right corner you can find the phone no to contact Acer store.   For the parts which are not available on Acer store, you have to contact local store.

cayrick49

I interchanged the following between my "good" and bad computer:
- swapped batteries & chargers
- swapped memory 
- swapped SSD drives
- did the power drain exercise and pressed f keys and nada
So all of these are eliminated as problem sources. I reset the CMOS by shorting contacts 
  It is for sure a hardware problem. Maybe the CMOS battery but this is inaccessible without removing a lot of screws and I don't have a spare so no point.
   I was hoping to find other problem areas

billsey

There are only so many ways these can fail... Plus, IIRC the CMOS battery function is actually handled by the system battery, instead of a coin cell. The symptoms point toward a battery issue, but since you have swapped to a known good that means we are likely looking at a failure during the first part of POST, or possibly earlier in the startup.

The process I believe it goes through is when the power button is pressed the startup circuit uses battery voltage to turn on power to the motherboard. That first initializes the processor, then the memory, the loads the BIOS. When the BIOS is loaded it starts POST. The first test in POST is the memory test and if it fails the system goes into a constant beep. If the memory test passes it initializes the GPU and turns on the display. Yours seems to be failing before POST starts. If it were getting into POST then you would hear the memory failure sound since you have the issue with the memory stick not seating well. That means it's likely either the CPU (potentially repairable) or motherboard (potentially replaceable). Since the system is so old, W7 came with it at launch, I'd be happy with the one you have working and either keep this one for parts or dispose of it.

cayrick49

Your conclusion to save it for parts is likely the rational choice. I was hoping someone would have a simple straight forward solution.
  It was the 2ndary memory slot that would not properly seat the memory card. I bought the machine with that slot empty. 
  Some months ago if the stars were properly aligned the machine would boot. It sat in the cupboard for a couple of months before i pulled it out last weekend. Initially I tried booting and it only went as far as the fan running. I tried all the usual stuff to get it to boot. I began switching memory with my good computer and all memory chips ran in the good computer. 
    During that process however, it began running, I mean fan came on for about 10 secs and shut down and it kept repeating this on off cycle. I turned the machine off but it tried rebooting again in 10 sec. intervals. 
   For some reason I became obsessed with this model of computer. I went on a buying binge on Ebay. I initially had one, then I bought one for my wife. That one exhibited the same problems that this bad one has. That computer I turned over to a local guy to fix and he was stumped. I gave him a new bios but he said that was not the issue. That got scrapped as it returned in pieces. He told me to buy a replacement MB and used machines were cheaper than a MB; so I bought 3. My skills are limited and that was the CMOS was the only thing I could think of. I cloned drives to 500gb Samsung SSD's because of my obsessive compulsive personality. When computers become problematic I have a tendency to dig in and strip the down when really I should take a 10 second deep breath and ask if it is really worth it and stop. 
     I felt compelled to fix this one when it became problematic when in reality I may never even have to resort on my spares. I dug into the back machine on Sunday but the CMOS chip is buried in the bowels of this machine and so I just substituted obvious parts and then put the lid back on. 
          I just hate to throw it away as it seems like a waste. I was hoping that if I cast out a line I might find someone who had the same problem and solved it. So far this hasn't happened. I was tempted to go out to Ebay and buy another B113 but you struck a chord. Machines have since improved in numerous ways so why would I hang onto the past although I continue to use Win 7 just because it works for me.
  Matter of fact I put in a bid today for another one and fortunately the offer died and was not accepted.
   I thank everyone who has taken the time to offer solutions and I have received some valuable info; things that I did not know. I will keep checking back for that one in a million chance that maybe someone out there has a solution. Thanks!

billsey

Good luck on your search.