HomeLet’s say your laptop does not start at all. You plug in the power adapter and press on the power button, but the laptop will not react. It’s dead and the power or battery charge LED will not light up.
What could be wrong? Is it bad power jack or the motherboard is dead?
By the way, the power jack aka DC-IN jack is the power socket on the side or back of your laptop where you plug the AC/DC power adapter.
I’ll explain how to perform basic troubleshooting and find out what is wrong. This is only for experienced people, who know how to disassemble laptops.
First of all, test the AC/DC power adapter with a multimeter. It’s very likely that there is noting wrong with the laptop and your problem is related to the power adapter.
If the adapter tests fine and output correct voltage, disassemble the laptop and remove the top cover.
As you see on the first picture, in my laptop the power adapter plugs into the DC-IN power jack which is connected to the motherboard via a harness.
In some models the DC-IN power jack is soldered directly to the motherboard.
Plug in the power adapter and measure voltage at the point where the DC-IN jack or DC harness (like in my case) connected to the motherboard.
If you are reading the same voltage as on the AC adapter, it means the power jack or harness works properly and the problem is related to the motherboard.
If there is no voltage, most likely there is a problem with the jack or hardness and it has to be replaced.
By the way, in some case the problem could be related to the fuse which is usually located somewhere very close to the power jack/harness connector. You can test the fuse with a multimeter.
If the fuse is bad, the motherboard will appear to be dead even if there is nothing wrong with the power jack and AC/DC adapter. If that’s the case, replacing the bad fuse should fix the problem.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I PURCHASED A DC HARNESS JACK FOR A PCG K45 SONY VAIO LAPTOP.ALSO ADDED A NEW BATTERY.PLUG IN FAN SPIN FOR 5 SECONDS MAYBE 10 AND THEN DIED.NOW NOTHING HAPPENS.ANY SUGGESTIONS?
February 24th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Hector Cardenas,
It’s really hard to tell what’s going on with your laptop without testing it.
Does it turn on at all? Do you see any LED light flashing when you press on the power button or plug in the AC adapter? Do you see any sight of life at all?
April 10th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I have a gateway mx6214 laptop, i was plugged in using it one night and all of a sudden the charging to the unit stopped, it kept working but would no longer recognize the charger.Would a bad motherboard function properly like this or should i have the jack checked? Thanks in advance
April 12th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
ken,
Could be just a failed power supply. Can you test your AC adapter with a voltmeter?
April 20th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Hi.. do you have more information on how to replace the fuse on a motherboard ? I wasn’t even aware there was such a thing
Have a laptop in with no power whatsoever.. no lights.. no sounds..nothing. battery tests at 100% when pushed.. but doesn’t power at all. Thank you.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Kaliy Tech,
Unfortunately I don’t have any tutorial on this topic (yet). First of all, you’ll have to find the fuse. It’s usually located close to the power jack. After that you test the fuse with a multimeter and if it’s open, replacing the fuse might help.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Hi, i have a Hi-Grade laptop with 2GB RAM. Recently it has been freezing completly and ctrl+alt+del wont work. So I’ve turned it off via the power button. But now it wont tun on at all. The power light and the wireless light stay on when the power button is pushed and the fan comes on. I have tried replacing the memory modules and stil the same problem. What else can i do? Also my data is not backed up because I was in the process of doing so.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Louise,
1. Turn off the laptop, unplug the adapter, remove the battery. Wait for a few minutes. Plug in the AC adapter and try turning it on.
2. I assume you tried replacing RAM with a known good module, so it’s not the RAM problem. Try removing DVD drive, hard drive, other devices you can access and start the laptop without them. If you still experience the same problem, apparently you have a bad motherboard or video card. I don’t know if in your laptop the video card is a discrete module or it’s integrated into the motherboard.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
So, I happen to know the problem with my laptop. Somehow, the DC-in jack is loose and will only register the adapter if it’s pushed in a certain way. Does this mean the jack is completely broken, or can I fix this myself somehow? I don’t want to fool around with it unless I know I can fix it.
Thanks!
May 5th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Amber,
It’s hard to tell if your jack is broken without looking at it.
1. This problem could be related to the power cable connected to the adapter plug. Maybe there is a short inside the cable and when you move the plug, you actually shorting wires inside the cable. Before you take apart the laptop, test the power adapter with a multimeter. Make sure the adapter outputs correct voltage even when you move the cable.
2. Is your jack soldered to the motherboard? In most cases you don’t have to replace the jack. You can fix the problem by resoldering the jack back to the motherboard.
May 12th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I have a Hp Laptop that will not turn on. I got it brand new and after a year it just went dead on me one night after leaving it on the bed running,. Im thinking that maybe it overheated and turned off because it did that before but this time its not turning back on. When i press the power button the led’s will turn on and the fan would spin but then it goes right back off. What could be the problem and how can i fix this ?
May 13th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Hi. You said that the problem can be in the jack or the fuse. In either these cases, does the Power LED is ON? Thanks.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Hi.
My computer does not turn on as well.
I tested the jack and got 19V.
I tested the fuse, but 0V.
The Power LED of the laptop is ON.
Is the problem with the fuse, even the power LED is on?
I appreciate any help.
Thanks so much.
May 14th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Hi,on my laptop hp dv9005us, i have a light in power jack but don`t have any light on front panel,no light like charging, when i try to turn it on i have no response.
i teste the power jack and got 19.2V but i could`nt find with fuse is…… or if have one.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I just want to give you some points here. I am an electronic technician for more than 30 years. I deal with all kind of electronic gadgets including computers and laptops. One thing I want to make a point here is about testing the output of the power supply or adapter. All adapters used for laptops are all switching power supply. A switching power supply output can not be tested unless they are under load. Means they must be connected to the laptop and the laptop must be ON then you can actually use your multi-meter to measure the voltages. However, do you realized that all the desktop computers used switching power supply with cooling fans attached to it? And why? Because all power supply creates a tremendous amount of HEAT !!! Now think about this, why in the world that the power adapters for laptop has a sealed enclosure and no ventilation system? This is the secret of the electronic designer. The more you use your laptop, the more you ruin (not knowingly) your adapter because of overheating. This in turn, slowly killing some of electronic parts of the motherboard. That’s why after one year, you will experience some problem with the laptop just because of the lack of ventilation of the power supply. The switching power supply inside the adapter is composed of a transformer, diodes, capacitors, resistors, transistor and voltage regulator. The last two components are the one resposible for discharging HEAT into the two metal heatsinks. If there is no ventillation inside the plastic enclosure, this two semi-conductors will suffer and the mother board will be affected. To fix this, try to pry out open an adapter with utility knife. Be carefull not to cut too deep into the grove. Once you open it up, drill holes around it. Then put it back together using any kind of plastic glue. These holes will help to dissipate the heat inside the enclosure and will reduce definitely any electronic problems of the laptop. But don’t forget to do some maintenance on the exhaust system of the laptop. The heat sink of the laptop must be clean of dust/lint atleast once a year. Only few people knows about this.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:18 am
This note is to Charles Saunders. My Hp Dv6000 laptop did the same thing. It would overheat aLOT and then finally one day while I was sitting with it on a board on my lap while playing a game, it just went out. I let it cool down for a good couple of hours or more and went to turn it back on and nothing. I still have nothing today. Same thing as you, the lights would come on and the fan would run briefly and then off again and nothing else. I took it in to have a ‘tech’ look at it at a local Staples store and he felt that it was the motherboard damaged from overheating. He says it would basically cost me as much to buy a new laptop as to replace the mb in this one. I find that hard to believe. Now I sit and wonder if this really could be the problem or if it is the power supply as mentioned in a few other articles above. I don’t really want to spend the money on another mb if this really isn’t the problem and I find that HP is not to inclined to release parts for your laptop unless they install it. If someone could give us the answer to this problem, it would be greatly appreciated.
May 21st, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I have a Toshiba Sat R15-S822. When the power plug is on I can see all the lights. But when I press the “power on” button nothing is coming up. Is it that my motherboard is dead? Thx…
May 25th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
todd,
Nothing comes up on the screen or there is no activity (like LED light) at all?
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:44 pm
hi…
My computer dell xps m1210 does not start up
if push the button on, the led is on
but few second the led is off
and can not run
what the problem?
please help me
Thanks so much.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I have a Toshiba laptop that is also given me stress The Led comes on and the computer does not come up and sometimes if you try to put it on it will come on but it will not booth, what could be wrong with it.
The power light and the wireless light stay on when the power button is pushed and the fan comes on. I have tried replacing the memory modules and stil the same problem. What else can i do? Also my data is not backed up because I was in the process of doing so.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Hi,
I have a Presario 2175us. The battery charge led comes on when the power adapter is connected, and when the power button is pushed, the power led comes on for a second then goes back out again and nothing happens. This is an intermittent problem, and it happens with more than one power adapter. I have taken the laptop apart and checked the soldering of the dc jack, but it looks fine. I was wondering if you might have an idea of what could be the problem. Thanks so much for your help.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I have Sony fxa63 and it started not to start several days ago.
When it finally starts, everything is fine.
If I restart, it will do so.
However, if I turn it off and try to on afterwards.. no no no..
I’ve read though some websites and found that it might due to the condenser on the motherboard. So, I unplug everything for 5-10min to discharge that condenser than carefully starts again. Till now this took my chance up.
Not so sure how long it will work and how to find/buy right condenser for it.
Anyone has any idea?
June 12th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Well. I fixed it today.
It was none of above but exactly same as below.
Good luck guys!
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/07/05/laptop-turns-on-and-shuts-down/
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
I have a HP pavilion ze4600 (ze4610us) WhenI plug it in the battery charge light is flashing. I push the power button and then both the blue power light and the yellow charging light are flashing on and off. That is all I get. I have disassembled and reassembled it 3 times tried it without memory battery,hdd etc. The only thing that changes anything is when I push the function buttons media keys over and over and pretty quickly it changes the flashing blue power lights flashes it will start flashing with how I am pushing these keys. Could the whole problem be in that power board?
