This is a weird one...we have a HP/Compaq laptop and all of a sudden its not booting up. The problem is, it powers up and makes the noise as if testing the DVD drive, but it will keep doing this forever, with nothing on the screen.

Once it suddenly sprang into life after leaving it like this for about 3 hours, and then we could use it as normal. Today I tried it again and its done nothing for 6 hours, now I know windows take a while to boot sometime but this is ridiculous

Does anyone have any idea what we can do? I am considering a new DVD drive to see if that solves it.

Thanks

Sounds as if your hard drive is loose or faulty.

if its vista, i thought vista takes this long to start up any way, lol

Will it be the HD though as it doesn't even past the DVD test? Also when it did start once everything was fine with the HD

Anyway, I have taken the HD & DVD out and refixed them, but this didn't do anything.

If you have a recovery disk can you put it in as soon as you boot up? If you don't, get hold of an xp or vista operating disk and try reinstalling it.. It may be a prob with the operating system..good luck

We have the recovery disc but it doesnt get as far as booting up!!
we switch it on and it makes that 'clunking' kinda noise as if its trying to read a disc and then just keeps making that noise and it wont boot up till it gets past that bit which sometime takes hours


TheMrs

were you running an antivirus on it? Theres a slim chance it could be virus related..they can knock out the registry and the boot system..

I recently built a tower pc for my grandson and had a similiar problem..the clunking noise and not booting up..I ended up back-tracking and removing the dvd player..for some reason the tower works perfectly now..

just removed the dvd drive and now it doesnt even try to start. have ordered a new dvd so hopefully that will fix it

Thanks for all your help


TheMrs

Sorry i couldn't do anything to help..goosd luck with the new drive.

What model of laptop is it?

its HP COMPAQ 6735S


TheMrs

It's the hard drive dude, a busted disk drive can't stop a lappy from booting unless you've got no OS installed on the hard drive and you're trying to boot to the disk drive.

What's your boot order?

we have no idea coz we cant get in to the BIOS

we get no start up screen no nothing...just the noise of it trying to start the disc drive

TheMrs

If your not even getting a BIOS screen it shouldnt be software related, it sounds more like hardware.

I assume you disconnect everything connected to it.

If you've taken the DVD drive out and it still doesnt do anything I doubt its that, unless your laptop has a lockout where unless everything is connected it wont boot (never head of that but never say never).

Try removing the hard drive, most laptops hard drives are a single screw and slide job. Take the battery out, then turn the laptop on. You should at least get a BIOS screen.

ok hard drive out, lappy on.....still the same noise as if its trying the dvd but nothing else

TheMrs

Have you tried taking the battery out and seeing if you get anything?

Yup battery out too

sorry guys

TheMrs

Does it have a RAM upgrade? Maybe the RAM stick is loose.

nope

The problem with laptops is there is only so much you can take out to test, with a desktop you can change everything to test.

As you have removed the battery, hard drive and cd/dvd drive, plus there is no RAM stick in the expansion port, you should at least get the BIOS screen.

The fact you don't would suggest to me a hardware problem within the laptop. Could be the screen, either the bulb or hardware fault, but I doubt that as you said when you have tried with the cd/dvd drive in it just keeps clicking, if it was the screen it should just boot as normal, just with no image.

I'm fairly certain its hardware related, something inside the laptop itself not easily replaceable, possibly the motherboard, GFX card or one of the built in features; sound, lan, wireless, etc.

Has it:
been dropped?
had liquid spilled on it?
been left on a place that could potentially overheat it (duvet, blanket, cushion, etc)?
had the wrong PSU plugged into it?
had something plugged in that shouldnt have been?

Unless anyone else has any ideas?

The weird thing is that it will eventually start....sometimes this can take several hours sometimes all night but then just bursts into life and runs perfectly well.

Not been dropped or had any liquid on it as far as I know.

If it does suddenly start is there any tests or anything I can do?
We already copied everything over to an external hard drive.

Thanks everyone for trying to help

TheMrs

hmmmm, you could try a Burn in test, basically a stress test.

http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

30 day evaluation.

