Question for laptop gurus

[CorporalClegg]

My knowledge of laptops is fairly limited. Today I was given a seemingly non-functioning older HP laptop for free on the off chance I could get it to work.

The problem is I haven't been able to diagnose the problem. The thing boots off and on.

If you let it sit for a while it'll boot into windows. But if you try to reboot it freezes after POST.

I first thought the hard-drive, but I couldn't seem to boot off a CD. I ran the BIOS's HD diagnostics tool, but it didn't report any errors.

I have no idea of knowing if it's a MOBO problem. but for what little Windows does work, it doesn't seem like that kind of thing.

I read somewhere else that it might be something as simple as the battery. I admit I'm pretty ignorant of how those things work, but the person I got it from said she always used it plugged in. But I suppose after five years of years it doesn't hold its charge like it used to, but wouldn't there be some other kind of indication?

Any other ideas?

 

[The Fatman]

My grandfathers Compaq laptop had the same issue almost exactly. In his case it turns out it was a bug in the original BIOS that caused it to run hot and the CPU/Mobo slowly cooked itself. HP had a recall on that model, though, so they fixed it for him for only the cost of shipping.

I'd say that you could try flashing the BIOS to a newer version, but if you can't reboot, then you run the risk of bricking it.

It's possible the insides of the machine are just dirty, or a connection has come loose. If you're technically inclined you can open her up, reseat all the connections, and blow it out (especially the fans, vents, and CPU cooler) thoroughly.

If it's a battery issue, take the battery out, plug it in and see if it works.

Since you can't boot of CD, you're right, it doesn't seem likely to be a bad HDD.

 

[Defiant]

I'd do it like this:

1) remove the battery completely, see how it behaves plugged only into the wall.
2) Used canned air to blow out the inside of the system through the vents
3) REMOVE the HD, and try booting to CD a few times with no HD in it.
4) consider replacing the RAM

 

[The Fatman]

I'd do it like this:

1) remove the battery completely, see how it behaves plugged only into the wall.
2) Used canned air to blow out the inside of the system through the vents
3) REMOVE the HD, and try booting to CD a few times with no HD in it.
4) consider replacing the RAM

Many OEM BIOS's will not let the PC boot at all with no HDD installed. You'll get an error beep code on POST. On that same theory, if one of the RAM sticks is bad you should get an error code.

Sure as hell can't hurt to try though. Nothing to lose but some time in trying either step.

 

[Deks]

If you are using the laptop while it's plugged into the power socket, the battery will not cause a problem.
The only area it might show a problem is when the laptop is actually operating off the battery itself.

Have you tried cleaning out the laptop of built up dust?
Also ... you might want to jump into BIOS and see if you can turn off some of the devices from booting check-up (like the network card, etc.).

One of my colleagues had a problem with his very old laptop.
I reinstalled the OS but the thing kept freezing during the booting process.
Ultimately, I turned off it's Wifi card and then it worked fine.

Sometimes, internal devices can cause problems because they fail over time.

First and foremost, try cleaning out the dust.
You will have to likely unscrew the bottom panel in order to reach the fan.
You also have to unscrew the fan (but don't disconnect it from the motherboard) and move it to the side.
Clean up any dust that have built up in between the fan and the air vent (a friends 6 year old laptop was never cleaned up and it accumulated about 0.5 cm of dust between the fan and the air vent - his cpu was overheating very fast and ended up freezing the computer).

After that ... what you might want to try also is to reinstall the OS itself ... and update the BIOS to it's latest version.
You will have to go to HP's webpage and find the drivers/software section for the laptop in question (make sure it's the one you use, because if you try to install a BIOS from another laptop ... well, you can easily brick it).

 

[CorporalClegg]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

So far I've tried running it w/o the battery and did a quick cleaning (not overly thorough). I've looked into flashing the BIOS but I don't see how I'm going to manage it in the computer's current state.

AFA the HD, it looks like it might not be the easiest to remove.