Lenovo Ideapad Y430 won't POST

[Jaxbot]

Hey all,
This one really has me stumped. I recently received a Ideapad Y430 from a friend who said it was having some issues. After tinkering around, I found that the laptop will start up for about ~10 seconds before shutting off. Nothing on the display or on external monitor. Fans spin for about 2 seconds. CD Drive lights up. Then the whole thing just quits.

The battery works fine and presumably so does the power adapter. I've removed the RAM and tried other sticks-no go. Since then, I've completely taken apart the whole laptop, heated the mainboard in an oven for about 8 minutes to attempt to reseat the solder, then reassembled. No dice, exact same problem.

I've also noticed that putting a CD in the drive causes it to spin and act as if it is beginning to boot off the disc, then it dies. Oh, and there is no hard drive in the machine, but I would expect it to still POST without one, right?
I'm hesitant to buy a new hard drive if the whole machine is bricked.

Any ideas? Thanks

[EzyStvy]

The battery works fine

A very common problem with laptops is that the a/c attached to the mobo gets broken. Try to jiggle it bit to see if you can get it to make connection.

Some jacks can be fixed - others require a new mobo.

[Jaxbot]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy A very common problem with laptops is that the a/c attached to the mobo gets broken. Try to jiggle it bit to see if you can get it to make connection. Some jacks can be fixed - others require a new mobo.

I've messed around with the AC cable (plugging/unplugging it), but afaik the power is consistently shutting off after ~10 seconds, so I don't think it's a connection issue.

[mknabster]

Do you notice any unusual amount of heat coming from the back or bottom of the computer? I had this issue with my Dell laptop, where it booted up, then immediately shut itself down. It turned out the heatsink and fan were shot on the motherboard. When you turn it on, is the screen completely blank, or is there some sort of image on the screen that is just black? I hoenslty sounds to me like a motherboard or BIOS issue to me. If your computer showed the BIOS on the screen then shut down, I would think it's the hard drive, because that's what happened when my first hard drive failed in my Dell. Is it under warranty at all?

[Jaxbot]

No BIOS image whatsoever, infact, the screen doesn't even appear to turn on. I do know, however, that the fan is spinning, and is attached properly. The fan spins up for a bit, then shuts itself off.

[mknabster]

Hmm, ahev you ever had overheating issues with it at all? The fans might be spinning, but they don't always keep the computer at the right temp. But it still sounds like a mboard problem

[Jaxbot]

Originally Posted by mknabster Hmm, ahev you ever had overheating issues with it at all? The fans might be spinning, but they don't always keep the computer at the right temp. But it still sounds like a mboard problem

I have never had the laptop working, it was broken when it was given to me (they had no need for a broken laptop and thought maybe i could fix it).
And yes, I do feel that the mainboard is dead or something.

[mknabster]

Oh in that case I would just scrap the laptop for parts then, unless it is your only one and you want to pay to get it fixed, but if that's the case, buying a new laptop would be cheaper, at least in most cases, than replacing the motherboard.

[Jaxbot]

Originally Posted by mknabster Oh in that case I would just scrap the laptop for parts then, unless it is your only one and you want to pay to get it fixed, but if that's the case, buying a new laptop would be cheaper, at least in most cases, than replacing the motherboard.

It is my only laptop, and I was hoping to get it working for development purposes, but since I didn't buy it to begin with, I'm not at a loss here.

Thanks for the help though

[mknabster]

Yea, glad I could help, hope you get it all worked out. But you should definitly take the hard drive out, put it into an enclosure, and use it as an external hard drive.