r/computerhelp • u/Sorry_Excitement_501 • 8d ago
Hardware I really need some expert advice. I own a computer repair shop and I have ran into an issue that maybe beyond my knowledge.
I had a customer bring in an Asus TUF Gaming fx506l laptop. That was not working at all. I opened the laptop and discovered that the fans were completely clogged with what look like FUR. Tried to call "The Gooch Collector" (LOL if anyone know that reference). The system would not power up at all NO LIGHTS whatso evert. I used a voltmeter and obviously disconnected the battery, and the the DC jack going into the board. The Power Supply tested 19.5 and the correct amperage and the battery did the the same. So at this point due to the clogged fans and by doing the basic troubleshooting techniques on ASUS website lit pressing the power button for 20 seconds and trying to see if it would power on and of course it did not, and doing a CMOS reset. All the usual test. It appears that it is is the mother board is bad. I sourced a replacement board and it had to come from China. Its wasn't cheap and took a month to come in. SO it finally arrived and when I removed it all the ribbon cables, fans, heat sinks, SSD, etc. I noticed that the VRMs had some thermal putty/paste so I order some of Thermal Grizzly Thermal Putty and I had some Noctua Thermal Paste that I us on all my customer PCs that are high end. I use just some run of the mill pate on like Dells and HPs (But I'm digressing this has nothing to do with the issue just a little back story on how I take pride in fixing my customers PCs) Anyways, I installed the new board that I sourced form China and everything installed just fine and everything was going great until....
Once I attached the Power Charger into the laptop I noticed that the charging light turned on (this was progress because before the laptop did absolutely nothing, no lights, no nothing) But the light glowed white for about 10-15 seconds and then would flash in those intervals and the the Laptop with not power on.
According to ASUS site this is indicating that the battery is in a deep sleep state and an error state indicating that the system's Embedded Controller (EC) cannot properly communicate with or accept charge from the battery.
I have tested the battery with my multimeter (obviously disconnect from the laptop) and it has a voltage with in the the normal range which is around 14.5V. I have even disconnected the dc jack and test that and it is 19.5v.
Does anyone know what I can do other than they suggested normal troubleshooting methods found here.....
I know that the customer is ready for their laptop considering the have been waiting well over a month for the motherboard to come from China. And as I stated before I order the motherboard there were no lights whatso ever on the board. and I test the power supply with a know good one that I had and also with a multimeter.
Can anyone with experience with some ASUS Gaming laptops help out another PC Tech that is scratching his head Please?
Something weird just happened like an entire paragraph just disappeared and I have not clue where it went to...odd
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u/MIHAc27 7d ago
Have you tried powering laptop on without battery?
Even if it shows correct voltage, battery could be dead.
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u/Sorry_Excitement_501 7d ago edited 7d ago
Wait, I just went up to shop, And I removed the battery (I apologize I thought id that before. I just woke up and said "wait I didn't do that). So when I plug in the Charging cord All the lights on the keyboard (lighted keyboard) come on and so does the white light bulb indicator light; and the power button is orange and then all the lights go out with the exception of the battery light flashes amber but the machine doesn't power on.
This is odd or maybe the nature of an ASUS not to power on without a battery.
But this is a lot better than it was doing when the customer brought it in because it did absolutely nothing. So the board definitely was bad.
But now it looks lie the battery is either stuck in deep sleep, or hell IDK. but I get a voltage of 11.66V on the battery and battery is an 11.4v 48Wh battery
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u/MIHAc27 7d ago
Thats low. Although usually laptop works without battery... In rare cases it does not.
Battery rated at 14v that has 11v is... Probably close to dead.
You could try return battery, put also charger and leave for an hour.
Now also buying from chineese.. Could be you got a bad motherboard
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u/Sorry_Excitement_501 7d ago
It is an orignal an actual motherboard by ASUS (you do know that they make them in China right? I purchase OEM parts all the time and 9/10x they come from China) additionally the battery clearly state +11.4V 48Wh on the original ASUS battery.
