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Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

All kinds of problems or malfunctions without known reason. Also general problems with the notebook as a whole.

Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby fabiozeb » Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:22 pm

Hello to everybody, i am disperate. My laptop don't start. When i push on button, i hear only fan. There is no problem of battery. No led on HD, and windows don't start. I connect other monitor, but no signal. What i can try?
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby aspettl » Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:43 pm

Did you already try the hardware reset desribed in the FAQ?

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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby fabiozeb » Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:39 pm

If you speak about this:

BIOS- and Hardware-Reset (The standard solution for many problems!)
- Load in BIOS the "Setup Defaults", quit with "Save&Exit"
- Switch off the notebook, remove batteries and AC adapter, press the power button for 10 seconds

Yea, i try, but only the second part because i can't load in Bios because i don't see nothing on screen
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby Seph79 » Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:40 pm

I had a similar problem. It sounds like your mainboard is dead unfortunately.

There was a notice on the FSC website around October-ish saying a mandatory BIOS flash is required to change the fan algorithm such to prevent the problem of mainboard/graphics card failure.

I luckily managed to read this within 2days of getting my laptop back from repair at great length ( :x ).

I would suggest asking a tech savvie friend to take a look inside or get a diagnostic at a repair shop.
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby fabiozeb » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:06 am

I ask to support of FS and i send them my laptop one week ago. They told me that probably is the mainboard.
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby pandorange » Tue May 19, 2009 9:55 pm

http://support.ts.fujitsu.com/amilo_graphic.asp?lng=COM

Great help, I have the same problem. It is intermittent, Didn't want to start yesterday morning, then for no reason booted up and gave me the choice of continuing the boot process or going into setup.
I continued booting and once in Linux did a little research online.
I turned the computer off last night and had the same problem again today and after thousands of attemps got to the stage where I had the choice.
I chose to go into setup in order to see the version of the bios and write it down. once I exited the setup the computer no longer wanted to boot.
During the boot process, when getting beyond the just a "fan" Grub gives me the choice of O.S., I never go into windows but know that if there is another successful boot I'll have to.
The update is a .exe :-(
May work with wine, but hey, why bother using wine when you still have an old windows lying around on a drive. ( It was originally designed with windows in mind)
I took the laptop apart this afternoon (Warranty is already void anyway) and dusted the inside (not that it needed it)
I really enjoyed my amilo while it worked only deceived by the entrapment's of all the proprietary stuff and the very short battery charge time.

"Q: What should I do if my notebook is already experiencing symptoms?
A: The problem can be remedied by replacing the graphics card. During the warranty this repair is performed by us free-of-charge and usually takes 3 to 4 weeks."

hmm, how long does the warranty last? (Surely if there was a known problem in the product, the manufacturer should accept to do a replacement free of charge even if the warranty is void .
Should I go for an eeepc (9 hours on the battery and very GNU/Linux friendly and probably the same price as replacing the Graphics-card) or will "fujitsu-siemens make sure" that it's customers are satisfied?
With that said, I'll try and boot the laptop again, you sometimes get lucky ;-)
Last edited by pandorange on Thu May 21, 2009 3:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby pandorange » Wed May 20, 2009 1:06 am

I feel so stupid...
Problem resolved, after turning the computer on and off loads of times, I finally managed to get into grub and load windows. :|
Windows was so slow it is unbelievable, everything wanted to be updated...
Once firefox launched, I went to the fujitsu support page, http://support.ts.fujitsu.com/amilo_graphic.asp?lng=COM downloaded the bios update (realized I could have downloaded it on any computer and done an iso fix on a cd? then again Live CD's didn't want to boot so would that have been read? )
I launched the packet in windows, updated the BIOS and am back online with GNU/Linux on my amilo.
:D

-The method that worked for me, was to be a over active with the on and off switch. (Taking the machine apart to dust it, was futile, pointless, yet interesting.)
-Enter the machines serial number on the fujitsu site
-download the update.
-install the update.


Now my only issue where I want to find a solution, have more mobile time (the battery barely gives me an hour) and an AC everywhere car adapter makes a nice smoke machine in a car if you plug the fujitsu transformer in it. I guess you should buy the fujitsu AC car adapters.
I hope this post (That shows that I got lucky) can be of any assistance.
Peace
I.E.
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby pandorange » Thu May 21, 2009 3:25 am

The laptop has gone back to not working, the bios has been updated yet I had lost the sound under GNU/Linux, not under windows? Tonight (I decided to look into the sound issue) only problem being it is back to its "I don't want to start" state. The bios upgrade seemed to be working fine last night.
The warranty is void, or if it wasn't I guess I voided it over an issue that seems to be a manufacturing one.
Next laptop, (if I find income for one) will be a more Linux friendly one, I'll try to salvage old parts from the amilo like people do on scrapped cars. I am stupid at times and wonder if I can adapt the screen of the amilo to the tower of an old pc that doesn't really need a screen (I use it as a dedicated server that I ssh'd into from the laptop.) Killing an old graphics card is my biggest fear. From snooping inside the amilo, the memory is not salvageable for any of my Desktop computers (To be honest, I don't think anything is.) the hdd's may be a little tricky, they are very slim. Nothing really important on them, I mainly tried various Linux distributions on that laptop. I feel sure that trying to adapt parts wont work, I may have to use the transformer for the screen.
Time to face reality, I lost an expensive friend, and shall be on the lookout for a replacement that has a more efficient battery and is smaller. (One that could allow me to go mobile with a telescope at night using Stellarium for references)

