Question Samsung Ativ 9 laptop won't boot

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anvoice

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Jan 12, 2018
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Hello, I have a Samsung Ativ 9 laptop (PN930X2K-S02US) that will not boot most of the time. The power light does come on, although I don't hear any noise (it's a fanless design with an SSD so nothing to hear). I did manage to get it to boot 2 times out of dozens of attempts.

Whats I tried:
  • Removing the battery and powering the laptop through its charger. Problem persists, although there were 2 (out of a few dozen) times that the computer booted.
  • Checking various connections and ribbon cables. Visually nothing looks broken.
  • Checking for excessive heat generated on the motherboard (appears reasonably cool).

Because the problem is intermittent, and the laptop was powered off for a fairly long time, I suspected the CMOS battery. However, after partially taking the laptop apart, I can't find it no matter how hard I look. I attempted to search for either 2 small wires going to the motherboard, or a physical round CMOS battery on the motherboard itself, and found nothing.
I did find a RTCRST text on the back of the motherboard, but still not seeing the battery itself. Here is the opened laptop:
EVKVmPm.jpg


I'm a bit lost at the moment, and would really appreciate any advice. Does anyone know where the battery might be on this laptop?
 

anvoice

Honorable
Jan 12, 2018
131
7
10,615
A little bit of new info: I've tried many dozens of times to turn the computer on and off. It only boots without battery, and even then very intermittently. If the battery is unplugged, I can get one more reaction from the computer - if I unplug the charger and plug it back in, then power the laptop, a light on the caps lock key briefly blinks. That seems to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for the laptop to boot. Also, there does not seem to be a CMOS battery in this computer. I can buy another laptop battery for about $50-60, but I can't figure out why, if it's a bad battery, it only rarely boots even with battery disconnected. As a final detail, the battery voltage is 8.2V, right about where it should be fully charged, so I don't even know if the battery is bad.

Would really appreciate any and all advice.

Small Edit: it also seems that the computer is more likely to boot if I plug in the battery, then unplug it, push the power button for 15 seconds, plug in the charger and power the laptop on.
 
Last edited:
Feb 2, 2020
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I have the same problem but have never been able to get mine to boot. Power light comes on and orange battery charging indicator light displays but these are the only signs of life. Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.
 
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