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Issue: after turning on my laptop, the screen stays completely black, not even a backlight.

What happened: I was carrying a backpack with two laptops:

  • a Lenovo 320 15ABR, 6 years old.
  • a Motile M142 14'', 2 months old

The backpack fell two times, from a chair. So, not véry hard. The six year old laptop is totally fine, the newer laptop is broken.

What I've tried: 1- Opening up the laptop, but not the lid where the screen is. I saw no loose cables or whatever 2- hooking up the laptop via HDMI cable to two TV's and a 24 inch HP screen. All three said "no signal"

My preliminary conclusion is that the motherboard is still good, because I can hear the laptop starting up, running even, and the backlit keyboard turns on normally, but something GPU-ish is broken, a cable, a connector, or the GPU itself.

Question:

  • One Do you agree with that conclusion, or can there be something else which is going on? Did I miss a possible explanation?
  • Two, what are your ideas to fix this? For the moment, I'm thinking the only sure way is replacing the motherboard. If the GPU was not integrated, I would replace just that, but it is integrated.

Motile M142 specs:

The router shows 3 devices via ethernet with the addresses(?) of

  • 000.000.2.1 ; main laptop
  • 000.000.2.2 ; TV
  • 000.000.2.16 ; PC Note how these come back in the arp table below, and how they are all dynamic.

the arp table after arp -a command

 Interface: 192.168.2.3 --- 0x1c
   Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
   000.000.2.1           xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     dynamic
   000.000.2.2           xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     dynamic
   000.000.2.16          xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     dynamic
   000.000.2.254         xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     dynamic
   000.000.2.255         xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.0             xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.00            xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.000           xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.000           xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.000.000.000       xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.000.000.000       xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.000.000.000       xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.000.000.000       xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static

 Interface: 192.168.2.5 --- 0x2
   Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
   000.000.2.1           xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     dynamic
   000.000.2.16          xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     dynamic
   000.000.2.254         xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     dynamic
   000.000.2.255         xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.0             xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.00            xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.000           xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.0.0.000           xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.000.000.000       xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.000.000.000       xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static
   200.000.000.000       xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx     static

the follow up question is of course if the arp shows a device which the router doesn't show... ?

And the other follow up is: If the laptop doesn't show in the router, is the whole motherboard really broken, despite hearing it and the backlit KB turn on?

GwenKillerby
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  • The built-in display .... doesn't speak nor display **anything at all** which is sort of the problem to begin with? Or perhaps I don't get what you're saying. – GwenKillerby May 13 '23 at 05:37

1 Answers1

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Based on your description: Since your GPU is integrated, it means that it is actually part of your CPU (in AMD, they call this APU).

It is not likely to break a highly integrated circuit (a.k.a. chip) like it by physical damage and just breaking one small portion of it -- given that your laptop still boots. It could be some external component that is broken, like some circuit/wiring on your motherboard.

I don't know how this laptop is designed. If the APU is soldered on the motherboard then there is basically no fix.

Otherwise, we need to confirm if the broken part is actually the APU itself, or on the motherboard. What I usually do for troubleshooting this sort of issue is by replacement, but that requires you to have a replacement. Say, put this APU on a different compatible laptop or put a different APU on the same laptop, and see which works.

One more thing to check is that if your laptop really still boots: Try to open it on a known Wi-Fi, or connect it directly to your router, see if you can find your laptop from your router and ping it from another device. If it had any server on it, try if you can still connect to it.

charlesz
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  • Thanks for replying! <3 So, if i connect it with an ethernet cable to my router/modem (Experia v10), and i use another laptop to connect to the router, then where or how will i see the broken laptop? – GwenKillerby May 12 '23 at 17:56
  • @GwenKillerby One way is that many routers/modems have a place to list connected devices and their IPs. If it shows up there then likely it is running. Another way is to use ARP scan: https://superuser.com/questions/522296/windows-command-to-display-all-ip-addresses. As long as your router does not block local machines from accessing each other on LAN. – charlesz May 12 '23 at 18:10
  • Sadly, the **Motile M142** isn't showing in **the router**, even though I hear it running and the backlit KB is turned on. I've even pressed ESCAPE and then the PIN, under the assumption that everything works but the graphic section, so I could login, but ... no joy. – GwenKillerby May 13 '23 at 08:35
  • I looked in the router, and I saw 3 devices, my laptop, my tv, my phone but not the 2nd laptop even though it was plugged in. I tried the **arp -a** command, but while it showed some stuff, probably not the Motile. See above for the arp-table – GwenKillerby May 13 '23 at 10:55
  • @GwenKillerby "while it showed some stuff, probably not the Motile", but you noted in your addition that there is a main laptop and a PC, so they are other computers that you have at home, I assume? If that is the case then it seems to me that this Motile is not actually connected. – charlesz May 14 '23 at 17:50
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    Yes, you wére right. However, I was álso right, a bit. I'm happy to report that the problem has been solved, it was the memory stick that got loose, not the APU nor CPU. I was taking out the SSDs (for salvage! ;-( ) when I remembered reading something about how in these cases the first thing to do was to take out and re-insert the memory. I did that & it all worked again. Oh, joy! Finally! I went to a lot of anguish to get this laptop, which is the laptop with the highest **bang-for-your-buck** -rate or _worth-price_ ratio in the history of laptops, so it'd be sad to lose it after a few weeks – GwenKillerby May 15 '23 at 21:40
  • @GwenKillerby Thanks for letting us know the fix. :-) – charlesz May 18 '23 at 20:04
  • Yeah, sorry for taking such a long-ish time to let you all know. Since then, I've also modded it with wooden feet underneath it so I can velcro tape extra HDD's underneath it. It has now 15 TB stuck to it. First, I stuck them to the cover like everyone does, but it kept falling over.... ;-) – GwenKillerby May 23 '23 at 07:15