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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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.
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??