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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
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