Sorry to say, the mandatory BIOS flash required to change the fan algorithm in order to prevent the problem of mainboard/graphics card failure doesn't always work. If you have this issue and warranty isn't void use the warranty!
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby pandorange » Thu May 21, 2009 3:55 am

Now it is back to working???
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby pandorange » Thu May 21, 2009 3:06 pm

Laptop is going against my logic, I am using it now as I type.
Everything seems normal under Linux yet the sound is still unavailable. A way around the sound issue is to Plug in speakers or headphones.
The best way around the "Don't Start" issue seems to be a "Don't stop" approach. :(
How long will it live if I don't turn it off? What if an update decides I must restart?
My Amilo has gone from being a laptop to a desktop machine with a battery in it in case of a power cut.
It is as if I got married with this machine, "until death do us part".
The things that made me go for this model of laptop was "AMD, Nvidia" two brands that I liked as a teenager. The laptop had a big screen too and was affordable when I was comparing prices on the net. I don't know how many hours are on it's clock, It worked wonderfully for the first few years. (Things could be worse, it could have been an apple :lol: I am not anti-windows, I prefer apple, I am not anti-apple, I prefer Gnu/Linux)
Maybe a cheap solution will come, my amilo managed (and is still managing) to survive a torturous existence.
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby aspettl » Thu May 21, 2009 6:54 pm

I'm not sure your graphics card has a problem.
Did you already try the "hardware reset"?

pandorange wrote:Everything seems normal under Linux yet the sound is still unavailable. A way around the sound issue is to Plug in speakers or headphones.

Maybe you have to set an option for the ALSA sound driver or just reconfigure the mixer settings...

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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby pandorange » Thu May 28, 2009 6:43 pm

I had tried the hardware reset described in the FAQ, now the computer doesn't want to start at all.
The bios upgrade seemed to have been successful yet the problem remains.
The solution to the problem seems to be to change the hardware with the warranty.
(Ooops, my warranty is more than likely void from me taking the laptop apart (not just removing the processor/memory cover, hdd cover)
I am unsure of the legal issues from always using it under GNU/Linux (The constructors could try to put the blame on them when clearly it is a hardware issue documented on their site.)
I tried to write to FSC, wrote a really long letter, found it well written, sent it and lost it, my session had timed out. :(
I liked their product but am now sadly looking towards the competitors.
I won't make the same mistake twice, I at the moment I am looking at the Samsung NC10, Acer One 751 and the Asus eeepc 1000HE.
They seem very linux friendly, and have a longer battery charge (6-cell instead of 3).
At the moment the Asus eeepc seems to have a slight glitch with the wifi under Lenny that seems sorted under Sid thus will be fine under Squeeze or by using NDISwrapper..
I am not really interested in the wifi. I just want to run Stellarium when I am out playing with my telescope.
The Amilo was great for learning, and I would run Cinerella, Jahashaka with many other interesting programs found in UbuntuStudio. Three years ago it seemed like the best choice of a laptop taking into account Quality and price. Growing up, I was a Fan of AMD and Nvidia and that influenced my choice (and the price) influenced my choice more than anything else.
People change, at the moment, "Linux Friendly" is the main criteria governing my decisions.
The amilo is Linux friendly to a certain extent thanks to a lot of hard work and contribution by developers.
With that said, the laptop may boot, I haven't tried today... Nope.
Any ideas on how to adapt the screen of an amilo on the side panel of a tower pc?
I may short out the AGP Radeon card of an old computer that has withstood the test of time. (I am like Sid, playing around with things when I am not an engineer, just a hobbiest)
The Amilo is already an old model, finding ways to salvage parts could be very useful to many in the coming years.
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby pandorange » Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:44 pm

Time has passed, I had unplugged the power supply from the mains and was still planning on finding a way of salvaging the screen for my server.
I have memories of removing the battery and trying all sorts to restore the factory defaults.
Now for some reason beyond my understanding, with the power supply in the mains it works again? Maybe unplugging it for a long time restored it to factory default.
Aaron was right.
The ubuntu community are very helpful, for the sound issue I was facing again. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=960186
in "/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base" Once more, Aaron was correct with his suggestions :wink: , It wouldn't reboot to try at the time.


options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig

Got the sound back, I no longer need the headphones for sound.

I can now go back to loving Ubuntu Studio on my Amilo.
:)
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby Lela » Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:41 pm

Hello everyone,

sounds like there are some experts here. I need help!
I have the same problem with my amilo, just sound of the fan and .... nothing :(
I am not an expert, and sorry to write, only use windows on the laptop, so in advance, sorry for the questions:
but when I install the new boot, is there any risk to loose the data on the drive. Is this whole process difficult?
Short: could I do this safely without a too-high-risk of damaging anything?
Would be very grateful for some help,
thx in advance,
Lela
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Re: Problem with Amilo XA 1526: Don't Start

Postby KitamuraComputers » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:31 pm

Have you all checked your RAM? It may seem silly, but memory issues can cause this sort of thing, I see it every day.

You may be surprised! :D Try another stick, or swap out dual modules, just trying each one.
Image
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