June 24th, 2009 at 11:45 am
mimmer,
Does this laptop have a power board. Usually it’s integrated into the motherboard and your description sounds like a problem with the motherboard.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:40 am
Hi,
I have an Acer Aspire 5570z laptop. When i plug in my adapter, the laptop doesnt respond(does not charge battery, doesnt turn on, leds do not respond…etc). Ive tested my adapter with a multimeter and it shows the normal voltage,ie, the adapter is good. What can be wrong with the laptop? Plz help me.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Laptop Tech, Hi,
it has a separate power button board and the quick buttons for email,internet etc. are also on that board
June 29th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
mimmer,
The power board and power button board are two different things. I think in the comment 24 you asked about the power button board but called it power board.
I think you have a problem with the motherboard.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Jawed,
If the laptop is absolutely dead even when you use a know good power adapter, most likely you have a problem with the motherboard.
Does the power LED flicker if you wiggle the power adapter plug inside the power socket? If it does, there could be a problem with the power jack. If not, most likely it’s bad motherboard.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:19 am
I have a Sony laptop FXA63. When turned on, the screen shows “Sony” logo and then a short blinking “-” at top of the screen and then nothing, screen dark. I opened it and noticed that fan comes on for and then stops, and the housing containing the fan heats up tremendously with fan not working. Can you advise on what to test next? Thanks.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Sia,
Bad hard drive? Can you remove the hard drive and start the laptop without it?
Find out if video will stay on the screen when the hard drive is removed.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:34 am
i have no power when i try to start my gateway laptop.
at first, it would power up and then immediately power down.
now, i have nothing power light doesn’t light at all.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Hi,
I have a sony TZ150N dropped on the floor which does not power on anymore. Either on battery or power cord it blinks the power led once and nothing happens. I was thinking to buy a new motherboard but what if that is not the problem. Any ideas? I have unplugged all cables from M/B except power button cables and power jack. Same…power led blinks once. Is that the ultimatum test to see if M/B is dead? Should at least the led stay ON if M/B was ok?
Thanks.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Hi folks,
I am having a Toshiba Satellite M305D-S4829, with Vista 64-bit. When I switch on the power on button, NOTHING happens. There is no display. I inserted the Recovery DVD to re-install Vista, and I could hear the DVD being ‘read’ by the laptop, but nothing happens. Tried pressing and holding “C”; tried FN key + F5, as well as F12.
I need help a.s.a.p.
Any input is helpful, as long as it does not involve using multimeters and tinkering with the motherboard.
Thanks,
AK.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
AK,
You’ll have to disassemble the display panel and take a look at the video cable. If it’s made by CMI, I would definitely try replacing the cable first.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
АК,
It’s possible that your laptop doesn’t start because one of the memory modules is bad.
You have two memory modules installed, correct? Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. If one of the memory modules is bad, the laptop should start with video when only a good module is installed.
September 12th, 2009 at 2:10 am
Hi Laptop Tech
Can you please answer to my post as well?
Thank you.
Regards
Stefan
October 5th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
hello, i have a d600 latitude. i didn’t have a power supply for it so i rigged one from an old laptop with the same power ratings. i ended up switching the polarity by mistake though. a small cloud of smoke came out next to the jack and now it doesn’t work at all im sure its a fuse but not sure where could some one help me out please?
October 6th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
i have a dell latitude d600. the power comes on and then shuts down, no fan comes on, no booting up, nothing. help!? what is wrong?!
October 7th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
latricia,
It’s hard to tell, but could be memory related problem. Do you have two memory modules installed? Remove them one by one. Test the laptop with each module separately. This way you can find the faulty module.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
stephen,
Usually in laptops fuses are soldered to the motherboard. You’ll have to remove the motherboard and search for the damaged fuse. I think it’s soldered somewhere close to the power jack.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Hi folk
I have a Sony Vaio VGN-BX297XP laptop which doesnt start up. When I connect the power lead the battery charging light starts to flash, If I press the on button the charge light stops flashing with nothing else happening.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I have a HP pavilion ze4600. My laptop worked fine last night. I shut it down, and it installed it’s updates and shut off like normal. This morning, I plugged it in and tried to turn it on, and NOTHING. The charging light blinked yellow/orange for a bit and then turned green, like it’s charging. That is the only sign of life though. No fans, no blue lights, nothing.
November 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Emily,
Try the following steps:
1. Turn off the laptop.
2. Unplug the AC power adapter.
3. Remove the battery.
4. Wait for a couple of minutes, than plug the AC adapter and try turning it on.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I have a HP Pavilion dv6000, my laptop is having some issues. I turned it off 1 night and started it up like normal and it froze as soon as i opened a program, now when i turn it on there is no Bios screen and it just keeps restarting itself. Have you had a case like this? I been searching the internet for solutions, and i found this website.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Crystal,
Could be memory module failure.
Do you have two memory modules installed? Pull them from the laptop one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. It’s very unlikely that both memory modules failed at the same time, and if your problem is memory related, the laptop will start properly when the bad module is removed.
November 10th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
my compaq presario V6310US just “died” it seems. it won’t power up. it won’t turn on..
what is the problem?
November 11th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Hi there!
I have an OKI laptop
This is my problem……. Yesterday all of a sudden it just cut off…. electric,screen everything…..
Now when i try to turn it on, the lights all come on and the fan starts up….but no screen or anything?? then the fan stops… but the power light stays on …… it lets me open the cd drive but wont let me switch off unless i take out the battery…..Plz help!!!!????
i took it to Pc repair shop and the guy says its the CPU (Motherboard) that is wasted…… i hope not?
Any second opinions would be greatly appreciated before I go and spend a smaLl fortune on another notebook…..
Ben
November 11th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Iam Gordon from Uganda, East africa, i do have a tropix laptop, it doesnt show anything on screen when i start up. The power, and battery lights show, DVD rom runs but shows nothing, i have tried to observe it and it runs then stops, removes the power light then starts again but without displaying anything.. Please help and let me know What the problem could be?.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
macris,
Any lights when you plug the AC adapter and push on the power button? If not, check the power adapter. It could be bad.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Ben,
Could be memory failure.
If the guy tried replacing the memory module already, probably he’s right. I would say most likely this is the motherboard failure. CPU failures are not common.
Again, play with memory first. Try reconnecting it. Try moving from one slot to another. Try removing modules one by one if you have two installed.
If nothing helps, most likely you have the motherboard problem.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Gordon Turibamwe,
Your problem description is very similar to Ben’s description (previous comment).
I think it’s either bad memory module or motherboard failure.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:24 am
i have acer extensa 5630 ez. It wont power on with battery or mains supply, At first it would power on after waiting 5 mins , this then extended to hours then days and now its weeks before i can power it up again. I have noticed that it will power on from sleep mode or if i press restart but if i close it down or put it into hibernation it will be weeks before it will power on again.pressing the power on button when its on mains power just causes the green light to go out. On battery only if i press power button on rapidly about 5 times an led orange light flickers I have tried the so called power reset and reseated the ram but these remedies have no effect. Have been on net and there is lot of people having this problem with this model…. i would appreciate any help.. Thanks
November 16th, 2009 at 11:33 am
robb,
To me that sounds like a problem with the motherboard.
November 18th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Hello, I have an Alienware m15X, he suddently sopped working. When I plug the ac adapter into the wall ac power outlet; the light on the ac adapter is solid green at that time. As soon as I connect the ac adapter’s plug into the laptop the light on the ac adapter blink and make a clicky noise until I unplug the ac adapter from the laptop. At the same time system does not power up from only the battery.
I tried with no battery, only the AC Adapter plugged in it and its don’t work…
What would be the cause of this problem?
I have remplaced the memory, Hard drive, removed the DVD Rom, its still dont work
November 18th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Danny,
It’s possible that your AC adapter failed and the battery doesn’t have enough charge to start the laptop.
Test your laptop with another known good AC adapter. If you still experiencing the same problem with another adapter, most likely this is the motherboard failure.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Hello, I have a little gauge on my battery and its still at 4bars.. the battery should be able to start the laptop. Ill try another AC Adapter but I dont think its the problem since I can’t start it with the battery.
If its a motherboard failure, do you think its repairable? What would you check first to see where is the problem.
Does a bad power jack would make it unbootable with the battery?
Thank you!
November 19th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Danny,
Ohh, I didn’t know that. If the battery is charged, I guess replacing the adapter will not help.
I guess it’s the motherboard failure.
Sorry, cannot help you here. I don’t work on the component level. If the motherboard fails, I replace the whole unit.
Very unlikely.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Hi. i have Acer tm 5520. im geting voltage throughout the mboard. slightly low when i check for ac. and corect with dc. i used another working tm 5520 for this test..
but im not geting any power indication and it wont start up. i have checked for bad conectors, loose wires, and almost everything i can think of, its been two days im checking it.. what do u suggest?
i did power restart by presing power buton for 30 seconds like explained on acer website.. but that didnt work. so i removed the mainboard cell and tried power restart again. but i only got a ticking sound inside the mboard…and it faded away… nothing after that…
November 26th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
My acer aspire 5315 shows no light when power on. Only the battery light on when plugged to electricity. Occassionally, when power light on, the fan rolls for 5sec, with no sound and nothing on display. could it be the motherboard or processor?
November 27th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
ladoks,
Processor failures are not common. I’ve replaced hundreds of failed motherboards and only very few failed processors.
