Laptop intermittently won't boot.

Thread Starter

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
I am posting this from my six year old HP laptop, which has been working well up until today. It went to sleep, and wouldn't restart when I pressed keys and swiped the touchpad. I shut it down, and then turned it back on, but it wouldn't boot.

After fiddling with it for a while, it seems that there is a heat related problem. After it gets hot, and it goes to sleep, or I try to restart it, it never boots. The power LED comes on, the hard drive light flashes twice very briefly, and then nothing further happens. I shut if off, let it cool, and sometimes it will boot.

I am not sure that I want to open it, and may take it to the shop. But, if I decide to open the case, what would I look for?

Thanks for any input.
 

electronis whiz

Joined Jul 29, 2010
512
I would have to agree seems like heat issue. could be faulty battery also. not sure your winning from cord or battery. that age your battery is not very likely to hold that good of a charge. my netbook is like 4 yrs old battery rated about 5 hrs i'm lucky now to get around 2 hrs out of it.
I have known people with HP laptops there's was always overheating. I guess sent into hp because had warranty, and something like a drive or a key not working. they got back, and about a year later the video started failing. they said by then no warranty, and they heard something about those systems getting so hot that was causing issues with solder joints because expansion, etc. As a test i'd try and set a small fan next to it, or better set on a box fan on it's side, and see if makes any difference. If does then issue is heat if not then something like faulty parts, bad connections, etc.
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,234
If it's the same as my old HP, there is a problem with the GPU becoming unbonded from the PCB due to excessive heat. I fixed mine by:

1. Disassembling the laptop
2. Reflowing the solder on the GPU
3. Building and installing a custom thermal "gasket" out of a polished copper penny, inserted between the GPU and the heat-sink.
4. Reassembling the laptop.

It wasn't easy, but it bought me another year of functionality. The laptop ultimately quit again, for the same reason, but I'm too lazy to do it all over again.
 

Thread Starter

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
I took it to the local repair shop. The guy there said he isolated the problem to the motherboard by substituting ram, hd, monitor, etc., and that it's not worth fixing. I tried to get him to be more specific, but he didn't really know what the problem might be with the MB, just that the problem was the MB. He didn't charge me anything for the diagnosis.

The laptop is a TX1327CL, and cost a grand when I bought it in December of 2007, so it lasted almost six years, i.e., about $170 per year. I mainly used it for web surfing from my recliner, so maybe it's time for a tablet.

Thanks for the input.
 

sirch2

Joined Jan 21, 2013
1,037
Have you tried taking the battery out and just running it from the power supply?

I had similar symptoms and it turned out to be the battery, basically the battery was pulling too much current from the charger. The laptop would boot but when I opened a few applications and the CPU had to ramp up the laptop would just shutdown or reboot. Taking the battery out proved the point and I ran it like that for a while but decided it was too old to bother with the expense of a new battery.
 

Thread Starter

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
It looks like there are several you-tube videos showing how to disassemble the TX1000 and perform "repair" processes. Because the repair guy has pronounced it DOA, I will probably try to fix it myself. Very little to lose!

It will make a good winter project. Maybe I'll post some progress reports.

Thanks again.
 
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