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Completely dead laptop, any ideas?

Hello!

A friend asked me to look at his laptop (I have 15+ experience in assembling computers and home made repairs - but mostly desktops). The laptop died during a night, it was ok in the evening and completely dead the next morning. It's 15 months old HP Pavilion. There was no power outage or thunderstorm that night.

Now the computer shows absolutely no symptoms of life. When I plug it in nothing is happening, nothing on the screen, no humming, no electronics or even a single led goes on. Nothing! I checked the power supplier, used a spare one, on battery - still the same, dead. Then I removed the battery, hdd, CD drive, both memory sticks and then plugged it in - still no progress.

I haven't gotten further/deeper to the inside yet (my friend is still considering going with HP service) so I'd like to ask you what other diagnostic test I could use. Any ideas? Looks like it may be a power related issue, but to confirm that I would have to remove the cover.

Could it be a dead LCD screen? But wouldn't all power functions (battery charging, etc) work normally then?

I'd appreciate all hints you might have.

Thanks, L.

Reply to
Luke
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Yes, all other functions would still be present if only the LCD would be broken.

Next suspect would be a dry joint around the power jack or open surface mounted fuse. One might also try to change the backup button cell battery.

JMK

Reply to
Jack

That's what I thought of too. Hopefully I'll be able/allowed to get inside and check that.

"backup button cell battery" - never heard of anything like that! Could you briefly clarify please?

Thanks, L

Reply to
Luke

There's a battery, roughly the size of a dime or smaller, on the MB which retains CMOS settings, etc. when power is off (pre-flash RAM days).

Reply to
Dave

Like in a desktop box Ok, that's clear now, thanks.

L.

Reply to
Luke

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:13:53 -0800, Luke Has Frothed:

Reset button (pinhole somewhere underneath)?

--
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004

COOSN-266-06-25794
Reply to
Meat Plow

No. The cmos battery will not prevent it from showing any display. Look elsewhere.

DaveL

Reply to
dave

In message , dave writes

Not always true, especially with Compaq/HP sourced machines.

--
Clint Sharp
Reply to
Clint Sharp

A fixed one for a cousin, it had a dead SO-8 FET near the input power jack. 5 minutes to find the fault 2 days to find a locally available FET.

Andrew

Reply to
Andrew Tweddle

First thing is to confirm he doesn't have an extended warranty! People often forget what they buy! :)

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Important: Anyth> Jack wrote:

Reply to
Sam Goldwasser

Nope, no extended warranty. Investigation is still underway!

L.

Reply to
Luke

Check the fuse at the dc jack it is a sefice mounted fuse usually white in color

Reply to
David Naylor

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