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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October 27th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Hi
I have a Compaq Persario R3000. There are no LED lights, no sound, dead. AC adaptor checked fine. Motherboard removed and checked no signs,power Jack is fine. Reassembled and Now removed all HDD, Cd drive, Battery, RAM’s, PCMCIA card and tried to power up still no joy. Any idea’s before we decide it is the motherboard
October 26th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Hi,
Reading this website tips was of great help to me!
I managed to solve my problem (the laptop wouldn’t start) by testing the memories and memory banks as suggested!
My laptop is back again and I saved time and money!
Thanks a lot! (and of course, made a donation)
Paulo
PORTUGAL
October 21st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Korey,
There are no LED lights when you plug the AC adapter (even power LED), but the laptop itself is making a clicking sound?
First, check the AC adapter. Make sure the adapter outputs correct voltage. You can check the AC adapter with voltmeter.
Second, remove the battery, the hard drive and the DVD drive. Plug the power adapter and turn it on. Still nothing?
October 19th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite a105-s2712 which has a problem that seems to match scenario 1 (no LED lights, no power…no anything) except that whenever the computer is plugged in it makes a steady clicking sound (about 2 clicks per second). The clicking sound IS NOT the hard drive (though many people have tried to tell me it must be). The sound is coming from the rear left of the computer–the area where the power cord plugs in. I’m no techie, so please keep your comments in layman’s terms–something this website seems to do remarkably well.
Thanks for this service.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:00 am
I cannot figure it out. I tested the video, memory, ac adapter and they alll seems to be fine. But still cannot starts. I decided it maybe the motherboard. I replaced and still giving me the problem.
I have Tobsiha Laptop 6100
Any advice would be appreciate
Thanks
October 5th, 2007 at 7:30 am
acquired a laptop that had a soda spilled on it, was told by the owners that toshiba said it was the hard drive.
It was a recent spill so I pulled it apart and cleaned it up (yes I know what I’m doing there)
The problem now is it will power up fine, charge the battery, fans will go though I dont here a system beep.
But there is no video, at all. No vga nothing on the lcd and I am running out of ideas to try. usually even with a bad hd there will be even an error on the screen but I’m getting nothing. any suggestions?
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Sphiwe Mdletshe,
First of all, check the AC adapter. Make sure it outputs correct voltage and works properly.
After that check easy-to-remove parts like hard drive and memory. Try starting the laptop without battery installed.
Finally, start taking the laptop apart piece by piece and test it after each step. Minimize the laptop to barebone system: motherboard, CPU and memory. If the laptop is still dead and shows no signs of life, probably you have a failed motherboard.
Just in case. Check the power jack and make sure the motherboard gets power from the AC adapter, you can do it with a voltmeter.
October 3rd, 2007 at 2:09 am
Hi
I have a problem with my packard bell laptop, it for the client she complained that at no notice it just shut down and when she try to power it up it will never come up. so what i did i stripe it up to check if there is any burned wire, change the memory, check the cpu and fan they all fine atfer that i put back together and it powered up but no windows screen, i try to re-install but it couldn’t let after that i formated the hard drive the laptop work fine with no problem. after two months later the same problem occurred and it does even show that its have a life no power, no light in the battery nothing and i don’t know what to do now.
I will appreciate anyone help who knows how to solve this frastrating problem. help
Thanks
October 1st, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Mike,
After you install a brand new hard drive you have to load the operating system and device drivers. Without the operating system installed the laptop will not work. You get these CDs when you buy a laptop. Insert the first CD (operating system) into the DVD drive and boot the laptop from this CD. Follow instructions. After the OS is loaded, install missing device drivers from the second CD (device drivers).
October 1st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I have a Dell Latitude D610. I replaced the hard drive. Brand new one. I turned on the laptop after installing the new hard drive. It loads up but it goes to a screen where it says: No boot sector on internal hard drive. Then it says CARDBUS NIC boot failed. I need help. Thank you.