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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May 4th, 2010 at 3:09 am
Hi,
Thanks again. Is it possible that CMOS battery died or both of RAM failed. When it is getting power then it show at least something on display. What did u say? Mother board failure means too much cost will be involved !!!
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Vikas,
Most likely the motherboard failure.
May 3rd, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Hi, Thanks for suggestion. I digged into my laptop and reached to CMOS battery. Disconnecetd for sometime and reconnected but nothing happened
. Does it seem bigger problem?
May 2nd, 2010 at 1:32 pm
crista,
1. Could be just failing memory module.
2. HP Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 series notebooks have a know issue with the GPU failure. Take a look at this post: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/.....-warranty/
If you have a problem with the GPU failure, you can fix it this way: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....deo-issue/
Do it only as a last resort because you can damage the laptop.
May 2nd, 2010 at 11:36 am
Manuka,
It’s not clear if you tried replacing the AC adapter with a new one. If not, test your AC adapter with a voltmeter, make sure the output voltage is correct. It’s possible you have a failed AC adapter.
May 2nd, 2010 at 11:31 am
Vikas,
Another thing to try would be disconnecting the CMOS battery for a while. This trick helped me before a few times on Sony laptops.
If disconnecting the CMOS battery doesn’t help, it’s possible the motherboard failure.
Take a look at this disassembly guide for Sony Vaio VGN-VZ220 laptop. Probably it’s similar to your laptop.
The CMOS (RTC) battery is located under the base cover. Access the battery, disconnect it for a while, reconnect the battery and test the laptop again.
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 am
Hi,
My sony vaio VGN-FZ11L was repaired for nVidia geforce 8400 MT graphics problem few months ago and perhaps some work was done on the motherboard. Yesterday, I had connected it with my TV with extended display and then close the lid. I had to do some work again on the laptop so immediately took the lid up but nothing appeared on the screen. I pressed power, enter button to wake it up but it did not work. I thought it is still in middle of sleep mode.
I put down the lid after some time it shows all the LEDs (HDD, wireless) blinking so I opened the lid again. The screen came in normal way but not responding then I tried to close some programs from task manager, but still it was not responding. I pressed the shut down and then it started it to shut down and started installing updates for my laptop then shut it down coolly. But after that I have tried to boot it many times. Every time power LED gets on but nothing happens. I can’t hear any sound of fan or hard disk. Screen remains blank. System does not go for reboot. Might it be related with earlier repair?
I hold power button pressed for sometime but it does not restart. I tried with removing battery, only on battery, only on power. In all situations it shows power LED on (also battery LED when on battery) but nothing happens. I removed RAM (two 1GBs) one by one and tried all possible combinations it remained same even I tried to clean it with pencil eraser (suggested somewhere). I took HDD also out and put it back after gentle cleaning but it remained same. I took all the RAMs and HDD out and tried to on it again it shows only Power LED on as before. I remember that I had installed a registry error checking software suggested by veoh.com . I don’t know what really happen. Please help. Thanks
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:45 am
Hi
My laptop won’t start or power up. There are no lights. I have tried taking out the battery and cord and holding down the power button for 30 seconds, then replacing he cord and powering up but it still does not work I even tried holding it upside down.
Help please
Manuka
April 30th, 2010 at 8:16 am
i’ve got a hp pavilion dv6000. it worked fine when i got it now it won’t even turn on. every once in a while, it will come on but after it or someone shuts it down it will not come back on. the led lights come on but the power button will not nor the screen so it cant be the charger. someone has looked at it before and said it cant be fixed but they couldn’t tell me why. i just want to try and fix it myself or atleast know what happened to it.
April 24th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Badmus,
Can you enter the BIOS setup menu?
Try replacing memory modules. If you have two modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. Could be a bad memory module.