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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January 31st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Filip Atanasovski,
Did you test the power supply with a voltmeter? Maybe the power supply is not providing correct voltage?
January 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi i need help fast. Please help me
I have toshiba stelite m70-122 and i have it 2 years and everything it was ok. Today when i work and put on power supply its turn off. After that when i thorn on it show me that the message
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
I fix that and go on. when i need again power supply its thorn off and now is dead LEDs (power light, hard drive light, battery charge light, etc…) do not light up and the laptop is not reacting at all if i press on the power button.
P.S. sorry for my bead English and pls help me(its not mine
)
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 600m with a situation similar to:
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 will not start and you cannot hear any activity from the hard drive, cooling fan and the DVD drive.
————–
I’ve tried both suggestions but have had no luck. Fried motherboard? Any further suggestions?
This all came about after the battery ran down to the warning level during normal use and everything shut off abruptly when it tried to shut down properly. The battery still charged back up and all indications were that things were ok until I tried to turn it on minutes later. The only reaction to the power button being pushed are the lights that normally kick on during startup. This lasts for 1-2 seconds and nothing else happens. If there are any other helpful details, please let me know.
Suraj, we appear to have the same problem. Let me know if you get any good help from anywhere. ben.gonzo@gmail.com
January 19th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Olujide blessing,
Make sure the heatsink is clean and not clogged with dust. It’s possible the laptop shuts down because of overheating.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Pls I got compaq amada p3 I change d hard disk since then it developed problem it always switch off while loading operating syst
January 12th, 2008 at 5:01 am
I replaced the power jack myself. I had done some before with sucess but I’m going to re-do it and try it again from the bare bone start when I’m done. Thanks so much for your help.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Jimmy Knight,
Did you replace the power jack yourself or you took the laptop to a repair shop?
If the laptop worked fine before the power jack replacement but not after, apparently you didn’t do a good job. Remove the motherboard again and examine the power jack, make sure there is no shorts between solder joints.
Unfortunately, there is no way I can troubleshoot this laptop without looking at it.
You can minimize the system to bare minimum – motherboard, CPU and memory. If these three parts are good, you should be able to start the laptop with an external monitor.
If the laptop is still dead, even after you minimized it, one of the above mentioned parts is bad.
January 10th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I have a HP ZV5000 laptop that is totally dead. It was working perfectly except for the dc power jack was loose and when I replaced it the only function that it had was the battery charge lcd light blinked 3 times. There was no other action on the laptop. I reseated the memory, no help I then removed the cd/dvd drive, hard drive, and still no help. The battery is totally dead. Before this started if the laptop ran down under 20 percent remaining battery it was a real problem to get it to recharge back., but after wiggling the power cord it would take a charge and continue to work. I have no way to charge the battery and was wondering if anyone had tried to driect charge the battery using the contacts on the battery. This is the only other option I can think off other than replacing the motherboard and I haven’t seen one under 250-300 bucks. Iwould just like to be sure before I spend that much or more likely trash the laptop. ANY help would be appreciated
January 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am
This could be a situation 4 with a slight variation. My laptop Aspire 5583 refuses to boot. When I turn on my laptop, there seems to be some fan activity but no screen or HD activity (the HD LED lights up for a few seconds then stops). Additionally, when everything is off, I still hear something running inside the machine which stops only when I take the battery out. Tried connecting it to an external monitor but it’s not receiving any input from my laptop.
January 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Fernando,
What if you remove the hard drive and try turning it on without the hard drive installed. Does it still take a few minutes to boot the laptop to the toshiba logo or it appears right away?
Run hard drive and memory test. Hitachi’s DFT for the hard drive and Memtest86+ for memory. Find out if you have failing hardware. Links to both utilities are on the right side of the website.