If you have to choose between the motherboard and processor, go with the motherboard.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Malik TOKA,
Sounds like you have a failed motherboard. Sorry, I cannot help you to fix it. I don’t work on the component level. If the motherboard fails, I replace the whole motherboard.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I have a acer aspire 5630 for while, but now its not working properly, when I tried to start it, the fan runs only for 5 to 10 seconds and after that there is only power led on but nothing else is going on, i can’t hear hard disk sound etc, any suggestion??? I think its fan problem but am not sure about this, you help will be very appreciated, thanks a lot
January 5th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Tenzin,
I think your problem could be related to the memory (RAM) failure.
You have two RAM modules installed, correct? Try removing them one by one. Try starting the laptop with only one RAM module installed.
If it starts fine with one module but not with another, the second one is bad.
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:23 am
My Dell Inspiron 600m will intermittently not power on. Does not seem to matter whether the laptop is running on battery or AC. The LED indicates a charging battery when plugged into the wall. I push the power button, nothing happens. Push it again over and over, eventually it will power on. Runs normal when powered on, and if I do a soft restart, it shuts down and powers up normally. But if I shut down completely, the next time I hit the power button I have to hit it over and over until one time it works.
So, could it be the AC, motherboard, power board, or something else? How do I diagnose the problem?
February 9th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
hi there my laptop is a dell latitude d600 it starts up and gets to windows xp loading bit then goes back to the start does it all the time can you help
February 9th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
lee hennessey,
Sounds like software related problem. Could be corrupted registry.
Can you boot in Safe Mode? Try using Last Known Good Configuration too. You can access both if you press F8 as soon as Dell logo appears on the screen.
If nothing helps, you’ll have to reinstall Windows from scratch.
February 11th, 2010 at 6:46 am
Hi! I have a dell inspiron 6400. My laptop doesn’t start. The adaptor light blinks when I connect it to the power supply, but as soon as I plug the jack into the laptop socket, the light on the adaptor goes off. And my laptop doesn’t start. The battery gage shows that it is charged. I have tried removing the battery and running only on AC power, but it shows the same symptons. I have tried removing every component and powering the motherboard directly, but with the same results. I am assuming that the motherboard is faulty; where can I directly purchase a new one; can i purchase a particular model of motherboard directly, or will i have to deal directly with Dell? If a particular component soldered on the motherboard (like power jack) is faulty, is it possible to remove it, purchase a new one and solder it back? Thanks a lot.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:52 am
BM,
Is it normal? I believe it has to be on all the time when connected to the wall outlet, isn’t it?
Before replacing the motherboard, I would suggest testing the laptop with another AC adapter. Maybe the adapter is bad.
Did the laptop work on the battery power before?
It’s not likely but possible that you have a damaged DC jack inside the laptop. Maybe it shorts something when the AC adapter is plugged.
You can remove the cover and take a closer look at the jack. Maybe the jack has to be resoldered. Just a guess.
The best way to find a new motherboard is searching on the internet by the part number. Usually in Dell laptops you can find the motherboard number on a sticker glued to the memory slot. There is a long string of number on the sticker separated by dashes and one part of number will look like CN-0MD666. This is the motherboard part number and you can google it or search on eBay. The number could be different for your motherboard.
It’s not necessary to buy a new motherboard directly from Dell but buy it from a reputable seller.
February 14th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Hi
I have an Acer Aspire 6920G which has an unusal fault. It will not power up buy has a faint ticking sound. I stripped the motherboard bare & still the ticking sound persists. I have removed various caps, coils, resistors etc but still cannot work out where the sound is coming from! Is there an easier way to try pinpoint the source of this fault? I have tried listening all over the board by ear but the ticking sound seems to be the same – neither louder or softer. Are there components on a motherboard that would be more prone to tick when they have failed?
There are a few caps that are shorting in circuit. I removed & tested all of these and they are good but there still is a short. Strangely though this short does not affect the power supply to the motherboard ie. by turning power supply off or indicating there is a short (flahing led).
This is actually the 2nd motherboard I have come across with the same fault & still cannot solve this problem.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance..
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
I have a Acer Aspier 4720Z. The problem I have is the compter wil not charge the battery or work when plugged in (if the battery is removed). I think it’s the DC board and input, the ac adapter is ok. I could easy replace the board but I don’t know how to get to it.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:02 pm
vince,
Here’s service manual for Acer Aspire 4720G, 4720Z, 4720 and 4320 series.
Now you know how to get to the power jack.
Good luck!
March 10th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
i have an acer tm 5520. with pomona motherboard. my battery was broken and laptop cudnt power on. i checked few things, assembled it back, and it was running again ( without battery ) i poured some glue on the power jack to fix it in the casing because it got loose. next morning i tried to fit in battery, but it didnt power on. and when i hooked it with adapter without battery it was dead. no l.e.d no power. its been dead since. i had it checked in the market but they cannot figure out the problem. when i check for ac voltage with a multimetre, it seems to get same volts on the ac jack as from adapter, but when i go further, multimetre detecs low volts.
i have another laptop same model. unlike above, it shows same voltage from adapter to ac jack and to battery terminal.
does anybody have any clue whats wrong with my computer? can u suggest me anything? thanks
April 4th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Hi,
Help me!
i have same problem…. pc works only with battery but not works with AC adapter,this one don’t charge the battery!
So i found the fuse, but it is ok… the tester sounds when i test it!
April 4th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Sorry… my pc is hp pavilion dv6693el.
April 4th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Korben,
Did you test the AC adapter? Maybe the adapter is not working properly when loaded. I would suggest testing the laptop with another known good AC adapter.
If the problem still exist, most likely this is the motherboard failure.
April 4th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Sure,
ac adapter works!
I can try to change the fuse?? But i don’t fount PF1 or F1 pin on motherboard pcb! Help me
April 7th, 2010 at 4:59 am
Hello, I have an Acer Travelmate 2480 and my computer just won’t turn on. When I push the pwer button, an orange light flickers in the front by the speakers. This happens with and without the power adapter plugged in. Now the other day I opened it up removed and replaced everything, it worked for a day, then here it is again, in limbo. Any suggestions?
April 16th, 2010 at 2:11 am
Hi,
I have a HPDV9000.
I just sent it for a complete repair of the graphic chip, I then booted my laptop, everything was fine, image on the screen was normal; 30 minutes after it began to vibrate quite loudely somewhere around the fan or the hardrive ; I just pulled the AC/DC adapter right away and the battery was not plugged in. After that I tried to boot it but no reaction just the blue light where you plug the adapter.
I checked my ac adapter and the DC-IN harness, voltage is fine.
But I can’t locate the fuse on the motherboard, anyone has a pictures or a website that I could use?
How much does a fuse coast and is it easy to replace?
April 17th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Mark,
I don’t think that your problem is related to the fuse.
Usually the fuse is located somewhere close to the DC jack (or DC jack harness). The fuse is soldered to the motherboard. In order to replace the fuse, you’ll have to desolder the failed one and solder a new one. Before replacing the fuse test it with a multimeter.
April 18th, 2010 at 5:33 am
Hi,
I can’t find the fuse on my HPDV 9000 do you have any website or manual guide I could use to locate it?
Thanks
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:29 pm
I have a Presario F700 laptop that has a mind of it’s own. Whenever I hit the power button, the thing turns itself on and off several times before it finally reaches the POST and boots. What are the possibilities for the problem? The battery, and adapter test out fine. And once it boots, it works without any hassles, until I shut down or reboot.
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:49 pm
storm57,
It’s hard to tell without testing what is causing the problem.
In order to start any laptop with video you need three main components: motherboard (with video card), CPU and memory.
From my experience, CPU failures are not common, so most likely it’s either motherboard or memory failure.
1. Try reconnecting memory modules.
2. Remove memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each memory module individually. One of the modules could be bad.
3. If you still experiencing the same problem even with known good memory, this could be motherboard failure.
By the way, run Memtest86+ (multiple times) and test memory. Maybe one of the modules fails intermittently.
May 1st, 2010 at 11:56 am
i have hp pavillion dv6000.The problem is its just black screen and 3 short beeps.Can you help me to fix it?.thanks!
May 1st, 2010 at 12:08 pm
emy,
Could be memory failure.
1. If you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each memory module individually. It’s very unlikely that both memory modules failed at the same time. When the bad module is removed, the laptop should start properly.
2. If reseating/removing/replacing memory modules doesn’t help, most likely this is the motherboard failure. You’ll have to replace the motherboard.
May 7th, 2010 at 6:02 am
Hi i have Hp Compac 6735s. Dead. Stripped it to your site. Pc shops says motherboard but i see nothing. Fuse? Does not switch on even with all the power and reset stories. If battery is charged i get 7 led signals when trying to switch on and power led blink and go of again. that is it. What do you think.
May 11th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
compaq presario v2000 it wont turn on nothing not a sound please someone help. no lights nothing how can i find out whats wrong
May 16th, 2010 at 9:55 am
carmine,
First of all, test the AC adapter. It’s possible the laptop will not turn on because the AC adapter is dead and the battery has no charge.
If the problem is still there even with a new AC adapter, probably it’s bad motherboard.
May 18th, 2010 at 5:01 am
I have an HP Pavilion dv6500 laptop, it does work with charged battery but not without battery and with charger on. I tested with a good charger and it still doesn’t receive power.
Could it be the power connector board (DC input jack and circuitry that transfers the power to the motherboard) or the motherboard itself? If something is burned in the motherboard, is there a chance to repair it?
May 18th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Hello, I have Lenovo 3000 N200 Laptop. My laptop is not working at all, it wont power on or shows any lights…. it is totaly dead. Please help me. Thanks in Advance.
May 27th, 2010 at 12:01 am
Hi,
I have Problems with DV5000 model HP laptop. Recently it is having problem with the start button. when i connect the indicator is showing as the battery is getting charged. but when i press the start button there is no action.
could you suggest a solution ofr my problem?
Thank you,
krishna.
May 28th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Krishna,
Could be memory failure. Try reconnecting memory modules, try removing them one by one.
Could be motherboard failure.
