If your laptop does not start at all or it starts but will not boot properly, it’s possible that you can fix the laptop at home without taking it to a repair center. Here are some troubleshooting tips for you. I’m not sure if I can cover all situation at once, so I will update this post as more examples come into my mind.
Situation 1.
The laptop appears to be dead. You plug the AC adapter but the LEDs (power light, hard drive light, battery charge light, etc…) do not light up and the laptop will not react at all if you press on the power button.
First of all in this situation check the AC adapter. You can test the output voltage with a voltmeter. If you cannot do that, find a known good AC adapter and use it for testing the laptop. It is possible the laptop appears to be dead because the AC adapter is bad (and the battery is discharged). If you know that the AC adapter is working properly and it outputs correct voltage but the laptop is still dead, most likely you have a power issue on the motherboard (or power board on some laptops) and it has to be replaced.
If you have to replace the AC adapter, make sure you use a correct one. The output voltage must be exactly the same as on the original adapter. The output amperage has to be the same as on the original adapter or higher, but not lower.
Situation 2.
When you plug the AC adapter the power LED and the battery charge LED light up. When you press on the power button the laptop powers up but will not start. There is no video on LCD or external monitor.
If the power LED lights up it indicates that the laptop is getting power from the AC adapter. Most likely there is nothing wrong with the adapter but just in case test it with a voltmeter to make sure the output voltage is correct.
Also try this. Unplug the AC adapter, remove the battery and wait for 1-2 minutes. After that plug the AC adapter ans try starting the laptop again. Sometimes this trick helps.
It also could be a memory related problem. Try reseating the memory module, just remove it from the slot on the motherboard and install it back. Try installing the memory module into the other slot (if it’s available). If you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one and start the laptop just with one memory module installed.
If the laptop starts fine with one memory module in both slots, but will not start with the second memory module in both slots, the second memory module is faulty. Replace the module.
If the laptop starts fine with both memory modules when they are installed in the slot A, but will not start with both memory modules installed in the slot B, the slot B is faulty and you’ll have to replace the motherboard or use only one memory slot.
Situation 3.
When you press on the power button, the laptop makes a series or short and long beeps and will not start up. There is no video on the screen.
In this situation test the memory module as I described in the situation2. Try installing a known good memory module. Most likely you are getting a beep error because of a faulty memory.
Situation 4.
You start the laptop. It sounds like the laptop is booting normally (hard drive LED is flashing) but there is no video on the screen
In this situation test the laptop with an external monitor. If the external screen works fine but there is no video on the laptop LCD, most likely there is a problem inside the laptop display assembly. Go to my previous post witch covers laptop video problems in more details.
Situation 5.
You start the laptop and it starts making repetitive clicking noise or grinding noise.
Most likely you hear this noise because of a faulty hard drive. You can remove the hard drive and start the laptop without it. If the noise is gone, the hard drive is your problem. Replace it.
If the laptop makes clicking or grinding noises and you still have video on the screen, you can run a hard drive test utility. I usually use Hitachi’s drive fitness test. This test is reliable and easy to use.
Situation 6.
The laptop boots into Windows ans works for a while, but after that it shuts down by itself without any reason or warning. You restart the laptop but the same problem appears again
Most likely it’s a heat related issue. Listen for the cooling fan, make sure it works.
Also this problem might appear because of a faulty memory module, try some tips from the situation 2.
The laptop still boots ans you still can see the screen, so you can run the memory test. I usually use Memtest86+. Run the memory test and if it fails, replace the faulty module.
Situation 6
The laptop starts normally but video on the screen has lines, some strange characters or other defects
It could indicate a problem with the laptop LCD screen, video cable, graphics card or motherboard. Here’s my previous post witch covers troubleshooting bad images on the screen in more details.
Related post: How to troubleshoot dead laptops.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
May 25th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Toshiba M35X-S149 Notebook — Customer brought this notebook into my repair shop with typical complaint that the system stopped running. Preliminary tests showed correct voltage from AC power adapter. When plugged-in, power jack could rock up and down but not side to side. Pressing ON button gave case lights but no activity. System did not run. Moving AC power connector in jack would cause system to go off. Diagnosis: Cracked solder joint on positive or ground connection of DC Power Jack.
Notebook disassembly and inspection of DC power jack revealed positive post moves up and down in motherboard contact point due to broken solder connection. Positive post is blackened from possible arcing at loose connection. After replacing the defective DC Power Jack and reassembling the notebook the system powered-up for my first test. Everything tested OK. I closed the cover and put all screws in the back. Then when I started the computer I found this mystifying problem.
I press the power button and the system starts up. There are lights on the power button, on the front ON, Battery Charge, and Power Cord indicators. The fan runs for a short time then stops. The Hard Drive indicator gives one blink. No splash screen, NOTHING. All of the mentioned lights remain lighted. The optical drive will not open.
If I depress the Power Button for the required time the system will shut down. Pressing the Power Button again gives the same results as mentioned in the previous paragraph. Now, I unplug the video cable from the motherboard and reinsert it into the outlet; press the Power Button and the system starts-up with video. The screen has proper colors. After running for several minutes the video goes off and all activity ceases except all mentioned indicator lights remain on and the Hard Drive Light remains on. I can repeat the process over and over with the same results.
Duting the time that the system is running in WindowsXP I can turn the notebook off via “Start-Turn Off Computer-Turn Off” mouse clicks. When the system is truned off this way I can press the Power Button to start the system into Windows; then it follows the 2 minute video off routine.
I have tried variations with AC power only, battery only, and plugged in the wall with battery installed. I have started the notebook without the hard drive (after the plug/unplug video) and I get the splash screen followed by searches for drives for 2 minutes then video off routine.
Seems like a video problem on the motherboard. Unplugging the screen might clear some sort of feedback from the inverter. I don’t know. I am mystified.
Walter
Computer Clinic, New Orleans
May 25th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I think there could be a problem with the onboard video and the motherboard has to be replaced. Do you know that Toshiba extended warranty for all Satellite M35X laptops sold in the USA? You can call Toshiba and request a shipping box. They should fix it at no charge.
May 25th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Thank you. I never expected to get a reply so quickly.
Did you read my post? Isn’t it odd that unplugging and replugging the video into the motherboard will permit the system to boot fully into Windows?
I am a longtime tech in his early 70s about to retire. I leave the software work and desktops to my techs. I now work only on laptops. I complete about one per day. These things never cease to amaze me. Working on laptops is my effort to avoid Alzheimer’s. At your suggestion I will contact Toshiba regarding the extended warranty.
With sincerest appreciation,
Walter
May 31st, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Hello, i Have a Toshiba Satellite A105-S4254….i was given it as a gift back in Oct of 2006….it had been working well all the way up until a few days ago, while i was using it, the laptop went into hibernation signifying that i needed to plug in the AC adaptor, and as i went on to plug it in, unlike the other times in the past, this time the laptop did not start back up when i pressed the power button and instead the amber LEDS on the bottom just continually flashed…..i attempted to take out the battery, put it back in again….same problem existed…..and then i attempted to just plug in the adaptor without the battery, and now there were no LEDs flashing at all…im very concerned as to what problem it mite be, the laptop does not start at all. Any suggestions. Thanks.
June 2nd, 2007 at 10:15 am
Sir i have a small question i have one laptop Toshiba L20 its blinking the power led when power on but no display and no power on what is the solution.,.,.
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Max,
Maybe you have a dead AC adapter? You can test the adapter voltage with a voltmeter, it should be 15V.
Remove the battery and plug the adapter into the laptop. Does the AC power LED (left one) lights up? If not, you have either a bad AC adapter or a problem with the motherboard.
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Muhammad Faisal,
Remove the battery and try starting the laptop just from the AC power. Is the power LED still blinking?
June 10th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I got almost same problem w/ Satellite M100-164.
After the computer wakes from hibernation by raising the display panel (lid), and the LCD Monitor turns off due to power management settings, the display shows Toshiba logo and does not turn back on after a key is pressed and keyboard is not responding at all.
I Turned-off power & removed battery –no success-.
OS: windows XP HE.
Please I need help.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Jemmy,
Check the BIOS version installed on your laptop. Then visit the manufacturer’s website and find if there is a more recent version available for downloads. Upgrade the BIOS and test the laptop again. It might help.
June 13th, 2007 at 12:19 am
I have a Toshiba Tecra A5 here that won’t continue past POST. The “Press F2 to enter setup…” screen is displayed, but it’s frozen at that point. Is there a key that I can press on power on that will let me view POST in more detail? The Toshiba screen is lovely and all, but not very helpful.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I have same problem that Muhammad Faisal, but in a IBM Thinkpad T20. You plug in the AC adapter, so the AC Led turns on. If you press the ON button, the AC Led and the HD Led blinks one time (i think the AC Led blinks two or three times very quickly, but I don´t know if this makes any difference) but the laptop doesn’t turn on. I’ve tried all of the possible solutions I found on the internet forums.
I’ve taked off the Li-Ion and the CR2032 batteries, the memory module and checked the AC adapter. It still not working at all. If someone knows any other possible solutions, is welcome to post it. Thank you.
PS: Sorry for my english, i’m from argentina.-
June 15th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Lloyd,
Nope, F2 is the key you need, there is no other key to enter the BIOS setup screen. Try removing the hard drive and DVD drive and enter the BIOS setup screen without them. A faulty drive can stop the laptop from booting properly.
Try reseating the memory modules. If you have two memory sticks installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop again. It’s possible you have a faulty memory module and it freezes the laptop.
June 15th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
gronchaje,
In order to narrow down the problem, you’ll have to minimize the laptop as much as you can.
1. Make sure the memory module is good. Find a known good memory stick and test the laptop again.
2. Remove hard drive, DVD drive and the wireless card. Test the laptop again.
3. Disconnect the LCD screen from the motherboard (connector is located under the keyboard) and test the laptop again.
4. Reconnect all cables and connectors you can access.
If it still will not start even after you removed all above mentioned parts, it’s possible that you have a problem with the motherboard and it has to be replaced.
If the laptop starts after one of the above mentioned steps, start assembling it back installing all removed devices one by one and find witch one is causing the problem.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:51 am
I have a Dell D610. The laptop remains dead when turned off, but after half an hour of button pressing, the laptop switches on, and works (and behaves) as though nothing is wrong. ALl the applications and files are as normal.
Is it as simple as a faulty on/off button or could it be more?
June 21st, 2007 at 6:44 am
Hello,
When I plug in the cord into my laptop (Compaq Evo N1005v), the charge button does not appear, instead there is a quick beeping noise within the AC Adaptor. There is no Led in the AC Adaptor so I am not sure what is wrong. Is there something wrong with the AC Adaptor or is it something to do with the laptop?
Thanks
June 26th, 2007 at 3:48 am
hi
i have toshiba laptop model name: satellite M70-122,model no . PSM70E-00U00FDU,Having a problem with charging,power adaptor tested ok with correctly voltage open up circuit fuse tested o.k help….what could be a problem
Regards
Wilson
June 27th, 2007 at 9:57 am
I have an Asus A4000 laptop. When i start the laptop, it works fine and everything works as it should. Then after no set amount of time, i hear a clicking noise which gets louder and louder and then all of a sudden the laptop just goes off without any warning. What could the problem be?
June 30th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Hi
I have a problem with a ibm t41 , that will not power on , tried with just the battery, then with just ac, and both and nothing happens only get a charging batt light , but if i remove both ac and battery and fiddel between unpluginging the ac and the bat i then get a battery light plus the on light with fan on , but nothing else, the hard drive is good , any suggestions sure would be appreciated
jcv@sympatico.ca
July 1st, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Wilson,
1. Make sure the latest version of the BIOS is installed. Visit the manufacturer’s website and find the BIOS change history. Find out if there are any fixes for the battery charging problem. Upgrade the BIOS if needed.
2. Replace the battery with a known good one and test again.
3. Just in case test the laptop with another AC adapter.
4. If upgrading the BIOS and installing new battery doesn’t help, most likely you have a problem with the charging circuit on the motherboard. In this case you’ll have to replace the motherboard or use the laptop just on AC power.
July 7th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
I Have A New Acer 5054 Laptop, Last Night I copy a Movie From My Phone Memory then I Feel Sleep Because I didn’t Sleep for 38 Hour [Job Rush], When I wake Up This Morning, The laptop screen Become freeze On picture screen saver, Then i take out The AC adapter & The Batery then put it again, When i try to start up the laptop this morning, the LCD is Blank, DVD Rom make noise, Hard Drive Led Is On, And The Proc Led Is Blinking
PS: Sorry My English is not Very Well
July 8th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I have an older Compaq Presario 2100. When i click the computer to start up, it makes a sound like the harddrive is starting up, then it clicks off and repeats this action..on / off / on / off until i take out the battery. its stuck in a loop. any help would be great. thanks!
July 8th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Desfari,
I’m not sure what the Proc LED is. How it’s blinking?
I would check the memory first. Try reseating it and test the laptop again.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
BubbaJoe,
The hard drive clicks and the laptop reboots? Probably you have a faulty hard drive.
