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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March 4th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
bonnie flaig,
This part is called “Power jack”, “AC jack” or “DC-IN jack” and you can find it on eBay. But it’s not easy to replace it. Most likely the power jack is soldered on the motherboard and you’ll have to take the laptop apart, remove the motherboard and resolder the power jack.
March 4th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I can’t actually even get into windows to get as far as system restore, no safe mode or anything. Also, why do you think the one laptop would be working fine now? And the 3rd laptop was working fine with new updates until I hooked it up to the network.
March 4th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Hermanus,
Maybe your problem somehow related to the latest Windows update? Do you set your computers to update automatically? Try reverting the operating system back to the previous state using the system restore utility and see if the problem disappears.
March 4th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I borrowed my sons Dell Laptop – now I have a problem with the piece located on the back that the ac adapter plugs into. It was not making a connection and I fooled with it and made it worse. Where do I find a replacement part and what is it called. Can I start the computer another way (no battery) – Help! I would appreciate any help! Thanks.
March 4th, 2007 at 8:13 am
I have a bit of a more complicated problem. I have 2 Dell laptops and a Dell XPS desktop PC. Around the same time they all started to blank out after the Windows logo screen. It doesn’t seem like they are still booting, so I doubt it’s the video card(also video card on 3 pc’s???). I have a 2wire network modem so I’m wondering whether this could be causing the issue? I have allready reinstalled windows and one of the laptops is now working fine, but the XPS worked for a couple of days and then back to blanking out. Anyone have any ideas?
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:41 am
Sohaib,
You cannot troubleshot the problem without taking it apart. You’ll find disassembly instructions in the maintenance and service guide for HP Compaq nc8000.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
You guyz seem to know the stuff u r doing … i have a compaq nc8000 it was working fine but suddenly it shutdown and when i tried to restart it even with the power cable connected to it, the fan would run for about 20-30 secs and then system would shutdown. I don’t know how to take my laptop apart and i really dont wanna do it…If any of u guyz can help i would really appreciate it
February 24th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I have the same problem “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”.
Please help me. A repair person told me its the motherboard. What should I do?
February 20th, 2007 at 2:04 am
I’m a bit disappointed that I never got an answer here.
Anyway, I ‘fixed’ it by replacing the motherboard with a used one from eBay. IBM Thinkpads must be the easiest laptops in the world to work on: only 3 different types of screws!
February 19th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Joe,
Did you test the AC adapter with a voltmeter, maybe the adapter is bad?
If the system is minimized completely and will not start with a known good AC adapter, most likely there is something wrong with the motherboard. You’ll have to replace the motherboard.