Also, unplug the AC adapter, remove the battery, wait for a few minutes. Now plug the AC adapter and try turning it on.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Hp pavilion Dv4-1274mx
My computer does not charge the battery when it’s plugged in but it does recognizes the charger, the led lights up and the computer says it is plugged and charging. but if I take out the battery and try to charge it directly it does charge. and if try to turn on my computer while it is plugged in but the battery if out, it doesn’t turn on and the battery led does not light up either.. and it is suppose to turn on if it’s plugged no matter if the battery is out.
..what could be the damage then? I already changed the charger and the power jack of the computer itself!
May 29th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Diego,
Not sure what’s going on, but I would test the laptop with another AC adapter. Maybe your adapter is not working properly under load.
If replacing the AC adapter doesn’t help, it’s possible you have motherboard problem.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
I already changed the AC charger and the power jack!
what could be the motherboard problem??
will I have to change it?
thank youu!
June 18th, 2010 at 7:25 am
I am working with a pavillion dv4. The LED light next to the adapter will not turn on. It will briefly blink once while pulling out the adapter. I have replaced the motherboard, AC cable, and triued different adapters and it still has the same issue. Not sure what else to check.
Thank you,
Shaun
June 26th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Hi,
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105 (which I bought in June 2006), which shut down on me last a week ago. I had been working on it for about 10-15 minutes on a Word Document, when all of a sudden there was a “beep” sound and the screen went blank. There was no other sounds coming from the computer, no LED lights on (that show the battery charge, and such), and basically, everything looked completely dead. I had my AC adapter tested and it was fine, including the connection. I was not able to start my laptop since then.
Also, I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but for the last month or so, my laptop had been using up it’s battery power very quickly (it was down from about 50 mintues to only about 15-20 minutes on a full charge).
Do you have any idea what might be wrong with it, and if it is fixable? And if it isn’t, how can I get most of my data off the hard drive?
Thanks!
June 28th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Leta,
If the AC adapter is OK and all connections are good, most likely this is the motherboard failure.
Here’s something to try.
Disconnect the AC adapter, remove the battery and wait for a few minutes. After that plug in the AC adapter and try turning it on.
If it doesn’t help, probably you have a bad motherboard (again, I assume the AC adapter is good).
You can remove the hard drive and install it into an external USB enclosure as explained here: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/04/17/access-hard-drive-using-usb-enclosure/
Good luck!
July 5th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
My laptop was not working because of a bad power jack. So, I took the laptop apart and semi-dissected the DC-IN jack. Well, I actually get the thing working but here is my new problem:
When I plug the power cord in, the laptop start’s up, by itself without me pressing the power button (it NEVER did that before). I see the fans starting up (the laptop is still opened up), I see the lights on the front of the laptop, and the disc drive, blink. Also, I will sometimes (i have tried starting up the laptop multiple times) hear a single electronically muffled beep sound from the speakers (the actual speakers aren’t causing this muffled sound). I do not see anything on the screen (in fact the laptop screen does not turn on at all). Any suggestion on what to do to fix this?
P.S. the laptop screen is NOT the problem
Thanks for the help,
Ben
July 10th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Ben,
First of all, make sure the laptop is assembled correctly. Check all connections, make sure CPU, RAM seated correctly, etc…
If everything looks normal, try turning on the laptop in minimum configuration: motherboard, CPU, memory, external monitor.
If the problem is still there, could be bad motherboard.
August 4th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Hi, sorry for my english.
I have an old Dell Inspiron. It doesnt start, no leds, no fan, nothing,
AC/DC adapter is fine. i don’t have the battery, anyway.
i disassembled my laptop, plugged in and tested the dc-in jack with a multimeter, and it reads around 7V, a lower voltage than measured on the AC/DC adapter conector (19,5).
Does it means dc-in jack is the problem?
Could it be the power button? Maybe is stupid but i don`t know if the measure is affected by the fact that laptop is turned off (although plugged )
Thank you
August 10th, 2010 at 6:04 am
i have this toshiba L305-S5919, (same as the pictures you have used to illustrate). the problem is the fuses are okey, no IC is Physically damaged (cracked, or visibly burned). the power adapter is okey, but when i the laptop is inserted nothing happens, all the power indicators are not showing. in short the laptop is dead, though when the power jack is inserted in the is power on the battery terminal meaning it should be charging but the indicators are not showing that anything. is there a way i can trouble shoot the board and get the problem.
August 14th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Klasiq,
Maybe the DC jack harness is bad?
You can disassemble the laptop, plug the AC adapter and using a voltmeter test voltage on terminals where DC jack harness connected to the motherboard. If there is no voltage, the DC jack harness is bad and has to be replaced.
Take a look at these guide for some pictures: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/repair-damaged-power-jack-toshiba-satellite-l305-l355-laptops/
Again, find out if motherboard gets any voltage from AC adapter.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
hi. i have a Hp Paviliion DV9000 laptop. i plug in the charger and the light shows blue, but it actually is not charging. i try to turn on the laptop and it would not turn on at all. at first i thought it could be the battery. so wht i did was use my friend’s laptop’s battery(shes got the same laptop) and the laptop turned on, the charger was plugged in but it was not charging. so at this point i dont know wht could be the problem. can u plz help me out here. thnx
August 18th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
I have a strange problem recently with my hp laptop
although the battery is charged it doesn’t start when I try to start it with the battery only.
When I plug in the DC line it starts, I can even remove it after that and continue on using the battery.
any idea??
August 29th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Hi,
When I turn my laptop on the screen is black. The lights turn on (on the keyboard) and I hear the fan running, but my screen is still black. Recommendations?
Thank Yoyu
Christina
August 29th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Christina,
First of all, I would check RAM (memory) modules. Could be memory failure.
1. Try reseating memory modules.
2. If you have two modules installed, try removing them one by one and test your laptop with each modules separately. The laptop should start properly when the bad module removed.
August 29th, 2010 at 11:55 am
I have an HP DV9820US laptop. Strange problem, when I turn it on it turns back off after 1-2 seconds. Then does this over and over until I remove all power. Nothing shows on the screen at any point. the fan turns on and off with the cycles. I only hear the hard drive spin if I plug in the power while holding the power button. But it still does the same thing.
Any ideas? all this happened after I did a system recovery. everything was working normally and I was going through and installing all the windows and HP updates. On the HP site there is a recall for batteries, I shut down the computer and removed the battery to check the #’s, after that the problem started.
August 29th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Gary,
Could be memory failure.
1. Try reconnecting both memory modules.
2. If it doesn’t help, try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with only one memory module installed (try different slots). It should start properly when the bad module is removed (if you have a bad module of course).
Both memory modules can be accessed from the door on the bottom. Take a look at this guide for HP dv9000 series:
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-hard-drive-memory-wireless-card-keyboard-hp-pavilion-dv9000/
August 29th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
thanks for the reply. I tried doing as you said, with every possible combination (2 cards, 2 slots) still the same problem. I saw in your link that there was a factory repair offered for 24 mo with these same symptoms. Too bad I missed that by a month. Any other ideas? Is it motherboard time?
August 29th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
If I hold down F11 during startup the power will stay on. But there is no action from the monitor or the hard drive light.
August 29th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Gary,
If it’s not memory, most likely this is motherboard failure.
I don’t think you missed it because dv9800 series wasn’t included.
Just in case, try minimizing the laptop as much as you can. Remove the battery, hard drive, wireless card, DVD drive and try turning it on from AC. If the problem still there, most likely the motherboard is bad.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Thanks, I’ll try that. I dont know if this is related or not, but about 1 mo ago, the sound stopped working. I kept getting “No Audio device is installed” message. It came and went for 2 days, then was gone altogether.
August 30th, 2010 at 5:04 am
well… nothing seems to work. I guess I’m motherboard shopping. Thanks for the advice.
September 1st, 2010 at 7:10 pm
hi i have a hp dv9518tx , The laptop stopped charging the battery now when i plug in the adapter i have a led light on …but when i try to turn the power on i get nothing …this happens when the battery is in or out of the laptop…so i purchased a new battery the laptop started up straight away..but when the battery went flat same thing …how do i fix this recharging And power problem thanks
September 5th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Bones,
It’s hard to tell what is causing the problem.
You said the laptop started properly with fully charged battery, so I assume the motherboard in your laptop still works properly.
Your problem could be related to:
1. Bad AC adapter. Maybe it still supplies some voltage (enough to light up the LED) but doesn’t work properly when loaded. I would recommend testing the laptop with another AC adapter.
2. Power jack problem. Maybe the jack is bad and has to be replaced.
3. Motherboard failure.
I really cannot tell which one is causing the problem without testing your laptop with good spare parts.
September 9th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
hi l have a sony vaio VPCEE2Fx E series ,l workon it just this morn ing after shutting it down .when l try putting it back on nothing happens no lights nothing , even when l connect A/C adapter to the laptop there’s not light nothing comes on so can u tell me what is wrong
September 10th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Yonette Woolfard,
Here’s what you can try:
1. Unplug the AC adapter.
2. Remove the battery.
3. Wait for a few minutes.
Now plug the AC adapter and try turning it on again.
September 16th, 2010 at 4:55 am
i have a hp dv2500, i have removed vista which it came with and installed xp, during the process, i ducked out for dinner, upon returning, the computer will not start, no lights anywhere,
the computer was pluged in at the wall during the installation, and doesnt start with or without wall power
Thanks, James
September 16th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
james,
Does it start with the AC adapter plugged? If not, it’s possible the AC adapter died while you had dinner. The laptop was running until the battery discharged. Now you cannot turn it on because the AC adapter is dead and battery has no charge.
Can you test the AC adapter with a voltmeter? Find out if there is any voltage. If not, try a new adapter.
September 16th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Thanks for your reply, will try a new adapter.
Thanks!
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
I have a 3 year old Amilo Xa1526, which have started frying power supplies.
