Dead Laptop - any hope?

[yoji]

Think my laptop died today - any hope? here is scenario...

I was using it this morning, it plugged in, so not on battery. I left it for a bit and came back and it was dark - I assumed it gone into hibernation so pressed power button and nothing happened.

Close inspection showed that when I pressed the power button - the power/charging light flashed amber 7 times and then went off. No Fans, no beeps.

Here is what I have tried and some observations.
- unplugged... taken out battery... waited - put it all back and retried - same result.
- taken out battery - just connected to AC... press power and nothing... not even blinking amber
- unplugged from AC - just battery - pressed power - get the 7 flashing amber.
- Used another AC (only 65W) - with battery in - 7 flashes.
- used the laptop AC (90W) on another laptop - (that only needs 65w) - and it powered it fine.

So.. I think its dead, I suspect something in the power train has blown.

Its an HP 6930p

Any ideas? or is it FUBAR? its a work Laptop - and under warrenty - but I on chritmas hols now - so getting it working before I go back in Jan would be handy.

Thanks in advance for any insight.
Cheers

 

[JRock247]

Think my laptop died today - any hope? here is scenario...

I was using it this morning, it plugged in, so not on battery. I left it for a bit and came back and it was dark - I assumed it gone into hibernation so pressed power button and nothing happened.

Close inspection showed that when I pressed the power button - the power/charging light flashed amber 7 times and then went off. No Fans, no beeps.

Here is what I have tried and some observations.
- unplugged... taken out battery... waited - put it all back and retried - same result.
- taken out battery - just connected to AC... press power and nothing... not even blinking amber
- unplugged from AC - just battery - pressed power - get the 7 flashing amber.
- Used another AC (only 65W) - with battery in - 7 flashes.
- used the laptop AC (90W) on another laptop - (that only needs 65w) - and it powered it fine.

So.. I think its dead, I suspect something in the power train has blown.

Its an HP 6930p

Any ideas? or is it FUBAR? its a work Laptop - and under warrenty - but I on chritmas hols now - so getting it working before I go back in Jan would be handy.

Thanks in advance for any insight.
Cheers

I believe the '7' flashing lights means either the battery or power supply is bad. The flashing lights are usualy a type of code, so you can identify problems during boot up. Check your manual and/or ask HP but I think its to do with power. Any power cuts?

 

[yoji]

I believe the '7' flashing lights means either the battery or power supply is bad. The flashing lights are usualy a type of code, so you can identify problems during boot up. Check your manual and/or ask HP but I think its to do with power. Any power cuts?

I could not find anything on HP web site that specifically mentioned a code for 7 flashes - and a google search came up with a load of hair brained hypothysis (reseating memory works... replace CMOS battery works etc...) - but nothing consistent or definitive.

I should say that my house does seem to have dirty power... a higher than average number of blown light bulbs etc - my main PC has surge suppression etc - but laptop is just plugged into wall with the expectation that the power adaptor will have adequate protection built in.

I should have also said - the battery was in good condition before the incident, however, I cant tell if the power adaptor has died... so the laptop battery drained and this 7 blinks is a result, however - as I said in original post - I have tested the adaptor on another laptop and it works, and I have tested with another power adaptor (with the caveats I mentioned in my original post).

So since I said I suspect something in the power train in my original post - I tend to agree with you... but how can I isolate the problem? - battery/AC adaptor or Mobo?
Dont think it battery... hope its AC adaptor - but how can I check?....... but fear it Mobo...

Cheers

 

[AntiZig]

it's possible that your AC adapter broke. Since you tried it on another machine that needs less power it worked, but it can't output 95W anymore. Your battery is discharged, so it doesn't startup with it.

I'd say go to radioshack or something where they have a universal adapter or something like that and ask them to try it out. If computer starts up, then it's your AC adapter. Alternatively if you could charge the battery somehow and try booting your computer on battery only, that could give you an answer as well.

If universal adapter doesn't work, then it's most likely something got fried on the mobo, you'd have to go through HP to troubleshoot

 

[yoji]

Good news - it turned out to be the AC adaptor

I plugged in a known good AC and it fired up.... almost

All the LED lit up - but still didnt boot and the Caps and num lock lights flashed 3 times, paused, flashed 3 times (for a total of 5 cycles).
That turned out to be a badly seated memory module (i must have not seated properly when I fiddled as part of my initial investigations).

Anyway - when I re-seated the memory - it all fired up fine

Thanks for the responses

 

[AntiZig]

sweet, cheers mate!