Help! Laptop not booting to POST

SteelyDanJalapeno

Hi,

I got the dreaded blue screen of death over the weekend and then my laptop powered off, and since then when I press the power button it turns on for a second, I can hear the optical drive powering up and then it shuts off again completely, it does not give me any options to choose further boot modes or anything.

I fear it's the CPU or GPU, the laptop was bought from PS Specialists 15 months so is unfortunately 3 months out of warranty, it was pretty expensive and I tried to future proof as best I could, I think it might be a shame to waste the other good hardware that's in it.

I have good background in electronics, and can swap most components in devices, but I've never tackled a laptop's motherboard, is there much to it?

FSL

Try removing the hard drive and booting from a bootable USB.

My daughter had an HP which did exactly the same as yours. It wouldn't boot from a bootable USB or even go into the BIOS.

I removed the hard drive to see if I could recover any data and the hard drive just wasn't recognised when connected to another computer.

I tried booting the HP again from the USB with the hard drive out and it booted fine and is still working with a new hard drive.

It's illogical that a dead hard drive should stop the machine booting from a bootable USB but it did.

SteelyDanJalapeno

FSL wrote: »

Try removing the hard drive and booting from a bootable USB.

My daughter had an HP which did exactly the same as yours. It wouldn't boot from a bootable USB or even go into the BIOS.

I removed the hard drive to see if I could recover any data and the hard drive just wasn't recognised when connected to another computer.

I tried booting the HP again from the USB with the hard drive out and it booted fine and is still working with a new hard drive.

It's illogical that a dead hard drive should stop the machine booting from a bootable USB but it did.

Yeah dont understand that, but I'll give it a go. I have a cradle for the drives too so I'll see if they're dead tonight

ressem

It would be worth checking the laptop memory for a failed stick of RAM or RAM socket.
Usually this is easily accessible using a panel under the laptop, or in some cases, under the keyboard.

If you futureproofed it, hopefully it has 2 memory DRAM chips fitted.
If there's 2 sticks of RAM fitted into two ram sockets, try booting the laptop with only one stick of RAM, then the other. And alternate the socket in use.

danger_mouse_tm

I would be leaning towards the previous post. I had an old dell this morning that I was getting ready to go out and I stuck one stick of ram into it. It ran for a couple of minutes and shut off. The resolve was to have two equal size sticks in it. What kind of laptop is it and who are PS specialists??

Allyall

^^^ I'm guessing he means PC Specialist.

Worth knowing, that if the laptop was going to fail before you purchased it (Bad hardware, improperly assembled etc..) that you are guaranteed for longer than 3 years.
But I think there is a standard 3 year contract. More info here - http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/consumers/protection_of_consumers/l32022_en.htm

Sales Of Goods Act explained [PDF]

If the solution isn't something simple, and it seems like it's going to cost you, that may be a route worth taking.

I've stayed away from PC Specialist in the past, mainly because when you search "their name + complaints" you get a lot of answers. But you get that with a lot of companies. Especially larger ones. I have been thinking about using them for a Laptop build I need, but lately there doesn't seem to be much advantage..

SteelyDanJalapeno

ressem wrote: »

It would be worth checking the laptop memory for a failed stick of RAM or RAM socket.
Usually this is easily accessible using a panel under the laptop, or in some cases, under the keyboard.

If you futureproofed it, hopefully it has 2 memory DRAM chips fitted.
If there's 2 sticks of RAM fitted into two ram sockets, try booting the laptop with only one stick of RAM, then the other. And alternate the socket in use.

I'll give this a go later so, There's 2 sticks of 8 Gigs each, but would the other stick not take over if one became loose or faulty at the time of failure?

I'm not sure if its has 2 DRAM chips fitted? I've attached the spec here.

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

I would be leaning towards the previous post. I had an old dell this morning that I was getting ready to go out and I stuck one stick of ram into it. It ran for a couple of minutes and shut off. The resolve was to have two equal size sticks in it. What kind of laptop is it and who are PS specialists??

Allyall wrote: »

^^^ I'm guessing he means PC Specialist.

Worth knowing, that if the laptop was going to fail before you purchased it (Bad hardware, improperly assembled etc..) that you are guaranteed for longer than 3 years.
But I think there is a standard 3 year contract. More info here - http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/consumers/protection_of_consumers/l32022_en.htm

Sales Of Goods Act explained [PDF]

If the solution isn't something simple, and it seems like it's going to cost you, that may be a route worth taking.

I've stayed away from PC Specialist in the past, mainly because when you search "their name + complaints" you get a lot of answers. But you get that with a lot of companies. Especially larger ones. I have been thinking about using them for a Laptop build I need, but lately there doesn't seem to be much advantage..

Yeah It's http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk, I believe my warranty cover 1 year fix and return then after that I need to pay for any parts.

biketard

Another vote for checking the RAM first. It's an easy thing to test (if you've got two sticks and don't have one of the computers that needs a matching pair), and it's always the first thing I check when a computer won't boot to POST.

adocholiday

Had the same issue myself when upgrading an old Dell PC. I thought I had bricked the motherboard with static or something. Turned out to be a badly seated memory stick. Popped both out and back in again and booted first time.

ressem

TiltedBrain wrote: »

I'll give this a go later so, There's 2 sticks of 8 Gigs each, but would the other stick not take over if one became loose or faulty at the time of failure?

No. There's some servers and workstation motherboards that will detect failed ram and compensate. I don't know of any consumer laptops that will.

Another thing to check.
Some motherboards will send a pattern using beeps or flickering the keyboard lights in a pattern to indicate the fault.

I'm not sure if its has 2 DRAM chips fitted? I've attached the spec here.

Sorry, I said chip when I meant DRAM stick.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Re-seated both Ram sticks over the weekend and its now up and running fine again, actually better than ever as I also took an inch layer of dust from the fan!

Thanks for everyone's help.

I have 2 screw left over thou

biketard

TiltedBrain wrote: »

I have 2 screw left over thou

LOL. Been there many times.