Laptop Seems To Hhave Gone Into Soome Sort Of Coma

[Richb2004v2]

My main laptop is failing to start at all. When I turn it on is makes normal internal noises and the hard drive light flashes but nothing happens with the screen. It does this for a couple of minutes then turns off before repeating. It does this until I push the off button. I'm just wondering how I go about diagnosing the fault if it does not do anything. I even tried putting a Linux Live CD in but it still did nothing.

My plan is to take it to an IT centre. Any other suggestions?

[onnut]

this will not help, but I had the same problem last year. I had left my laptop in my car and it got very hot sitting in thesun. I forgot all about the laptop sitting there, and when I tried to start it, I had the same problem. it needed a new harddrive and something that was like a starter motor. cost my 8k to get it fixed. it was a sony laptop and got it fixed in Pantip.

it lasted 3 months more so ended up buying a new one.

[Richb2004v2]

I was thinking that it was probably the hard drive too. However I thought that the screen would at least tell me something. As it is I get nothing at all. I wonder if I remove the hard drive and then try to start it what will happen? A new hard drive shouldn't cost much should it?

[floridaguy]

OP, I also had the exact same problem with my HP that I bought from the US. Exactly the same issues. I took it to the 4th floor of Pantip in BKK. Without looking at it, he immediately said it was the video card. I insisted that he explore other options before swapping out the card. He said since it was a US laptop, it would be 2000 baht and 2 weeks to get the part. Well, 2 weeks later, he called and said that it wasn't the video card. I told him I would not pay for his mistake, since I told him it wasn't the vga card.

He then changed something with the power supply, and it worked. Well now, there is absolutely no battery. I think he kept my good one and gave me a bad one. Oh well, nothing I can do now. The laptop will run off the power cord. It cost me 4000 total. If they tell you it is the vga card, tell him it isn't, or walk to the next booth.

[Richb2004v2]

OP, I also had the exact same problem with my HP that I bought from the US. Exactly the same issues. I took it to the 4th floor of Pantip in BKK. Without looking at it, he immediately said it was the video card. I insisted that he explore other options before swapping out the card. He said since it was a US laptop, it would be 2000 baht and 2 weeks to get the part. Well, 2 weeks later, he called and said that it wasn't the video card. I told him I would not pay for his mistake, since I told him it wasn't the vga card.

He then changed something with the power supply, and it worked. Well now, there is absolutely no battery. I think he kept my good one and gave me a bad one. Oh well, nothing I can do now. The laptop will run off the power cord. It cost me 4000 total. If they tell you it is the vga card, tell him it isn't, or walk to the next booth.

Thanks for the advice. I guess the guy had you in the end eh. I'll make a note of my battery number before I take it in.

[Farang0tang]

Also similar problem with a previous laptop - every so often i had to remove and re-insert the battery to get it to startup fully.

(Even though still connected to mains). Eventually I replaced the battery for a new one.

Edited August 30, 2010 by Farang0tang

[geoffphuket]

I was thinking that it was probably the hard drive too. However I thought that the screen would at least tell me something. As it is I get nothing at all. I wonder if I remove the hard drive and then try to start it what will happen? A new hard drive shouldn't cost much should it?

If it was the hard drive Linux would run from a CD. Try removing the battery and running it off the mains adaptor, cells can often fail in the batteryl and cause the machine to cycle. If it still doesn't work the most likely prognosis would be a new motherboard

[Richb2004v2]

No that didn't work. I guess that if it were the hard drive I would at least get something on the screen. If it were the screen the machine would still go right through its normal start process. if it were the video card it would also go through the start process. The mother board seems a likely suspect. I guess that once that's gone it a complete right off. I've had the back the back off but of course there's not a lot to see.

[onnut]

Lol, when I said starter motor I meant the motherboard. You can get new motherboards fixed in at pantip.

[siamect]

If it was the hard drive Linux would run from a CD. Try removing the battery and running it off the mains adaptor, cells can often fail in the battery and cause the machine to cycle. If it still doesn't work the most likely prognosis would be a new motherboard

Actually just a few days ago I had a IDE drive not powered on and I tried to boot from a USB stick and the thing refused... so a broken disk can most likely stop the boot process completely at least if it is an IDE disk.

But in this case I would vote for a bad capacitor....

Martin

Edited August 30, 2010 by siamect

[rakman]

No that didn't work. I guess that if it were the hard drive I would at least get something on the screen. If it were the screen the machine would still go right through its normal start process. if it were the video card it would also go through the start process. The mother board seems a likely suspect. I guess that once that's gone it a complete right off. I've had the back the back off but of course there's not a lot to see.

If you have a bootable Windows (or Linux ) CD, does it boot? Can you get to the BIOS setup (often hitting the del key or other key combo)? Do you have an easily removed hard drive?

Some hard drive failures can keep the machine from going beyond that first primary check.

Also, try re-seating the memory.

[Richb2004v2]

I took it to a local IT centre today. The guy changed the graphics card whilst I was there and that fixed it. He kept it for a few hours though for some reason. Anyway all is more or less well now except the dual boot with Linux no longer functions, but I will look into that tomorrow. It cost 3000 baht anyway, which is much better than buying a new machine.

[geoffphuket]

I took it to a local IT centre today. The guy changed the graphics card whilst I was there and that fixed it. He kept it for a few hours though for some reason. Anyway all is more or less well now except the dual boot with Linux no longer functions, but I will look into that tomorrow. It cost 3000 baht anyway, which is much better than buying a new machine.

I maybe wrong, but I thought graphic adaptors were built into the motherboard on most laptops. Sure it wasn't just the ram edge connector he cleaned and then reseated.....Hmmmm

[longball53098]

My 5 year old Dell Inspiron has a Nividia graphics board that I must clean the fan at least once a year or the board overheats. I need to take the top keyboard covers off and remove the keyboard to access the card.

[Richb2004v2]

I took it to a local IT centre today. The guy changed the graphics card whilst I was there and that fixed it. He kept it for a few hours though for some reason. Anyway all is more or less well now except the dual boot with Linux no longer functions, but I will look into that tomorrow. It cost 3000 baht anyway, which is much better than buying a new machine.

I maybe wrong, but I thought graphic adaptors were built into the motherboard on most laptops. Sure it wasn't just the ram edge connector he cleaned and then reseated.....Hmmmm

I can't be sure. He removed the back and the board he removed was the most accessible item. He removed it and tried another which didn't change the situation. Then he got another that fixed it. I was bit confused as he let it start to boot but stopped it before it got to Windows, by pressing ESC or F2 or what ever. Then he said it would take an hour. I agreed but later after I left realized I should have asked him to let it boot all the way. Anyway we returned after two hours for him to say it would be another hour. We got it back and it works fine but I have no idea what he was doing for three hours.