I just received from someone for repair a small netbook (HP mini 210-1010eb). The person told me the netbook no longer boots. I also noticed the LED charge light does not light up.
I tested the AC adapter with a multimeter:
AC-in: 235V (my country has a 240V standard with an average of 230V)
DC-in: 19.5V (sounds about right)
So there is nothing wrong with the AC adapter. I also found a lot of bread crumbs on the motherboard and inside the keyboard itself..
Upon diagnosis, after unmounting the netbook piece by piece, I found out that the LED charge (power supply) light only wants to turn on when the internal keyboard's ribbon is not attached to the motherboard.
This is very strange. Why would attaching the keyboard cause the charge LED not to turn on and the power button to fail? The LED not turning on could mean that there is no power going from the DC-in to the motherboard. I have tried avoiding measuring the voltage of the motherboard's power supply connector because it's so tiny I find it very difficult to insert the prongs there on the polarization +/- of that tiny DC unit.
In any case: whenever I connect the internal keyboard with its ribbon to the motherboard, the laptop no longer powers on (the charge LED does not light up and the power on key does not do anything). After I remove the keyboard and I re-insert the AC adapter into the laptop, it boots fine; Windows 7 starter shows up. No problems.
What could the cause of this problem be? A shorted keyboard (water spilled, too many bread crums fell in it)? A shorted motherboard on the part of the keyboard connection?
note: I do not have an extra internal keyboard or an extra power supply for this netbook. Tomorrow I am going to ask someone for a USB keyboard to see if it works that way. Another expensive option I might have to test out is to buy a replacement internal keyboard from HP.
Please let me know your ideas on this.
Thanks
//Edit:
After fully recharging the battery and plugging in the keyboard ribbon again, the LED turns on and the system boots successfully. I don't understand. I will do further tests now..
I tested the AC adapter with a multimeter:
AC-in: 235V (my country has a 240V standard with an average of 230V)
DC-in: 19.5V (sounds about right)
So there is nothing wrong with the AC adapter. I also found a lot of bread crumbs on the motherboard and inside the keyboard itself..
Upon diagnosis, after unmounting the netbook piece by piece, I found out that the LED charge (power supply) light only wants to turn on when the internal keyboard's ribbon is not attached to the motherboard.
This is very strange. Why would attaching the keyboard cause the charge LED not to turn on and the power button to fail? The LED not turning on could mean that there is no power going from the DC-in to the motherboard. I have tried avoiding measuring the voltage of the motherboard's power supply connector because it's so tiny I find it very difficult to insert the prongs there on the polarization +/- of that tiny DC unit.
In any case: whenever I connect the internal keyboard with its ribbon to the motherboard, the laptop no longer powers on (the charge LED does not light up and the power on key does not do anything). After I remove the keyboard and I re-insert the AC adapter into the laptop, it boots fine; Windows 7 starter shows up. No problems.
What could the cause of this problem be? A shorted keyboard (water spilled, too many bread crums fell in it)? A shorted motherboard on the part of the keyboard connection?
note: I do not have an extra internal keyboard or an extra power supply for this netbook. Tomorrow I am going to ask someone for a USB keyboard to see if it works that way. Another expensive option I might have to test out is to buy a replacement internal keyboard from HP.
Please let me know your ideas on this.
Thanks
//Edit:
After fully recharging the battery and plugging in the keyboard ribbon again, the LED turns on and the system boots successfully. I don't understand. I will do further tests now..
Last edited: