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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September 29th, 2007 at 10:28 am
KK,
The power LED lights up when you plug the AC adapter, so I assume the power adapter work fine.
1. Remove the battery and try turning on the laptop from the AC adapter. Sometimes it helps.
2. Remove both memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module in each memory slot. It’s very unlikely that both memory modules failed at the same time.
3. Try turning on the laptop without the hard dive installed. In some cases a failed hard drive might suspend the whole system.
Does your laptop makes any kind of sounds when you push on the power button? Any LED activity?
September 28th, 2007 at 6:30 am
My problem matches with 2nd scenario but only difference is that in my case when I plug the AC adapter, only the power LED light up. It’s Toshiba A135-S2386 PDC T2080/512/80/15 and I bought it on Sep, 2nd 2007. Along with laptop, I bought 1GB RAM. First three weeks, it was fine but all of a sudden it stops working. Please advice.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:49 pm
MC Shortbus,
Could be dead motherboard or dead CPU.
Minimize the system as much as you can and leave only motherboard, CPU and known good memory. Try starting this barebone system with an external monitor. If you still get no video, probably you have a faulty motherboard. There is a possibility of bad CPU but CPU failure is not very common.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:01 pm
this website is of great help.. it helped me fixed my laptop by my self…. thanks and god bless
September 21st, 2007 at 6:34 am
Hi,
First of all, wonderful website with good information.
Secondly, I work in Tech support (no training, been on the job learning as I go for about 8 months) and I have been working on getting an aging fleet of Toshiba 8100 laptops back into reasonable shape.
There is one in particular that has me puzzled. It matches scenario 2 and I had already tried replacing the memory. Used known good memory, even swapped in a known good hard drive just to be certain the drive in there was not totally dead. No success. Are both slots toast or am I missing something entriely?
Thanks for your time
September 9th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Avi Gal,
Maybe there is a problem with the power jack? Does the power LED flicker when you wiggle the adapter plug inside the power jack?
September 8th, 2007 at 8:29 am
hi 2 all,
my problems seems to be one of the above problems,yet i can’t solve it.
i own HP pavilion laptop. lately i used it and found that i am working on battery supply. after a few minutes, the battery dead. and while trying direct AC i did not have no led lit, no HD running, just the battery lit blinking. i did try to disconnect the battery and tried runnig on AC, i did also changed the Memory module, checked also the AC adaptor which runing well and shows 18.5 volt as needed. i opened the back of the computer and cleaned all the dirt and dust, but still i have the problem. i can not operate the laptop on direct AC.can somebody help me ???
September 4th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Can anyone tell me where the cmos battery is located on a Sony Vaio FS215Z? Am getting no lights at all but the AC adaptor is fine. Have taken to pieces but cannot find the battery anywhere. Didn’t remove the motherboard as we felt that was one step too far at this stage. Checked all connections as far as humanly possible. I don’t really want to bin it because the picture quality is great but you can now get twice the machine for a third of the price I paid for it 2 years ago. It isn’t a workhorse and hasn’t been abused at all.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Hi
My laptop toshiba satellite pro m70 will not start at all! When i plug in the AC adaptor the LED lights up blue but the battery LED flashes amber. When i press the power button it seems like the laptop is going to turn on but 2 seconds later the power turns off again.
I have tried to turn it on with just AC power, just battery power and both – but with no luck. I have no idea how to open up the laptop or such.
Any help on how to resolve the issue would be much appreciated!
August 15th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Thomas,
I think this is a coincidence that fixing Outlook killed the laptop. Here’s how you can test it. Start the laptop without the hard drive installed. Even without the hard drive installed, you still should see Toshiba logo on the screen when you turn on the laptop. Can you see anything? If not, your problem is not related to software.
If you have any memory stick installed into the expansion slot on the bottom, remove it and turn on the laptop. If the laptop starts after that, most likely you have a bad memory stick.
It also could be a problem with the LCD screen. Test your laptop with an external screen. Connect the external screen to the VGA port on the back and start the laptop. If the external video works fine but the laptop LCD will not light up, it’s possible you have a problem with the screen.