Pavilion dv6-2141ee won't power up after fan cleaning and thermal paste reapplying

[e_samurai]

I spent more than 6 hours desassembling this laptop to clean the fan, then assemnling it. After all was pluggen in, the power button won't power it up. When I plug the power cord the LED power light turns on, but that's all (I have no battery).

Yes I double checked the connections of the power and all the other motherboard cords and everything is in place!

It's worth mentioning that I used pure alchol to clean the old thermal paste on the CPU and GPU then applied Coolermaster thermal compound (and didn't change the thermal pads).

Please tell me what's going on. It's a huge disappointment to face such issue or even to have to spen other hours disassembling again!

[mdklassen]

> Please tell me what's going on.

I hope that you did not "flex" the motherboard, to cause any "invisible" breakage.

Motherboards have multiple "layers", and it may not be possible to check all the "traces" to see if one of them has lost "continuity".

Got a multi-meter, to test the voltage/amperage from the AC adapter, and the connection from the "power-socket" to the motherboard?

[e_samurai]

Thanks for your lightning fast response! I believe I did not flex it .. actually I handled it with extreme care. I don't think I heard any snapping sounds coming out of the board.
And no i don't have a multi-meter 😞 .. What are the possible candidates of such problem?

[REO51ST]

@e_samurai

Did you remove the CPU from its socket when you cleaned it???

REO

[e_samurai]

No I did not. Just the heatsink.

[e_samurai]

Guys! Help please! I just removed EVERYTHING again to check for the fan cable. It was unplugged! So I just plugged it again and was expecting things would work, but BOOM! Nothing happened! What in the world is going on?! It doesn't even power up or beep or make any kind of response when I push the power button. How can I identify such issue? Is it by any means connected to removing or re-adjusting the heatsink?

[mdklassen · Accepted solution]

Is the laptop fully assembled, or can you see the fan?

Disconnect the AC adapter.

Hold down the ON/OFF switch for 10 seconds, to drain any "residual" power.

Reconnect the AC adapter.

Does that cause the "power" lamp to turn on?

While watching the fan-blades, touch the ON/OFF button.

Does the fan "wiggle", even slightly, momentarily, to indicate that a "surge" of power reached the fan?

Is the fan's cable correctly connected?

The laptop may refuse to start when the fan is not detected.

[e_samurai]

Thank you for your response! As stated before yes the fan cable was not connected and that would have been the main issue.

But addtionally, it seems that all the twisting and stretching of the upper cover made the power cable slide a bit underneath it. No matter how much it's plugged into the motherboard it would not run because the cable in the cover was a bit slid!

The notebook now runs fine. I'm not sure if 40-50C idle is good, but I believe it's too high. At least it's not throtlling like crazy as it used to be. Is there any way I can reduce these temps? Is there a setting in BIOS that makes the fan spin a bit faster?

[mdklassen]

> The notebook now runs fine.

Great news!

> I'm not sure if 40-50C idle is good, but I believe it's too high.

Depends.  AMD CPUs tend to run "hotter" than Intel CPUs, but you're in the "normal operating range" (under 60 Celsius).

> Is there any way I can reduce these temps?

Within "Power" settings in "Control Panel", have you set it to "balanced performance" or "maximum performance" ?

> Is there a setting in BIOS that makes the fan spin a bit faster?

Maybe.  Some BIOSes have this option, some don't.

It should be "obvious" while BIOS SETUP is active.

[e_samurai]

Thanks! I will check that tomorrow and report back to you.
When I stressed the CPU using CPU-Z it reached 70C and while keeping the test running it steadily raised to 73+. I think that's not normal is it?