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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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 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 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 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.
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?
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 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 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 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 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.