Advent 5401 Multi Coloured lines. Graphics Card?

[bfuk1970]

Hi everyone.

Have pretty much had a trouble free 3 years with my Advent 5401 but this morning the Laptop made a buzzing noise and crashed. After switching it back on the blue hdd light flashes and stutters but the display only shows a greyish screen with multicoloured lines across it.

I think that it is actually booting but obviously I can't see anything.

Some help or direction would be great. I'm pretty pc savvy, so happy to dive on in.

Thanks, BF

[Ranibeke]

Try connecting it to a PC monitor.
If the display is ok the fault is the notebook screen, if not then it's the integrated graphics chip which probably means a replacement mainboard.

[odykan]

Hi to everybody!
The reason that i am writing this is that it occurs to me that a lot of people had or still has problems with the graphic chip of the motherboard of this laptop.
I am a pc hardware *spam word* technician so i am going to tell you my story whith this board hoping that it will help others too.

Recently, a Multirama HT Force G 8100 laptop entered in my custody.
The problem was that you colud see 4 screens on your laptop screen (refering only to post screen because i received it with no hdd). I diassembled the pc and found the board part number which is 31TW7MB0020 DA0TW7MB8G0 Rev.G Hannstar board.
This pc is basicaly a rebagged Qunta TW7 Laptop. It si also the same with Advent 5401, philips 15NB57, Terra 6000 and many other TW7 model EAA-89 laptops.
Whoever has diassembled a 5401 will know what i am talking about. Ther is the 8400m nvidia chipset in there, probably the worst ever and in adition it is placed right next to the northbribge with a very poor in volume heatsink.
At first i clened everything, applied fresh paste and pads, still the same. Disconected the laptop screen and send the signal to an external monitor and voila!!!!! One screen.
I thought that it was the scren's fault so i replaced it and reconect it. SAME s**t.
Started to apply heat to the graphic chip with a hairdryer, no considerable changes; applied heat to both northbribge and vga chip and voila!!!
So i ''baked'' the motherboard; 2 times. the first one worked for 5 days with win_7 and the second one i also applied liquid solderine under the chips. It also worked fine for 5 days.
I need tro mention though that no matter what cooling solutios a used i could not get the graphic chip to go bellow 55 celcius degres at statup.
Searching on the net for a new or used board ( new only from china and with no specific data about warranty) i came across the ad of repairing this board from bgarepairs.co.uk
which said tha the only solutio is to replace the gpu chip with a new next generation one. to replace it with the same one or reball it it will lead to faillure again because it is the chip's construction defect. For tha same reason they sugested that yoyu should not bother to buy a new board because it will also fail.
You knowe what?????
I BELEIVE THEM!!!!!
So i decided to take my risk and find another board to stuck in there.
After days of surfing reading and thinking and comparing i finally decided to go for a TW3m EAA-89 board with on board graphics.
So i ordered a used motherboard for Advent 7107 ( you can choose other advent TW3 based laptop board; just type 31TW3 on ebay and you will see) from blackmoreit in britain also.
When the board finally arrived i placed it in; YES it FITS.
PROBLEMS? YES!
1. you will have to physicaly modify the heat sink because you will know have NOT a discrete gpu on the board. I just used a chain scissors and cutted of the unwanted part.
2. You will have to find an older cpu; at least till you update the bios. I used a spare T2300 ( note that the new board can be with a479 socket so check your cpu from part number to be compatible with both 478 and 479 socket)
3.I noticed late of coursethat the conection for the screen inverter is diferent ( there is no webcam and microphone on the 7107).So i have also ordered
the 7107 screen cable which i am curently anxiously expecting.

SO TILL NOW I HAVE FITTED AN OTHER LAPTOPS BOARD IN THERE AND IT WORKS.
I HAVE IMAGE BUT I HAVE NOT POWER TO THE INVERTER TO DO MORE WORK>

Next step is to replace the screen cable to have power to the backlight ( unfortunatelly it means that i will have to permanet dissable the webcam and the mike)
and then update the bios, install windows on it and see what other cpu i can get it to work with and of course find the apropiate colling solution for it.
I think though that some arctik silver and a piece of 1mm thick cooper shim will do it.

I will come back after some days to keep all of you posted with the outcome of this experiment.

P.s. please forgive me any mistakes in spelling and grammar of english language. It is not my native language

[odykan]

Hi to all again!

Well, i finally received the screen cable and assembled everything back together using normal silicon based thermal paste and a piece of 2x2x1 cooper shim pad for the northbridge.
Everything is running smoothly under win_7.
I used drivers from TW3M machines downloaded from intel support for vista 32 and all is well.
I have also updated the bios and in the next days i will try a newer prossesor. Probably a T5XXX something.
My only consern is that the temps now stay low( under 45 celcious deggres in normal operation ) so the fan works rarely.
I would very much like a beta bios which would make the fan spin in lower temperatures.

So That's All.
This is the solution guys.
Modify your macine and built a hybrid one.
IT WORKS.
If anybody needs more info do not hesitate to ask for it.

[johnppv]

Hello everybody,

I have the same problem with odykan. My laptop shows multiple desktops in my screen and when I connect it to an external monitor the problem still exists. I opened the case and saw that there was a lot of dust to the cooler. Do you think that I have to change the motherboard or not? Can I fix the problem with a different cooler?
Please tell me your opinion.
Thanks in advance

Giannis P.

[odykan]

Dear John P.
Please read my topic on this by the title Tw7 Hybrid PC built.
There are detailed explanations in there.
If this do not cover your needs send me detailed description of your laptop.
To briefly answer your question the answer is that i thik that you are going toneed a new mobo.
If you still do not succed send me an e-mail: odykan@yahoo.com and i will do my best to guide you through the process.
KALI SOU IMERA FILE!