Bios does not load hp pavilion 9000 laptop

[DBrowne88]

Hello,
I have a HP Pavilion 9000 laptop dating from 2006. The "known problems" such as wireless non-recognition and left side hinge breaking have happened to my laptop. Now I am finding that my bios does not load sometimes. As my warranty with HP has long since run-out I have been trying to find my own solutions to the bios problem. As I can get my laptop to load bios after around 150 hits on the start button, can someone tell me if the fault is not with the motherboard but with the bios itself?

 

[AntiZig]

pretty sure it's the fault with motherboard, bios is just a program in memory that allows you to control the motherboard function.

 

[jdenova007]

lol..? What do you mean your bios does not load sometimes...?

Do you get any error beeps, and lights acting irregularly?

BIOS = Motherboard.... if you cant boot, you cant even attempt to flash your BIOS(but you should try flashing it just for the hell of it.)... which means it needs a new motherboard. Buy a new one, this isn't worth fixing.

 

[DBrowne88]

lol..? What do you mean your bios does not load sometimes...?

Do you get any error beeps, and lights acting irregularly?

BIOS = Motherboard.... if you cant boot, you cant even attempt to flash your BIOS(but you should try flashing it just for the hell of it.)... which means it needs a new motherboard. Buy a new one, this isn't worth fixing.

I said my bios does not load sometimes. Last night it took 45 minutes of pressing the start button and a number of false starts before the bios kicked in and the laptop booted up. This morning the laptop started normally. There are no indications that there are any hardware faults anywhere. The only thing I can think of is that when windows updates for xp are installed on my laptop, they are interferring with the bios start up cycle. As regards the beeping and lights, when there is a false start is the power light is on as normal, the hardrive comes on for a second then goes off, the fan runs for a second and stops, the wireless amber light and dvd lights do the same, then the laptop turns off. After continued pressing of the start button, with a lot of false starts, the laptop seems to wake up as normal and works as if nothing has happened. If the motherboard was broken then the laptop would not start. As regards buying a new motherboard, this is a nice idea but I would prefer to see a solution to the problem.

 

[WR2]

There are no indications that there are any hardware faults anywhere.

You don't think that 45min of pushing on the start button might not be a sign of some hardware problem?
'hardrive comes on for a second then goes off, the fan runs for a second and stops'

It's not possible for windows updates to interfere with the bios start up cycle.
Windows starts to load only after BIOS completes it's tasks.
BIOS is only 'smart enough' to run a Power On Self Test (POST), check hardware configurations and do some minor hardware setup, handle some OS/hardware bridging, look for boot devices and then load OS/Windows (bootstrap).
A failure to complete POST sounds exactly like what is happening when your laptop doesn't start.

 

[WR2]

What you can do is load up an OS that isn't Windows and doesn't use your hard drive. If the laptop runs perfectly you can begin to suspect either a hard drive problem or an OS problem. If you continue to get failure to boot problems it's something more serious.

You can download and burn a LiveCD that's a bootable OS running from a CD or USB thumb drive. It won't depend on your HDD or Windows.

Ubuntu Desktop
Use the F12 key at power on to get the Advanced Boot Menu and boot off the CD/DVD or USB drive.
Use the Try It option, not the install option.

 

[jdenova007]

When you do get it to start, enter the BIOS and check the Error Log... does it say any errors have occured?

Like WR2 said.. Windows updates have NOTHING to do with POST(BIOS initializing). Completely separate.... so, that said... you have a few things to check.

Remove the Hard Drive, Wireless Card, RAM... see if it powers on normally more than once... If that still won't help, then please try updating BIOS.

Issue could also be caused by a bad Processor.....

 

[DBrowne88]

What you can do is load up an OS that isn't Windows and doesn't use your hard drive. If the laptop runs perfectly you can begin to suspect either a hard drive problem or an OS problem. If you continue to get failure to boot problems it's something more serious.

You can download and burn a LiveCD that's a bootable OS running from a CD or USB thumb drive. It won't depend on your HDD or Windows.

Ubuntu Desktop
Use the F12 key at power on to get the Advanced Boot Menu and boot off the CD/DVD or USB drive.
Use the Try It option, not the install option.

I have tried the alternative boot options and the laptop does not even try to read either USB boot devices or bootable DVD/CDs.
As the , boots normally for days on end, then suddenly decides not to boot up does not make sense. If an electronic device is broken, disconnected or bunrt out it shouldn't be able to resurrect itself and run normally.
Could the problem be caused by a static build up within the laptop which takes a number of false starts before it is dissipated? The reason I mentioned this is because I was starting another laptop recently and notice that as I moved my hands near the power switch there was a loud whistle as if the speakers were getting a feedback from my static buildup.
The repeated attempts to restart my laptop could be slowly degaussing the mainboard etc.