Try this. Remove the hard drive and start the laptop without it. Does it still reboots over and over or the laptop stays on all the time? If it stays on, most likely you have a problem with the hard drive and have to replace it.
July 9th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Sorry, I Mean Hard Drive LED, Its Flashing Every Second together with DVD LED, I try to remove The memory & put it back, Still same, The Noise From DVD when i Eject The DVD Room to Open it Didn’t appears,
When I Try to run the Laptop Without Memory The Hard Drive LED is on but not blinking Also With The DVD LED, The Screen Still Blank no bios come up, no voice / noise inside.
July 11th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Desfari FR,
First of all, if the laptop is still under warranty you should send it for repair to the manufacturer. Do not open the laptop or you can loose the warranty.
If the laptop is not under warranty anymore, try this.
1. Unplug the AC adapter and remove the battery. Wait for 2-3 minutes and plug the AC adapter. Turn on the laptop.
2. Try starting the laptop without the hard drive installed and see if you can get any video. It’s possible that the hard drive is bad and it’s preventing the laptop from booting. If the laptop boots fine without hard drive, probably this is your problem.
3. Minimize the laptop as much as you can. Remove the hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card, modem, battery and test it again. If the laptop boots, start installing devices one by one until the laptop fails again. It will help you to find a faulty device.
4. Test the laptop with a known good memory stick.
July 19th, 2007 at 7:50 am
yes, definately do not attempt to open up the notebook yourself if you still need to claim warranty because the warranty is voided once u open up a notebook. Esp if something goes wrong… Un;ess you have the technical support officially from the manufacturer/company of the notebook’s approval or guidance.
July 20th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Up until a week ago my HP Pavilion dv2000 was running fine. Windows would start normally, but then only a blank screen would appear. I’ve reinserted battery and such but I would only end up with the same result. Even when trying to enter safe mode too. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what the problem is.
July 24th, 2007 at 9:41 am
my computer turns on but says no boot sector on internal hard drive
July 29th, 2007 at 10:35 am
my laptop will not turn at all. i tried pressing the power button but it would not work. i do not unstand if it is my AC adapter r my hardwrive. but when i put the adapter in, it would make these noises then turn off. and i don’t know how to replace my hard drive.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Help! Anyone?. I’m not a techie person
I have Toshiba Satellite A70. I used automatic repair tool when I received error message about Outlook. I was asked to insert Disc and allowed it to do its stuff. Outlook opened ok. I allowed laptopn to close down normally. Next time I went to use the laptop the screen does not come on. The laptop makes all the right noises. I know the charger is working ok. The three green lights at front are ok. The fan comes on. Is it coincidence or has MS office changed settings? How can I fix? Many thanks. Thomas
August 15th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Thomas,
I think this is a coincidence that fixing Outlook killed the laptop. Here’s how you can test it. Start the laptop without the hard drive installed. Even without the hard drive installed, you still should see Toshiba logo on the screen when you turn on the laptop. Can you see anything? If not, your problem is not related to software.
If you have any memory stick installed into the expansion slot on the bottom, remove it and turn on the laptop. If the laptop starts after that, most likely you have a bad memory stick.
It also could be a problem with the LCD screen. Test your laptop with an external screen. Connect the external screen to the VGA port on the back and start the laptop. If the external video works fine but the laptop LCD will not light up, it’s possible you have a problem with the screen.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Hi
My laptop toshiba satellite pro m70 will not start at all! When i plug in the AC adaptor the LED lights up blue but the battery LED flashes amber. When i press the power button it seems like the laptop is going to turn on but 2 seconds later the power turns off again.
I have tried to turn it on with just AC power, just battery power and both – but with no luck. I have no idea how to open up the laptop or such.
Any help on how to resolve the issue would be much appreciated!
September 4th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Can anyone tell me where the cmos battery is located on a Sony Vaio FS215Z? Am getting no lights at all but the AC adaptor is fine. Have taken to pieces but cannot find the battery anywhere. Didn’t remove the motherboard as we felt that was one step too far at this stage. Checked all connections as far as humanly possible. I don’t really want to bin it because the picture quality is great but you can now get twice the machine for a third of the price I paid for it 2 years ago. It isn’t a workhorse and hasn’t been abused at all.
September 8th, 2007 at 8:29 am
hi 2 all,
my problems seems to be one of the above problems,yet i can’t solve it.
i own HP pavilion laptop. lately i used it and found that i am working on battery supply. after a few minutes, the battery dead. and while trying direct AC i did not have no led lit, no HD running, just the battery lit blinking. i did try to disconnect the battery and tried runnig on AC, i did also changed the Memory module, checked also the AC adaptor which runing well and shows 18.5 volt as needed. i opened the back of the computer and cleaned all the dirt and dust, but still i have the problem. i can not operate the laptop on direct AC.can somebody help me ???
September 9th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Avi Gal,
Maybe there is a problem with the power jack? Does the power LED flicker when you wiggle the adapter plug inside the power jack?
September 21st, 2007 at 6:34 am
Hi,
First of all, wonderful website with good information.
Secondly, I work in Tech support (no training, been on the job learning as I go for about 8 months) and I have been working on getting an aging fleet of Toshiba 8100 laptops back into reasonable shape.
There is one in particular that has me puzzled. It matches scenario 2 and I had already tried replacing the memory. Used known good memory, even swapped in a known good hard drive just to be certain the drive in there was not totally dead. No success. Are both slots toast or am I missing something entriely?
Thanks for your time
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:01 pm
this website is of great help.. it helped me fixed my laptop by my self…. thanks and god bless
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:49 pm
MC Shortbus,
Could be dead motherboard or dead CPU.
Minimize the system as much as you can and leave only motherboard, CPU and known good memory. Try starting this barebone system with an external monitor. If you still get no video, probably you have a faulty motherboard. There is a possibility of bad CPU but CPU failure is not very common.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:30 am
My problem matches with 2nd scenario but only difference is that in my case when I plug the AC adapter, only the power LED light up. It’s Toshiba A135-S2386 PDC T2080/512/80/15 and I bought it on Sep, 2nd 2007. Along with laptop, I bought 1GB RAM. First three weeks, it was fine but all of a sudden it stops working. Please advice.
September 29th, 2007 at 10:28 am
KK,
The power LED lights up when you plug the AC adapter, so I assume the power adapter work fine.
1. Remove the battery and try turning on the laptop from the AC adapter. Sometimes it helps.
2. Remove both memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module in each memory slot. It’s very unlikely that both memory modules failed at the same time.
3. Try turning on the laptop without the hard dive installed. In some cases a failed hard drive might suspend the whole system.
Does your laptop makes any kind of sounds when you push on the power button? Any LED activity?
October 1st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I have a Dell Latitude D610. I replaced the hard drive. Brand new one. I turned on the laptop after installing the new hard drive. It loads up but it goes to a screen where it says: No boot sector on internal hard drive. Then it says CARDBUS NIC boot failed. I need help. Thank you.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Mike,
After you install a brand new hard drive you have to load the operating system and device drivers. Without the operating system installed the laptop will not work. You get these CDs when you buy a laptop. Insert the first CD (operating system) into the DVD drive and boot the laptop from this CD. Follow instructions. After the OS is loaded, install missing device drivers from the second CD (device drivers).
October 3rd, 2007 at 2:09 am
Hi
I have a problem with my packard bell laptop, it for the client she complained that at no notice it just shut down and when she try to power it up it will never come up. so what i did i stripe it up to check if there is any burned wire, change the memory, check the cpu and fan they all fine atfer that i put back together and it powered up but no windows screen, i try to re-install but it couldn’t let after that i formated the hard drive the laptop work fine with no problem. after two months later the same problem occurred and it does even show that its have a life no power, no light in the battery nothing and i don’t know what to do now.
I will appreciate anyone help who knows how to solve this frastrating problem. help
Thanks
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Sphiwe Mdletshe,
First of all, check the AC adapter. Make sure it outputs correct voltage and works properly.
After that check easy-to-remove parts like hard drive and memory. Try starting the laptop without battery installed.
Finally, start taking the laptop apart piece by piece and test it after each step. Minimize the laptop to barebone system: motherboard, CPU and memory. If the laptop is still dead and shows no signs of life, probably you have a failed motherboard.
Just in case. Check the power jack and make sure the motherboard gets power from the AC adapter, you can do it with a voltmeter.
October 5th, 2007 at 7:30 am
acquired a laptop that had a soda spilled on it, was told by the owners that toshiba said it was the hard drive.
It was a recent spill so I pulled it apart and cleaned it up (yes I know what I’m doing there)
The problem now is it will power up fine, charge the battery, fans will go though I dont here a system beep.
But there is no video, at all. No vga nothing on the lcd and I am running out of ideas to try. usually even with a bad hd there will be even an error on the screen but I’m getting nothing. any suggestions?
October 9th, 2007 at 11:00 am
I cannot figure it out. I tested the video, memory, ac adapter and they alll seems to be fine. But still cannot starts. I decided it maybe the motherboard. I replaced and still giving me the problem.
I have Tobsiha Laptop 6100
Any advice would be appreciate
Thanks
October 19th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite a105-s2712 which has a problem that seems to match scenario 1 (no LED lights, no power…no anything) except that whenever the computer is plugged in it makes a steady clicking sound (about 2 clicks per second). The clicking sound IS NOT the hard drive (though many people have tried to tell me it must be). The sound is coming from the rear left of the computer–the area where the power cord plugs in. I’m no techie, so please keep your comments in layman’s terms–something this website seems to do remarkably well.
Thanks for this service.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Korey,
There are no LED lights when you plug the AC adapter (even power LED), but the laptop itself is making a clicking sound?
First, check the AC adapter. Make sure the adapter outputs correct voltage. You can check the AC adapter with voltmeter.
Second, remove the battery, the hard drive and the DVD drive. Plug the power adapter and turn it on. Still nothing?
October 26th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Hi,
Reading this website tips was of great help to me!
I managed to solve my problem (the laptop wouldn’t start) by testing the memories and memory banks as suggested!
My laptop is back again and I saved time and money!
Thanks a lot! (and of course, made a donation)
Paulo
PORTUGAL
October 27th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Hi
I have a Compaq Persario R3000. There are no LED lights, no sound, dead. AC adaptor checked fine. Motherboard removed and checked no signs,power Jack is fine. Reassembled and Now removed all HDD, Cd drive, Battery, RAM’s, PCMCIA card and tried to power up still no joy. Any idea’s before we decide it is the motherboard
October 27th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Vasu,
If the adapter is fine and it plugs directly into the motherboard, but the motherboard appears to be completely dead, most likely you have a bad motherboard.
October 29th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
pls my lap top crashed and i started it back up it goes to the toshiba screen then right after i get a blue password box and i cant get passed it i tryed my password and it wont work pls help
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:13 am
mine is situation no. 2. i was working on it last night when there was a “tick” sound and since then all is blank….i press power button there is no activity..just the 4 lights(charging etc.) come up and the power light goes off itself.
the bad part is that itsmy dad’s and he is going to kill me for this so i cant call an engineer…and i know simply nothing about how to actually enact on your suggestions….i cant open it ….i live in new delhi, india and its a hp notebook………help me and save me from dying…please
November 4th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
dinika anand,
Try starting the laptop without the battery, just from the AC adapter.
Check the AC adapter, make sure it outputs correct voltage. If the ticking sound comes from the AC adapter, it’s possible the adapter is bad.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:02 am
I have Dell D610. I was getting memory problems. Thought it was due to windows XP. Tried to reinstall the software but now it wont install. After reboot it goes to the installation and then shuts down. I ran the diagnostic and it showed memory test failure. Need help. Thanks…
November 15th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
i have a advent 7115 laptop its windows vista i have only had it a few months and its not working properly , it sometimes doesnt turn on and when it does come on it goes into repair and keeps resetting itself ! I dont know what to do can help me ?
November 15th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I have a Dell Precision D630. When i shut down the comp i need to wait for atleast 30 minutes before i can power it back on. If i try to turn it on right away the power light comes on for a second then the there is a beep followed by the wi-fii light and it shuts down. The whole thing take about 2 seconds.
Can you please help?
November 21st, 2007 at 5:54 pm
hi,
I’ve a Compaq Presario V5000 series laptop which is dead. No LED light, no sound, etc. Tried another adaptor but still no response. My guess is motherboard problem from the discussion above. What do I do with the motherboard?
Thks in advance for assisting.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
ARI,
I don’t think that you need help because you found the problem yourself, but you definitely need new memory.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Joanne,
This sounds like hardware related problem. Most likely your laptop is still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
benny,
I think you are right. Sounds like a problem with the motherboard. Also, there is a chance that the motherboard itself is OK but you have a problem with the power jack.
In both cases, it’s necessary to open up the laptop and take a closer look at the motherboard. Check the power jack first. Connect the AC adapter and using a voltmeter check if power comes to the motherboard. If the motherboard receive power from the AC adapter, but it’s dead, you’ll have to replace the motherboard. You’ll find step-by-step disassembly instruction in the maintenance and service guide (4.18MB pdf file).
November 27th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Hi there
I have a Aspire 1520 laptop. It boots up normally into windows, but as soon as I try reinstalling windows, when it comes to the doss part, it automatically shuts itself down when it is copying the system files?
November 27th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Deon Bosch,
Maybe the laptop shutsdown because it overheats. Take a look inside the heatsink, is it clogged with dust? Clean the heatsink with compressed air and try reinstalling Windows again.
Also, run Memtest86+ utility to test the RAM module. If the memory fails test, replace it.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
What migth be the problem if the computers doesn’t load windows, just you can see the screen as windows log loading but windos never load completly, I tried in safe mode but it just load until mup. sys ans stand forever on this step. I extract the hard drive save my information and I scanned in order to find or repair problems but it still continues…. thank you very much
November 30th, 2007 at 2:29 am
My LapTop is Compaq. Suddenly its LCD stopped funtioning. It was repaired from farway.
When it came back, it was found that its powerswitch was not working correctly. The audio buttons etc. were not corectly placed. That is the bottom part seemed to vacant.
I needed to go on pressing the Powerbutton for a long time to start the laptop.
What could be the problem?
November 30th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Oscar,
Most likely this is software relate issue. Try reimaging the hard drive using recovery discs. This process will erase everything from the hard drive and load everything back to factory defaults.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Ved036,
Looks like the repair shop didn’t do a good job. In your case I would send it back to them and ask to fix the problem.
December 4th, 2007 at 3:32 am
I have a Compaq Presario V5000 with the exact same problem that Benny describes in Post 58. The only LED that lights is the one in the front that indicates the battery is charging. AC adapter & battery appear fine. I had a tech at work look at it, and he seems to think that is is something wrong (Possibly a blown resistor) on the LED Board PN: 417024-001. Did Benny find out the source of his problem?
December 11th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
i have a gateway that my uncle gave to me for free because he was upgrading and the batter was weak but it worked and i used the laptop once in a blue moon and now the led on the laptop and the ac adapter does not light and the battery is not charging any suggestions? email me at lil_egy_kid@yahoo.com
December 11th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Hi
I have a Toshiba A85, and my problem is as follows.
Sometimes when I start it, an area somehwere near the cooling fan makes a loud roaring noise, but it doesn’t happen always.
Also, just today, I started it up as always, no roaring or ticking noises, I typed in my password as usual, and then my background showed up, but after that it stopped loading, the computer didn’t freeze, I could still move the mouse and open the Ctrl+Alt+Del window, but it doesn’t do anything after that, I restarted the computer several times, I even tried getting on another profile of the laptop and the same thing happens.
Please and thanks for your help
December 17th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Wow, glad that I found this site.
I have a question. I have a Sharp PC-MM10 laptop Computer with the docking cradle. This laptop, when powered on, show a quick power on green LED, and then goes to a flashing amber LED and nothing else happens. Th battery does indicate that it is receiving a charge and when the laptop is in it’s cradle the laptop’s hard drive does show asa logical drive on the desktop. I do not think the motherboard is a complete lost cause as it is charging and the hard drive is accesible, but I could be wrong.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as it is a great little laptop!
Thanks!
Ron
December 18th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Great website. My Dell 600M laptop just died yesterday. When I press the power button, the power light shows up, but as soon as I release the button, the light dissapears and the laptop doesnt start (nothing on the screen). I have tried multiple adapters and even removing the battery and putting it back after a couple of minutes. I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks
Suraj
December 19th, 2007 at 6:48 am
I have a Compaq presario V5000 t hat needs the internal ac jack replaced. Is there any information out there on how to open the laptop so that we can replace the jack?
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Beth,
Check the HP maintenance manual for your model, it might have step-by-step disassembly instructions.
Here are instructions for replacing the power jack.
December 26th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
My laptop has suddenly stopped working. When I press the on button, the cpu fan starts for about 1-2 seconds then it all turns off again. Can anybody please help.
December 28th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I have a HP Pavilion. when i turn it on, it shows the HP Splash and goes to the Windows Xp loading screen for about 2 seconds, then it bluescreens and restarts. It goes into an infinate loop. I am wondering if this is a Hard Drive issue? I have tried to reinstall windows with no luck.
December 29th, 2007 at 12:46 am
John,
The power LED stays on or it goes off too?
December 29th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Jay,
It’s possible. Enter the bios and check out if you can test the hard drive in there. Some HP laptops come with hard drive test utility in the BIOS.
If you don’t have it in the BIOS, you can download and run Hitachi’s drive fitness test. You’ll find link to this utility in Resources on the right side.
December 29th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Thanks for the response Jay. Unfortunately, I cannot enter the bios as the laptop only sounds like it is going to start then dies again. I have tried removing the major parts like memory, HD, cpu and none of these make any difference.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
My Toshiba M35X-s149 takes too long to start.
I plug it in, LEDs light up, I push the power button and light comes on, fan comes on, blank screen and then wait for a long time. Eventually it boots properly. It is all a matter of time. Several minutes, 5, 10…
Once it starts everything is ok and I can even restart windows. I just cannot turn it off.
Aby thoughts?
January 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Fernando,
What if you remove the hard drive and try turning it on without the hard drive installed. Does it still take a few minutes to boot the laptop to the toshiba logo or it appears right away?
Run hard drive and memory test. Hitachi’s DFT for the hard drive and Memtest86+ for memory. Find out if you have failing hardware. Links to both utilities are on the right side of the website.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am
This could be a situation 4 with a slight variation. My laptop Aspire 5583 refuses to boot. When I turn on my laptop, there seems to be some fan activity but no screen or HD activity (the HD LED lights up for a few seconds then stops). Additionally, when everything is off, I still hear something running inside the machine which stops only when I take the battery out. Tried connecting it to an external monitor but it’s not receiving any input from my laptop.
January 10th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I have a HP ZV5000 laptop that is totally dead. It was working perfectly except for the dc power jack was loose and when I replaced it the only function that it had was the battery charge lcd light blinked 3 times. There was no other action on the laptop. I reseated the memory, no help I then removed the cd/dvd drive, hard drive, and still no help. The battery is totally dead. Before this started if the laptop ran down under 20 percent remaining battery it was a real problem to get it to recharge back., but after wiggling the power cord it would take a charge and continue to work. I have no way to charge the battery and was wondering if anyone had tried to driect charge the battery using the contacts on the battery. This is the only other option I can think off other than replacing the motherboard and I haven’t seen one under 250-300 bucks. Iwould just like to be sure before I spend that much or more likely trash the laptop. ANY help would be appreciated
January 11th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Jimmy Knight,
Did you replace the power jack yourself or you took the laptop to a repair shop?
If the laptop worked fine before the power jack replacement but not after, apparently you didn’t do a good job. Remove the motherboard again and examine the power jack, make sure there is no shorts between solder joints.
Unfortunately, there is no way I can troubleshoot this laptop without looking at it.
You can minimize the system to bare minimum – motherboard, CPU and memory. If these three parts are good, you should be able to start the laptop with an external monitor.
If the laptop is still dead, even after you minimized it, one of the above mentioned parts is bad.
January 12th, 2008 at 5:01 am
I replaced the power jack myself. I had done some before with sucess but I’m going to re-do it and try it again from the bare bone start when I’m done. Thanks so much for your help.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Pls I got compaq amada p3 I change d hard disk since then it developed problem it always switch off while loading operating syst
January 19th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Olujide blessing,
Make sure the heatsink is clean and not clogged with dust. It’s possible the laptop shuts down because of overheating.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 600m with a situation similar to:
Situation 2.
When you plug the AC adapter the power LED and the battery charge LED light up. When you press on the power button the laptop will not start and you cannot hear any activity from the hard drive, cooling fan and the DVD drive.
————–
I’ve tried both suggestions but have had no luck. Fried motherboard? Any further suggestions?
This all came about after the battery ran down to the warning level during normal use and everything shut off abruptly when it tried to shut down properly. The battery still charged back up and all indications were that things were ok until I tried to turn it on minutes later. The only reaction to the power button being pushed are the lights that normally kick on during startup. This lasts for 1-2 seconds and nothing else happens. If there are any other helpful details, please let me know.
Suraj, we appear to have the same problem. Let me know if you get any good help from anywhere. ben.gonzo@gmail.com
January 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi i need help fast. Please help me
I have toshiba stelite m70-122 and i have it 2 years and everything it was ok. Today when i work and put on power supply its turn off. After that when i thorn on it show me that the message
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
I fix that and go on. when i need again power supply its thorn off and now is dead LEDs (power light, hard drive light, battery charge light, etc…) do not light up and the laptop is not reacting at all if i press on the power button.
P.S. sorry for my bead English and pls help me(its not mine
)
January 31st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Filip Atanasovski,
Did you test the power supply with a voltmeter? Maybe the power supply is not providing correct voltage?
February 13th, 2008 at 10:03 am
I have a 3 years old ++ BENQ laptop (Joybook 2000E). I accidentally tripped over my AC adaptor, and my laptop completely turn off.
When i try to turn it back on, the only things that run is the cooling fan and DVD drive. Hard disk drive doesn’t run and the LCD screen is black. I tried to output it to an external monitor but no video as well.
What might be the problem? I tried the memory module method but it doesn’t work
February 19th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Hello, I am about to give up on my Toshiba Satellite M35X-S149… A couple of days ago I tried turning it on and got nothing but a black screen. I thought that my screen died on me since the button’s blue light was on and all my led lights are on. But the fan only turns on for a few seconds and after several tries to turn it on it did boot up. It worked fine for hours like nothing was wrong. When I rebooted again the next day I had the same problem. Now it won’t boot up at all and when it does it shuts off before everything loads. Should I just give up on it? —–typing this on my Nintendo DS so ignore the typos. Thanks for any help.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:56 am
Laura,
Memory is the first thing to test, could be faulty memory module. Try reseating it as I mentioned in the situation 2.
February 24th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Hey, cj2600,
I’m working right now on a Toshiba Sallite Pro 6100 (manufactured in 2003). I have all-around two-decades of experience in the field of electronics (EE) and troubleshooting, however; right now I’m facing a really weird problem that is frustrating as hell. Any sort of assistance is much appreciated. Oh and by the way, your website is really helpful — keep it up, you’re doing a great job.
The laptop was brought to me because its CMOS battery was undercharged and as a result, the BIOS couldn’t hold the user-set values including the system clocks and such. Other than these, the laptop was in working condition. As soon as I’ve heard the symptoms of the problem I predicted that it’s a low battery. I’ve placed the laptop on my workbench and half-disassembled (did not take out the system board, CPU, and such because my goal was to only reach the CMOS battery) the notebook, ultimately I’ve located the battery and measured it with my multimeter. Indeed, it was barely showing off 300mV instead of 3V.
OK, I’ve taken out the battery, recharged, and placed it back in its place. I’ve assembled the laptop totally and when I pushed the “power” button, nothing happened. I was like – ‘what the heck?’ Hmm. The AC adapter LED lights up, so the circuitry gets powered up until that stage. At least I knew there’s nothing wrong the power jack. I thought I’ve made a mistake when I’ve assembled the notebook so I’ve taken apart again, totally and completely, and tried to power on – still nothing.
Then I’ve followed the approach of narrowing down the problems by minimizing the components (disconnected and taken out the HDD, wireless card, DVD-ROM, LCD screen, even the sound card, etc.) and still it didn’t show _any_ sign of aliveness. I’ve taken out the CMOS battery, re-seated, still nothing. I was becoming frustrated and I’ve measured the power on switch – its condition was fine.
As a last resort, I’ve totally disassembled the laptop. Of course, I’ve also considered the anti-ESD protections. Once I’ve taken out and thoroughly examined each little section of the system board, even with a magnifying glass, I haven’t noticed anything “weird.” So I’ve connected together the necessary components, once again, to create a bare-bone notebook only with the system board, CPU, memory module (it has only one), and the cooler. This setup was on an anti-static conductive material. I’ve hooked up to the AC adapter, the LED lights up, but pushing the “power” button is still worthless; it does nothing, shows no signs of being alive. Nada. Nothing. Zero.
I’ve cleaned the contacts of the memory modules (isopropyl alcohol). I’ve tried reseating at the another slot – nothing changed. I’ve tried reseating everything, every little connector and cable starting from the LCD screen to wireless antenna, anything that I could find – still nothing changed. I was running out of ideas, as you can imagine, so out of frustration I’ve taken my trusty multimeter and was starting to measure the resistances between components, but the system board was grounded (you know, those metalic rings underneath the screw holes).
At this point I have absolutely no idea on what to do anymore, what to try, etc. Like I said earlier, any kind of guidance or assistance is much appreciated. I’m curious what would you try if you were in my place. This scenario is pretty weird, especially since the laptop was in working condition and I have done nothing to it than disassembling it with care, taking out the CMOS battery (first I’ve disconnected its 2-pin connector and then taken out the whole battery with connector and cable), recharged, and assembled it again. From this point, no matter what I did, how many times, the laptop couldn’t be brought to life again. I wonder what happened… and how could I ressurect this system board, if possible, because due to all of the aforementioned, it’s pretty much nothing but the system board, though, everything can be.
