Just recently my laptop stopped booting up all together
I have a Voodoo M515 laptop, about 1 year old. Just recently, it stopped booting up all together. I turn the power on, the fans engage and a few indicator lights come on. It is not even attempting to boot up. I have tried an external monitor. I called their tech support and they suggested it may have been the motherboard going bad. I replaced the motherboard and nothing was resolved, so I sent that board back. What is strange is that even when the power is ‘on,’ I am unable to even open the DVD/CD drive. I tried taking out one of the RAM bars because I was told that it would beep if that was the problem. It is apparently not, because nothing different happened. Could it be the processor or the video card? Maybe a power issue? I know that my battery isn’t holding a charge, it must be plugged in to function. The cost for me to send it back to Voodoo far supersedes the value of the laptop at this point. My only hope is to pinpoint the problem and do it myself, which would require a hearty nudge in the right direction. Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
Here’s what you can try.
Make sure that the AC adapter outputs correct voltage. It’s possible that the adapter is bad and doesn’t provide enough power to boot up the laptop. Find a multimeter and test it. Try starting the laptop from the AC power without the battery installed. On most laptops the battery connects directly to the motherboard and if the battery fails badly, it might cause the entire system to stop booting.
Also it could be just a failed memory module. Who said that the laptop will beep if there is no memory? I’ve seen hundreds laptop and only few of them give you a beep error if the memory is missing. In most cases the laptop without memory module just will not boot up. I would recommend testing the laptop with a known good memory module. It can fix the problem. If you have two memory slots, move the memory module from the slot A into the slot B and test again.
Could it be the processor? Yes, it could be but from my experience laptop processors fail very rarely. I’ve been working with laptops for almost two years and repaired hundreds on them, but so far I’ve seen not more then 7-8 failed CPUs. May be I’m just lucky.
Could it be the video card? I don’t think so. You still should see some signs of life even with a failed video card. Not sure 100%.
When I have a laptop with a problem like yours and nothing help I usually take it apart completely and assemble it outside the laptop base. For this test I minimize the system as much as possible. Only three major parts are needed: the system board, the CPU (with cooling module) and the memory. After everything is connected, I hook up an external monitor, plug the AC adapter and turn it on. If I can boot the system with video output on the external screen then nothing is wrong with my major parts and I assemble the laptop back, testing after each step. If I cannot get any video and the system is still “dead”, then one of three major parts is damaged and here you just have to use test parts to find with one is failing. If you don’t have any spare parts, you’ll have to guess.
July 4th, 2010 at 7:43 am
I have a Gateway m6866 which i bought from the US. It runs on 64-bit. Everytime i plug in my Ipod and it accesses Itunes it comes up with a message of changing my visual display. Whilst using it last night, My Itunes would open and then stop responding. So i keep closing it down through Ctrl+Elt+Del. At one point it came up with a blue screen and a message of having to close down my windows session. I closed it down and restart. To my surprise, it would not restart properly.
I turn on power and I can hear the fan working, the hard drive working but the screen remains dark. I have tried the following:
Connecting to another monitor- no success
testing the memory module – each one at a time – nothing happens.
Any advice on how I can diagnose this problem please.
Thanks
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Sumit Gupta,
Could be memory failure.
Try reconnecting memory modules. Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with only one module installed.
If one of the modules is bad, the laptop will start properly when the bad module is removed.
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Hi i have sony vaio laptop.
when i turn on the power button on the laptop
nothing comes on the screen.
My dvd and cd drives opens.
power light flashes.
Sometimes it starts. But not always.
If it is not atarting i have to wait for 2 hours to try starting it
and then it starts.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Ann, Resolder the power chip. I’m trying this today.
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:33 am
HP Pavilion dv6915nr
is automatically turning off and on every one or two second. try everything took out battery, unplug ac, same problem. It dont stay on long enough to get to the screen. Had IT support, there no services for hp here, not really wanting to spend money on geek squad just yet.
Before all this happen weeks before battery stay charge at same %. And if the computer does stay on its just black screen.
Help? Help?
August 16th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Dell Laptop: I turn it on and the dell part flashes up but the screen goes black with a flashing white bit in the corner and thats it push the keys and it just beeps – the screen is plan black too – what I can do? Its the hard drive is the problem? its not booting up?
June 5th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Hi there,
I’m having a big problem with my Toshiba Satellite M30X-166. My laptop starts (power on light ok) and the cooler fan runs, but it doesn’t show anything on screen (not even the Toshiba logo). This situation lasts for approximately 5 seconds, then the laptop runs off (fan stops and power on LED goes off). This happens with the battery inserted, if I have the AC charger plugged the laptop doesn’t even starts the fan nor the power on LED, in this case he shows itself completely dead. I have already verified the charger and the output is ok.
At this time my laptop is completely unassembled and I have only the basic hardware (motherboard, cpu + cooler, memory and power on button), I’m also using an external monitor.
