Philips Affiniti 70: No video at boot, then the unit will not start
What happened
The scanner first booted very slowly with a No Video message, then stopped starting altogether: POST stuck at 00 as reported in the case, with no image on any video output, including an external monitor.
What was checked
- Connected an external monitor over VGA to separate the display path from the video source
- Checked the video subsystem outputs — no signal was coming out at all
- Stepped through the boot diagnostics over SPI and saw that the management controller was not loading
Cause
The engineers found that in this unit the temperature and fan-speed readings had degraded and fan control had failed; the failure then damaged the PWM power choke, and the management controller (IPMI/BMC) could not boot because its SPI flash was corrupted. The missing video was a downstream effect of the board never completing its early boot.
What was done
Board-level repair: reballing of the management controller and chipset, replacement of the SPI flash, the PWM choke, the PWM controller and the failed fan. Bringing the controller back into service was a procedure from the manufacturer's service documentation, done by authorised personnel. The system returned to normal operation, and the team stressed keeping the air filters cleaned on a regular schedule.
Safety
Unplug the system and let the power components fully discharge before any reballing or soldering on the board, and run a complete electrical safety test (protective earth and leakage currents) before the scanner goes back to clinical use.
Lesson: A 'no video' that shows up together with increasingly slow boots is often the first visible sign of a failing cooling chain, so check fan telemetry, fans and filters early — their failure can cascade into power and management circuitry, not just the fan itself.
Covered in the course: Ultrasound Service — Level 2: Fault-Finding →
Written from an anonymised case shared by service engineers. It is not a manufacturer instruction and grants no authorisation. Independent note; names are trademarks of their owners.