Indolent HP laptop

Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

Ok, so I am a bit of a stranger anymore...but that's how life goes. Seems that my girlfriend's DV1000 series HP laptop is doing, well, nothing. It worked fine while visiting family over Thanksgiving, but as soon as we got home it would not boot. Actually, it won't do anything.

In the few minutes I've had to look at it, I pulled out RAM one by one and the hard drive to test for shorts. I honestly feel like it is some kind of electrical short somewhere. I'll dive in a bit deeper this weekend. I have an ATA-USB adapter, so I was able to save all of the data. Now I hope to try to save the laptop. Any advice or input?

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Xal · Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:44 pm Post subject:

What exactly are the symptoms? No power getting to the unit? Are any of the indicator lights on? Have you tested the power supply? Have you tried removing the battery and powering it up on external power only? Did you remove the cmos battery (providing its accessable)?

Also, what happpend to it? Did it get wet? Bumped about?

A common issue with laptops is cracked circuit boards due to rough handling, particularly around the power connector, that would be the first place I would check if no lights are showing. You could also see if you can find another unit to charge the battery in and see if it will fire up on battery power.

If it got wet then your best bet is to open it up and hit it with a hair dryer on low heat setting then leave it for a few days and see if it comes back to life. If you still have no joy then carefully pull the whole thing appart (making notes on how it comes appart) and then clean the circuit boards with isopropyl alchahol and medium soft paintbrush. Then leave it to dry overnight and reassemble.

If all that fails, buy a new laptop

Yes, I have worked on a LOT of laptops

Hope this helps

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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

Xal,

It didn't get wet and the only jaring it recieved was from riding in the car for about 300 miles.

There are no indicator lights on at all. I have tried booting w/o the battery. No change.

I have an in-line Targus surge protector in between the AC input and the Transformer. The light on this is lit and there is no difference without it.

I'll open more this weekend to see about any physical damage, etc.

Any other ideas?
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Xal · Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 2:44 am Post subject:

Make sure there is power coming from the power supply. Sometimes the power unit dies but the indicator light still shows. A test meter will tell you if you are getting power and if you don't have one you could try the good old "touch the connector to your tongue" test. Also see if you can test a different battery in it and see if that lets you turn it on.

good luck.
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Asus M3N78-EM
4gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667 @ 800
1gb Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 @ Stock
X-fi Extreme Audio PCI E
Nexus 600W Silent PSU
Nexus Fans
Custom case

Zero_Fresh · Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:16 am Post subject:

Also, another place to check is where the power connecter enters the laptop itself. Take apart and look at the circuitry there if you can. Make sure there aren't any tiny cracks and that all connections are good. You might have to put a dab solder. I had a similar issue with my laptop and that was the issue. Through use on non-flat surfaces (beds, couches, etc....) the connection sometimes receives stress that it's not designed to handle and can cause a problem.
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Hoedizzy · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:51 pm Post subject:

Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

Not that long, hoe.
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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

Okidoki. So I tore it all apart and it powered on with the bare essentials (memory, processor). Then I slowly started putting things back together, powering on and off periodically. Eventually, the whole thing was back together and I even had some extra screws. It still powered on as if nothing ever happened. I left it running a disk check over night...but now this morning it was off and not powering on at all. It didn't move at all in between, it just sat there. I just don't understand. Very Happy

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Xal · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:53 am Post subject:

Overheating issue, probably poor contact on the HSF. Laptops are a temprimental breed :s

If you can get it to fire up again have a check for anything getting too warm.
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Phenom II x4 955 @ Stock
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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

I was thinking about that, but that doesn't really explain why it didn't turn on for 2 weeks or why it turned on while in pieces and immediately afterwards. I know some things are outside of logic...so maybe this is one of those things.

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Xal · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:15 pm Post subject:

yeah laptops tend to fall into that catagory a LOT. I was the laptop repair guy at one of the companies I worked for and ran across things that defied logic all the time.
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Phenom II x4 955 @ Stock
Asus M3N78-EM
4gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667 @ 800
1gb Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 @ Stock
X-fi Extreme Audio PCI E
Nexus 600W Silent PSU
Nexus Fans
Custom case