A couple of weeks ago, the laptop suddenly stopped charging and finally ran out of power. I noticed that the LED indicator on the original power supply had stopped working. I thought that the power supply had just “died a natural death”, so I ordered a new (unoriginal) power supply on the net. Both the laptop and the original power supply are marked as 20V 4.5A , so I found a new one marked 20V 6A, which should be just fine. After plugging in the laptop with the new power supply, everything looked fine – for about 15 minutes. Then the laptop stopped charging, and the power supply seemed dead. Thinking I had just been unlucky with a bad specimen, I returned it and got a replacement, same model. Plugging in the laptop once again, everything looked fine – for about 2 days, when the new power supply also died. Thinking that maybe it was a shoddy model, I ordered a completely different “universal power supply” from a different source. This one was also listed as 6A at 20V. So after adjusting it to 20V and finding the correct jack, I plugged it in – and after 15 minutes it died!
So within 1 month, my laptop have killed 4 power supplies. Do you have any idea about what the problem could be? And what could possibly be done to fix it?
I tried measuring the resistance at the DC in on the laptop as desribed on http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop11.htm
It was almost 4kΩ, so it doesn’t look like a short circuit…
September 24th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Hey Laptop Tech,
Have a Toshiba P205D. Its basically dead showing no power (the light up front don’t like up when it plugged in). The power cord is good. I took it apart thinking and hoping it was he DC jack. I checked the voltage at the harness on the motherboard and it showed 19.6 Vdc. So the DC jack is good. The fuse gave me 0.03 Ohms. Would you know if that’s within margins? If so, I take it the motherboard is dead? Any info/ feedback / other options would be appreciated. Thanks.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Frank,
Cannot help with the fuse margins. I don’t fix motherboards on the component level and my knowledge is very limited here.
Again, not sure if this is a good idea.
The following could be a bad idea but… if you have nothing to lose, you can short the fuse with a piece of wire and try turning it on (with AC adapter plugged in) while the fuse is shorted. If the laptop starts fine, it must be a bad fuse.
October 15th, 2010 at 6:44 am
It’s just wonderful, but my problem still unsulve. mine is a laptop too, a Compaq notebook computer with Model number;CQ62-23OEI and Widows-7 operating system. it bliks onec, when the power botten is press; even when hard reset is done. I will be very graetful if you can help me, while increasing your knollage, God bless.
October 17th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Nanle Stephen,
It’s not very clear how your laptop fails. Please provide more details.
Can you see any video on the screen? Does your laptop work with an external monitor? Will it power up at all? etc…
October 24th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Hi I have an HP dv2500. I came home one day and the laptop had shut down on it’s own and I no longer receive any solid Led lights. When i have the power cable attached I get a very slow and dim but steadily flashing blue light almost imperceptible. the power button has no effect and i have really no idea what to check or test next. I have performed all the battery removal and discharging tips with no effect or change. I have little faith it is the power cable so i an trying to avoid purchasing a replacement one. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks
October 26th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Matt,
Maybe you should check voltage on the AC adapter. It’s possible the adapter failed and not outputting correct voltage. You can check voltage with a voltmeter.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Great guide. I followed your other guide to disassemble a Compaq F755US. Someone spilled a glass of wine in it. When the power button is depresses the light comes on and you can hear the hard drive spin for a second then the laptop shuts down. there is no sign of the fan spinning. I have it down to the motherboard and a stick of memory only and the same thing happens. I tested the power adapter at the plug end and got the voltage but can’t find where to test on the motherboard. Any ideas? Thank you
November 18th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Hello,
I have a Toshiba L505-es5034 , the device is dead and have no reaction when I press the power button , the led lights of the battery and the dc-input lights when I connect the power jack but it never turns on, I took the laptop apart and took a look at the mother board but it shows no physical damage, the story is that i spelled few droplets of the window washing liquid on the keyboard and i then used an air dryer to dry it after that by 1 hour i turned my computer off and removed the battery for the purpose of cleaning but from that time it never turned on again, I tried removing the keyboard but it still does not power up, i tried removing memory and swapping slots also.
PLEASE HELP!
November 21st, 2010 at 1:02 am
Mido,
It’s hard to tell what is wrong with the laptop.
You can try taking it apart to barebone system and see if it works.
Disassemble it as much as you can at test with an external monitor.
Basically, all you need is motherboard, processor and memory to start your laptop with video.
Take a look at this guide:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2008/06/14/laptop-dead-troubleshoot-the-problem/
November 25th, 2010 at 9:35 am
I have an acer about 2yrs old when I plug the charger in the battery light will turn green for a second then it goes to yellow and it will not charge or power up. I have done the rundown with the power cord and the jack its all good. Got any suggestion?
November 25th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Beth,
Remove the battery and try turning it on just with AC adapter. Can you start the laptop when the battery removed?
November 28th, 2010 at 6:53 am
No it will not turn on with power supply alone.
November 28th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Beth,
you said:
1. I have done the rundown with the power cord and the jack its all good.
2. No it will not turn on with power supply alone.
So, the AC adapter is good, power jack is good but the laptop with not turn on when battery removed.
This sounds like motherboard failure to me.
November 29th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
My daughter has an acer to the she uses everyday and it wont work without battery . I did notice that when i first plug it in the battery light will be green for a minute then goes to solid orange
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Hi ,
Im using a HP dv2500 laptop. its not switching ON at all. but when i connect the power cable (without the battery) it shows the battery charging LED. when i connect the power cable with the battery connected the LED not blinking.
What you reckon the prb could be? Motherboard or fuse?
December 8th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
viraji,
Does the battery charging LED have to blink when laptop connected to AC and battery installed? I believe it should light solid.
If the laptop doesn’t turn on at all and all you get is battery charging LED, this could be bad power switch board or failed motherboard.
It’s really hard to troubleshoot a problem like that without seeing the laptop.
December 29th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Hi! I have a Dell Inspiron B130 that crapped out on me mysteriously. It is completely dead. No LEDs light up no matter what i press. When plugged into the computer, the AC adapter blinks. When not plugged in, it is a solid green light. I tested it with a multimeter and found it was fine at 19 volts. I also bought an extra battery, but the laptop did not power on so I don’t think that was the problem (although I wasn’t able to confirm this since I couldn’t measure their voltage).
As for the power jack, the voltage drop from the positive pin (the one perpendicular to all the others, i am thinking) and all of the negative ones was only between 3 and 4 volts, significantly below 19 of the adapter.
My questions:
Does this confirm the diagnosis of the power jack? Would 4 volts be insufficient to give me any response from my computer whatsoever? I couldn’t tell if the soldering on the jack was damaged or not, or what else could be wrong with it. Or perhaps I didn’t put the negative test lead of the multimeter in the right spot while measuring? I put it on all the pins except the positive one, and they all measured the same. If it is a motherboard problem, shall I begin salvaging the parts or is it repairable?
btw, I have also read your tutorial on the B130 DC power jack repair.
Please let me know what you think.
January 3rd, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Hi , i have a gateway nv52 with power adapter plugged in only a blue light will come on no power gateway tech support does not have a clue however this a know issue you see all over the internet brought from vendor there tech does not have a clue was wondering if this is a bad dc jack or muti function power button board or power cable any advice will be helpful
January 3rd, 2011 at 10:07 pm
Thomas Snipper,
I cannot tell without looking at the laptop. Normally, you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and test voltage on terminals where the DC jack soldered to the motherboard. If the voltage is the same as on the AC adapter, most likely it’s not the jack failure.
By the way, very soon I’ll publish a guide explaining how to access and replace the DC jack on a Gateway NV series laptops.
January 4th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
HI i have a acer 1460 which is not powering. there is no light not even a charge light. i have tested the adaptor and am geting around 19v but when i plug it in and test the jack pins -+ i get under 2v.
i have removed the jack and put the power cable in and tested, i am geting 19v at jack pins when it is out of the MB.
i have tested the fuses near by which are working. so i am not sure what to do??
Thankx
Nitin
January 4th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Nitin,
First of all, I would test laptop with another adapter. It’s possible your adapter fails when loaded, I’ve seen a failure like that a few times before.
If the laptop still doesn’t turn on even with another adapter, most likely this is motherboard failure.
January 4th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
i have tried a new adapter but still no luck. any more guess? im not sure which pins are ment to be ground on the jack. thanx
January 5th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Hi! I have a Dell Inspiron B130 that crapped out on me mysteriously. It is completely dead. No LEDs light up no matter what i press. When plugged into the computer, the AC adapter blinks. When not plugged in, it is a solid green light. I tested it with a multimeter and found it was fine at 19 volts. I also bought an extra battery, but the laptop did not power on so I don’t think that was the problem (although I wasn’t able to confirm this since I couldn’t measure their voltage).
As for the power jack, the voltage drop from the positive pin (the one perpendicular to all the others, i am thinking) and all of the negative ones was only between 3 and 4 volts, significantly below 19 of the adapter.
My questions:
Does this confirm the diagnosis of the power jack? Would 4 volts be insufficient to give me any response from my computer whatsoever? I couldn’t tell if the soldering on the jack was damaged or not, or what else could be wrong with it. Or perhaps I didn’t put the negative test lead of the multimeter in the right spot while measuring? I put it on all the pins except the positive one, and they all measured the same. If it is a motherboard problem, shall I begin salvaging the parts or is it repairable?
btw, I have also read your tutorial on the B130 DC power jack repair.
Please let me know what you think.
January 5th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
I have a Toshiba A200 Notebook, it won’t turn-on (led lid n fan on for about 3-5sec then off again) while plug to AC (with or without battery). If i use battery, the notebook run well, when plug-in again the windows Freeze. i have tried to replace it with new adapter n Battery. still got the same problem, there is something wrong with the mainboard. how Can i fix it? Thanks u Very much.