 

[WR2]

As the, boots normally for days on end, then suddenly decides not to boot up does not make sense. If an electronic device is broken, disconnected or bunrt out it shouldn't be able to resurrect itself and run normally.

You could say the same for a BIOS issue. If it boots normally for days on end, "then suddenly decides not to boot up does not make sense". If the firmware (BIOS) that runs an electronic device is working OK it shouldn't be able to reprogram itself to fail to run normally.

 

[WR2]

I have tried the alternative boot options and the laptop does not even try to read either USB boot devices or bootable DVD/CDs.

Can you use the DVD/CD and USB ports for other duties successfully?

 

[DBrowne88]

Can you use the DVD/CD and USB ports for other duties successfully?

When the laptop starts normally the DVD/CD and USB ports work correctly.
I am using the laptop at the moment and all appears to be normal. It started first press of the start button this morning.
Tomorrow morning the laptop may decide not to boot and I am left with pressing the start button until it boots up. The number of false starts varies from 5 to 20. I suppose it depends how the laptop feels on the day.

 

[WR2]

When the laptop starts normally the DVD/CD and USB ports work correctly.

And still you can't boot up from them?

I'm not seeing any BIOS issues in what you're telling us.

It's all saying intermittent hardware problems. It could be as simple as the mechanical switch of the start button. But from your other comments it's probably something deeper, probably motherboard related.

 

[DBrowne88]

And still you can't boot up from them?

I'm not seeing any BIOS issues in what you're telling us.

It's all saying intermittent hardware problems. It could be as simple as the mechanical switch of the start button. But from your other comments it's probably something deeper, probably motherboard related.

The laptop when starting normally will boot from DVD/CD and USB devices.
When the laptop is failing to boot, it does not progress the POST stage sufficiently to activate DVD/CD or USB devices.

The laptop has a start switch, but it also has "quick start touch sensors" and the laptop can be started with either of these options. The start switch circuit could have a problem but how can it be so inconsistently failing/starting normally. Is there a link between the start switch and the "quick start" setup that needs looking into?

 

[WR2]

Both of those will have to interact with the motherboard power circuitry, would they not?

 

[DBrowne88]

Both of those will have to interact with the motherboard power circuitry, would they not?

The quick start sensors are actually the "quick play" sensors for the DVD player. I am able to use the "quick play" on/off sensor switch instead of the power on/off switch to boot the laptop. I dont know if this is how the "quick play" switch is meant to be used or if it is part of the problem. My understanding would be that the laptop power on/off switch would be the sole means of booting the laptop. Maybe it shouldn't be possible to boot the laptop from the "quick play" on/off sensor.

 

[jdenova007]

Let me ask a stupid question.... so you said "Tomorrow morning the laptop may decide not to boot"... I know this is dumb... but.... are you actually shutting your laptop OFF(Start->Shutdown) at night or are you letting it go to "sleep".... if you do shut it down, can you immediately turn it back on? or is it only when it sits for a long period of time.

 

[WR2]

That's actually not a stupid question. I can see where you're going there.

 

[WR2]

I am able to use the "quick play" on/off sensor switch instead of the power on/off switch to boot the laptop.

It might be an electronic sensor instead of a mechanical switch I doubt very much it's connected directly to the CD/DVD drive. It would still have to make a connection with the motherboard and it's components.

 

[jdenova007]

It might be an electronic sensor instead of a mechanical switch I doubt very much it's connected directly to the CD/DVD drive. It would still have to make a connection with the motherboard and it's components.

right. it's called an I/O board, and usually it is a separate piece of hardware from the mobo, but it does send a signal through the motherboard(it has to to interact with all the other components).

what's weird is it actually turns the laptop on... it is a touch-sensitive interface right? it isn't like your physically pushing a button, it just "senses" your touch... which would NOT work if the laptop is actually powered off..(i dont think)


it sounds like when you push power... the pc sends a voltage "loop" through the system to verify all components are getting signal, then it will boot... but your "loop" isn't getting the response it requires, so it turns on then turns off. this can be caused by many things, mainly hardware. i.e. processor, motherboard, RAM, wireless card... i have seen all of these components cause this issue.

 

[DBrowne88]

Let me ask a stupid question.... so you said "Tomorrow morning the laptop may decide not to boot"... I know this is dumb... but.... are you actually shutting your laptop OFF(Start->Shutdown) at night or are you letting it go to "sleep".... if you do shut it down, can you immediately turn it back on? or is it only when it sits for a long period of time.

I shutdown my laptop when I have finished a session, which can be after 1 hour or 12 hours. The failure to boot can happen when I try to start the laptop after as short a period as 30 minutes or as long as a week. Then again the laptop has been left shutdown for 5 weeks and has started 1st time I have pressed the power on/off switch. I dont use hibernate.