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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November 29th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
alberto,
From your description it’s hard to tell what’s going on with the laptop. This could be software or hardware related failure.
1. Test laptop memory and hard drive. You can find diagnostic test on the Ultimate boot CD.
2. If hard drive and memory pass test successfully, try reinstalling Windows from scratch.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Raz,
It’s possible that you have a faulty memory module or it doesn’t make good contact with the motherboard.
1. Try reconnecting both memory modules.
2. Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module separately.
November 29th, 2009 at 3:26 am
hi all!!i have a acer aspire 8530g and when i turn it on it wont boot ,the screen stais black the voltage led in on the leptop is on but doesn t boot,black screen(but doesn t doo this all the time ,from time to time)then i close it and turn it on but it works the second time,i must say that there are 2 video adapters inslalled on it one integrated and one stand alone a ati 3200 on it and a ati 4650 hd stand alone,i cant disamble the 3200,from bios it doesn t say anyting, thank you
November 25th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
hi there just the other day i turned on my lap and it started normaly but then it gets to a windows boot menu because i have diffrent operating systems so i enter windows vista home premium but nothing happens it just goes back to the boot menu can anybody help?
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??
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.
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?
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 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 9:00 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.