Question MSI GE72 - No BIOS, No Boot - Random Intervals

[admiralriker]

I'm flummoxed by an issue I have been having with my MSI GE722QE laptop. She's certainly old, but is being used in a custom arcade cab (running programs like MAME).

I have run into this strange issue with the laptop failing to boot to anything. Upon turning the laptop on, the keyboard lights up, fans spin up, and the HDD LED will turn on and then off; never to turn on again. The laptop does not boot to the MSI screen, will not boot to BIOS, and will stay in this state until I turn it off. The hard-buttons next to the power button (used to turn the fans on at 100% for max cooling) also work while it is in this limbo state.

The system will randomly boot up after power cycling it multiple times.

I have replaced all ram, I have replaced the bios battery, I have replaced the main battery...I have replaced the SSD. I have checked the BIOS to make sure it is booting the right order. Windows reports no problems, everything is up to date. No errors on any of the drives.

At one point I was able to get it to boot after sticking a needle in the bottom panel to hit the hardwired mobo button that cuts all power. Recently though, that has stopped working. After I power cycle it multiple times, it will randomly boot correctly and without any hiccups. I have tried running on battery, off battery, with AC adapter, without battery but with AC adapter.

I have tried removing pretty much everything from it so it will give me an error (no ram, no HDD)...but it will boot into that state where the keyboard is lit up, the screen is off, the fans are running, but it otherwise is "dead". No error for the ram not being installed or no HDD to boot.

I have tried disconnecting every USB port and HDMI (since it is sitting inside an arcade cab running to an external screen).

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why it. The start of this issue was probably a year ago and I've been babying it along since I don't really want to replace the laptop that runs my arcade cab.

 

[helpstar]

did you try removing parts one by one?
e.g. only remove the hard drives
update/reflash the latest bios version

 

[admiralriker]

did you try removing parts one by one?
e.g. only remove the hard drives
update/reflash the latest bios version

I have tried to remove every individual part (ram only, HDD only, battery only, etc.) And every permutation I could think of.

At one point I removed the ram and it worked again, so I bought new ram.

At one point, I removed the battery and figured maybe it was the battery that needed replaced, so I bought a new battery.

At one point I removed the BIOS battery and plugged it back in, and it seemed to work, so I bought a new BIOS battery.

I just attempted to update the BIOS. The system restarted from the BIOS menu and went into the "keyboard on, fan running, black screen" mode. After it set like this for 10 minutes, It never started to flash the BIOS. I shut the system off and now I can't get it to even boot to Windows after multiple power cycles.

EDIT:
I was able to randomly get it to boot again. After power cycling it multiple times. I got to the BIOS, started the update process again for the BIOS, the laptop restarted, and went back into the "black screen, keyboard LEDS on, fan on", but otherwise dead.

 

[admiralriker]

Lest I jinx myself.

I solved the problem. I believe that the mobo Killswitch also kills power to any ongoing charging. I unplugged the AC adapter, plugged it back in, and then chilled for a while.

Mind you, I had already removed my M.2 SSD and HDD, resigning myself to buying a new machine.

After letting it sit for a while, I tried to power it one more time out of desperation (hadn't been through all the stages of grief). Lo and behold, it booted to BIOS. I quickly threw in my USB drive with the latest BIOS file for the mobo and ran the flash utility. I previously tried this and got nothing but a blank screen...but this time...it restarted and began flashing the BIOS.

I changed the boot order back to HDD first, then USB, then DVD drive.

I turned the system on again...it got to the MSI logo...and booted into Windows. No problems.

I replicated this six more times, with the laptop acting correctly. I put the laptop back in my arcade, fired up MAME and played the Atari bar room classic "Shuuz" and poured a bourbon.

Cheers.