• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Dell Latitude C400 no post/shuts off

Dell made a c series style usb drive? Well, the C400 is D series styled, so… not sure.
The external media cable is for standard c series modules, right? I’ve got the following modules at the moment:
- CD ROM
- DVD ROM
- Combo DVD/CD RW
- Floppy

No zip module though. I’ll certainly let you know if there’s anything I’m looking for though. What docking options were there? I saw a cheap C dock 2 (or was it a C port 2?) on eBay a while back but I didn’t get it. Just don’t usually have a use for the huge docks. Only one I’d want some day would probably be the PowerBook Duo Dock.
 
This thing also somehow still has that new computer smell to it, although weakly.
Hard drive has under 1000 hours on it so it wasn’t used for very long.
 
shipping to me would make it cost $50, don't think so unfortunately.
 
3lectr1c said:
Alright, so the hard drive had a virus on it so that could be an explanation for the freezing. Drive is healthy though, and it did boot up all the way when I stuck my Latitude C610 (working one this time)’s SSD into it, so at the very least I know that I can clean install XP on the C400’s drive using my C610, them put the drive in the C400 and install drivers.

I’m currently fully scanning the drive on my modern computing to remove any other malware though…
Click to expand...
what was the name of the virus?
 
I’ve forgotten… will see if windows defender saved the issue later today.
 
I ended up just buying another motherboard from parts people, really cheap and it’s a 1.2GHz board (mine was 1.0). I’ll bet those go out of stock soon once the Varta batteries really start getting to these…
Haven’t gotten it fully back together yet but it does start no problem now.

One weird thing - the NOS board came with this metal bracket on the thing under the CPU - it would not fit in the housing until I removed it.
IMG_5274.jpeg
IMG_5275.jpeg
Doesn’t seem cooling related, it doesn’t touch the CPU or cooling assembly at all.

Also bought the proprietary external drive cable from parts people too. I am a bit annoyed that they didn’t just put the same from the CS/CSx on there. They’re nearly the same and for the same drives anyway… the CS one just slightly doesn’t fit. At least the C400 one is still readily available, for now.

Once I get this all back together I should have myself a nice working unit.

Also, I think the VARTA may have been the cause behind the last board’s demise after all - take a look at this:
IMG_5279.jpeg
A bit blurry, sorry, but there were two corroded vias and traces. Probably just for the CMOS battery only and everything else was spotless, but perhaps it was enough either way. Who’s to say.
The original board was also a very late revision - manufacture date was 2003/07/04. Don’t know if that’s April or July, but 2003 would have been pretty late for one of these. Makes me wonder if it’s a victim of the lead free solder cracking issue.
The new board was made in 2002.
 
All back together and it seems like it’s working perfectly now. Sometimes a part replacement is easier than trying to track down an electrical gremlin.
IMG_5287.jpeg
 
Here’s a better view of the damage to the old board from the VARTA battery:
IMG_5288.jpeg
3, maybe 4 visible suspect vias, corroded chip leg and 2 bad traces appear to be the extent of the damage here. Could have been the issue.

IMG_5289.jpeg
Looks like there’s a suspect via on top too. In typical fashion, the wires pulled out of the connector. I didn’t want to risk pulling the connector off the board so I just left it.

If I ever feel like it, perhaps I’ll go back and patch up those bad connections (or at least try to) and then see if the other board works again.

Verdict either way though is that these C400 boards are EXTREMELY sensitive to corrosion from the varta batteries. Some are more resistant to corrosion than others, and clearly this one wasn’t. It was only in the beginning stages of leaking as well. All the dells from this era are going to become tough to find working in a few years.
 
Glad to see you have the machine running again! I've been considering upgrading it at some point to the 1.2ghz board.
 
Parts-people has a listing for a 1.33GHz board that I've never seen in any units on eBay. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a Pentium III laptop with that high of a clocked chip in it. It was out of stock unfortunately, but I guess it must be quite rare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top