Minibook died as it won't start

Laptops MiniBook
1

My Minibook died recently. Approx one year ago there was a bit of smoke and the Minibook couldn’t be charged anymore when it was switched off. The battery is replaced as that one also died half a year ago.

In the past I have upgraded the cooling fan, installed the silent fan software mod, improved the thermal pad to improve the overall performance of the Minibook. But after almost two of use the Minibook died last week. It can be switched on (blue LED and keyboard backlight are powered) but there it ends. No bios, no OS starting, nothing. Just before that it occasionally happened that I could enter the BIOS, but that’s about is; it was not able to detect the internal EMMC or the M2 SSD. It was occasionally possible to boot from a USB stick (with Win10 installation ISO on it), but it couldn’t start the installation. I was able to (re)flash the BIOS chip by USB, but also after that the Win10 installation failed within minutes, if it was able to boot at all…
Disconnecting the battery and/or SSD didn’t help.

Important detail to mention is that I noticed that the BIOS is losing its time when the battery is removed. I do assume the internal backup battery also is depleted. (possibly because it can’t charge anymore?)

Within days I will take the Minibook completely apart to search for any backup battery/capacitor to see if I can charge it externally.

But for now it seems that the Minibook died… Anyone any idea what to do with it? Selling it for parts? (the battery is replaced just a few months ago, and the keyboard, housing and display are like new) Or has anybody any idea what to do when the Minibook refusing to start and wont enter/start the BOIS?

2

Hello, there may be a problem with the ssd, mainly because this model has been discontinued, and the official has no parts for maintenance, thank you for your understanding

3

Hello, Many thanks for you reply and support. I have removed the SSD from the M2 2230 slot, but still the Minibook can not start. It won’t access the BIOS and will not start from a USB memory drive. Do I need to install a new/other SSD into the M2 2230 slot to allow the Minibook to start from an external USB flash memory? Or can you share a manual/guide on how to remove/replace the SSD?

4

Hello
If you have a new SDD, you can try to replace it, but it is unlikely to succeed. According to your description, there should be a problem with the Mini Book motherboard.
Thank you for your letter

5

Hello,

Many thanks for you insight and knowledge; I agree that the motherboard is broken. Do you know where I can purchase a replacement? Does Chuwi also repairs the motherboard when no spares are available?