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Failed Arch Linux install, bricked laptop

post #1 of 9
6/10/12 at 4:38pm
Thread Starter 
So I have an Acer Aspire 5552, AMD Athlon II Dual Core, AMD Mobility Radeon HD 4250.

Yesterday I went and installed Ubuntu 12.04, but it was a little slow on this system, so I asked a friend what a good lighter distro was, and they recommended Arch, but warned me it would take some configuration to get it to work the way I wanted, which I was alright with.

So I started today going through the installation, prepped the drives but ran into some network problems so I exited the installation and powered off the laptop figuring I'd just try again later.

So I went to try again later and suddenly my laptop no longer works, the fan spins up, the CD drive spins if there is something in it, but I'm not getting any sort of output, the screen remains black and even if I hook up an external monitor and push function F5 to sync the displays I get no output what-so-ever.

So I guess I'm just wondering if my laptop is just well and truly broken at this point, or if there is something I can do to fix it.

If you need any more information from me, I'll be more than happy to provide it!
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post #2 of 9
6/10/12 at 4:47pm
It sounds like your graphics chip has died. Its a hardware issue, and unrelated to your linux install. If it wasn't a hardware issue, you'd still get to the BIOS. You could try popping out the HDD, and see if you can get to the BIOS, but from the symptoms you describe, you're looking at a new laptop motherboard. frown.gif

If you DO get to the BIOS with the drive out, you can try formatting the drive on another machine, then redo the install.

Best of luck. smile.gif
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post #3 of 9
6/10/12 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
Ah, well thanks! Yeah I was certainly worried that might be the case, and my Arch install might have just been a coincidence. But I'll give it a try without the HDD in and see how it goes.

Yeah, removed the HDD and still nothing.

If it was a GPU failure though, would the screen still turn on at least? I'm getting totally black, like off black.
Edited by Kangae - 6/10/12 at 4:57pm
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post #4 of 9
6/10/12 at 5:01pm

Yes your system would need to POST first and you would see that. Arch is noting going to cause you to fail the POST setup. Trouble shoot basics first. you can even shine a light into the lcd and look at it from the side. see if maybe the backlighting went dead.

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post #5 of 9
6/10/12 at 5:29pm
  • Shrak
  • (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Do you see the backlight come on at all, or does it stay the same off black that it is. Normally you should be able to at least see the backlight. If not then it may just be the screen and not the gpu.
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post #6 of 9
6/10/12 at 5:31pm
Thread Starter 
No, no backlight, but like I said, even if I hook up an external monitor I get nothing, but I suppose that would need to go through the GPU?
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post #7 of 9
6/11/12 at 8:14am
Yes that would need the GPU, as would the internal screen for showing POST screens. At this point you should look if your specific laptop has this as a common problem, and call the company and ask for an RMA. On the "bright" side, you may get a brand new laptop without any wear you currently have! Or in any case, some newer and less used components.

You also could try taking the battery out for a while, etc, to try to "reset" the motherboard. (I have had that work before) (My terms are not the technical ones though)

Good luck!
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post #8 of 9
6/11/12 at 10:06am

Depending on the model you could reflow it as well. ive had some models where the screen went black like that. and all i had to do was wrap it in a blanket for a while. over heated the crap out of it. that reflowed the soilder to some of the parts and the screen came back alive. if this works for you. then start looking for a new laptop or a replacement motherboard as it will only be short term before it happens again. hit google up and check your make and model for baking instructions :)

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post #9 of 9
6/11/12 at 11:58am
nvidia?

[edit]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trippen Out View Post

Depending on the model you could reflow it as well. ive had some models where the screen went black like that. and all i had to do was wrap it in a blanket for a while. over heated the crap out of it. that reflowed the soilder to some of the parts and the screen came back alive. if this works for you. then start looking for a new laptop or a replacement motherboard as it will only be short term before it happens again. hit google up and check your make and model for baking instructions smile.gif

That's a very poor way of doing it, considering solder generally reflows at a couple hundred deg While you MIGHT soften it enough for a small contact, that's surely going to burn out and make any perm fix even harder (due to how shorts work). There were reports of Apple laptops with Nvidia chips being able to reflow with an alcohol flame or heat gun it's not really a good way to go. your best bet would be to strip the PCB and put it in the oven with a proper thermometer. That way you could do a slow pre-heat and possibly a proper re-flow without burning too much, hopefully nothing.

Either way you go, your probably screwed as most re-flow attempts don't work well.
Edited by mushroomboy - 6/12/12 at 12:48pm
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