Question Laptop Asus N56J does not start. A single soft beep, no screen

[Robomcd]

My 2013 Asus N56J worked well until recently. Would occasionally not start, but after waiting some time it would start. It seemed that removing all USB connections helps with started up normally as well.

Now, it seems end of story, no start-up.

• I hear SSDs spinning
• no screen
• no back-light for keyboard
• After several seconds, I hear single soft beep. This beep is repeated several seconds later etc.

The manual for this laptop states as BIOS startup failure error beep codes asus n56:

One short beep

• VGA detected
• Quick boot set to disable
• No keyboard detected

I tried starting in Safe Mode by keeping delete down: no dice
I tried adding a USB keyboard to get into safe mode: no dice

Any ideas apart from throwing it to garbage? This is our non-profit laptop, and we need it to work a few more months before we have funds to buy a new laptop.

Anything I can-should do if it starts up again? Saving data is not a problem, the data are backed up regularly, and I have equipment to run the SSDs as external storage disk to my main laptop.

Forgot to add some data:

• This laptop is mostly used as desktop with second monitor (duplicated screen) and external keyboard and mouse.
• The connection of the hings close top the power button is not so good, that is, the top and bottom part of the laptop are a bit split there, but this is already months like this, and when using as desktop the laptop is half closed to avoid tension there.

 

[Lutfij]

I hear SSDs spinning
SSD's have no moving parts, which is why you can operate a system with one in it, without fear of data loss(as you'd see on an HDD). Now, that leads me to ask, what did you actually hear? The CPU fan?

Would occasionally not start, but after waiting some time it would start.
Might be tell tale that your motherboard's power delivery circuitry is compromised or your power button is damaged.

Any ideas apart from throwing it to garbage? This is our non-profit laptop, and we need it to work a few more months before we have funds to buy a new laptop.
Considering it's well beyond it's warranty period, disassemble the laptop and inspect the motherboard for any blown or bulging capacitors as well as any burnt componentry on the motherboard. You should be able to get a smell of something burnt if something did get bruned.

 

[Robomcd]

Formulated that wrong. Tried to start, no dice, power running whirring sound but nothing else. Forced power-off by keeping the button down .. then wait some time or some hours, try starting again. So its not that after some time while running the system wakes up and kicks in.

Spinning sound. The sound starts the moment you push the start button (which lights up normally). It just sounded like listening to an older external HDD, mainly coming from the side where the power button is.

Several years I actually replaced the original CD player with an SSD in an official connector bay. So I put in a new SSD as OS drive, and the older original SSD as data drive (which gets backed up regularly.

I just took that data SSD out. Started the laptop and two things happened: first, the louder spinning sound is out, and two, the laptop is running???

I connected the data SSD to my main desktop as a next drive, and started to back everything up again.

Anything I can do now to check hardware while the laptop is operating normally?

Or restart in safe-mode and check bios??

 

[Robomcd]

Update, a tech-friend of us with a lot of spare parts tried to figure it out: end conclusion is that the MB is close to being fried completely. So end of story. All data was on removable SSD disks, so no data loss.

Thanks for sharing ideas.

 

[Robomcd]

Edit about original info. Both Lutfij and I were right. You can't hear an SSD but I did hear something spinning.

I took both 2.5" disks out of the laptop, and assumed both were SSDs, since I installed a new 128 GB SSD as operating system and moved a similar size drive into the optic drive slot using a swap bay.

However, the one I heard spinning is the original 2.5" WD Black 750 GB HDD, so not an SSD at all.

I am now also looking at where to get a replacement motherboard. The battery and screen have been replaced already over the last few years, and that i7-4700 CPU, while old, still functions a lot better than most CPUs in cheap laptops.

 

[Robomcd]

We gave up on the replacement motherboard and bought a new laptop HP Probook 455