Infill G4 not powering up but not booting up.

JasonMK · 09-22-2009, 03:18 PM

In 30 seconds, my G4 will not boot up anymore. Happened "out of the blue". When I turn the ignition on it usually displayes a "system on message" and then a couple of seconds later it resumes from standby. Usually less than 10 seconds total (often much quicker). Now it is stuck on that "system on message". From a cold boot [back when it worked] after the system on it would then flash the infill splash screen for a split second, then load Windows. Problem now, it isn't even getting to POST so I can't access the BIOS. I have pulled the CMOS battery and put in a new one, still no go.

Now for the longer version...

After two wonderful years my carputer decided it didn't want to turn on any more. I have an Infill G4 that will not boot, but does power on. When the ignition is turned the screen displays "system on" with a cute green hour glass. After a couple of seconds, whola! SD. That was until Thursday afternoon. Now it is stuck on that not-so-cute green hour glass and it just says "system on" for hours at a time without booting up.

The motorized screen still works, the power button still gets it to display the red hour glass and "system off", the "off" button still shuts it off and the reset button still beeps and also turns it off. The problem is it never gets any further, inserting a bootable CD, connecting a keyboard, etc doesn't do any good because it never gets that far.

I'm not sure how most other carputers work, but I assume there is some sort of power manager that detects the car is on and off and responds in kind. Has anyone else run into something lilke this before? I pulled it from the car friday and have it set up on my bench now.

I have tried letting it sit (in the car) for 24 hours, and now on my bench hoping if it sat long enough something might change. Sadly, no. There is a feature where if it detects the battery is draining to much it will shut itself off (from standyby to hibernation or straight off, dependig on the settings). Again, unfortunately I couldn't even get it to do that. The mp3car store products subforum had a few last year that had this same issue, none of which posted a final outcome.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

thoth · 09-23-2009, 01:38 PM

Two days ago this same happened to me. I assumed that it's a harddrive problem. I opened infill and take out the drive. I installed it in my home computer and scanned errors and found couple. Then i put it back and still no boot. So... same situation here.

JasonMK · 09-24-2009, 09:34 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by thoth

Two days ago this same happened to me. I assumed that it's a harddrive problem. I opened infill and take out the drive. I installed it in my home computer and scanned errors and found couple. Then i put it back and still no boot. So... same situation here.

Yeah, through my trouble shooting I've come to belive it isn't either of the drives, and without either even connected it responds the same. My best guess is that it is the power management component that recognizes when the car is turned on or off. The reason I am suspecting this is because that's what triggers it to "System On" or "System Off", but with the all-in-one system I don't know if it is something that can be fixed/replaced. When I took my G4 apart to replace the CMOS battery I recognized a lot of the components, but didn't identify what might be responsible for powering it up.

Please keep me posted, good or bad, and I'll do likewise. I truly wish the others who experienced this last year posted what they did to fix theirs or found out.

JasonMK · 09-29-2009, 09:13 AM

Anyone else have any ideas? It seems as if some have reported that there's have come back to life, but I can't confirm that.

JasonMK · 10-13-2009, 11:25 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by thoth

Two days ago this same happened to me. I assumed that it's a harddrive problem. I opened infill and take out the drive. I installed it in my home computer and scanned errors and found couple. Then i put it back and still no boot. So... same situation here.

Any luck with yours since your last post?

colin · 10-14-2009, 12:55 AM

Why do you assume that the screen does not move due to the power system? Is there any indication that the device is still doing ANYTHING? (Does the hour glass turn? Does a light blink? Does the screen dim after xx amount of time?)

thoth · 10-14-2009, 02:46 AM

The screen moves, and the green hour glass turns (system on), and the screen dims, but it doesn't boot up. Maybe next week I try another hard drive, because I still think that this is a hard drive problem...cause I got some bad sectors.

I already installed old cd player, because I realized that this might take some time to solve.

JasonMK · 10-14-2009, 07:43 AM

For me, the screen still moved each time I powered up the system, and then got the green hour glass but it would stay with the green hourglass indefinately (tested up to 3 hours). Mine never dimmed. I did try a new harddrive and new ram from my working laptop (as well as put the HD & RAM in my laptop, so I know they are both fine and have ruled them out).

I did order a replacement motherboard. Out of curiosity, what Revision Motherboard [printed in big white letters on the top corner opposite side as your RAM) does your system have? Originally I had Rev. 1.0, but the replacement board in Rev. 1.1 which has this extra red wire that I do not know where it is suppose to attach to.

Once I get it working I'll post if replacing the board did the trick for me.

JasonMK · 10-20-2009, 10:06 PM

The replacement board did not do the trick, so I am open to any suggestions...ANY

colin · 10-21-2009, 04:35 PM

Do you still have the same problem now? Exactly?

JasonMK · 10-21-2009, 06:21 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by colin

Do you still have the same problem now? Exactly?

Yes, the computer will still power on but never get past the "System On" screen. It will not let me boot to a CD, will not get as far as loading Windows, it will not even get far enough to let me enter the BIOS.

After replacing the CMOS battery, both the upper and lower board, the wire harness, cd/dvd drive, hard drive, RAM, screen, and case I am BEYOND confused. In essence, I have rebuilt the computer again from scratch and it still has the exact same end symptom. I have ordered some fresh thermal paste for the CPU, which was about the only thing I haven't replaced, but I don't suspect that will work because even the new replacement board I bought from mp3car.com didn't bring this computer back to life.

So, needless to say, I am open to any suggestions from those who know this stuff better than me. Thanks in advance.

colin · 10-22-2009, 09:21 AM

Do you have tools to check voltages and signals on the main board? Multimeters? O-scopes?

I really don't know what's going on, but you'll want to find out how that system works. You want to find out where that "System On" screen is stored and what is supposed to happen next.

From the sounds of it, this board is essentially an entire computer? The board you ordered would be a direct representation of a motherboard? Seems like something is incompatible or ruined from heat.

JasonMK · 10-22-2009, 10:24 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by colin

Do you have tools to check voltages and signals on the main board? Multimeters? O-scopes?

I really don't know what's going on, but you'll want to find out how that system works. You want to find out where that "System On" screen is stored and what is supposed to happen next.

From the sounds of it, this board is essentially an entire computer? The board you ordered would be a direct representation of a motherboard? Seems like something is incompatible or ruined from heat.

I do have a multimeter, no O-scope. And yes, the two boards pretty make up the entire computer. Although the CPU is integrated in the top board, making it more of the motherboard, the lowerboard is more than just a daughterboard or expansion board. Kind of like the MB is split in two?

Regardless, finding the "system on" is exactly what I have been trying to do. More so by process of elimination. I've been able to identify and recognize the bulk of what is on the board, but I know enough just to keep me frustrated.

I've been using the multimeter to test the power coming to the computer, but I assume I'd need an O-scope to trace the signal through the board and see where things are getting hung up?

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