Thanks in advance and I look forward to reading your knowledgeable and professional answer. Have a great week.
Regards,
–Anthony.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
My lovely daughter was takiing my laptop out of the car in the rain ( in it’s case ) , and sat it on the ground ( claims she didn’t drop it )!
After 30 minutes i was able to get it to boot, It didn’t get wet, I was able to use it that day, but i hae not been able to get it to boot since. I get the microsoft screen with the hourglass telling me to wait but, after about 15 minutes i get a totally black screen with a cursor at the top right hand side of the screen and that’s it!
March 4th, 2008 at 7:47 am
I have an HP Pavillion dv2000, thats almost a year old. Just yesterday I went to turn on the laptop and it seems that the hard drive tries to boot for about 3 seconds, then stops, the fan is running, the power light is on, as well as the charging light (if plugged in) but not the hard drive light… (there are 3 blue lights in the front to display these three things) Also, all of the media buttons above the keyboard are lightin up but the screen never comes on, and I dont think it ever boots at all.
Now I did recently, about a month ago, upgrade my RAM and installed a 1 gig chip that I bought from best buy (taking out the orignal 512… it came with two seperate 512’s, and now has the 1 gig and the 512.) I know that is has been stated to try to remove the new memory, which I will surely try as soon as I get home. If this does solve the problem, am I to just accept that my machine has to run on the slow 1 gig of RAM that it came with?) And more importantly, if it doesnt work, what am I to do??? I kinda remember this similar situation happening a few weeks back, but I just left it on without being plugged in until the battery died, then pluged it in and booted and it worked. But this time, I have tried that like 20 times, and I am getting sadder and sadder and going through laptop withdrawl. Thanks for the help, this site is really cool.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Anthony,
Sorry for a late response, I was busy.
Man, I wouldn’t touch a Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 with a 10-foot pole. A few years ago we had a customer with hundreds of these units and working on them was a nightmare. You take it apart and it never starts again.
First of all, the laptop couldn’t hold the user-set values including the system clocks and such and you would think that the CMOS (RTC) battery has to be replaced, but replacing this battery doesn’t help.
We think that all these startup problems, including the CMOS battery issue, are related to poor connectors between motherboard, power board, VGA board. Witch of them are failing? I don’t know. When we were “fixing” these laptop we just kept replacing all these parts until we find a good working combinations.
What you can do is try reseating all these parts and make sure they all making good connection between each other.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Zach,
First of all, try swapping memory. It looks like you have a few different modules to paly with, try installing them one by one into different slots. Try this first.
March 10th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I am no a computer technician but I am familiar taking electronics apart, putting them together and still work.
My problem is with an Acer Travelmate 620.
The laptop would not start without the AC adaptor. It did 4 short beeps during post the led light comes up and it shuts down again.
If I start it with the AC adaptor then the laptop starts even though I pull out the AC power right the next second after I press the Power button.
I assumed it was the battery even though it lasted for an hour if I started the laptop with the AC.
So I got a new battery but the problem remains, 4 short beeps and it shuts down.
According to the service manual this message means “Battery Critical Low” but the new battery last for almost 3 hours after I use the AC adaptor to start up.
Is there a chance this message to refer to the RTS battery?
Although the time and other information stays on time and order.
Could it be a sensor that gone bad and wrongly reports “battery low” during the first second of startup?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
March 12th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
MjW,
I don’t think that this problem is related to the RTC (CMOS) battery because the system time stays the same and doesn’t reset to defaults.
To me it sounds like a possible problem with the motherboard. Take a look at the battery contacts on the motherboard, make sure they are clean. Check the BIOS version and update it to the latest version if needed, it may help.
Try discharging the battery. Run the laptop with the AC adapter unplugged until the battery dies and then plug it in and recharge the battery.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:59 am
Hi there
I have a thinkpad t31 which turns on but doesnt boot up at all. I can hear the fan turning on but thats about it. Nothing happens after that. No screen, nothing. However, the computer stays on plus the fan doesnt stop running. Sometimes (very rarely), it does bootup and comes in fully working condition but freezes after a few hours with a wierd message that ‘your computer has been turned off, if this is a first time you are seeing this message try rebooting it if it happened before try removing un necessary hardware and software and reboot again. If, i try rebooting it sometimes it does reboot and somtimes the same problem occurs as discussed above. Can anyone please help? thanks soo much
March 13th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I am Having A prob. With My Hp compaq Nx6110.It was Given to Me as A gift,it worked fine until nov.2007, since then i have tired very thing.the lights come on when i plug it in to a/c then the amber lights blinks 8 times. does not boot to post.alson the battry does not work it was fully charged at the time.i got it to work later in dec. of 2007 by pushing down near the battry slot on the motherborad.but now that stoped working to. any sugg. is help full…..to think i went to school for this.maybe i need to go back…..thanks
March 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I have a compaq laptop which starts to boot into windows but fails, displaying the message “Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this problem”. It then gives three options to choose from for starting it: Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Commande Prompt. I have used all three modes to no avail. In each occasion it asks for the use of the Recovery Disk which I used but then it would only allow a full reinstall which wipes away most of my files and files. How can I fix this problem without losing my files? Thanks
March 15th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Noman,
Try solution number 2. There is a chance that your laptop has bad memory.
March 15th, 2008 at 8:59 am
RobertDrag,
Check out the maintenance and service guide. I think it may have a translation for this error message.
March 15th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Freddie,
I think you’ll have to try reinstalling the operating system from the recovery disc. You can back up all personal files using an external USB enclosure for notebook hard drives, it’s not expensive. You can find it online for about $15.
Backup files and reinstall software.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I tried your suggestions, twice just in case, but it did not help.
Appreciate your help and thanks for your time.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Could it be the CMOS battery? or is this just the same as RTS battery?
March 19th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
MjW,
I tried to find the error message explanation in the service manual and looks like you are right, it says:
Battery critical LOW
In this situation BIOS will issue 4 short beeps then shut down
system, no message will show.
I don’t think that the manual refers to the RTC (CMOS) battery. Because if there is an error code related to the CMOS battery, it says SMOS battery, not just battery.
RTC battery=CMOS battery
March 20th, 2008 at 6:02 am
Aha, ok thanks for the clarification
I guess I’ll just let it be.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I have a sony vgn s1xp(similar to 360), which does not power up at all, no lights.
It fits scenario no 1. I have checked the voltage from adapter and it’s correct. I think it must be the motherboard. Something must be fried. Could anybody help me to locate the fried part or give me a schematic of the motherboard. Replacement of motherboard isn’t worth it (350-400$)
March 25th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Hello,
I have a Toshiba Satellite A55. I was having problems with the AC adapter supplying power, which meant either the adapter was bad or the power supply socket connection was faulty. Since it was late, I decided to take apart the laptop and check the power connection. After disassembling it, the power socket looked ok. I put back together and got a new ac adapter. I plugged the new adapter in and the charge lights on the front of the machine work, but absolutely nothing happens when I hit the power button (no sound, no nothing). I’m afraid I may have knocked something around during my disassembly/reassembly. Is there one or two things I should look at to solve this issue? I have already tried going back through the machine and looking for disconnected cables. However, it looks pretty set. Thanks for your help!!
March 26th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Gregg,
In order to boot a laptop with video on internal or external monitor, you need three major parts: motherboard, CPU and memory.
Check the memory module first, make sure it’s seated correctly, try reconnecting the module or even move it into the empty slot.
If for some reason you removed the CPU, make sure it’s seated properly and the CPU socket on the motherboard is locked.
You can assemble a barebone system: system board, CPU (with heatsink and fan) and memory and then connect an external monitor. If all three main parts are fine, you should be able to boot this system and get at least Toshiba logo on the screen.
I believe in this model the power button is not on the motherboard, it’s on a separate board witch is connected to the motherboard via flat ribbon cable. Make sure this cable is properly connected to the motherboard and the connector is locked. Loose connection between this board and motherboard can be your problem.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:20 am
Hello, I have a dell inspiron 5150 and doesnt turn on, just power for a few seconds and then it shut off, nothing shows on the screen. any help
thanks
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Hello, I have a dell inspiron 5150 and doesnt turn on, just power for a few seconds and then it shut off, nothing shows on the screen. I noticed that when hit the on botton a lock with the later A blinks for a few seconds
thanks
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
If it’s a power adapter you need, I suggest these guys, they’re grreat! Way cheaper than going to the manufacturer. 12V Power Supply
April 5th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Hi laptop does not get started, once we press power button , screen display nothing
April 5th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Hi, i have a Dell Inspiron 1525, only had it 2 months and its suddenly conked out on me!
When i start it it recommends startup repai i click that it goes on for like an hour then brings up a blue screen sayin random stuff about hardware or programmes which may have caused the failure.
It recommends pressin f8, i have tried every option on f8, nothing helps i have inserted teh re installation vista dick too, really peeved as i need to finish my dissertation for uni, dont know what to so, somebody help please!!!!!
April 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
hey sam same thing happened to me… its not fun. and now it wont even start up
April 8th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Hi,
I have a Sony Vaio (VGN-FS600 series) which was working beautifully (it’s definately not software related) when one day while I was on the laptop it turned it’s self off without warning. I thought I had somehow unplugged it and not noticed it was running on battery power (since I turned off the “sleep mode at 5 percent battery power” option a while back to help fully discharge my battery before I recharged it to promote battery life) because it felt almost exactly like when it turns off because the battery dies.
I checked the adaptor, realized it was indeed plugged in, lifted it up and felt the underside, it was warm but not ungodly hot and certainly not the warmest I’d felt it in the past, and just pulled the cord out and popped it back in, and pressed the on button. The laptop lights (charging battery, etc) did not turn on, the laptop did not turn on, and I heard an extremely brief and faint clicking or popping sound repeated a few times before stopping. I pressed the on button again, nothing. I unplugged the cord, reseated it and jiggled it a bit to make sure it wasn’t a loose connection at a wrong angle, then pressed the on button, and again the faint clicking/popping sound about 4-5 times but otherwise nothing. No activity of any kind including the lights. I don’t -think- it’s the laptop cord, as the cord’s brick is still lit up when plugged in, and I’d rather not go shell out the money to buy a universal laptop cord while I have the option to find out if it is a different problem.
Does this sound like an power cord problem or a motherboard problem?
April 9th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Andrea,
Did you notice if the popping sound was coming from the power adapter or from the laptop itself?
Unfortunately, you cannot tell until you test the laptop with another working power adapter. At least, you can test the adapter with a voltmeter and find out it it outputs correct voltage.
Try this. Unplug the adapter, remove the battery. Wait for a few minutes then plug the power adapter and try turning the laptop on again. I had a similar problem with my Sony laptop in the past (only without popping sound) and removing adapter/unplugging the battery helped.
Also, try this. You mentioned a popping sound and It’s possible this sound comes from the hard drive. Try removing the hard drive and starting the laptop without it. In some cases a faulty hard drive might halt the whole system from booting. Can you boot the laptop with video when the hard drive is removed?
April 12th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I have problem with satellite a135, when i turn it on, everything goes normal until few momment and hang, i try to disconnect, modem, wifi module, harddisk and dvd drive, and then try to start again. it look booting in few momment and then hang again. what wrong with this laptop?
April 16th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Working on dc jack Compaq V2000, the voltage is on& off from output of jack going into board, I still think one side of the jack is internally defect.
When it is running, is the fan supposed to come right on? I left the fan assembly on, I can still desolder it that way without taking it all apart, is the fan supposed to come right on once the voltage reaches the board?
April 17th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Also, does the graphics card need to be in for it to get anykind of power? Dont know where the card is, fan does not even turn on.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I have an issue where my Dell 700M will not boot the OS. It powers on, boots the BIOS, then hangs at a black screen.
I have tried the power fixes, the result is the same, on battery, or power, with or without battery. I have tried removing the DVD drive and booting. I have removed the hard drive, and have connected it to another computer (via USB box), and the drive works fine.
I ran the Dell Diagnostics from the Boot menu (F12), which checks BIOS, CMOS, memory, and everything passed.
Anyone have any ideas as to what may be the issue?
April 20th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
k1ndd4,
Did you test memory modules? Could be memory related problem. If you have two memory modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately.
Did you try reinstalling Windows?
April 20th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Robert,
First of all, did you test the AC adapter?
April 20th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Jason,
Did you try reinstalling Windows?
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
1.5 Yr Old Compaq V3000 suddenly restarted last night. Upon reboot the HDD light flashed briefly as if loading, but no post screen or OS boot and no HDD activity after those initial flashes. AC Power light on and appears to be working. I re-seated both 1GB sticks of RAM to each position and replaced in original slots with no result. Am getting a laptop SATA to USB to retrieve data off my HDD. In the meantime, any other ideas how on what to test?
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Kurt,
Remove the hard drive. Try starting the laptop without the hard drive installed. Do you get video? Will it POST?
Test the laptop with an external monitor? Do you get external video?
April 24th, 2008 at 5:11 am
I have a IBM T30 llaptop appears to be dead. When I plug the AC adapter, the Power Light LED light up, but the laptop could not react at all if I press on the power button.
Can you tell me what are the possible solutions?
April 26th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Laura Shao,
The power button on IBM laptops is located on the keyboard. Maybe the power button is bad and the keyboard has to be replaced?
You can try reconnecting the keyboard first. Unplug it from the motherboard and then plug it back in. It’s possible the keyboard is not making good connecting with the motherboard and reconnecting the cable will fix your problem. Here’s service manual for ThinkPad T30, it explains how to disconnect and remove the keyboard.
If reconnecting or replacing the keyboard will not help, most likely you have a problem with the motherboard.
April 29th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Hi, I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 6000 Laptop and I spilled Orange Juice all over the key board. I dried it off and have started to try and start it up again but when I press the power button nothing happens. There is the DC LED orange light that is blinking on and off. I have tried taking the battery out and plugging it into the outlet starting it that way but had no success. At one point the DC LED turned green and the battery LED turned orange but it would not start. Now it has gone back to the first orange blinking light. Can anybody help me?
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:07 am
my laptop starts up all the way to the log on screen, when i log on it doesnt open my desktop. the screen goes black and it opens my documents. i scanned it for viruses but nothing has showed up. Please Help
May 5th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I have a Toshiba M50, Had viruses which I cleaned out, now my DVD drive is not recognized in device manager, my computer and Bios. Dvd lights up but wont read disk so I Can’t reinstall windows.
Please help with suggestions.
Thanks
May 16th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Dell Insperon 6000
press the stert button, power light comes on,
then a click and it goes dead
tried pulling battery and using only AC power, same result.
Tried replacing battery, which is fully charged and disconecting AC power, same result.
A puzzlement?????
May 18th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Luke,
Try to boot in Safe Mode and then use Windows System Restore utility. Restore it back to the time when the laptop was working fine, it might help.
If you still have the same problem, back up all personal file and reinstall Windows from the recovery disc.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
pete,
I don’t think this is related to viruses, sounds like a hardware failure.
Clean the optical lens inside the drive with cotton swab and alcohol. Try again.
You can try reseating the DVD drive. Just remove it from the laptop and then install back. It’s possible the connection between the drive and motherboard is loose. Reseating the drive may help.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
david wolff,
Can you tell where does the “click” sound come from? Does that sound come from the hard drive, from the DVD drive or from the motherboard?
Remove the hard drive and DVD drive and try turning it on again. Can you start the laptop now?
Maybe that sound comes from the cooling fan because it’s blocked by something? Check the fan.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
A Toshiba Satellite M55 does not start when I hit the power button. The left LCD at the front is on, which probably indicates that the power supply is working. Are there any known problems with this laptop? Sometimes, every now and then it starts up and works normal.
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:08 am
I have a Compaq Presario V3015NR that is about a year old. I am having some weird problems that are leading me to believe that it might be something with the power jack on the Ltop. I was on my Ltop and all of a sudden the screen freaked out and quickly showed lines all across it and then went black. Not to mention that my Ltop is a vegetable. It will show that the power is on but will not do anything else. It also will do something that I have never had any experience with what so ever. It will be off completely off, and if I touch my reload or refresh button at the top of the Ltop it will magically come back on. Weird Hugh? The reload/refresh button isn’t really a button it is one of those new static buttons where you just lightly have to touch it. But anyway, this is all pointing to a power problem if you ask me. Oh, and I should mention that when it comes back on it will be in its vegetable state. No picture, completely black and it will be on with the power lights all lit up but it wont function at all. Nothing, no hard drive no nothing. The cd/dvd drive will open but that’s it. I was just wondering if I could get some other opinions and ideas. This is all beneficial in fixing a problem like this. I will appreciate all of your insight…
Thanks, Luke……
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:37 am
I also forgot to mention that I have done some searching and found that Compaq has an update for the bios. It just so happens that this is suppose to fix some of the problems that are happening here. I just wish that I could have been forewarned about this earlier. I can’t access my bios at the moment and I’m going to guess that some of the others can’t either. This is a problem. I am trying my hardest to fix this but any help or insight will help. Thanks… Oh I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but I have a V3000 series Laptop.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:11 am
My Laptop boots properly, Windows gets loaded but after that the scree is blank and the desktop doesnt appear. Also, all the lights are on but the keyboard doesnt seem to work
May 26th, 2008 at 2:13 am
I have a IBM model:
here are my problem
My laptop can not boot when i plug the hard disk drive. even it can not go to cmos setting.
i removed the hard disk drive then i can go to cmos setting.
i think it has a problem with my hard disk drive. i replace with another one but problem can not solve.
please tell me how to solve this problem
May 31st, 2008 at 12:50 am
My Toshiba m115 laptop suddenly stopped turning on. No LEDs light up. AC adapter seems to be OK. Could it be something easy to repair or most likely the motherboard is dead?
Thanks,
May 31st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Ed Miller,
The power button on this laptop is located on a separate board – 7 button board on the right side of the laptop. There could be a problem with the power button and the board has to be replaced. I cannot tell you what is wrong with your laptop without testing it with another power button board.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Luke,
I would check the memory module, could be memory related problem. Try reseating it.
I don’t think this problem is related to the power jack.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Toan Trung,
If you installed another known good compatible hard drive into the laptop but still experience the same issue, apparently there is a problem with the motherboard. I don’t know what else could cause this failure. Probably there is something wrong with the hard drive controller witch is located on the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
Just in case, you can try reflashing the BIOS when the hard drive is removed. Reflash the BIOS, install the hard drive and test the laptop.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Ash,
Test the laptop with an external monitor. If video on the external monitor goes blank too, it’s possible that you have a software related problem.
Can you boot in Safe Mode?
May 31st, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Oleh Kusyy,
Did you test the AC adapter with a voltmeter? Are you sure it’s not the AC adapter?
1. Test AC adapter again.
2. Could be bad power jack.
3. Bad motherboard.
I posted instructions for taking apart Toshiba Satellite M115 at http://www.irisvista.com
June 1st, 2008 at 8:01 am
Mine is an HP Pavilion dv6312, I spelt water over the keyboard but the Laptop was turned off then, I left it to dry up for several houres and then I tryed to operate it but it turns on for about 2 seconds and then go off.. I tryed to replace the Ram and the battery but the problem still
June 1st, 2008 at 11:53 am
FATHI,
Liquid spills are very unpredictable. Apparently water went down to the motherboard.
Unplug the power adapter, remove the battery and stop using the laptop, it’s may be not too late.
It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop at take a closer look at the motherboard.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:34 am
hi, my daughters compac presario c300 laptop lost power ,turned back on it turns on but after a couple of seconds its off again put new battery in at first turned on put battery adaptor in switches itself off, tried again it then lost windows but will only stay on for a few seconds, will not now switch on at all with new battery fitted ,charge light flickers with new battery and only with adaptor connected, will only switch on with old battery fitted and with adaptor connected. cannot re-install windows as it switches itself off before completion, also tried a new adaptor, will not turn at all just using either battery without adaptor connected.would appreciate any suggestion what the problem may be. many thanks barry
June 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
barry vowles,
To me this sounds like a problem with the motherboard.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:44 am
my laptop is compac. I connet net but can’t connet & my laptop done hang & after 1 min. screen is off. And after my laptop donot stat done. pls solve my problem.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:03 am
My Toshiba laptop when started shows the Toshiba startup screen…then goes to a screen saying that it couldn’t start properly and pick one of the ways to start…
i usually pick LAST GOOD CONFIGURATION, but I’ve tried them all and what happens is it goes through a list of drivers, then looks like it’s going to start but restarts itself and goes to the process all over again starting with the Toshiba Startup screen.
It isn’t out of battery and the cooling fan seems to be working.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Anonymous,
Test the hard drive first. This could be related to the hard drive failure, maybe it’s going bad. Download and run Hitachi’s drive fitness test. If the hard drive passes the test, try reinstalling Windows. If the hard drive fails, replace it and then reinstall Windows.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:49 am
my acer aspire 5610 used to hang a lot while running sharing programs. after a while, the lag started to spill over onto other programs like itunes and media player and it would snag on certain points of a song or video. the snags jus freeze up everything except the mouse, the laptop goes into a pause nd clicks every 5 seconds. the LED for the hard disk just stays lit up while it hangs. now it hangs for over 10 mins while starting windows. what’s wrong and what can i do to fix it?
June 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
hi i just got a toshiba satellite L25-S1217. it is used.i ordered a new power adapter for it, plugged it in and there is no reaction.no sounds lights etc. there is a battery attached.it will not power up with battery removed or not. i have no idea how long it sat with dead battery. does it have to sit with ac adapter plugged in to charge before it will work or should it work off the adapter immediately? thanks in advance for your help.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
z-man,
This sounds like the hard drive failure. You’ll have to replace the hard drive and reinstall OS with software.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
valle mentzer,
I assume the power adapter is good. If you plug it into the laptop but the laptop is dead (no LED lights at all) there could be two problems:
1. The power jack is broken and the motherboard is not getting power from the AC adapter.
2. The motherboard is dead.
Normally it has to start working right away, as soon as you plug the AC adapter into the laptop and turn it on. It should work on AC power with or without the battery installed.
June 27th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Long story short: Gateway m460 went into sleep mode, next day tried to boot up but power and module swap/access indicator flash on for about a second and powers back down, screen does not even display. Help?
July 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
This is not a reply but a request for help. I’ve got a Thinkpad T20 IBM. It was only booting in save mode. So I decided to reinstall windows xp. I’ve been trying to do it and every time I do I always have the sam problem. It reas the windows xp setup disk reinitializes de hard drive with ntf. Then reads the files. Then it stars goes through the process collecting information, dynamic update preparing installation and then it starts Installing windows when this happens it shows in the bottom installing Devices and it starts to fill the cell in the bottom with green until it reaches “Setup will complete in approximately 34 minutes. It always stops at the 34 minutes while installing the devices. Can you please help me with this. I created 3 diagnostics floppy and even bought a refurbished floppy drive, then took out the cd drive and installed the floppy and ran the diagnostics. Yet, I do not seem to see any problems there. Only it stops the windows installation at the installing devices when it is 34 minutes to complete. I am desperate as I do not know what else to do here. I will appreciate any suggestion.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Hah.. For those without extensive computer knowledge this guide benefits quite well. By the 5th situation I was able to fix my laptop. My laptop shut off and whenever I turned it on, it would not boot up or display any images. After removing the memory and re-inserting it, it started working.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Hi, was looking for some help. I have an HP laptop which will not start up. The laptop was running sitting at the desktop and I pushed the power button which sent it into standby as normal, now it will not turn back on. All the power lights com on and somtimes the dvd drive begins to power and the fan starts but only for a second or so and then it powers off again. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
July 29th, 2008 at 9:27 am
i have an acer laptop the problem with my laptop is that the laptop is dead the battery indicator is working ie is shows that the battery is charged or empty when adapter is connected but when the power button is pressed the laptop does not switch on
July 29th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
David Surgenor,
Check the power adapter. It’s possible that the power adapter died while the laptop was in standby mode. The laptop turns on for a second and then turns off because the battery is discharged. I’ve seen this happening before.
Do you have power LED on the laptop? will it light up when you plug in the AC adapter?
July 29th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Amey,
Try this. Unplug the power adapter, remove the battery, waif for a few minutes. Try turning it on again.
July 30th, 2008 at 6:02 am
cj2600,
Thanks for the response, The laptop does indeed have a power led which lights up with the ac adapter plugged in. My power adapter failed before and no lights were present unlike the current situation so I had kind on ruled that out. Curiously when a cd (any cs at all) is placed into the dvd drive and the drive also begins to spin up when attempting to start the laptop, it appears to try to read the disk for a while and stays on longer than without the disk in the drive. Wether or not the fan and the drive starts to spin seems to random with the lights all sometimes flicking on then off.
I am currently trying to get hold of a new adapter, any other ideas at all?
Thanks again!
July 30th, 2008 at 11:05 am
David Surgenor,
If the power LED lights up, probably there is nothing wrong with the adapter.
Try this.
1. Unplug the adapter, remove the battery. Wait for a while and try turning it on again.
2. Remove the hard drive and start the laptop. Can you get video when the hard drive is removed?
3. Try reconnecting memory modules. If you have only one module, move it into the empty slot and try again.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
cj2600,
Thanks but I have tried all that. Still get all the same results. Is it possible the problem lies with the circuit board which the power button is connected to ie. the button cannot send the correct message to come out of standby or maybe there is no power getting to the motherboard? overheating maybe?
Thanks Again.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:53 pm
David Surgenor,
I don’t think it’s overheating. Even if the heat sink is completely clogged with dust you should be able to turn on the laptop, at least for a short time.