Actions already done by myself:
- memories switched (status ok)
- cpu switched (status ok)
- My monitor detects a vga connection (graphics board ok)
- bios reset (bios battery removed and discharged – status ok)
- AC charger (status ok)
Can anyone help me please, I think I have done everything possible
. Am I forgetting anything ?
Could it be a bios firmware problem?
Thanks a lot and congratulations for this interesting blog
Best Regards
March 28th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
As Laptop Freak said it was bad hard drive. I took it to Lenovo Service Center because it was in warranty. They checked it and replaced the hard drive on the spot (luckily they had one in stock). Now its working fine. Thanks everybody for your help as it helped me to figure what the problem was before giving it to repair.
Thanks
Mayur
March 20th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
My HP was doing the same thing. took it to geek squad 4 times and they never got it fixed. As soon as i would get it back to them it would start not booting within 3 hours.
I had a bad memory mod.
hope this helps
March 19th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Mayur,
Sounds like a bad hard drive. Try reconnecting the hard drive, it might help.
I posted your question here:
Laptop starts to a blank screen with white cursor blinking
March 19th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Hi,
I have Lenovo 3000 Y410 laptop with Core 2 Duo (5750) processor and 2GB RAM. It had windows XP and Ubuntu both installed and was working fine and booting with GRUB bootloader. But yesterday when I started the laptop it displayed the Lenovo screen as usual but after that instead of booting it displayed a blank screen with white cursor blinking at the top right corner. It is very strange because it is not showing and error message and fan starts moving like I am working on some application. I thought might be bootloader got corrupted or something, so I tried booting with Ubuntu and XP CD both but no change still same blank screen with white blinking cursor. Please note that I have been able to enter Bios setup and change the booting option as well. Bios was showing all the hardware as it usually shows but its bios doesn’t give any options to change anything other than date, security password and booting option, well I guess that’s what they provide in value laptops. My laptop is still in warranty and only 6 months old but before I give them to repair I want to know what is wrong with it, is it software or hardware? One more thing, when I try its one key recovery button which should restore my C: to dos installation back again, it performs same thing, blank screen with blinking cursor.
Any help is very appreciated.
Thanks
March 18th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
hi my gateway m280E doesn’t turn on. once i plug in the adapter the light comes on both the adapter and the laptop(battery light). when i try to turn it on nothing happens at all. no sounds, no lights, nothing. I took out the battery and tried to turn it on with just the adaptor and still wouldn’t turn on. tried to turn it on with out the adaptor (I am sure the battery is charged) but still nothing. should i take out the hard drive? thanks a lot for your help.
March 9th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I see online posts regarding some Sony laptops that go bad when the BIOS is flashed with RAM in the B slot. Apparently a bug that leaves the machine dead. I suspect the fan cocoon and poor heatsinking could have been causing thermal shutdown. A previous owner may have tried flashing the BIOS with RAM in both A and B slots leaving it dead.
A close inspection of the board has turned up nothing, no damaged caps, no IC’s showing any damage. With the motherboard on AC and an external monitor in place I measure 5 volts on one pin of the battery header. I push the on button and that 5 volts drops to zero. I press the underside reset button and the 5 volts returns. Without a CMOS battery in place and power applied I measure a trickle charge voltage at the CMOS battery which drops to zero when the reset button is depressed and returns with the release of the button.
Do you know if there’s any way to cold flash the BIOS via the USB port using flasher on another machine?
Thanks.
BillJ
March 8th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I’ve harvested a fine pitch 45 conductor ribbon from a DVD and trimmed it to 22 conductors. Replacing the ribbon on which I used super glue I get identical results.
BillJ
March 8th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I purchased a Sony PCG-FRV28 on Ebay as dead. Troubleshooting I found the CPU paste was not applied properly, voids. One fan had a bit more drag than the other. Taking the motherboard out I found a cocoon, silky sticky, shiny, possibly silkworm, next to the CMOS battery and the battery dead. I replaced the battery and reassembled but looking closely I found what was making one of the fans drag more than the other, another sticky cocoon, this inside between the two fans that had been barely visible. Removing it the fan spins with normal drag. I also found one of the traces on the start switch ribbon cable slightly lifted and shorted to a neighbor. Instant glue fixed that with the surface clean. The battery module charged at a rate of 1.48 amps dropping progressively down to zero over the course of a few hours. While charging the battery LED would flash twice, pause, flash twice repeatedly. I tried the start button and got a single battery LED flash and nothing else. I tried pressing the recessed button on the bottom and tried again. Nothing. I’ve ripped it down repeatedly and removed/replaced the prom and CMOS battery and pressed the underside button in various combinations but no change trying to get a post on the bench with both minimum components and fully assembled. I’ve moved the CPU to a Dell Inspiron and it runs fine and am testing with a new Celeron 2.2GHz. Never any beep or activity on the LCD. I’ve put in known good RAM of the required spec and it has a new hard drive that’s never seen a computer. I’ve purchased a new power supply for this and voltage is found at the two conductor header on the power board. I’ve tried holding the power button for an extended period in case it’s in a suspend state of some kind, no change. The switch near the hinge is set to 011100 and I’ve tried with and without dynamic throttling switched. This is the first Sony I’ve attempted to repair. I don’t know the proper method of resetting the CMOS nor know what key combinations might allow this to self test and output a diagnostic code. Assistance will be appreciated. Thanks.