January 7th, 2011 at 9:00 am
sean,
I think most likely this is motherboard related failure. With a bad DC jack, the laptop should still start normally from the new battery (I assume it was charged).
No, 4 volts is not sufficient to start the laptop.
There is a chance that your laptop doesn’t start because the AC adapter is failing. Maybe it’s not working properly when loaded (connected to the laptop). I’ve seen failures like that before.
Let’s say both batteries has no charge and the AC adapter fails when connected to the laptop. In this case the laptop will not start because it just not getting any power. Replacing the AC adapter might fix the problem.
In short, test your laptop with another known good AC adapter. If it doesn’t help, most likely this is motherboard failure.
January 21st, 2011 at 3:43 am
I have HP DV 6000 series Laptop, everything was working fine till last month while playing game screen suddenly filled with color stripes, I turned it off and restarted again, everything went fine for sometime and later same thing happened. Now when I try to turn it on led and fan runs for a second and goes off and again after some second led and fan runs and again goes off. Nothing shows in the screen.
Here are no HP care centre, local maintenance shop says it’s motherboards fault and needs to change whole board.
Is this really a problem of motherboard?
Do I have to change whole board?
How do I solve this problem, sir?
January 22nd, 2011 at 9:09 pm
I’m in need of some advice. I have a Dell XPS 1530, that when plugged in and powered up, the only lights that come on are the battery charging light and the wifi light. The fan also comes on, but no lights on the power button and the screen is blank. Any suggestions of what it might be?
January 24th, 2011 at 8:04 am
Hi,
Thanks for all the great information here! My Presario C700 laptop won’t start and has a symptom that I haven’t seen described anywhere:
With the battery installed and AC adapter plugged in, the LED light on the power jack and some indicator lights on the keyboard are on. When I press the power button, the power button also lights up briefly, and then all lights go dark and stay off. If I press the power button again, nothing happens, and the lights don’t come back on. The lights only come back on if I unplug the adapter from the laptop and plug it back in. I tried the reset procedures recommended by HP, and there are no blinking lights or other diagnostic clues.
The laptop died suddenly while I was using it, with no weird noises or indications of overheating. The battery was fine at the time and the adapter was plugged in.
I can borrow a multimeter but haven’t yet. Does this sound like a replaceable component, like a bad power button board, power jack, or fuse? Or does it sound more like a dead motherboard? Thanks!
January 24th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Heather,
First of all, I would test the AC adapter. It’s possible the AC adapter is bad and the battery has no charge to start the laptop.
Make sure the AC adapter outputs correct voltage.
Also, I would test the laptop with another known good adapter. Why? It’s possible that your original adapter outputs correct voltage BUT doesn’t work properly when loaded (plugged into the laptop). It’s not a common adapter failure, but I’ve seen it happening before.
What happens if you remove the battery and try turning it on just from AC adapter? Same brief light flash and then dead?
For proper diagnostic, it’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and check voltage on terminals where jack connected to the motherboard. This will help to find out if the jack is good and power goes to the motherboard.
If the motherboard gets power but the laptop will not start, probably it’s bad board.
January 24th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
marsha,
Possible memory (RAM) failure. Do you know if your laptop has two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one. If one of the modules is bad, the laptop should start properly with the second module.
January 27th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Hello,
I have an Acer aspire 5741. Just got it back from Acer as I claimed the warranty on it. The original problem that it wasnt charging and the power led and charging led were blinking. First Acer refused to repair it and asked cash for a replacement of motherboard, though writing letters to their CEO, country manager did the trick and they sent it back to me after repair.
Now the problem is, as soon as it came back, I plugged it in so it could charge. But after 5 to 10 minutes the charging led on laptop started blinking. The laptop also didnot boot up. the power led would come on for a second and woud not turn on. Moreover, there was some strange sound coming from the laptop and the charging led on laptop started blinking again. I turned off the charger, but the power light kept on blinking. Then I took out the battery and placed it back. It seemed to charge like normal for 10 minutes then the charging led started to blink. Then after 10 mins it started to charge normally but again after 10 mins or so the charging led started to blink.
Another funny thing is when I turn off the charger and reomve the cord from the d/c jack, the charging light keeps on blinking.
I tried another charger but same result. Another funny thing is when I turn off the charger and reomve the cord from the d/c jack, the charging light keeps on blinking
January 29th, 2011 at 8:07 am
i have compaq nc6230 its on by bettry but not on via dc power i was very confuse after that i resold isl power ic but i could not get more help after i procced just now ….
January 31st, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 5100 that has some major issues. When I turn it on it gets almost past the boot screen and I get two beeps and then the laptop goes to the error screen saying that it can’t find the hdd, but yet lists the hdd number and all and asks me to continue or cancel which powers off. There are times when I will get a boot message saying that PCI 4 is trying to use the wrong power or whatever. I can’t remember. But if I press on the laptop next to the touch pad directly under the sticker that says AMD, it will boot fine. I have to press hard, but sometimes it won’t. Sometimes I don’t have to press on it at all and it’ll boot fine. I have taken the laptop apart and found that where I was pressing is the CMOS which is attached directly to the MOBO and found that it was slightly loose, not disconnected, but loose so I re-soldered the battery back to the MOBO and then the laptop booted fine for a while and then it started doing the same thing. I noticed that the ground of the battery was facing the underside of the PCI slot and when it gets pressed down, it makes contact with the CMOS battery. Could it be that when I press down on the PCI slot housing and ground the CMOS battery, that that is the reason for the boot problems, cuz the CMOS battery has a bad ground on the MOBO. What do you think?
February 1st, 2011 at 8:42 am
Nocturnal Lunacy,
It sounds like motherboard failure. I think when you apply pressure on the palmrest, you actually applying pressure on the motherboard.
It’s possible the motherboard has a crack somewhere and flexing it (applying pressure on the palmrest) fixes it temporarily.
Here’s how to narrow down the problem:
You can disassemble the laptop and test motherboard outside the laptop base. All you need is the motherboard, CPU, memory and external monitor.
If it still fails when you apply some pressure directly to the motherboard, most likely you have a bad board.
Check out this post: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2008/06/14/laptop-dead-troubleshoot-the-problem/
February 1st, 2011 at 4:47 pm
Hello, I have a HP DV7-1273. The laptop was droped, and broke the dc adapter, but would still work on the battery. I have since replaced the dc adapter port, and the adapter itself. My issue is now I do not get any power to the laptop at all. I have tested the adapter and the connection to the motherboard to ensure I am getting the same volts, which I am. Does the dc port need some sort of ground for it? When I pulled the old one out it was twisted up fairly bad, and when I replaced it, I had to tape it in with some foil tape so it did not move around much as there was no place to secure it to. If not, then could the fuse have gone bad during the drop as the laptop would still run on battery I do not believe the motherboard is bad. If there are any other suggestions please let me know. Thanks.
Phillip
February 14th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Hi again,
Thanks for your advice in comment 151. I did as you suggested. Tested the adapter: looks good. Tried removing the battery and running on adapter alone: no change. I stripped everything down to just the motherboard, power jack, fan, and power button board. I plugged in the adapter and tested the voltage where the power jack attaches to the motherboard, and it reads 18.65 (the adapter is labelled 18.5). So the power adapter and power jack seem to be working, and the motherboard is getting power. With the AC adapter plugged in, when I press the power button, I get the same response: a brief flash of lights, then everything goes dark. I tested the one fuse I found, and it’s good.
So, I guess I just need to replace the motherboard. But before I order a replacement for $70 on eBay, is there anything else I should try? Is there any chance that it’s the power button board? I’m suspicious because of the way that pressing the power button causes everything to die, but maybe that is common for dead motherboards.
March 2nd, 2011 at 11:50 am
I have a one year old Dell Inspiron, 15. Last night at 8 pm (march 1, 2011) it got attacked by “system tool” which i am assuming is a virus. I began installing eset scanner and it shut the entire computer off half way through, I restarted in Safe mode with networking and repeated the step several times with it shutting down every time. Now it will not turn on at all. What do I do Next?
March 18th, 2011 at 5:11 am
Great post. I’ve been toying with my Acer Aspire d150 all night and I’m left scratching my head. The power cable outputs 19v (ish) like its suppose to. When I connect the adapter to the DC IN and then test the back of the DC jack, it reads like .001v. So, by this post, it would suggest the cable is bad. So I disconnected the plug from the motherboard (so its just supply, DC jack, and about 6″ of wire), and I test it the same way and it reads 19v. For some reason, when I connect the DC cable to the actual motherboard there is a drop in the supply voltage. Any ideas?
March 18th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Vinnie,
Not sure what’s going on but it’s possible you have a short somewhere on the motherboard and it’s shorting the jack.
This is just a guess.
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Hi, I have a problem with my HP laptop g60-445dx. I dropped it about a year ago and damaged t he adaptor but everything has worked fine, bar maybe having to plug the adaptor in at a certain angle.
However, last month the adaptor stopped charging the battery, my laptop would quite happily switch on and off until the battery died so I assumed a damaged DC jack and ordered a replacement part. I have since replaced the DC jack harness and still the battery wont charge or the laptop wont run attatched to the adaptor.
I have tried testing the adaptor with a voltmeter and i get a reading of 15v from it. On the back of the adaptor it should be 18.5v. Do you think this could be a problem with the adaptor? Another faulty DC-jack? fuse?
Im really hoping it isnt the motherboard as my laptop was working fine after the battery stopped charging, or is it possible it couple be a certain section not working which deals with the charging bit? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
April 8th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Kevin,
If the AC adapter rated 18.5V, it should output around 18.5V.
If your adapter outputs 15V, it’s not normal. Most likely it will not work when loaded (connected to the laptop).
Before you do anything else, test your laptop with a known good adapter.
May 16th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
First of all, thanks for posting these DIY tips and tricks!
