Think my laptop may be bricked...

Arzy

Arzy

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Fek. Got up this morning to make coffee and as I walked by the room I normally leave my laptop in I noticed the eerie blue glow. Not making much of it I continued on my way till it registered that somethings not right. Went back and saw the BSOD, WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR.

Not a great way to start the day. Rebooted and let it attempt to do an automatic repair. It started. It stopped. It restarted. It stopped. Back to BSOD. Fek.

Tried to boot from USB and do a refresh or reinstall but can't even get the installer/recovery to load from USB. Windows logo, restart, windows logo, BSOD.

Ok. Removed SSD. Swapped HDD to primary. Tried install from USB again. Still can't even get passed the windows logo, BSOD

Create new bootable USB. Same story.

Remove HDD. Popped in older clean SSD. Try and boot from USB. Windows logo and BSOD.

Reset BIOS to default. Boot from USB. Logo. BSOD.

Flash new BIOS. Boot from USB. Logo. BSOD.

Busy downloading Mint but I'm not expecting much.

Dont think it's gfx, memory checks out in BIOS but it's on board so I can't even remove to test, battery and power seem fine as it still runs plugged in or not. So my uninformed guess is an error with the cpu.

It's served me well for 5 years but I do believe that our electricity problems have finally led to something breaking.

Anyone have advice on something I may have missed?
 
WHEA stands for Windows Hardware Error Architecture of I recall so essentially, you have faulty hardware somewhere.. Since you have soldered RAM, you can't remove to test but, you can do a bootable memtest to test the RAM for errors, assuming you can boot it..

Overheating CPU is another thing to check for, so make sure CPU fan is still working and is not full of dust..
 
Arzy said:
Fek. Got up this morning to make coffee and as I walked by the room I normally leave my laptop in I noticed the eerie blue glow. Not making much of it I continued on my way till it registered that somethings not right. Went back and saw the BSOD, WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR.

Not a great way to start the day. Rebooted and let it attempt to do an automatic repair. It started. It stopped. It restarted. It stopped. Back to BSOD. Fek.

Tried to boot from USB and do a refresh or reinstall but can't even get the installer/recovery to load from USB. Windows logo, restart, windows logo, BSOD.

Ok. Removed SSD. Swapped HDD to primary. Tried install from USB again. Still can't even get passed the windows logo, BSOD

Create new bootable USB. Same story.

Remove HDD. Popped in older clean SSD. Try and boot from USB. Windows logo and BSOD.

Reset BIOS to default. Boot from USB. Logo. BSOD.

Flash new BIOS. Boot from USB. Logo. BSOD.

Busy downloading Mint but I'm not expecting much.

Dont think it's gfx, memory checks out in BIOS but it's on board so I can't even remove to test, battery and power seem fine as it still runs plugged in or not. So my uninformed guess is an error with the cpu.

It's served me well for 5 years but I do believe that our electricity problems have finally led to something breaking.

Anyone have advice on something I may have missed?
Click to expand...
Switch it off.
Remove power cable and battery. While battery removed press the on button a few times. Hold it in, press it etc.
This should flush it. Connect just the power cable and switch it on. If it works fine you can turn off and reinsert the battery.
 
|tera| said:
Switch it off.
Remove power cable and battery. While battery removed press the on button a few times. Hold it in, press it etc.
This should flush it. Connect just the power cable and switch it on. If it works fine you can turn off and reinsert the battery.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice, tried but also difficult to complete, battery isn't removable without stripping the entire case.
 
I think i had this BSOD too, it was my overclock, too much CPU voltage.

Try boot into memtestx86 and run a test.
 
Arzy said:
Thanks for the advice, tried but also difficult to complete, battery isn't removable without stripping the entire case.
Click to expand...
Let it deplete.
Switch on the laptop, enter BIOS and leave it running.
Test then what I suggested.
 
Arzy said:
Thanks for the advice, tried but also difficult to complete, battery isn't removable without stripping the entire case.
Click to expand...

Strip vs giving up and buying a new one :P easy choice
 
Unfortunately managed to drain the battery to the point it wouldn't even turn on anymore, plugged it back in and the process repeats itself.
 
Arzy said:
Unfortunately managed to drain the battery to the point it wouldn't even turn on anymore, plugged it back in and the process repeats itself.
Click to expand...
Sucks. Check for a refurbished unit if you have spare cash. Or check Carb for a decent 2nd hand one.
 
Ow. Decided to send it in and have it checked out, R25k to repair so that is definitely not happening.
 
Arzy said:
Ow. Decided to send it in and have it checked out, R25k to repair so that is definitely not happening.
Click to expand...
That's just insane.
Sad stuff bro. Not fun when this happens.
 
Arzy said:
Oh well, it's served me very well for just over 4 years. Must have heard me mention I want to get a new one and committed suicide.
Click to expand...
Yep. Mine has been running since 2013, it's a i5 Dell Inspiron. I've upgraded it a lot, SSD, RAM etc. and it's still giving joy.
Sometimes things last decades, sometimes a few months, or few years. You can never know.
 
25k to fix a 4 year old laptop... name and shame the place.
You can buy a pretty darn decent one for that price now.
 
Don't think it's out of line, the laptop cost more than that when I bought it 5 years ago. It's an Asus ROG G751, I had an issue with the power connector just shy of a year after buying it and they gave a brand new replacement unit which has now died.
 
Arzy said:
Don't think it's out of line, the laptop cost more than that when I bought it 5 years ago. It's an Asus ROG G751, I had an issue with the power connector just shy of a year after buying it and they gave a brand new replacement unit which has now died.
Click to expand...

If you're keen for an experiment send it to me, haven't had a challenge in ages ;)
 
Disable things in BIOS. As many things as possible such as NIC's and Bluetooth etc,etc. Essentially all you want is enough enable to use the KB and fresh install. If that succeeds then start enabling things in BIOS to see which tanks the laptop. Also remove the DVDrom.

EDIT: Before you do any of this, go fetch a hammer and put it next to the laptop before going into BIOS. Your laptop might start feeling a lot better.
 
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