BillJ
February 13th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
i have a dell inspiron 1501 i recently did a restore back to factory default and now my laptop just keeps restarting after the logo screen flashes and restarts if anybody could help me would be apreciated
February 11th, 2009 at 8:13 am
i tray to solve my fraiend laptop (accer)computer.
the firest problem was after booting it doesnt go to windoes .it stays WINDOES STARTING UP but noting happen after that
i dident make anything but now when i press power buten the fan gives sound but afte 30-60 secondes it becomes turns off
any one give advice
February 5th, 2009 at 7:59 am
my error message after alt and f10 for the e recovery has this message. 107 EEPRO 100B LAN ADAPTER FAILED THE MEDIA TEST. … EXITING THE RPL LOADER. DISK BOOT FAILURE , insert system disk and press enter …I do not have a boot disk. How can i get one.?
January 29th, 2009 at 8:36 am
I have a Sony Vaio VGN-TZ195N, about 1 year old. A couple months ago the system started not being able to boot into Vista. It starts up per the norm and the screen displays “loading windows” with the animated taskbar and windows logo, but it never boots up. The HDD activity light goes off too. I do not think it’s a power issue as I am always able to boot into Safe Mode and into the Bios. There is no real fix: I just keep rebooting trying different things i.e. boot into Safe Mode and then restart, removing flash drives, unplugging unit and removing battery for a few seconds. Eventually, after 30 minutes or so, it finally boots up. I reinstalled Vista Business a month or so ago and it worked fine for a while, couple weeks, but then it started all over again. It happens moreso running on the battery but it does still happen, frequently, plugged in as well. Thanks.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
After spilling milk on Satellite M30 I was able to clean it up enuf to get a new version of xp,sp3 installed and fully updated but despite removing and cleaning every key the keyboard wouldnt operate (Ctrl key seemed to be stuck in ‘on’ position) .. well, after installing a new keyboard from ebay it ran perfectly normal for about 10 minutes until I started getting repeated BSOD’s until now it wont start at all. Have tried new power adapter (battery was already dead) but still have only blinking orange/amber power light. I tried the new adapter because even before the adapter didnt always start the pc. Any ideas or does it sound like the motherboard ??
October 15th, 2008 at 4:59 am
I have a dell D610 Latitude.When i power on it it did not boot.All the lights went on then capslock light start blinking for 10 seconds and then it turnoff.I have tried everything to boot it but nothing happens.Please tell me whats the problem and how to solve it.
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
I have an HP dv6500. It does not want to boot up. I turn the power on, all the leds light up, I can hear the fan. but nothing but black screen.
2 nights ago I was able to get into the bios, from there i was able to run a memory test and a hard drive test. both tests were good. when i left the bios i was able to boot into vista in safe mode. Once in windows i ran a virus scan. everything was good there. My son used the computer the rest of the evening. the next morning he called and again nothing. I went and picked up the laptop and brought it home. once home I tried too bootup with the power cord in- nothing. I then removed power adaptor and was able to boot into the bios. When I exited the bios again nothing but black screen. This morning I tried and I cannot get it to even go into the bios with or without the power adaptor. Again- all led’s light up, fan runs, but thats it. Powers off normally by holding power button 5 seconds. Could this be a fried cpu or mainboard? any suggestions?
September 16th, 2008 at 6:16 am
My Optical Drive Is Not Read Any Cd Or Dvd. I Replayced with Other Optical Drive But IT nOT Work And Send Error In StartUp (CDROM -ERROR)MY LAPTOP IS Toshiba Qosimo F30 -121
Thanks
August 6th, 2008 at 7:31 am
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:28 am
I have a MDG VisionBook.. one day I opened my lid to use the laptop and screen stays off.. The sleep LED is ON (moon icon). I tried to power off/on..power light is on, HD LED is on, wireless LED is on, battery LED is off.. i suppose its stuck in sleep mode.. i tried booting without the HD and same result
please help
thanks
ME TOO!!!! and I can’t figure it out, just all of a sudden it just won’t start!
someone HELP!!!
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:28 am
I have a MDG VisionBook.. one day I opened my lid to use the laptop and screen stays off.. The sleep LED is ON (moon icon). I tried to power off/on..power light is on, HD LED is on, wireless LED is on, battery LED is off.. i suppose its stuck in sleep mode.. i tried booting without the HD and same result
please help
thanks