Amilo random restarts

Here's the lowdown

A Fujitsu Amilo Pi1505 with Vista on SATA.
Intel Dual core.
Problems occur with one or two cores running, temps max at 50 degC.

All power control setting are off in Vista
restart on system failure is off in Vista

Laptop is subject to sudden total blanking and reboots, particularly if moved, or tipped.

Power is good, battery is good, fan is good and clean.
There is no particular program or windows procedure that causes this, happens with or without either battery or power supply.

But I can run the laptop indefinitely from DR Dos or Linux and twist and shake the chassis every which way, hold the fan stopped (momentarily) without it blinking.

Any ideas folks?

 

No suggestions?

 

Are DRDos and linux installed on the hard drive or being ran from CDROM?

 

I had that thought.

The BIOS is obviously run from ROM

The other operating systems were both run from CD.

Once the laptop is in its won't start - keeps resetting cycle I cure it by taking the hard drive out and running Check Disk on another pc. I have tried shaking etc the hard drive while attached to the other pc but can't get a glitch.

I did wonder if Vista was more complex and able to read and react to sensors that the simpler OS wouldn't.

I can also (nearly) cure the problem by removing the main back panel, which seems to have a shielding plate on the inside. I am currently experimenting with insulating this, although I can find any shorts etc.

 

Sure seems like hardware...I had similar problem, and couldn't fix it, not really, kept rebooting, taking out HD, reformatted and reloaded os, even, all kinds of stuff, and finally just replaced dvd player, and that solved it, but I ended up w/spare dvd player that works fine, so I doubt this really is what fixed it, but since it works, that's "good enough."

Best wishes, I've been following this thread, and didn't answer before since it doesn't sound like that's *really* your problem, but anyway, fwiw, that's what I had to do...on dell inspiron 2600 laptop, that is...

btw I saw u were running linux from cdplayer, so again, this probably isn't your problem...

 

How are you attaching the notebook hard drive to the other PC? I asked about whether the other OS's were ran from the hard drive or CDROM to clear the hard drive as a suspect. As they were loaded and running from CD and/or computer memory and the drive works well on another PC, this would seem to point to a hard drive connector or enclosure issue on the note book.

Is this the original hard drive that came in the note book?

 

Since the hard drive is SATA, I'm simply taking it out of the laptop and connecting it to a spare SATA channel on a tower pc.

I think the 60 GB hard drive is original as it has a Fujitsu partition on it as well as the Vista one. It is just over 1 year old.

On the laptop it slots into a housing on the motherboard and is then screwed qyite firmly into place.

I can't find any evidence of dry joints or poor connection here.

Could post a photo if you think it would give you any ideas.

I am going to try shrinking the Vista partition a bit and loading another OS onto the resultant space next. I still favour the theory that Vista responding to a sensor that simpler OS miss, by shutting off.

 

Interesting problem. I don't have any ideas other than run diagnostics on the hard drive. No errors in Event Viewer? Seems to point to the hard drive or the hard drive connector on the puter.:confused

Really just posting to subscribe. Curious about this one.

 

Yes there were Dcom errors in event viewer, but nothing I could identify.

Sorry mea culpa the drive is 80GB.

 

Following Duckfeets and others comments I played around with some of the hardware.

Taking out or refitting the Intel 3945 wifi card makes no difference. the pronlem is still there.

Disabling the DVD boot in BIOS makes no difference.

However the machine is perfectly stable with Vista if I physically remove the DVD drive. Obviously not a desirable long term state of affairs, but I do not want to obtain another drive if it is software related.

Nero7 essentials is loaded and Nero7 is known to be flaky with Vista.

Experiences with either welcome.

 

studiot,

From what I've been able to find this notebook was only sold in the UK? Only asked about the original hard drive as I found some reference while searching that some replacement hard drives are thicker than the original and could cause problems.

While in no way am I doubting your knowledge and experience, I did get the specs from this, http://www.laptopical.com/amilo-pi1505.html. It does show the original hard drive as being 60 gig and also being a Parellel ATA connection, and not SATA. Could it be that this laptop is a later year design and are there any BIOS updates available for it?

 

Thanks Novice et al for your interest. There are approaching 100views on the Fujitsu forum but not yet a single reply!

I am publishing the gory details because this fault is so unusual. I am always happy to learn from anybody from the teaboy on up (and have done so before now) so any idea or test is welcome.

The laptop was bought around Easter 2007 and failed (conveniently?) a month or two after the guarantee finished in mid 2008. I do believe all the parts were original. I have replaced a smashed screen.

You can see from the photos why I normally recommend Fujitsu laptops. The first photo shows the laptop with the back off. Note the steel frame around the edge, with everything screwed solidly down.

The DVD drive fits into a steel box housing under the label to the right. It is a Hitachi-LG device with a miniIDE connection direct to the motherboard..

The second photo shows the hard drive carrier on the left and the wifi card on the right. Again screwed rather than clipped in.

The third photo shows the MHT2080 fujitsu SATAhard drive reviewed in the link below. This is screwed into a steel carrier, which is screwed into the chassis. It slots directly into a socket on the motherboard.

There are no IDE hard drive ways on the motherboard.

Both the hard drive and DVD drive are identified as IDE by the BIOS, which has the usual laptop lack of options.

So I have to remember that this combination of hardware worked perfectly for just over a year before throwing this wobbly.

But it definitely now works well with either the DVD or the hard drive in place but not both together.

 

Update

I have downloaded and run extensively the Fujitsu system diagnostic program.
Nero has now been uninstalled.
Vista has rebuilt the inf driver database in \windows\inf - the original .dat files have been deleted.
I have tried a known good DVD drive (Sony) from another Amilo.
I have installed the latest drivers ( From Fujitsu) for graphics, chipset, SATA controller
I have tried it with the Intel 3945 wifi card in place and removed
I have disassembled the Foxconn heatpipe assembly, removed and reseated the processor and replaced the Foxconn.
I have disassembled and reassembled the DVD connector
I have tested ,removed and reassembled the memory module
I can't find any sign of motherboard damage under a magnifying glass
Vista claims to be up to date, although Service pack one is not explicitly in the update list.

After each of these tests I checked the operation in normal and safe mode.

Each time the laptop runs Vista perfectly so long as the DVD drive and hard drive are not both physically connected. Indeed I downloaded several hundred MB of stiff from Fujitsu this way yesterday.

If I have both the DVD and HD connected the laptop resets after a random interval, or immediately if I tip ithe left hand end up beyond about 45 degrees. Tipping the right hand end doesn't affect it.

Nor does tipping either end affect it if I am booting from the DVD itself.

So I can't decide whether this is a software or hardware problem. I did wonder if Vista was handling the processor PROCHOT# signal in a funny way.