Today I was able to fix a “dead” notebook simply by reseating connectors. The customer brought in Compaq nx5000 notebook with the following complaint:
“Laptop shuts down on power up. When the power button is pushed, the laptop flashes green lights for several seconds and then powers down. Unit will not stay on with battery or when plugged in”.
I plugged the AC adapter and tried to turn on the laptop. After I pushed on the power button, fans started spinning and were active for a few seconds and laptop just turned itself off. The video never came on. I tried to power it on for a few times with the same result.
Here is how I fixed it.
First of all I tried simple stuff: remove the battery and start the laptop with AC adapter plugged in, reseat and swap the memory module, remove the hard drive, the DVD drive, the wireless card. Nothing helped to start the laptop normally. After that I went a little bit further. I opened up the laptop case, removed the LCD screen assembly and reseated the video card and… Surprise, surprise, the laptop started fine with an external monitor attached. Just in case I restarted it 3-4 times and each time I got video on the screen. After I assembled everything back, one more surprise was waiting for me. The laptop failed to boot again with the same symptoms. So, the only part that I added before it failed was the LCD screen assembly. I unplugged the video cable from the system board and the laptop started fine again with the external monitor. Now I know that the problem is somewhere inside the display assembly (of course, if the video connector on the system board is fine). The next logical step would be opening up the LCD display assembly and check if all connectors are seated properly. Bingo!!! I wasn’t very surprised, but I was very happy. The video cable was half-way out from the connector on the back of the LCD screen. The laptop started perfectly fine as soon as I plugged the video cable back in place. Fixed!
That was my first experience when improperly plugged video cable prevented entire system from booting.
Read more:
How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems
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September 21st, 2006 at 5:01 am
I have a Dell Inspiron something or other laptop (i think i paid over $1800 for) which shortly after the warranty ran out I started having problems with. when you turn it on it says no bootable hard drive found….Dell did its troubleshooting and said …I need a new hard drive…….$80 dollars later that didnt help either…now I had to resort back to an old gateway desktop that is slower than hell….I also have a Dell desktop that doesn’t work…..very frustrated……I will be forever greatful if you could help me….
Heard about you on the Howard Stern show
September 10th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Vish,
Do you hear any other laptop activity: the fan start spinning, the harddrive makes some noise or the DVD drive LED light starts flashing?
I would try to reseat the memory module. Remove the memory and insert it back, try to move it into another slot. If you have 2 memory modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop after each removed module. It easily could be just a failed memory.
September 10th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
I have a Thinkpad G41 …….It is not starting at all …..when i push the power on button ……nothing happens …just the power LED glows ..thats it …nothing displays ……the cap locks led also doesnt displays ………if u happen to know anythinh about this pls let me know
September 10th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
I have the exact and I mean the exact same problem. I have been having issues with my video display so I am certain that is what is causing my laptop to shutdown. Thanks for the suggestion.
September 4th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Hello, I just wanted to say thank you to whoever left the article as I look like the bomb after reading this and repairing it for a friend worked awesome and yes took some time but it also made the “Experts” look like smo’s when the stated power switch,battery, and even mother board. I honestly sitched out every switch out quick component hard drive memory you name this artice and this site saved me.. God Bless & Thank You!!
September 3rd, 2006 at 9:53 am
Thank you for getting back to me, I will give those a shot. I’m not a big Compaq fan, but I bought it cheap, and I use it when I deploy. It has I think 2 512 chips in it, maybe one is failing, I’m not sure I’ve pulled them out before and put them back in because I noticed that I was only ready like 480 ram. Then it came back and said 9 hundred whatever after I did that. The computer actually turned back on right after I went out from writing your email yesterday first try like nothing was wrong. So I’m pretty lost. I don’t mind so much it being a pita to turn on because I can always leave it on, but sometimes I take it to work and then I get shafted like yesterday. Thanks for your help.
September 2nd, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Billy,
Try to reseat the memory module first. You can also try moving it to the second slot. If you can find any test memory, install it instead of your module and test if it makes any difference. From your description I cannot give you a better advice; it could be anything from a loose connection to a bad hardware.
I would also try to minimize the system, remove modules (hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card, any other cards) one by one and try to turn it on after each removed part.
September 2nd, 2006 at 2:06 am
It sounds like I am having the same exact problem I need help. I’m from the states, but i’m over seas. My compaq presario laptop i thought was damaged on the plane ride over here. It starts up for a few seconds and shuts off just like yours. It has turned on a few times and when it turns on, i can do whatever with it, and it works flawlessly. I can reboot it without any issues. But if i shut it down, or shut it off, it will not turn back on and have the same issue. today i can no longer get lucky and get it turn turn on, can you tell me all the steps i need to follow to try and fix this? I’m open to any suggestions. thank you. If you could please email me if you can help.
August 20th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Thanks cj for the advice, I really appreciate. I am definitely going to try that route to narrow down the problem.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Zak,
You’ve replaced the CPU in this model, so I assume you know how to take it apart. First of all, try to reseat the memory module/modules. That’s would be nice if you can find a test memory for a while.
When I have a weird laptop problem and cannot figure out what is wrong, I take it completely apart and assemble a basic system outside the laptop box, right on my bench. For a basic system you’ll need the system board, the CPU with cooling module and the memory module. Assemble everything together outside the laptop base, connect an external monitor and turn it on. You’ll have to remove the power switch board from the top cover or carefully connect it to the system board without removing, it’s up to you. If it still will not boot up, then one of three components is bad. You already replaced the CPU, so it would be either the system board or the memory.
If you can boot the basic system, start assembling it back and test after each step. Make sure that you put correct screws into correct holes.