Give that a run, see if it reports any errors.

I would still say that its a built-in hardware fault. Maybe something is very slightly loose or a wire is only microns away from its contact point and is touching every now and then, and thats when it works. Something like that.

When you switch it on does the screen glow? As in, the difference between an off screen and an on screen displaying a black screen.

Thanks will give that link a try if it ever bursts in to life. No difference in the screen at all.

Thanks again

TheMrs

....also, check the device manager to see if any hardware is reporting a fault.

will do

Thanks again

TheMrs

When it does come back on, is it as if you just switched it on (BIOS, then loading screen, etc), or is it instantly at the windows logon screen/desktop?


EDIT: no problem, I didnt help much, but hope you get it sorted

So just to confirm, have you actually taken the RAM out and tried to boot? It'll fail of course but it shouldn't make any weird sounds before then.

Since you've removed everything attached you're only really left with it being a motherboard or cpu fault.

erm....no idea, it normally boots up in the middle of the night so we just see the start screen.

If we do manage to catch the BIOS we will see what the boot sequence is and let you know

TheMrs

Theres no ram in the expansion.

So the machine has no RAM?

Have you taken each part out individually and tried to boot seperately? (individually as in, left all the other parts in while testing one thing at a time).

Put a boot disk (a windows or linux disk) in the drive and see what happens, does anything change then?

RAM taken out and its exactly the same....dvd noise still there and not booting up

TheMrs

yes we have done everything individually and have run it with the original start up disc....still the same noise

TheMrs

obviously no noise when dvd drive not there...it just doesnt do anything then

Its only a slight possibility, but the reason I ask is it could be the screen. If it instantly appears already loaded up, there could be a connection fault with the screen that registers a fault with the motherboard which stops it going further (until it makes that slight connection), but if it goes through the normal process, BIOS, loading etc, then I stand by a motherboard fault or associated problem. Either way, its not much help, nor an easy fix. But a screen replacement (if it is that) I would think is cheaper.

The way to test this would be to plug it into an external monitor, see if anything comes up.

But either way, good luck and hope you get it sorted

Thanks a lot rhoobarb. we going to hook it up to the tv and see what happens

nope that didn't work


Hopefully it will be on in the morning and we can run that test


Thanks again... your a helpful lot in here

TheMrs

Does the caps lock light flash 5 times? If it does that's the code for a mainboard failure.

As this model is yet another HP laptop with an inherent GPU problem, i.e. they unsolder themselves from the mainboard due to poor solder and inefficient heat dispersal, this could be the source of the problem.

That it will still boot on occation you might get away with a reflow, a couple of copper shims and some quality thermal paste (e.g. Arctic MX-4).

little-pob your a genius the caps lock does flash five times so that has to be the problem. It was on all night last night and didnt boot up at all so it must have finally died. It was only going to be a spare lappy for us or one the kids can fight over so is it worth paying to get it fixed or just sell it on for spares?

many many thanks again

TheMrs

It's probably at the point where it needs a "reball". This involves removing the GPU from the mainboard, cleaning the contacts of old solder and replacing with a good quality solder (preferably lead based as it has a higher melting point than lead free). This ideally requires the use of a BGA reballing station and the correct stencil, but some people are good enough at soldering to do it by hand.

It should be cheaper than a new mainboard. Though that's not much comfort, as a replacement mainboard can be more expensive than a new laptop!

Motherboard .. and what laptop are you talking about that costs more than a mobo replacement does? Even with labour you're not gonna be hitting the costs for a decent (£400 or so) lappy.

Mainboard and motherboard are synonymous, as are mobo, MB, board, PCB etc. Motherboard is just the more common term.

Though, for what it's worth, I only use the term mainboard for when talking about laptops.
I did say can be, rather than will be.

Provided they can source the part, an independent repairer is likely to be cheaper than a new laptop. Cheaper again, would be to source the board second hand from the likes of ebay and doing the job yourself. However, non-warranty repairs done by the manufacturer are notorious for being overly expensive.