Question No POST black screen

[aliston2021]

I have an older notebook Compaq Presario and first I thought the HDD adaptor was damaged when one pin was bend, but then I remove the HDD and still not been able to pass the POST test, no BIOS menu, just the black screen, NO beeping. The laptop just trying 5 times, I hear the fan (corrected) for a second and then after these 5 attempts stays on with a black screen unresponsive. If I power off and power ON the same 5 attempts occur. What can be done? Thanks a lot!

 

[mrmike16]

I am glad the laptop has fun. Sorry, I know it was just a typo but I had to.

What have you tried other than removing the hard drive?

Reseat the RAM- All of them.
Use it plugged in without the battery while making sure the adaptor has the right specs for your laptop.
Reseat the GPU if it has one.
Remove the CMOS battery for a few minutes and reinsert it.

If you have tried all of the above, I think your problem is the motherboard.

 

[aliston2021]

I tried all the above except GPU - no success

 

[mrmike16]

Then, unless anyone has any other suggestions, I would assume that your motherboard is no good.

 

[aliston2021]

why there are no beeps?
could be the display?
how can the MB be tested?

 

[mrmike16]

From what I have seen, when motherboards fail they don't make a beep code. That's for when the other components fail.

I don't think that the display would cause the laptop to turn off unless it is making a short somehow.

I don't know how to test the MB- I can only help you rule it out, which is what I tried to do. Maybe someone else here does. I recommend taking it to a repair shop to test the motherboard.

 

[aliston2021]

thank you mrmike16. You mean rip-off shop ? This old laptop has no market value, open a door in a rip-off shop cost $100. Talking 2 mins to a 'tech" another $100; what a wonderful decaying world

 

[mrmike16]

thank you mrmike16. You mean rip-off shop ? This old laptop has no market value, open a door in a rip-off shop cost $100. Talking 2 mins to a 'tech" another $100; what a wonderful decaying world

My local shop charges $60 for most types of fixes plus parts and free diagnostics, and was run by just 2 people. Haven't seen any rip-off shops except for manufacturers for out-of-warranty laptops.

Maybe try running the motherboard with nothing connected to it except for the fans and power? Does it do the same thing?

 

[aliston2021]

I think you are south of the border
actually I power on with all connectors off, HDD/CD/mem

 

[mrmike16]

I think you are south of the border
actually I power on with all connectors off, HDD/CD/mem

Nope, that store is in the East Coast.
Last thing I can think of before declaring the motherboard dead- Use a different power supply. If that doesn't work, it doesn't look like this motherboard is functioning.

 

[BEAUFORD_SAVAGE]

If you have a defective HDD pin there is no telling what kind of odd problems you will get.
Replace that connector, or alternately, pull the hard drive and put it in a external HDD dock, plugged into one of the USB ports,
the type with it's own power supply, as some drives don't work properly with just the USB power available.
You will probably need to set the BIOS to boot from a external drive. Which you will be able to do if the connector is defective.

 

[aliston2021]

you are correct, thank you, The HDD was removed. I do not want to boot a OS, I just wanted to be able to identify the black screen issue and eventually access BIOS setting.
Can the CMOS battery be dead and/or removed and have POST? Because most likely the CMOS battery is dead, it would make sense to have no POST without battery?

I opened the fan cover and cleaned all that dirt deposits from the heat sink assembled back and now the fan does not start at all like it did before (5 times). I powered the cooling fan with an external source and it works fine. What changed beside the dirt removal?

 

[mrmike16]

you are correct, thank you, The HDD was removed. I do not want to boot a OS, I just wanted to be able to identify the black screen issue and eventually access BIOS setting.
Can the CMOS battery be dead and/or removed and have POST? Because most likely the CMOS battery is dead, it would make sense to have no POST without battery?

Good idea.
To test this, remove the CMOS battery and use the PC with only the power supply. If the CMOS battery was the problem, it will post with it removed.

 

[aliston2021]

with or without CMOS cell no POST, no fan, no fun

 

[mrmike16]

No fun either? 😆
Then it's the motherboard, unfortunately.