My problem…
I have an HP dv4-1147cl laptop (the bronze one)…with the symptoms as described on this posting. The power adapter that came with my laptop appears to have gone haywire. It was beeping and not charging the laptop…so I safely shut down the laptop and reordered a new power adapter, not thinking much of it. When I got the new power adapter I plugged it in to the wall and laptop and got nothing. No blue LED next to where you plug in the ac adapter to the dc in jack. The laptop is not powering up at all. Not even a blip of life. I tested the new power adapter with a multi-meter and it has power and is reading ok.
So, next I dissected the laptop to get to the motherboard and see if there was power to the dc harness. It appears that there is…but just to the red and black wires. Do you know if any of the other wires should have power?
Also, wondering if you know…does the motherboard on the dv4-1147cl have a fuse on it? I looked and looked…and just don’t see it. I had wondered if there is maybe a fuse built into the dc in jack instead??
I am really bummed, and not sure if I should order another dc jack and harness first…so if that works…and if not order a motherboard. I was really hoping there was some sort of fuse on the motherboard or maybe that dc jack…
Thanks…any help is greatly appreciated!!!
May 16th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Melina,
Did you buy an original HP adapter or generic one?
I don’t really trust generic adapters.
I’ve seen a problem like yours before. One of my customer had a similar problem powering up his HP laptop with a generic adapter. The adapter itself tested fine but the power jack light wasn’t coming up. The problem was fixed as soon as I plugged an original HP adapter.
I cannot tell if replacing the AC adapter will fix your problem but in cases like that I always test laptops with original adapters.
It’s possible your AC adapter doesn’t work properly under load. This is just a guess and I could be wrong.
May 17th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
laptop is a 1905 toshiba. power on button has gone from intermittent to worse. any easy repair here? everything works fine when the button finally turns on. nothing looks unusual when I popped the button cover off.
May 17th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Joe,
It’s likely the power button itself is bad. I’ve seen it happening before with Satellite 1905 laptops.
I think you have a good chance to fix the laptop if you replace the power button board which located under the keyboard cover. It’s easy to replace this board. There is only one or two screws securing it.
May 20th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
i have HP Pavilion dv7-1240us laptop..since some days it is not power on..and no respons..i have allready change battery.but still same problem..please give me some solution with picture..i m waiting for your respons….
May 29th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
@ Mohsinreja,
Does it turn on at all? Does the power LED turns on when you push on the power button?
I would check laptop memory. Could be failed memory module.
June 7th, 2011 at 8:33 am
Thanks for the information in the post… I have an HP Pavilion dv6500 series laptop. The laptop will not power on when plugged in with the adapter alone. If the battery is fully charged, the laptop will power on, but the AC adapter does not charge the battery. The blue LED lights up when AC adapter is plugged in… The power jack/harness measure 19.xx V across both wires AND to the MOBO (that is, where the plug connects to the jack soldered on the mobo.)
I do not see anything specifically spelled out that it is a fuse on the mobo.
Assuming that the MOBO is shot or shorting out somewhere… But just looking for a second opinion.
June 16th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Hi i have a Compact Presario f700, it was working three days ago but now for some reason it just stop working, when i press the power bottom, all the lights come on and five second later it turns off; it turns off so fast that my laptop screen doesn’t have time to turn on. also it seems that the fan tries to turn on but it quickly goes off. I don’t know what is happening. Please if you have any ideas off what could be wrong, i would be really thankful.
June 19th, 2011 at 9:09 am
hey there
i have an acer aspire 5820t. it was working fine recently but stopped working a week ago. i have tried using the battery alone, no good, and the ac adapter alone, no good either. when i press the power button while using the battery or the adapter, the little blue light on the button blinks once and goes, same with the power light.
what could cause this problem?
thank you
July 7th, 2011 at 9:42 am
i have acer aspire 4732z
i used it once and i think i fully drained the battery while i was at work,
then when i get back home i charged it for a couple of minutes and try to turn it on but it was not responding, then i removed the battery and put it back then charge it again for a couple of minutes then it turned on but after the acer logo it turn of the screen but the power indicators are still on, i did the same time for a couple of time and same thing happened. then i just let it charge for an hour and it worked just perfectly. then i shut it down and didnt used it for 2days. then when i tried to turn it on. it wont turn on, when i plug the charger the battery light turn on to blue which means its fully charge.
i tried to remove the battery then plug the charger it wont still turn on. but i notice that the somewhere in LAN socket has light turned on. and the power indicator was blinking, bu while i tried to do the same thing now the power indicator wont blink or turn on.
any idea?thanks…
July 18th, 2011 at 8:48 am
I severe laptop starting problem .My model is Emachines e725.The moment when i press the powerbutton the blue light glows and immediatly shuts down.Some times it starts.When it starts it runs for as many no of days ikept itlike that it runs perfectly.
I go around the service center for two weeks.Finally he said that it is mother board problem.
Ivexed up and finally i myself made an experiment of updating bios.It works out and my laptop is working perfectly.Some times even the bios problem gives the starting problem.Actually now recent model laptops are coming with AHCI and IDE mode of operations.At the starting time when there is any conflict between these modes laptop could not start.When AHCI is not changed to IDE Xp could not be loaded in to laptop.It gives the blue screen error.
July 25th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
hi i have acer and it is really dead.If i plug the charger on my laptop,the green light blinks and the those LED do not light. it is really dead.i also tried using without the battery but still it didnt work
. pls help me ..
August 8th, 2011 at 6:51 am
I have Toshiba Satellite L300-217 Part Number : PSLB8E-0H0007EN laptop.
My niece spilled tea on the laptop and it does not power up any more. I have checked the charger works fine with volt-meter, the DC jack is ok too But the laptop does show any sign of life even with battery or charger.
You mentioned fuse in your picture of motherboard. can you help me find out where the fuse is on my mother board and how can I make sure that the MB is dead.
Kind regards
August 12th, 2011 at 11:50 am
hello there. i have a HP Pavilion dv4-1435dx series..the battery is has gone 0% so i can’t check it out..i think the A/C adapter is the prob,because there must be a light on the laptop if the A/C is working but in my case it’s not lighting..what should i do??where is the problem? Help me with this..
August 12th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I have a laptop and whenever i switch my laptop on the green light goes on but the screen shows nothing.Someone when i put it on the it works but 5-10mins later the laptop freezes totally,then I have switch it off again.How can I solve the problem?
August 27th, 2011 at 7:02 am
Hi,
Your analytical description of whether a bad power jack or motherboard is prohibiting the laptop to startup has been very informative, and describes the situation that I’m facing ever since I plugged in my MP3(via USB) to recahege my device. The D/C in jack is in fine shape, but the power supply adaptor has gotten blown out. When we tried a new power adaptor or the charged battery to try and start up the laptop it showed absolutely no signs of life and is completely dead. In your descrition of whether a bad power jack or motherboard is causing the malfunction you did not mention anything about the battery, does the battery power up to the laptop following the same route as you have described to power on the laptop as does the A/C adaptor and is there a separate fuse for that? Does the fact that the battery is not turning the laptop on any indication that the motherboard is the culprit after all? I sure would appreciate your response?
August 29th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
hi,
i m using dell xps m1530 for last 4 yrs. Now my laptop is not getting started even on battery too. When i do connect adapter, the LED light on adapter remain on, but there is no LED on laptop. It also do not take start on battery too. Is it due to motherboard fuse?
October 16th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Hi
I can’t find the fuse on my DELL D600 motherboard .
Does existe absolutly a fuse near the power jack/harness connector ?
Thanks
November 7th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
I have a Dell laptop (XPS M1330). It will not turn on even though the battery is fully charged! When I do plug in the charger, the light on the charger turns off and stops working. Just flicking the switch at the wall turns it on again, but as soon as I put it back in the computer it turns off again. I tried to turn it on while it was plugged in but no battery and it didn’t work.
November 7th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
@ Thamer,
Sounds like motherboard related failure to me.
November 7th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
can you show us how to replace the power fuse please? because looks like is soldered directly to the motherboard.
November 7th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
@ joe,
How can I show? If you know where the fuse is located and know how to solder, you just desolder the failed fuse and solder a new one.
November 13th, 2011 at 5:35 am
what the same can replace it…
November 13th, 2011 at 5:43 am
sir what is the compatible fuse if idont have one of that….
November 29th, 2011 at 2:30 am
sir my laptop compaq presario c700, has no power, ive check the power adaptor ok, ive check the power jack ok. ive check the continuity of the button flex it fine. then i keep on looking the fuse but i did not find any. now my laptop totally dead, please help. thanks
November 29th, 2011 at 5:05 am
The fuses are usually, but not always, near to the power socket. But luckily most fuses do look just the same – white rectangles with power rating printed on top.
It is still possible for a laptop charger to show its normal voltage but to break down instantly or after a certain time, when under load running the mainboard, so just checking with a meter for 19v or whatever it may be rated as is not a guarantee its 100% a good/bad one. I find it’s mostly DELL and SONY chargers that do strange things when faulty.
A few here have asked if it’s there fuse? If charger & battery do work, and you still get no charging-up light, its 50% certain a fuse has gone…..but……
some laptops have 2 fuses, one for powering up, and another for the charging circuit, though on most modern laptops, they are so cheaply made now, the 2nd fuse is no longer bothered with.
Out of all the faults on laptops, the mainboard fuse is about the last thing to go though. Even direct burn-out short on a DC socket will rarely blow the fuse – a fuse is supposed to be a ‘weak point’ in a circuit to avoid further damage, yet I fix many many boards with major blown chips & components, yet only 5 have had blown fuses in the past 7 years I can remember of.
I’m currently working on an external battery charger to power up dead boards that cannot get charge – should allow for far faster diagnosis, well, that’s the theory anyway
*** Nathan, the rating should be written on top of the fuse, usually just giving an AMP rating 5 or 5A as an example, and a letter to indicate if fast blow or one of the several other kinds. Tracking down a fuse rating with no markings is far more complicated though
and often easier to find another board of the same and take it off that.
