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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November 23rd, 2011 at 2:38 pm
i got an alienware m5500ir3 ok i turn it on lights come on and its fails and starts again to load and its comes on whats stopping its to load the first time ?
November 16th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
@ Mohan,
This could be motherboard failure. I’ve seen HP laptops failing like that before.
Before you jump to any conclusion, you can try the following.
1. Remove laptop battery, hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card and try turning it on again.
2. Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. Use different memory slots. One of the memory modules could be bad and the laptop might start properly when the bad module removed.
3. Try disconnecting the keyboard and test the laptop with an external USB keyboard. Maybe the internal keyboard failed and it’s shoring the whole system.
If nothing helps, probably this is motherboard failure.
I explained how to disassemble HP Pavilion dv4 laptop in the following guide: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/.....v4-laptop/
Hope it helps.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:33 am
Hello,
I have a hp pavilion dv4 1204tu laptop of 250gb hard disc, 3gb ram, windows 7 ultimate os. When the laptop is switched on, it starts with fan spinning for a few seconds and then the fan stops spinning and the display will be black. It shows light flashing across two keyboard switches. I removed the battery and plug in the charger and tried again but it showed the same problem. There is another issue, in past few days when i switched on the laptop it has shown a message to replace my battery which i ignored. Please help me to resolve my issue.
November 11th, 2011 at 10:21 am
@ Wolfred,
First of all, test the AC adapter. Make sure it works.
It’s possible the adapter doesn’t work and the battery doesn’t have enough charge to start the laptop.
Also, try reseating memory modules. Test the laptop with only one memory module installed.
November 11th, 2011 at 5:11 am
Laptop turns on for a few seconds and then shuts down without.No video appears on screen
November 2nd, 2011 at 8:58 am
@ rachid,
First of all, I would test the laptop with another memory module. This could be memory failure.
If new memory module doesn’t help, probably this is motherboard failure. You’ll have to replace the motherboard.
From my experience I can tell that CPU failures are not very common.
November 1st, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Hi;
I ve removed everything from the laptop just one RAM, processor and heatsink, and power.
When putting the power on, the fan start spinning for 10 second, stops 5 seconds and repeat this process for 4 times. Then it goes out.
Can you help me on this issue?
Thanks.
October 13th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Hello World!
Try these steps and I hope it’ll work for some of you.
1. Unplug the laptop
2. Remove the battery
3. Press and hold power button for 30-60 seconds. (This will flush any residual charge)
4. Plug back and attempt to start/boot the laptop
5. Shut it down
6. Insert battery and turn on the laptop.
October 3rd, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Dear Author.
I am glad I came across your site today.
My Lenovo Y530 had broken hinges letting the LCD fall flat on its back. So I replaced the hinges using great help here:
HOWEVER, now the laptop shuts down when I move the LCD, or even move the tiny wires on the sides that go from the base into the LCD, under the hinges. I tested by removing the new hinges, and just moving the wires that run underneath.
Is this due to a broken wire? Or a lose connection in the LCD itself? How can I isolate and fix this problem? Appreciate your kind help and insight.
September 6th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
HI ALL
JUST LET PEOPLE KNOW I DONT HAVE ONE OF THESE HP PAVILLION LAPTOPS BUT I WAS TRING TO FIX A HP COMPAQ 6820s WITH ALL THE SAME BLANK SCREEN PROBLEMS THAT ARE REPORTED HERE AND ON MANY OTHER SITES AND LINKS.I WAS QUITE SURPRISED WITH THE RESULTS IN THAT ALL I DONE WAS PURCHASE A COMPATABLE AC POWER SUPPLY(CURTOUSY OF EBAY) ,CONNECTED A HARD DRIVE THEN TURNED ON,BUT THE BIT OF MAGIC ,I WAS WENT ALONG THE “f” KEYS AND WHEN I HIT F9 THE SCREEN SHOT INTO LIFE.THE FIRST SCREEN IT SHOWED WAS A BOOT OPTION WHICH I PICKED THE HARD DRIVE AND SO ALONG IT ROLLED.I WOULD SUGGEST TRYING THIS FIRST BEFORE YOU GET TEMPTED INTO PULLING YOUR LAPTOPS TO BITS THINKING ITS GRAPHIC CARDS,CPU,S AND THE LIKE),I WOULD ALSO TRY ALL THE USUAL SUSPECTS(REMOVE MEMORY,CHANGE BATTERY ETC) AS WELL LIKE OTHER PEOPLE SAY BUT LIKE MOST THINGS IN LIFE YOU WILL GET VARIED RESULTS ON VARIED LAPTOPS…
HAPPY FIXING