If the laptop doesn’t react at all when you press the power button, there could be a problem with the button. But if the laptop turns on (you can hear HDD noise, DVD dive noise, etc…) them most likely it’s not related to the button.
You can try minimizing the system as much as you can. Remove hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card, modem, one of the memory modules (if you have two), etc… Try turning it on again. If the laptop turns on but will not start (no video on internal or external monitors) probably there is a problem with the motherboard.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
When I booted my laptop today,
it ran into the “windows did not boot up normally” menu, i tried all the options and they all end up with the same problem: it goes to the windows booting screen, then a there is a blue flash (there is some text but it disappears too quickly) and then it restarts.
have any ideas?
August 8th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
hello guys and gals… i have a compaq x1000 i bought a new a/c adapter for it and it was workign fine til one day my son was using it and he was surfing the net and the lcd went blank but the power light and wifi light was on and i hooked up to an external monitor and nothing shows up.when you turn on the laptop u hear the fan spinning for a sec or 2 and then stop you think the video card as gone bad inside it?
August 13th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
i have a compaq presario m2010us and it wont start up at all. i plug in the ac adapter and it’s getting power, as displayed by the led, but i press the power button and i hear a click then absolutely nothing happens. help me please. thank you
August 14th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Mat,
1. Could be bad memory stick. You can run Memtest86+ utility to find if you have bad memory module.
How to make and use memory diagnostics disc to test laptop RAM
2. Could be bad hard drive. You can test it with Hitachi’s drive fitness test or any other test.
3. Could be software related error. Try reinstalling the operating system from scratch.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
larry miller,
First, I would check the memory module. Try reseating memory. If you have only one stick installed, move it into the empty slot (if you have any). If you have two modules, remove them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately.
Also try this. Unplug power, remove battery, wait for a few minutes. Plug in the adapter and test the laptop.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Casey Cabmuco,
As I mentioned in the previous comment, it could be memory related problem. Try reseating or replacing memory with another known good module.
August 15th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
My Laptop boots properly, Windows gets loaded but after that the desktop doesn’t appear no start menu, only screen saver appear.
quick response pls….
August 15th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
shinta,
Try this. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL keys, it will open Windows Task Manager. Go to File – New Task (Run..) and type explorer.exe then press OK. It should bring your desktop back.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:20 am
My T41 does not power up and does not start when I press the Power Button. The battery is charging and it turns from “orange” to “green” light on the battery indicator during and after charging. AC adapter works good also, I have tried using it on my older T23 laptop.
I have removed both power source frommy T41, AC adapter and battery. I put back the battery again to the laptop and then press the power button but still it does not power up, but I noticed that the battery light up but for a very very very short time only. I have done this repeatedly and did get same response only…a short light on the battery indicator and laptop does not power up.
I now remove the battery and use the adaptor instead. Upon inserting the jack at the back of the laptop, a short light on the battery was also observed. I pressed the power button but still the laptop won’t power up. I removed the power adapter and insert again….I still get the same response.
The memory is good…i have already tested it to a friend’s laptop and it works fine. I have tried to re-seat the mem on the T41…still no good.
What could be the problem?
Could it be the motherboard or CPU?
How do I know? Any suggestions?
rgds,
DJ
August 19th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I got a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo series, I removed the battery and used with AC power only. Accidentally, the cable was unplugged. I tried to turn on again, the power turns on but it not booting and the screen remains black. Yet, i can see that the laptop react (LED lights run twice then off) everytime i turn it on. What is the problem? Is it dead? Please help or does any trick can be done?
P.S.
My adapter is in poor quanlity like the power will not on unless the cable is extended or I always turns in side by side or up & down till i get the lights on.
Thanks
Ken
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:29 am
my ibm tinkpad laptop is dead when i press power button it gives a small green flash then off. but the battery light is working correctly. please help me to manage this problem.
Best regards.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:02 am
We have a Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop, and it will boot up the Windows page will come up, but then go blank and will not boot into Windows XP.
Any ideas for what could be wrong?
August 25th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
DJ (post 181),
The power button on your IBM laptop is located on the keyboard. It’s possible that there is a problem with the power button/keyboard. Try reconnecting the keyboard cable on the motherboard.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Ken,
If the laptop turns on but there is nothing on the screen (internal or external) the first thing to check would be the memory module. Try reconnecting the memory module, move it to the empty slot or replace with another known good module.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
abdulfattah,
1. Unplug the power adapter and remove the battery. Wait for a couple of minutes, plug in the power adapter and try turning it on again.
2. Make sure the power adapter outputs correct voltage. You can test it with a voltmeter.
3. Minimize the laptop as much as you can. Remove the battery, hard drive, DVD drive. Try turning it on again. If you still have the same problem, it could be bad motherboard.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
AM,
You can try this. Turn on the laptop and as soon as Dell logo appears on the screen press F8. It should bring you to the screen with a few different options.
1. Try Last Known Good Configuration.
2. Try Safe Mode. In Safe Mode you can try using Windows System Restore utility and restore the system to the previous restore point.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
What would you think on a VAIO that will not boot, when press power button, all LED light briefly but not remain, nor fan neither other sound in laptop. I minimized the laptop, all the devices work well in other: mems, HDD, so I think is: power plug, mainboard processor. I could access to processor, doesnt look burned.
Please, help me with advice
August 25th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Emilio,
Did you test the power supply? Could be bad DC adapter I guess. You can test your adapter with a voltmeter.
August 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am
CJ,
I had tried all of what you mentioned to no avail, but then I found that the pin that turns the monitor on and off had gotten stuck down, so problem solved!
Thanks anyway
September 4th, 2008 at 5:01 am
The solution for situation 2 worked brilliantly for me. Thanks a lot for the help
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
We have a gateway laptop. When we try to turn it on, the fan starts running, but nothing else happens. I have taken out the memory, disc and dvd drives and have reinserted them to no avail. The unit is supposed to turn off when the lid is closed, but the fan continues to run. If I shut it off by pushing the power button, the fan will stop running. The a/c power supply and battery seem fine. Any suggestions?
September 27th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Scott Leikam,
Could be BAD memory module. Try replacing it with a known good one.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:21 am
My Compaq V5000 will boot but the problem is it will randomly freeze I deleted unneed material but when I hit one of my short cuts or hit the start menu my comoputer freezes, does any one have any ideas?
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
Recently had a case where the power light indicating the adapter was powering laptop would stay on until you hit the power button and light would go out and nothing would happen…
Found out that the laptop hard drive was not connecting correctly therefore causing the power issue.. Perhaps a short?
October 12th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Thank you 1000 times n_n You are my hero~
October 12th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
how do you take gateway laptop apart?
I need to fix power ac pin on back.
thanks
October 19th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
i am having the problem,. where i turn on the laptop, i hear no sign of booting up, the power light i on but nothing on the monitor. the fan works, and i was wondering if i open it to check the memory slot, and that doesn’t work and i send it back, did i void the warranty?
October 29th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Hello,
If possible please help, thanks alot. When pressing the power button, my computer shows the windows schreen, then immediatley goes to a black screen with nothing on it (except a dash at the top left hand corner for a few seconds). I tried to insert a CD (XP) and the message “Please press any key to boot from CD..” appears. The computer does not respond after pressing “any key”. I am only able to enter the BIOS but I am not sure what to do with the BIOS.
Thanks a lot in advance
November 7th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Ron, I have the same problem. Did you find a solution?
November 17th, 2008 at 2:42 am
i have a dell Latitude C600/500 and when i press the power button the scroll lock caps lock and num lock lights come on.. and the power light and HDD light come on… and then about 10 seconds later they flash and it just keeps repeating it untill i unplug the battery…
nothing is dispayed on the screen..
a reply would be greatly appreciated…
thanks Travis
November 18th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Alright, my laptop, (i have a HP Pavilian) wont show anything. I turn the power on and the usual lights turn on and everything but there is no screen at all. I have tried numerous times to restart it and click it on and off and wait for a while before i start it off again but it just wont budge. I am 14 years old and i got my laptop last year for Christmas and i do not want to loose it. I am hopeing you can tell me what to do or links and places i can take it to repair it. Please help me, i dont want to loose her.
Thanks, Andres.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Travis,
I think you have a serious problem with the laptop. I hope I’m wrong.
Try simple stuff first. Reconnect the memory module, try turning it on with the hard dive and DVD drive removed, try reconnecting the keyboard.
If nothing helps and the laptop still fails, there could be a problem with the motherboard.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Andres,
So it’s not even one year old? I assume your laptop is still covered by the HP warranty. You can send your laptop to HP for repair.
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 am
i had purchased my lenovo laptop in month of Aug 08. now i am facing problem in switching on my laptop. it generally get started only after 20-30 minutes inserting ac power.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Have a Medion Laptop that will not start.
I Press power button and get a short sweak sound then nothing.
No power lights on Laptop.
When i here the sweak i see the light on AC go’s off.
If i hold power button for 10 sec’s the low bat light comes on. but thats all. Still no start..
Any help plz?
November 29th, 2008 at 12:17 am
My friend’s laptop has been refusing to start up properly… It opens up and lights up, the mouse appears but the screen stays blank (black) and windows refuses to ‘appear’ or boot in.
December 1st, 2008 at 4:53 pm
i have a new hp and when i updated the windows vista and restarted . it looks like it going to start up and you will see the f2,f10 option then in the left upper corner you see an underscore flashing and that all it does. i hate to send it to hp and have to wait for a while to get it back. i dont know what to do . thank you
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 am
aftre on my laptop it working properly.but after 15 to 20 min it is automatically switch off. plz help me.thank you..
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
runa,
Apparently your laptop shuts down because it overheats. Most likely the cooling module (heat sink and fan) is clogged with dust and has to be cleaned. Check out this post with more information regarding overheating:
Why my laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
charlie,
This problem could be related to your hard drive. I would suggest sending the laptop to HP.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
i Have one laptop it start but it didnot show on screen
December 6th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
My laptop doesnt make any sign of life. Not with adapter in it or not.
When I press the powerbutton the powerlight flash 8 times, then nothing. (could be 7 times, hard to keep up the counting
)
December 7th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
engr. Yomtech,
Test your laptop with an external monitor. If both internal and external video do not work, check the memory module. Could be bad memory.
December 7th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Sketis,
1. Check the memory module. If you have two modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop with each memory module separately. One of them could be bad.
2. If it’s not memory, the problem could be related to the system board.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:55 am
I have a HP Presario F500
With both the power cord plugged in and the battery in
when I press the button it lights up then immediately goes off
with either just the battery or just the cord
when I press the button it lights up, I hear the fan kick on and then back off, the power light stays lit for about 30 seconds then turns off and the laptop gives another quick flash and turns off. The bios screen never comes up at all, or at least the screen never lights up. any ideas?
December 9th, 2008 at 12:09 am
4peter.miller,
Most likely there is a problem with the system board. But just in case I would suggest reconnecting memory modules. If you have two modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately.
This description sounds like a memory problem.
December 19th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I have a hi-grade laptop but when I start it and the wireless light comes on it doesn’t boot.
December 24th, 2008 at 10:19 am
hi i also have a hi-grade laptop and the same as edward when the wireless light comes on it will not come on and if i am lucky enough to get it on if i move it in any way it goes off straight away is it a folt with the hi-grade laptops and how can it be fixed.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 am
Same problem with a friends HI-GRADE laptop, was dropped though… anyone else dropped thiers?
January 11th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
When we press on the power button, it stay on for a second then it goes off again, we tested the batary and the hard drive and both are working but the computer does not get turned on, what else should we do and what could be the problem?
January 12th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
My laptop start properly but when desktop appears it stop working.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:45 am
I have the same problem as Hoda. My Acer aspire 5160 laptop stays on for a few seconds and dies after a while even when its perfectly plugged on. Sometimes it doesnt turn on at all. Any advice?
January 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Hi I own an acer aspire5100. I removed a program call acer empowering technology from my drive and now when I turn it on the splash screen won’t appear. Due to this windows also won’t appear. I went to the manufacturer’s website to get instructions which I followed and still the problem remains.
January 17th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Thanks a ton mate!
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Thanks so much. You saved my laptop.
January 29th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Dude, Situation 2 got us scratching our head for several hours on 2 different laptops!
Thank you so much!
February 12th, 2009 at 1:53 am
My laptop will not boot properly. It sounds like the hard drive and fans start ok and then 10 seconds later it switches off and then it tries to restart itself and it does this repeatedly. At no tme is there any image on the screen.
The only way I can get it to start normally is by holding the on off button to shut down and then continue holding it for 10 seconds. Then I go for a restart and repeatedly push the F2 button. The laptop then asks me to choose the operating system and then starts normally.
February 28th, 2009 at 7:32 am
hi, i have hi-grad laptop and i want repair my laptop ,i think the motherboard has problem because i ask my friend about it and he said the problem in the motherboard i want ask how can replacement with new one or repair the old one , please give my advice what can i do and all cost and what the price for repair and send me all thing by my email . thanks
March 24th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Hi cj2600,
I was wondering if you could help me please mate. I have a Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo V5535.
It has suffered from liquid spillage and after careful inspection and a replacement power button, it is a little more alive.
When the battery is installed and the ac adapter is plugged in I will get a green “charge light” LED.
When I press the Power button, the power on LED lights up for a couple of seconds and then dies.
Obviously the board maybe dead, but I have got it to do more than it could previously and wondered if I can get it to work properly again!?
I hope you can get back to me mate. Cheers
Chris
March 25th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Thanks so much!!! The power light on my Toshiba Satellite A85 laptop came on, but none of the other lights came on. I removed the battery, plugged it in and it came on. Is it ok to operate the laptop without the battery or will the insides get too dusty. I am so glad I found your site. Thanks for what you do!!!
March 28th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
hi
I have an acer aspire 5570z laptop from last two months i m facing starting problem. after power on all LEDs are and fan also start to spin but nothing on display and could not open dvd drive also. if i keep laptop in power on condition after 30 min or some time one hour there is one sound like something going to attached and laptop start normal way.
sometimes after power on laptop start normally but after 10 min windows is going to be hang even crusher also not moving and i have only one option and that is power off
if somebody can suggest what is the wrong with mt laptop
REGARDS,
KAMLESH
March 30th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Hi,
I have a Dell Studio 15 laptop and I was surfing the net while running a scan on the computer. Suddenly I heard a loud noise like something popped and then my computer shut down and since then I am unable to restart it again. The battery is fully powered but when the adapter is plugged in the LED light does not come on. However when I leave the adapter plugged into an electrical outlet which I have changed several times, the light comes on for a few minutes and then comes off again. When I plug back the adapter into the laptop the light immediately comes off but the laptop is not coming on with the battery alone. what may be wrong?
March 31st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Rhonda,
Apparently one of the capacitors on the motherboard had blown up. It’s necessary to remove the top cover and take a closer look on the motherboard. Usually you can spot a damaged capacitor relatively easy.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:58 pm
kamlesh,
The first think to check will be the RAM module.
Do you have two modules installed in the laptop? Try removing them one by one and starting the laptop with each module separately.
This problem also could be caused by a faulty memory module.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:59 pm
daddysgirl46,
Yes, you can do that.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:04 pm
cb1978,
Apparently the liquid damaged the motherboard. You’ll have to remove the top cover and take a closer look at the motherboard.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:10 am
hi
i have a inspiron 6000(old..i know) but gf doesnt want a new one she wants this one..
so when i turn the power on everything seems to be going fine… couple of normal noises… then i get the first dell screen.. that loads, then nothing… screen is blank but all the lights are still on..
how can i fix this whithout losing everything on the hard drive.. im not very familiar with a laptop but im willing to try… anything will help…
thanks
pj
April 4th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
PJ,
Take a look at the hard drive LED. Is it flashing at all?
Try booting in Safe Mode. Press F8 when you see the Dell logo on the screen and select Safe Mode. Can you?
April 5th, 2009 at 12:34 am
I have a hp laptop when you swich on it gives 1 long bleep then 2 short bleeps and will not boot up
April 9th, 2009 at 7:39 am
dave,
First of all, check the memory. Do you have two memory modules installed into your laptop? Try removing them one by one. Test the laptop with each memory modules separately.
If the laptop fails with one module but work with the second one, the first module is defective and has to be replaced.
If the laptop fails with either memory module, most likely your problem is related to the motherboard or video card. In most laptops the video card is integrated into the motherboard. If it fails, you have to replace the motherboard.
April 11th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Hi. Found this site doing a google search and found the exact information I needed to restart my wifes laptop. I was doing a complete recovery when right in the middle of it, it just powered down like I held the power button. Restarted and tried recovery again and it did the same thing. Third time and it stayed black. Your tip on removing the battery and ac power, then holding the power button for thirty seconds, waiting a couple of minutes…that did the trick.
April 12th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
AC,
First of all, this problem could be related to overheating. Take a look inside the cooling module and if it’s clogged with dust, try cleaning it with compressed air. Buy a can of compressed air and spray it inside the heat sink/fan assembly. Try running the restore again. Does it work now?
April 12th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
i have a fujitsu laptop L1010 which will not start up and sometimes it starts up and when it gets to the desktop page it hangs. i’ve tried starting it up in safe mode but it still hangs at the desktop page. what should i do??
April 15th, 2009 at 8:56 am
emily,
That could be memory or hard drive related problem.
Do you know if your laptop has two memory modules installed? Can you easily access them? Try removing modules one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. If it works fine with one module but not with the other one, most likely the second memory module is bad and has to be replaced. If you have only one module installed try replacing it with another known good memory.
Listen for the hard drive sounds on start up. Does it make any repetitive clicking or grinding noise? If it does, it’s possible the hard drive is failing and has to be replaced. Find out which hard drive brand you have installed, download the hard drive testing utility from the manufacturer’s site and test the drive. If it fails the test, replace the drive.
April 20th, 2009 at 3:45 am
I HAVE LAPTOP CALLED DELL C600 BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT AM TRIYING TO SWITCH ON BUT IT SHOWS NO RESULTS BUT LAST TIME IT WAS WORKING WELL IT SHOWS ME ONLY GREEN LIGHT FOR CHARNGING.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
hi
I have a vaio laptop it’s about two years old but I haven’t used it
in almost a year. now I’m trying to turn it on and there is yellow flashing
light when it’s plugged inbor on battery. when I press power the normal
green and blue lights go on and the hard drive starts spinning but only
for about two seconds tops then just shuts down. there I’d nothing on
the screen, my charger had been tested, I’ve tried removing the battery
and that for a few minutes and it doesn’t work. if you could tell me
what you think is wrong that would be great
thanks a lot
April 27th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Hello, I Have HP laptop Pavilion 9094, few weeks ago my problem started, I mean when I press turn on button my laptop sometimes boot sometimes not, I remove battery – nothing, I cleared CMOS – nothing, Leds after turn on blink, hard disk works, fans work, but my screen is black, after few restarts it works correct, What is the porblem
Cheers mate
April 27th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Lukas,
Did you have a chance to test your laptop with an external monitor?
If the same happens with the external video (intermittent video), you problem could be related to the memory. Do you have two modules installed? Remove them one by one and test the laptop with each one separately. This way you can find a faulty memory module.
If the external video works all the time but the internal screen works only intermittently, take a closer look at the screen when it fails. Is it really black? Can you see a dim image on the screen?
April 28th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Hello, I have tried today your tips but still the same, when I try the external display it’s still random boot or not, i have two modules of RAM, so I tryed first module ine first socket – still random, fisrt module in second socket – still randfom, second module in first socket – still random, second module in second socket – still random. I noticed today so my left hinge i very loose, has it anything to my problem??
April 28th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Lukas,
If the laptop video fails on both internal and external screens and reseating/swapping memory modules doesn’t help, most likely you have a faulty motherboard.
I don’t think so.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:52 am
This about a HP DV2000 series laptop. When the AC adapter plugged in, all the blue LEDs light up, no need to press the ON button. Ad nothing happens there after. I did try what I found on this page to no success. The peculiar thing in my case is that the power tuns on just by plugging in the AC adapter without having to press the ON button. Can you help. Many thanks
May 14th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I have an AMILO Li 1705i ,now is black dead.Problems has started early with freeze desktop on more than 1h run on AC at end no boot at all, wi-fii led on ,power led on (green) fan run at full speed and no image (black screen)no POST screen.batery is ok tested on another AMILO Li AC is ok my friend was testing all of my laptop ,HDD is ok ,memory is ok an external video does not have image.At warranty ppl say video onboard chip (burned!!!) no chance to fix .
what means wi-fii led(green) on on eroors? Thanks.
May 18th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Raduta Iulian,
If you replaced laptop memory with another known good memory and it didn’t fix the problem, most likely it’s bad motherboard. I guess the repair shop is correct.
You cannot replace the video chip, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:47 am
I have a Toshiba old model. When the laptop is plugged the led for the adaptor is ok. When i press the power button the leds are flushing like a normal boot for a second and then they shut down. Without any result on the monitor, funs or anything.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:17 am
I have a problem with my dell inspiron. I run windows XP. When i start my computer all i can see on my screen is my chosen wall paper, no start menu, toolbars or shortcuts. None of the shortcut keys work apart from CTL+ALT+DEL which allows me start new application etc without a problem. I have checked through here and all my data still seems to be on my computer but i want to get proper start menu again. Any help will be much appreciated.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:40 am
I have HP Laptop . 256 MB Ram, Window vista 2007 home basic, AMD celron.
My problem is that daily when i press the power ( on ) button, my Laptop doesnt start at all . This happen daily to me. Everything is ok with ac adapter and voltage etc.
I am using Macafee anti virus which is outdated now. I hav sufficent space in memory .
Pls tell the solutin
May 29th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Hi, I have a Fujitsu Esprimo V5545 and I accidently pulled out the power cord while it was shutting down . It mad a beep sound and shut down . I took it to another rooom and tried to start it up but it seemed to be dead.I unplugged it and removed the battery then held the start button for 30 seconds , then plugged the power back in but to no avail, it still was dead I unplugged it and put the battery back in and it still wouldnt go. I then plugged the power back in and pressed the power button and the orange charging light came on only, and that is it. Now nothing happens when I power it and press the on button, thanks for any help as my son is going to be very upset ( it is his ).
May 31st, 2009 at 10:48 am
Hi, I just put together a new MSI MS-171F Barebone laptop. Everything came installed except, the HDD,CPU,RAM,LAN and the OS. All the parts are new,and compatible.
I installed everything, put the notebook driver disk in the OD and booted it up. It powers up fine and you can hear the fan spinning.The OD lights up and spins. It does not post and only has a black screen. I tried reseating the 2×2GB sticks of RAM, nothing. Tried different slots running just one then removing both,nothing. Removed the HDD,no sound no picture,nothing.
Removed the fan and reseated the CPU,nothing. Ran briefly without the fan and the CPU heats up which would seem to indicate that the CPU is good.
I even tried hooking up an external monitor still no display or sound. Tried powering down,removing the battery and resetting the CMOS and still nothing.
There was no manual or troubleshooting guide with this laptop and I am at a loss as to what to try next.
May 31st, 2009 at 11:20 am
Brian,
Make sure the CPU is LOCKED in the socket. There should be a screw on the socket which locks/unlocks the CPU. Install the CPU and turn the screw into “Locked” position.
In order to start any laptop with video on internal or external monitor you need three major parts: motherboard, CPU and memory.
Minimize the laptop as much as you can and leave only three main components. Try it again. If still nothing, it’s possible one of the parts is bad.
June 7th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Thank you very much for your advice…..
my acre 6920 just went dead and wouldnt strt up………it was getting the power but the hdd light went up fr a second and then dead…..
i took your simle advice and removed the battery and then switched it on…….and to my utter suprise………it came to life…….i booted in safe mode
the device manager showed ‘consumer ir device’ not working properly…..
i dont know what that means….
maybe it had something to do with acer arcade……as i was playing music on it while making a presentation when the music got stuck on one note and then the laptop froze…….so i had to shut it down forcefully…..
i am grateful as i have been able to save my prsentation now…..
Just to know things better……..what could have caused it?…….and how to prevent it from happenning?….
thanks very much anyway
June 8th, 2009 at 11:34 am
I HAVE THIS MSI MS-171 LAPTOP, ITS A PAIN IN THE ASS. MAKE SURE YOU PUSH IN THE HARD DRIVE TOWARDS IN THE SATA SLOT AT THE SAME WHEN YOU ARE SCREWING IT IN. IF YOUR LEFT CLICK MOUSE BUTTON GETS STUCK IN THE DOWN POSITION REMOVE THE TWO FURTHEST HDD TRAY SCREWS. FOR SOME REASON THE HDD IS AT AN SLIGHT ANGLE SO WHEN YOU PUT THE HDD COVER ON IT PUSHES THE MOBO IN CAUSING THE MOUSE LEFT CLICK TO GET STUCK. PLAY WITH IT AND YOU SHOULD GET IT RIGHT.
I’M JUST CURIOUS HOW TO UPGRADE THE BIOS I FOLLOWED THE WEBSITES INSTRUCTIONS BUT THE BIOS WONT KICK OF THE SOFTWARE IN MY USB.
June 15th, 2009 at 4:40 am
I have toshiba satellite M70-122 its not working its I have change the hard drive with other new one when I try to istall winxp it give me massage (no hard drive available) and in the piose setup its give me hard drive non please if you have any soluation about this issue
July 31st, 2009 at 3:06 am
I have a dell inspiron 1420 laptop which is out of warranty and I dont wishh to have renew it.
Around 2 months back it started to have a display problem which was due to the faulty motherboard(UX283) with nvidia 8400 card. I got it replaced and as it was replaced i got indulged in a different problem.
Then the system started to get off (not shutdown) during boot only, giving an error code of #M1004 which is an overheating issue, but actually there is not as such any heating. The fan runs normally and the system is cool enough.
It may fail to boot 9 out of 10 times but once the OS get booted then it worked fine without any display problem.
But now the problem has changed slightly. Now it seems that the system may remain on for a fixed time say about 25 seconds. The system may get booted to OS or you may enter the BIOS etc within this time but once the period gets over it gets off. I mean the now the system can have power for only those few seconds.
I have got my motherboard, LCD as well as the memories replaced with new spares sent by the company. The motherboard has been replaced thrice.
I have also checked the processor, hard disk and heat sink with properly working spares from other laptop of same model.
What could be the probable problem ?
Is there any solution to the problem as with all the major parts working fine independently as i described or the system is irrepairable.
Please suggest me something useful.
August 1st, 2009 at 1:32 am
I have 2 yr old Toshiba A135-S4527. When I press power the blue light on power button comes on alongwith the small power LED in the front. The fan spins for a while and goes dead. No activity on HDD or DVD. Dark black screen. Any clue what could be wrong? I used it previous night and turned off in normal way. Next evening when tried to switch on the problem was noticed. Already tried removing memory and HDD, putting on AC power only, removing battery and AC power and keepning aside for few hours. Nothing helped. Thanks in advance for any suggestion.
August 8th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Arun,
Could be bad memory. Have you tried removing memory modules ONE BY ONE? Remove memory one piece at a time and test the laptop with each module separately.
If it doesn’t help and the laptop fails to boot with either memory module, apparently your problem is related to the motherboard failure. You’ll have to replace the motherboard.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:06 am
I have laptap hp compaq.when i was press start button it will showing in monitor resuming windows then chang to Log Off, still showing countinous.How do the repair the system.
August 11th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Hi everyone,
I have a compaq laptop (Presario V3000). The problem is, when i start my laptop, it beep thrice and the screen goes blank. Now as suggested in help, i tried cleaning my RAM modules and i am sure they are working perfectly fine. Even after ensuring the RAM to be in perfect condition, I am still getting this same error.
Please if anyone has faced this irritating problem, help meee……
August 13th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Solution 2:
The battery/AC unplug works flawlessly. I accidently dropped my phone on my MSI-700X and it shutdown and refused to start (Not first time =[ ). I did step 2 (omitting the memory slot removal) and it started up instantly. Thank you so much for the new way of fixing this issue. Usually I had to wait a few hours for it to work.
August 15th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Excellent point in here under Situation 2 that solved my immediate problem with my HP dv2410us not turning on.
Problem was: all top row LED lights under the screen turned on and stayed on at power-up. Nothing whatsoever on the screen. Other LED lights were not turning on or flashing (e.g. the error code ones by the Num Lock and Caps Lock. No ‘disk access’ light.
Tried but didn’t help: Removed all peripherals, (hard-) rebooted, nothing. Removed battery, (hard-) rebooted, nothing.
Fixed it by: Your battery trick. Removed battery AND the power cord for 5 minutes, reconnected power cord only, did not touch the on/off button, laptop powered up and booted successfully as normal.
Oddly enough: when I went for a graceful shutdown, Windows Update (for XP) started “installing update n of 10″ saying it would shut down automatically. One wonders remotely if this is unrelated to my boot problem.
Now: I go back to trying it with the battery in after a graceful shutdown/reboot or two. Then I go into some further diagnostics after making sure all my important files are off of it.
The tip sounded simple and procedural, but I appreciate you making a point of mentioning the order of the battery/power cord procedure. Saved a lot of time for me as I had gotten out the screwdriver and was ready for some deeper work.
Thank you.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:32 am
my Toshiba tecra laptop will not startup please help me
August 24th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Thank you for helping me with my laptop power problem. I removed the battery for a few minutes and reinstalled. The laptop then worked as usual. I would not have thought of this without your suggestion.
By the way, the symptom of my laptop was that I had the battery LED turn On but not the Power LED. This occurs only when the AC adapter is connected otherwise, if the AC adapter is not connecting, no LEDs are ON. With the AC adapter connected, when pressing the Power button to start the laptop, nothing happens. You may want to include this case in your above “Situation 2″.
Thanks again for your help.
August 29th, 2009 at 2:04 am
hi,
my toshiba satellite will not boot up. message says cannot start the programme. press start to shut down. it is windows vista.
HELP!
August 30th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Good morning,i have a problem with a toshiba satellite l20-132.after restarting it i pushed f2 to enter bios menù but pc just frooze.I tried turning it off keeping power button pushed but no luck.after putting out battery for some sec will not work.I just see blinking hdd and cdrom led,but no post.It seems like pc is turned on but no life.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Hi,
I have a Dell D610 Laptop, and unfortunately it is not booting up. The LED light comes on, but thats all that occurs. I have removed the battery, and connected the AC adapter, and tried two or three other ones from another area, but it still does not work. I did also reseat the memory but still the same issue. Any advice? I did read through all these points, but none have worked.
August 31st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
“Situation 5 You start the laptop and it starts making repetitive clicking noise or grinding noise.”
That is the one that most resembles the issue I have EXCEPT it’s not the hard drive. The hard drive was replaced & it still does it. The clicking is the CD/DVD rom drive. Boot from CD/DVD rom drive has been overridden to bypass it, but it still does it. I’m thinking it’s time to replace the CD/DVD rom drive, but I’ve been looking for more verification on this issue before I do that.
September 1st, 2009 at 7:45 am
Anne-Marie,
Sounds like you have a bad CD/DVD drive and it has to be replaced.
September 1st, 2009 at 8:04 am
Ramzy,
Did you try replacing memory with anther known good modules? It’s possible your memory is bad.
Did you try removing memory modules one by one if you have two modules installed? Maybe one of them is bad.
September 4th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Very good. I have a more complicated situation with my Toshiba Satellite M35X-S109 though. When I press the power button, I can only hear the fan run for several seconds, then usually no other response. Occasionally, the CD/DVD driver light up, at very rare times, even the Windows XP would turn up, it works perfectly fine if I entered the safe mode. however, at normal mode, it would freeze after a while, but recently it won’t freeze, only that when I turned off the computer, it would freeze at “The computer is shutting down” step. I will have to leave it on next time I turned up successfully. Any ideas what could be the problem? Thank you very much.
September 5th, 2009 at 8:11 am
hi my laptop screen in broken but while waiting to fix this i have hooked up my laptop to my desktop screen now the laptop will only start in safe mode and not normal mode is there anyway i can change this thanks in advance.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Hi, my laptop is turning on but it is not starting. It’s a Dell Inspiron 1420. When turned on, the dell logo works fine but it just takes forever to boot up at the ‘microsoft corporation’ stage and if it does a blank black screen appears. HELP!!
September 20th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I was doing a recovery to my windows vista and the power went down before it finished; now when I turn it on it does not boot up or nothing, I tried to start the recovery again but it does not read the CD. It starts the CD but it’s not bootable.
September 20th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Gustavo,
Enter the BIOS setup menu and set the optical CD/DVD drive as the first bootable device. Save settings and exit the BIOS setup menu.
Now insert the first recovery disc into the drive and restart the laptop.
It should start from the recovery disc.
September 27th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Hi, i have a dell laptop ( the small one) and i press the power button and a light lights up then turns off. Also nothing happends when i close it and open it. When i hold the power button it lights up quickly on of on off. What should i do?
September 30th, 2009 at 11:07 am
hii. my laptop stops functioning as soon as i put it on batteries. also it does not boot after i shut it down. it takes 4-5 hrs before it strts functioning again
October 1st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
alankar,
What if you remove the battery and use the laptop on AC power. Does it fail when the battery is removed?
October 1st, 2009 at 6:33 pm
bill,
1. Maybe the AC adapter is bad and the battery doesn’t have enough charge to start the laptop. Test your laptop with another known good AC adapter.
2. Could be memory related problem. Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one. Test the laptop with only one memory module in place. This way you can find the faulty memory module.
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:57 am
Please i have been trying to format my laptop for over 4 days now.If i boot from the cd,it will start installing windows normally until a point where i will get an error complaining that some files cannot be copied and i have bought about 5 different xp cd,s but the worse is the case.Right now if i try to start the pc with the xp cd inside,at the point where am asked to press any key to boot from cd and i dont do that,the next thing i see on the screen is ,NTLDR is missing,press Ctrl,Alt. and Delete keys to restart computer, but if i press any key to boot from cd,the system will be formatted but when it gets to copying files it will say,Thefile intelide.sys is corrupted
October 4th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 1721. Last night it shut off and I can’t get it to power back on.
The battery is charged, but the LED’s won’t even light up. If I plug the AC Adapator into the laptop (works fine – tested on another laptop) the light on the adaptor cord goes out and the adaptor needs to be unplugged to be reset. This happens with the battery installed or removed.
It seems like something is shorting out the power. Would this be the power supply? Can it be fixed at a reasonable price?
October 6th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I have an HP pavilion dv2000 laptop. My laptop works just fine but I’m having problems with actually having it start. When I turn it on, it shows that it’s running but it just doesn’t finish booting. So I have to manually turn it off by holding the power button, and then have it re-start and have to do “repairs” because it was incorrectly shut-down. After it does the repairs it’ll start correctly. I don’t know what’s wrong with my laptop. Any ideas?
October 19th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I thought this was a scam website. For 2 weeks I couldnt get my laptop to boot. I am so happy I read and got the information. Thank you so much I love you
October 20th, 2009 at 9:05 am
i messed my laptop up last night and i could not get it to start. I found this website and did one of the suggestions and it booted up. This website saved me lots of time and money. I will recommend this to friends and everyone i know that has any problems with their laptop.
Thanks so very much!!!!
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 am
Hi,
I have the Dell Inspiron Laptop, its 4 yrs old; it was running fine until yesterday night,
Yesterday I tried to turn it on, it booted and got frozen and left only grey screen, I waited for 20 min or so and then manually turn it off, then on I made series of attempts to turn on, all It gave me was a blinking light and whirring sound of hard disk for 10 sec and nothing happened, does anyone know how to solve this issue?? Please help.
October 25th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
hey i have a packard bell laptop but when i turn it on it loads and takes me to a “windows boot manager” and before the it would turn on and shut down by its self non stop, can you help me please
October 25th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
cindym001,
This problem could be related to the laptop memory failure. Run memory test. You can use Memtest86+ (google it).
If laptop fails memory test, try replacing memory module.
October 25th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Sunil,
1. Could be failed memory module. Try replacing memory with a known good module.
2. Could be failed motherboard.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
the problem with laptop is the power button itself. I have to press it really hard and it is becoming worse everyday. It is sinking in.
October 28th, 2009 at 3:00 am
Hi,
i have a lenovo laptop ,it was working very well until last night.i had the start up problem.whenever i pressed the start button it blinked and gone.I tried starting many times but in vain . can anyone please guide me what to do?
October 28th, 2009 at 6:39 am
my hp dv 9000 has sound every now and then and it won’t start
windows vista and windows 7 both fresh installs same problem
when it hangs it won’t even boot in safe mode or from disc
I have tried every thing from new hard drive,ram,restore,fresh install of vista and windows 7, new cmos battery.
after i installed winsows 7 i had sound but lost it when it tried to update and locked up at logo screen. I also did start up repair I have all the right drivers I am sure! I think it is the mother board but not sure, so I ordered one and I just wanted to know if anyone had any other idea or if you also think this is a mother board.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Rob,
It’s possible that you have a faulty motherboard and HP knows about this problem. They replace motherboards on some HP dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 notebook at no charge even if it’s out of warranty. Here’s more info about free motherboard replacement program for these models.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
somu,
Maybe the power adapter is dead and battery doesn’t have enough charge to start the laptop? Test the power adapter, make sure it outputs correct voltage or test your laptop with another adapter.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Sha,
It’s hard to tell what is gong on without looking inside the laptop.
If the power button is made of plastic, it’s possible the plastic piece contacting with the power button worn out.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I have an hp dv9000 laptop that started to act up yesterday. It began to get slow, and things would not open. I shutdown, then i turned it back on, but i got an error message, something to th effect of windows is not configured properly, or something about recently installed hardware/software, anyway it said to use some lauch repair thing. it would not do it until 5 or 10 shutdowns later. When i ran it, it said that it either found nothing, or there was a problem thact could not be fixed. So i shutdown again, then turned it on later and it worked. but again today, after checking email and using the internet for a few minutes, it started to act up- things slowed, would not close/open, it took forever to restart. after restart, i got the same message and was told to use launch repair thing. any ideas?
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
addison,
I think this could be software related problem or hard drive failure.
1. Back up all personal files and try reimaging the hard drive back to factory defaults from the recovery disc.
2. If reimaging the hard drive doesn’t help and the laptop still fails same way, it’s possible that you have a failing hard drive. Try replacing the hard drive and run recovery disc again.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:08 am
I have a toshiba laptop satellite L510..And i got a !!!!! symbol in the start up column in System 32..Wat is it and how do i remove it??