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.
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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 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 8:33 am
Noman,
Try solution number 2. There is a chance that your laptop has bad memory.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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.