December 7th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Hi , i have a HP g62t core i5 laptop. it suddenly stoped working (it would not switch on) i plugged it in the charger but no LED light indicating charging. after playing around with it (opening and closing it) i plugged it in and surprisingly the charging light was on and the battery was recharging. but still it would not turn on although the battery was charging ( it was a bit warm). what could be the problem? motherboard or power board maybe? or could it be that fuse earlier talked about?
I appreciate your help.
December 8th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
@ terry,
First, here’s my guide on HP G50/G60/G70 laptop disassembly.
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-motherboard-from-compaq-presario-cq50-cq60-cq70-laptop/
This laptop has no power board. The power jack plugged directly into the motherboard.
It’s possible there is a problem with the AC adapter, DC jack harness or motherboard.
Can you test the AC adapter?
Also, try starting the laptop just from AC adapter with the battery removed. Will you get any lights this way?
There could be a problem with the DC jack.
December 9th, 2011 at 4:43 am
hi i have a problem with my laptop the fuse went behind the dc jack i replaced it but as soon as i plugged it in it i seen a glow coming from the fuse and it went again
December 9th, 2011 at 10:40 am
@ sam,
Apparently there is a short somewhere on the motherboard and it keeps burning fuses. Sorry cannot help with this problem. I don’t fix motherboards on the component level.
December 12th, 2011 at 5:07 am
Is it possible to connect Dc volt direct to the poles for the battery. It is a Acer Aspire 7736 with 7 poles. Because the Acer dont work with the adapter on and the battery is flat. The adapter is OK, and so is the computer with a filled battery.
December 12th, 2011 at 5:16 am
My Travelmate 4021wlmi as soon as I pluged it in a 220v wall socket, a huge lighting occured in the terminals and the adapter (100-240v) was burned for some reason and the laptop was dead. Using a new adapter still the unit is not working. Can it be a burned fuse inside of it or something else?
December 14th, 2011 at 2:51 am
Hello, I have a HP G61, it doesn’t start, the light of the dc jack is on about 5-6 seconds and after turn off(with and without battery). Could be the dc jack?
Thanks in advance
December 14th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
stig,
I don’t think you can do that.
Maybe you should fix the DC jack?
December 14th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
@ Kostas,
If the laptop doesn’t work with another adapter, probably the motherboard was damaged.
Make sure the new AC adapter is compatible with the original one. Can you test new adapter with a voltmeter? There is a chance the new adapter is defective.
December 14th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
@ jesus,
First, I would test the laptop with another AC adapter. It’s possible your adapter is failing and the battery doesn’t have enough charge to start the laptop.
If the adapter is good than yes, this could be bad jack (or motherboard failure). The next step would be replacing the jack. If it doesn’t help, most likely you have bad motherboard.
December 16th, 2011 at 12:19 am
I have an Dell Inspiron E1505. I tried using a different AC adapters (with & without the battery) and I get the same result which is blinking lights for about 5 seconds. There is just one thing, when I use the AC adapter with battery the battery LED does not turn on… is it possible that is just a fuse or the motherboard? How can I tell the difference? Thank you for help.
December 16th, 2011 at 10:15 am
@ eddie,
This sounds like a problem with the motherboard but I cannot tell which component is failing. I don’t fix motherboards on the component level.
January 7th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Hi there,
I have a Sony vaio VGN-CR420e, I broke the safety tab of the USB port…..and then plugged an external hard drive in to that port, upside down causing a short. The computer instantly shut off.
The USB port was part of USB Port & Power Switch Board so I hoped by changing that board out would solve my problem…still dead I cannot locate any fuse any wear on the boards neither any literate of such. I was hoping for any ideas…
Thanks Chris
January 16th, 2012 at 11:51 am
I have a HP DV7 Entertainment Laptop 1132NR and it no longer turns on, the more I read online.. the more confused I get! I stumbled onto the post/idea/thought that a motherboard failure could be misdiagnosed when the real culprit is the power jack inside the laptop?
Here is my history…. and my question ………..how likely that my below explained “mother board failure” diagnoses could simply be a problem with the jack? If in fact the jack is bad… is there a way to test the motherboard anyway or vise versa? How likely that it could be both?
1st I thought I had a problem with the physical battery (don’t recall whether or not the charging light was on constantly or not…) but the battery would go dead. So I began using it plugged in all the time, as well as purchasing first a new batt, then a new charging cord b.c it appeared frayed…. during all of this it would periodically turn off and though I could see it physically plugged in it would not charge at times. Ok, then some months ago it decided it would no longer completely boot up… it would act as if it was booting up (normal fan sounds etc.).. by blinking the orange light at me… then within a few seconds power back off. I took it to a local computer shop who told me it was the mother board and it was my call if I wanted to replace it- cost vs. conveinience… basically, I told them I would get back to them. I purchased this laptop specific to the features it included and did get it on a pretty great sale for what it was based on the fact that it was a refurb… which I now wonder .. if that was a good idea, anyway. They advised, if I just drop the $ for the new mother board the laptop would turn right back on exactly as it was (software, shortcuts, data) the day it turned off, so I recently decided that I was willing to spend the money basically for the convenience of not having to reinstall programs…blah blah blah… so today I went online to price shop and order a new motherboard. But then, I noticed today when plugging it up after several months of sitting.. that it isn’t turning on at all.. thinking that maybe the batt has simply completely lost charge, having not been used at all, I plugged it up to charge and now I notice that the power cable when pluggin in only blinks at me 1 time after being wiggled around in the jack and I have stumbled upon your site advising of symptoms and solution for a bad jack…. which makes me wonder if it could have just been that all along??
As you can tell I do not completely trust the computer repair center that I took it to originally…I am of the opinion that I may know close to nothing about computers but that alot of people claiming to know alot are fooling themselves, and though I can’t pinpoint why I think this way of this particular “repair center” I have learned to trust my instincts. THANKS FOR ANY HELP AT ALL!!
January 17th, 2012 at 6:13 pm
@ CSS,
It’s possible.
In a HP dv7 notebook the DC jack attached to the power cable which can be easily unplugged from the motherboard. The best test would be replacing the DC jack harness which cost less than $10.
I published HP dv7 disassembly guide here: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemble-hp-pavilion-dv7-notebook/
New replacement DC jack harness available here.
January 17th, 2012 at 10:26 pm
my laptop HP g61 does not power on either
with battery or when connected to the
mains supply(AC). whenever i press the
power botton the battery lit in the front of
the system will only blink for about 3
seconds without the system been power on
(the fan,the keyboard light nor the power
botton lit will not on) i try to remove the
battery nd press the power button for 30
secs before putting it back,still their is no
respond. but i discovered each time i
remove the battery and plug it to the
Mains,the indicator power light beside the
plug of the system will lit for about 3
seconds before it went off again.i have
checked it with another charging adapter all
to no avail. pls ,help me out.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Hi,,, I have Hp HDX 16t. What did happen???
It was working fine. One day battery died and it went to hibernation by it self as i set so. After few hours i tried to restart without charger plug in (as i did not remember that battery died) and it got stuck in middle of process. At that time it was showing speaker panel light and CPU light steady. So i plugged in charger but the charging light ( at front near by light indicating cpu function) did not turn on even though the light nearby plug in socket was on. Then i tried to turn off by pressing start button for a while but it did not turned off. SO i removed battery. Since then its not showing any light at all.
What may be not function???
DC POWER JACK??
FUSE?
MOTHERBOARD???
Does mother board can get crashed in such a way????
any idea what should do??/
January 19th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
@ olusegun,
This sounds like motherboard failure to me. I’m afraid there is not much you can do besides replacing the motherboard. Probably the laptop not worth it.
January 27th, 2012 at 6:06 am
Mate you’ve just made my day. I stripped my laptop int small piees and couln’t figure out what’s wrong with it. Power likght blinking but nothing when pressed the power button. Then I found your excellent article and I thought I test the PSU… 12V instead of 19. Connected another one and now all works perfectly. Many thanks
January 29th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
How do I replace the fuse?
February 1st, 2012 at 4:43 am
Mate I have a CQ50 and it won’t charge….unless I slowly pull the powerplug out of the socket and hear a few clicks and then plug it straight back in…or sometimes if I change power outlets completely. THE HELL??? lol. Any ideas?
I’m || this close to ordering a new motherboard but want to know 100% what other problem it could be. Any help would be much appreciated!
February 1st, 2012 at 8:35 am
@ yaro,
You are welcome.
You should have started with testing the AC adapter though.
February 1st, 2012 at 4:17 pm
@ Sam,
Fuses soldered to the motherboard. If the fuse failed, it’s necessary to locate it and desolder. After that solder a new fuse.
Sorry cannot help here. I’m not fixing motherboards on the component level.
February 1st, 2012 at 6:29 pm
@ Daug,
Most likely it’s either bad AC adapter or failed DC jack inside the laptop.
1. Test your AC adapter with a voltmeter. If voltage cuts off when you move the cable, probably there is a short inside. Replace the AC adapter.
2. If your AC adapter works properly, most likely there is a problem with the DC jack.
Take a look at this guide. It explains how to access and replace DC jack harness on Compaq Presario CQ50, CQ60 or CQ70 laptops.
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-motherboard-from-compaq-presario-cq50-cq60-cq70-laptop/
The DC jack harness shown on the last picture. Try replacing it. Do not replace the motherboard. Try replacing just the DC jack harness first.
February 5th, 2012 at 10:04 am
Salut, pour ma part j’ai un présario v6000 et depuis quelques jours il ne démarre pas, meme s’il est sous tention et que le ventilo tourne meme le DD est en marche mais rien sur l’écran.
Est ce le problème vient de CPU ou de l’écran?????????????