Novatech Laptop still won't work

[f1ack2]

I've still got a laptop that doesn't work. The laptop is a Novatech one, in a Mitac 8640 chasis. It's two years old, and recently has taken several attempts to start up. Then it worsened and would only start in Safe Mode.

The Novatech recovery disc then failed half way through reinstalling windows. Novatech sent a replacement recovery disc. This worked, however on startup I just get a blue screen with errors.

I changed the harddrive with a brand new novatech one, same problem. I've also run memtest86, and that cannot find any faults.

Now I'm stuck, with a fairly new laptop, that doesn't work!!

HELP!!!!!

[Coops]

Is the copper CPU cooling fin clear of dust and dirt and is CPU cooling fan coming on when HS gets hot?

[f1ack2]

The copper cooling fins are all clear, and you can hear the fan and feel the air blowing out when it gets hot.

[Coops]

Can you provide what the exact blue screen error is?

[f1ack2]

There are two errors that come up on the blue screen. The most common is

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
STOP: 0x00000050 (0xC7CF83A9, 0x00000000, 0xCFCF83A9, 0x00000000)

The other one that comes up is

STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x80EA4330, 0xC0000102, 0x00000000)

[f1ack2]

I have got XP installed now, however the original problem remains. Everytime I try and start the laptop it takes about 10 attempts. It runs through the Bios screens, then as soon as it gets to the XP loading screen it will restart the computer automatically. It will do this approximately 10 times before XP starts properly.

To recap, I have reinstalled XP, and put in a new Harddisk. Still the same problem.

[Nox]

I hope you took any extended warranty option then - around about this time I would start looking at the cost of getting it repaired vs the cost of a new laptop. New HD, new OS and the same errors is never a good sign, memtest will generally (but not 100%always) pick up any ram probs, so you could be looking at a fault on the motherboard or cpu now. ie, a nightmare. Are you able to try installing from a regular XP cd rather than a restore CD?

Nox

[f1ack2]

It's a novatech restore CD, I am beginning to think that the I should have bought a better quality laptop. My other laptop is an IBM thinkpad. It is now 4 years old and starts and runs perfectly first time everytime! I probably should have spent the money and got another IBM rather than a Novatech one :cry:

[Nox]

Think bad luck is bad luck :(

Nox

[jtq4u]

I have the same stop errors on the same model of laptop.. did you ever work out what was wrong?

Thanks

James

[Coops]

The recovery disk you have.

How old is it?

Is the version on it Windows XP SP1 or SP2

[X40Nick]

I think it can't be hardware if it eventully starts up.

Go and spend £1000 on a IBM ThinkPad, for £1000 notebook with the same specs as a £500 with a 2 year warranty???

To be fair all laptops with big brands on them are made by Compal or Quanta.

And Dell are rubbish, but then again they are made by the same people who make IBM.

But then IBM dissappeared, I wonder why...

Lenovo. A failing company took the name, but it is not the same.

Nick

[system7]

It's worth trying a Ubuntu Linux i386 disk here. Takes the hard drive out of the loop and will test the hardware. :?

[jtq4u]

Hi there,

The disk is pre sp1, however I don't think that is the issue as I tried installing ubuntu linux this evening and that doesn't install either.

James

[system7]

When a recovery disk fails to install, that can be a memory problem. Just a thought.

[jtq4u]

Yes my thought exactly. I am going to go and buy some this lunch time.. fingers crossed, though I think someone above in this post said that didn't work for them

Cheers

James

[jtq4u]

It looks to be fixed now.. still under test use to be sure.. however Here is what was done to fix it. One of these things must have resolved it as all these things were performed at once.. and before it consistently didn't work, afterwards it consistently does:

- removed modem card (incase this was the defective hardware.. it's not needed)
- removed battery (doesn't hold charge and so could be causing overheating through constant charging)
- put memory into expansion slot on rear
In it's self putting a new memory chip under the keyboard did not fix the computer.
I put the origional chip into the back expansion slot, noteing the port to be damaged, slot seperator missing.
putting the memory chip into this expansion slot may have sorted pins that were shorting.

You mileage may vary of course!

James

[X40Nick]

Good to hear it is fixed!

As you have suspected the memory slot is damaged and will not work, have you tried leaving the new stick in ther other slot? And keeping the broken one empty?

Nick.

[davedeastfrancis2008]

just recieved a novatech 8640 that i ordered off ebay, has no battery plugged it into mains, and mains light comes and cd light flashes once but nuthing displays on screen. just wondering if anyone knows what could be wrong with it?? ta :eek: