Rencheng Repair Cases: Three Examples of GE Vivid E9 Ultrasound System Troubleshooting and Repair

Machine Type: GE Color Doppler Ultrasound Diagnostic Instrument

Machine Model: GE Vivid E9

I. Malfunction 1

1. Malfunction Phenomenon

After pressing the power button, the rear-end (PC-end) fan of the device runs abnormally (because the device uses a customized engineering motherboard, the rear-end fan will run forcefully when the device is powered on, and the fan speed will decrease after the motherboard starts. The fan speed will also vary depending on the temperature and supply voltage. Abnormal operation refers to the fan continuously running forcefully), the power button indicator light is yellow (normally, the indicator light should be green after pressing the power button), and after pressing the power button for about 15~20 seconds, the normally lit control panel backlight turns off, after which the rear-end fan continues to run abnormally, and there is no other response, and the device cannot be powered on normally.

2. Malfunction Analysis

Usually, when a device fails to power on, it is mostly due to a malfunction in the rear end or power supply. Therefore, first open the left side casing of the device to check for problems in the rear end. After opening it, it was found that the low-voltage power supply indicator light was abnormal, and the ±5, ±12V voltages were not supplied and were in an error state. Therefore, it was initially suspected that the low-voltage power supply was damaged and could not supply ±5, ±12V low voltages. So the low-voltage power supply was replaced. After replacement, although the low-voltage power supply indicator light showed normal, the machine malfunction remained. The low-voltage power supply malfunction display is shown in Figure 2; the normal low-voltage power supply display after replacement is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2 Low-voltage power supply malfunction display

Figure 3 Normal display after replacing the low-voltage power supply

At this point, it was suspected that the motherboard or graphics card was malfunctioning. After individual testing, both the motherboard and graphics card could be used normally, but when installed in the machine, there was no signal input to the monitor. The monitor was also tested to be normal. Then, the graphics card and other components on the motherboard were removed, and the motherboard was booted bare. At this time, the motherboard could run normally. Then, an HDMI video cable from a laptop computer was used to provide a signal to the front and rear connection ports of the motherboard. When the signal was connected to the motherboard, the motherboard, which was originally starting normally, stopped working due to the signal input. The motherboard and other components were reinstalled into the machine, but the graphics card was not installed. Using the motherboard's own VGA interface to connect to a regular monitor, the machine could power on normally and the scan area image was normal. Then, the graphics card was installed but not connected to the front and rear ends. The machine could power on normally, but the scan area showed a virtual image (the virtual image was caused by the disconnection of the front and rear ends). Therefore, it was determined that the machine malfunction was in the motherboard. After inspection, the cause of this malfunction was determined to be a damaged video distribution chip on the motherboard.

3. Malfunction Repair

The motherboard was replaced, and the malfunction was resolved after inspection.

II. Malfunction 2

1. Malfunction Phenomenon

The device cannot start; there is no response after pressing the power button.

2. Malfunction Analysis

According to the above malfunction description, it can be initially determined that the device's inability to start is mainly a rear-end problem, i.e., a motherboard or power supply malfunction. Since the motherboard did not start normally, the power supply was first checked to see if it was normal. Using a multimeter to measure the input and output voltage of the main power supply, both were negative, indicating that there was no voltage. Therefore, it was suspected that there was a problem with the power supply. After short-circuiting the external power supply, the motherboard could normally enter the GE system, and then it prompted an automatic shutdown, so it proved that the problem was with the device's power supply.

3. Malfunction Repair

The main power supply (Figure 4) was removed and inspected. After measurement, it was found that all fuses could be measured through, but measurement from the back of the board revealed that the fuse holder was problematic, intermittently disconnecting. Measurement of other components showed no problems. Therefore, the problem should be in the fuse holder. After replacing the fuse holder and fuse, the main power supply was installed on the device, and the device powered on normally and could be used normally.

Figure 4 GE Vivivd E9 chassis internal view

III. Malfunction 3

1. Malfunction Phenomenon

After pressing the power button on the device, the monitor does not light up, and the control panel does not respond (the backlight of the buttons does not light up), only the rear-end fan runs abnormally (same as Case 1), and the device cannot power on normally.

2. Malfunction Analysis

Because the motherboard did not start, the low-voltage power supply indicator light was checked to see if it was normal. After checking and observing that the low-voltage power supply indicator light was normal, the motherboard was checked. It was decided to first boot the motherboard bare, using the same method as in Case 1. All components such as the graphics card, hard drive, and optical drive were removed, and the motherboard could start normally. Therefore, the removed components were installed one by one for troubleshooting. Finally, when the graphics card was installed, the device showed the previous malfunction, so it was suspected that there was a problem with the graphics card. However, after testing the graphics card on other devices multiple times, there was no problem. The motherboard was tested to be fine through bare booting, and the graphics card had no problems on other devices. Therefore, it was suspected that there might be a problem with the power supply from the motherboard to the graphics card. It might be due to an overload of the motherboard's power supply.

3. Malfunction Repair

All components except the graphics card were installed. After pressing the power switch, the device showed the same initial malfunction. After shutting down, the graphics card was installed again, and the device operated normally after restarting.

IV. Summary

Removing the graphics card resulted in the same malfunction, indicating that the problem was in the graphics card or motherboard. However, after inspection, both were found to be normal. Therefore, it indicates that the malfunction occurred in the power supply from the motherboard to the graphics card. This malfunction has occurred in both Vivid E9 and LogiqE9, so this problem may be a common problem with the Advantech customized motherboard. However, it has not been encountered in the new VividE9 and LogiqE9, indicating that this common problem of the motherboard should have been fixed. If you encounter this malfunction, do not rush to determine that it is a motherboard malfunction. First, perform a bare boot and then test the components on the motherboard one by one, and you may be able to find the specific malfunction point.

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