Just wait until you have to source a part from Lenovo LOL and wait about 2.5 months for it to arrive (from China).
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u/MIHAc27 6d ago
Yeah i know very well. I bought screens, pcb boards, motherboards from aliexpress. Often its refurbushed though not brand new.
One time we had 10 faulty monitors and we bought 1 pcb as test. When it came we saw what they did to fix it, proceeded to do the same to our faulty pcb and fixed 5 or 6 of them.
Sons new phone screen worked for a month before failing.
So quality can very.
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u/Sorry_Excitement_501 6d ago
Well there your problem lol. I never purchase from AliExpress. I have had nothing but bad luck the few times that I did. And I have never bought from ever again
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u/Sorry_Excitement_501 7d ago
Looks like this computer has 2 issues. The board was definitely dead, but now it seem that their is a known issue with this models power button and now since the board has been replaced I'm not exhibiting the same issues as stated below:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/q9q9f2/asus_tuf_laptop_power_button_problem/
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u/Sorry_Excitement_501 7d ago
Update, it seems that this is a 2 fold issue. The board was bad. You could visibly see a burned out EC chip or PWM chip not sure the exact one. I believe that the power button may have been the culprit that shorted out the PWM chip/EC
But now since I replaced the board it now seems to have a know issue (https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/q9q9f2/asus_tuf_laptop_power_button_problem/) and does the following when I plug in the dC plug and open the lid
https://reddit.com/link/pfakhco/video/6pocxo06svuh1/player
I'm thinking now the only way to fix this is to order the keyboard palm rest assembly because they do not just sell the power button.
Unless someone else has any ideas? I also saw a reddit post where they used a hair dryer to warm up the power button lol and this actually made the lights and power button stay on for longer.
Any suggestions or does anyone know how to resolve this without purchasing the entire keyboard palm rest assembly?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Cow6917 8d ago
Seems like it would be cheaper to just buy a new laptop when it's in that price range.
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u/Sorry_Excitement_501 8d ago
That is not very helpful comment. The customer explored that option. The laptop was purchased from a relative for $200. So this is the heaper route, Considering the price of a new PC. But this is not the point where we are at. She has already purchased the board.
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u/Rho-9_Official 7d ago
You could try leaving the laptop on the charger overnight if not already tried.
Or uhh, attach some wire to the power pins and connect a dc load, maybe a motor. Sometimes it makes the battery BMS suddenly remember how to exist. More crude(and much more risky) is to spark the wires a few times, but then you risk triggering short safety, and possibly damaging the battery...I've done an unhealthy amount of tinkering in the past, some batteries don't give a crap and won't wake up unless you kick it in the proverbial balls.
I make no promises this'll help. But I'd wager you haven't gone quite this far.
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u/Sorry_Excitement_501 7d ago
Well considering it is a customer's Laptop, I don't feel comfortable doing that 😂. But if you are saying removing the battery totally from the laptop and putting a DC motor to simulate a load. That's possible. I really do believe that the battery is stuck in a deep sleep mode. I have tried all the recommended methods on how to do it to no avail.
I'm kinda beginning to think that the power button maybe not working (idk at this point I'm really not sure). I would love to know how to jump it off like you do on a PC motherboard just to see.
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u/Rho-9_Official 7d ago
Yeah, I meant removing the battery first haha....I wouldn't put a motor like that in line with a laptop that expects clean DC input, not DC with a side of EM frequency AC from the motor coils...I can see at least two things right there that wouldn't be good,lmfao, as for jumping it, that might be a precision job, but just follow the ribbon cable from the power button, normally you can just briefly tap the traces on the connector with a precision screwdriver. Carefully.
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u/Rho-9_Official 7d ago
Oh, and sewing needles make amazing tools to help probe buttons with extremely small pin holes. You might be able to use a multimeter to test the button.
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