OQO 02 - DEAD - will not boot!!!

[Guest]

[jkim]

I guess I'll join the club here. I just had my main logic board replaced by OQO support in TX.

The unit wasn't turning on at times. It was acting quite erratic. Sometimes, the screen would freeze on the OQO splash screen. At other times, the device would start, but the fan would be completely off. After multiple hard reboots, the device would turn on.

OQO support was outstanding! I was quite impressed by the service.

However, I'm not sure where I stand regarding the overall durability of the device. I don't use mine every day. It's a supplementary device for me. I've had it for less than 1 year, and already the logic board has gone bad. Thankfully, it's been replaced now. But will it still work a year from now? I sure hope so.

[kyone]

The other issue is that the HDD is not removable so if your OQO has major issues you cannot get the data off the HDD before you send it away.

As such I have been putting my absolute critical data onto a small 1G USB key and working directly off that.  Some of the documents are critical for my work and I can't afford to lose them.  I have a few issues with sync but its a small price to pay for peace of mind.

[nomad416]

Got my 02 back yesterday and things look ok so far.  They had to replace the logic board as well.  All my data was intact.  Whew.  Kudos to OQO for a fairly quick repair.

edit:  Got Easy2Sync today for both files and Outlook between my 02 and my laptop.  A little work to set up at first but very easy to use afterwards.

[ratbag]

My OQO e2 has just died - i think.

It locked up over the weekend. I restarted it and got the OQO splash screen then a black screen with a white (underscore) cursor flashing in the top right hand corner. The OQO just sits there like that for ever. The keyboard lights work but it won't boot. When i rebooted it the screen didn't even come one (although rebooting several times occasionally gets the the slash screen and flashing cursor).
I tried resetting the BIOS but it doesn't boot that far. I have tried booting from the restore CD but it doesn't get that far in the boot cycle to load it.
Is my dear little OQO fubar? Its damned annoying as it was running so sweetly before. Its a good thing i nver got around to selling my old 02 60Gb so at least i won't go cold-turkey without a gucci gadget
Cheers.
R

[sandydlc]

This sounds like a stretch, but have you tried hooking it up to an external monitor?

One time I accidentally reduced the screen brightness all the way and then rebooted and when it came back up, it appeared as though it wasn't booting, when in fact, it was the screen brightness turned to off!  (stupid, I know)

Anyway, you might be able to identify whether it's the whole OQO not working or just the screen if you connect an external monitor.  Worth a try!

One more thing - when my system board crashed, I couldn't boot into the bios or anything.  It was just a power light and no fan, no activity - nothing.  So, if you're able to boot into bios, you may still be able to salvage yours.

If the above doesn't work - call OQO.  Hope you'll get it fixed soon!

[trf]

My OQO e2 has just died - i think.

It locked up over the weekend. I restarted it and got the OQO splash screen then a black screen with a white (underscore) cursor flashing in the top right hand corner. The OQO just sits there like that for ever. The keyboard lights work but it won't boot. When i rebooted it the screen didn't even come one (although rebooting several times occasionally gets the the slash screen and flashing cursor).
I tried resetting the BIOS but it doesn't boot that far. I have tried booting from the restore CD but it doesn't get that far in the boot cycle to load it.
Is my dear little OQO fubar? Its damned annoying as it was running so sweetly before. Its a good thing i nver got around to selling my old 02 60Gb so at least i won't go cold-turkey without a gucci gadget
Cheers.
R

So sorry to hear of your trouble.   Over the weekend mine did the same thing as I was testing some new OSX stuff.  After a reinstall I could get nothing.  Just a blinking cursor.  Finally after just about giving up I pulled the unit out of the docking station and it booted right up.  It turned out to be caused by a thumb drive plugged in to the back of the docking station which had some start up files on it but was not intended to be a start up device.  It was freezing the start up every time.  Hopefully yours will turn out as simple.  If not I am sure OQO will repair it quickly.

[PlacidoDomenech]

My 3000$ OQO 64 GB SSD has died.  It's in warranty period.
But I have a presentation in 15 days of a mobile solution software and i will not recover it... 
I read this topic and it is plenty of the same troubles i have had with my OQO:

Splash screen...black screen....
Beeps of motherboard
Red power led
Change battery...
Only power ...
and... Nothing... DEAD!

I will try more 'tricks' this weekend, pray perhaps, and then go to International RMA process...

[Dave P]

What kind of beep are you hearing?

The only reference to beep codes I could find on Via's site is the following:

There are two kinds of beep codes in the BIOS. One code indicates
that a video error has occured and the BIOS cannot initialize the
video screen to display any additional information. This beep code
consists of a single long beep followed by three short beeps. The
other code indicates that a DRAM error has occured. This beep
code consists of a single long beep.

Unfortunately, neither OQO nor General Software (which wrote the OQO's BIOS) provide documentation.

[sandydlc]

My 3000$ OQO 64 GB SSD has died.  It's in warranty period.
But I have a presentation in 15 days of a mobile solution software and i will not recover it... 
I read this topic and it is plenty of the same troubles i have had with my OQO:

Splash screen...black screen....
Beeps of motherboard
Red power led
Change battery...
Only power ...
and... Nothing... DEAD!

I will try more 'tricks' this weekend, pray perhaps, and then go to International RMA process...

If it's the same problem that I had, your data is most likely still safe.  It sounds like a bad system board and if you're still in warranty, the only option is to do an RMA.  It sounds like they've refined the process to make it more efficient.  Best of luck to you!

[Stuart]

My recent RMA needed a main board and it was 14 days round trip within the USA, overnight shipping both directions.

[9a6or]

I have joined the club...  After the typical symptoms (mouse freezing etc.) my e2 cannot get beyond Vista's progress bars. It shows a similar freezing while booting from a previously working Puppy Linux USB stick so it's not a Vista issue. Emailed OQO tech support yesterday (6th Jan). Being in the UK I am looking forward to a rapid turnaround time, whatever rapid means in this case.

[Mikan]

Is there a way to access the bios and turn off the quickboot screen.  The splash screen only problem sounds like it gets through post, but then has a drive problem.  It sounds very similar to what happens when the boot drive has an ntldr missing problem which happens occasionally with windows machines, especially when they're infected by virus's/malware.

[9a6or]

The full story is that this all developed gradually and I have tried switching off the OQO splash screen. The booting stopped at the BIOS stages, sometimes after the first line, sometimes during the memory check, sometimes the BIOS completed and froze during the Vista progress bar and even on a black screen after the Vista progress bar. Then I've reset the BIOS to default settings which includes the OQO splash screen and it freezes now more consistently during the Vista progress bar. I think after letting it cool down I managed to get into Vista once, pushed in a mem stick to quickly backup my files but it froze beore I could do it.

Also, the fact that booting linux from a memory stick freezes the OQO supports that the fault is not with Windows or with the SSD which are bypassed.

PS: I have just tried it again and now the power button is on but nothing else happens. Screen black, no backlght even, keyboard lights off, no fan, nothing. Really dead now. OQO please help...

[j0]

You mentioned that it can get further after it cools down.  Is this consistently the case?  (If you let it cool down, it will get further than if you didn't?)  If so, then it looks like it a overheating problem (which might due to the fan not working properly.)

Can you hear the fan and feel the warm air coming out from the top?

[Stuart]

My SMM failure would happen most when warm, and not often at all when cold.  That's a classic symptom of a bad connection.  Eventually it stopped completely and I had to send it in.

Try putting it in the fridge (not freezer) and see how it works when it's really cool.  The cool will dissappear really fast once it's powered.