HP Laptop won't boot after ram upgrade 1

[woodsman50]

Student brought me a HP Pavillion that won't boot, hoping I could fix it for him. Says he added a memory module, then went into setup (BIOS) to verify ram count - recognized new ram ok, but computer wouldn't boot after exiting setup, and thus it remains. Power light comes on, but no logo, no beeps. I reset the ram to original condition (single 256m module)but no change. HP has a FAQ for this problem - solution is to send the computer to them. My student can't afford the $300 repair fee. Any suggestions?

 

[mainegeek]

woodsman50,
With the original ram seated correctly in the proper bank, re-enter the bios and select "Load Setup Defaults" then save and exit. Was the battery re-inserted after the ram installation? Make sure the battery is in and the power adapter connected as well. Could simply be a low/dead battery.

 

[woodsman50]

Battery and ac power are working ok, mainegeek.
So far have been unable to re-enter bios.
With power switch depressed, all of the indicator lights come on, can hear the fan running, etc - but no response to function keys being pressed, nothing on screen.
Thanks for the response.

 

[mainegeek]

What model # is the HP laptop?

 

[woodsman50]

model is a ze4805us, 256m ram, 60g hard drive.

 

[dglienna]

Might be going into hibernate mode. After you boot, hold the power switch down for 5 seconds to turn off the laptop. Then try to reboot. You should be able to get to BIOS.

-David
2006 Microsoft Valueable Professional (MVP)
2006 Dell Certified System Professional (CSP)

 

[bygeek]

Try this: remove the battery and unplug power. Hold the power button down for 30 seconds. reinstall battery and power connection and try to boot.

 

[dglienna]

What good would it be to press the power button when there is no power? Just follow my direction to shut down the computer to do a COLD-BOOT.

-David
2006 Microsoft Valueable Professional (MVP)
2006 Dell Certified System Professional (CSP)

 

[woodsman50]

Wondered the same thing myself, dglienna, but I tried it anyway, in case maybe the idea was to drain the capacitors. Didn't work.
Also tried swapping battery, power supply, and ram with components from a known working identical laptop model, with no result.
With battery alone, or with ac connected, the result is the same: press the power switch and the panel lights come on, I can hear either a fan running or the drive spinning, but nothing shows on the screen. On the working model, I can enter BIOS once the HP logo comes up, but with this one, the logo never appears and pressing function keys doesn't do anything.
Thanks to all for the input.

 

[surfkid]

Woodsman: I'm an IT professional and worked in the Westmont College IT group for a while. Anyway, I have an HP Pavilion ZT1130 laptop used as a spare "banger" at home. Over a year ago I upgraded the RAM to a max of 1GB and hard drive too. It's a Centrino so not powerful by any means, but it has been excellent for my wife and I to use for basic things.

The bottom line is that within the last few days, I have suddenly experienced the EXACT same problem. I've read various things online, but nothing that I didn't already think about. For example, I have done the full battery ( & no battery)/power/cold start/cycle/unplug/blah blah blah thing to no effect. I have inspected and reseated just about everything including RAM modules, data modem module, hard drive, and CD drive...nothing. I plugged into an external LCD monitor but it gets no signal when power is turned on and I guarantee the onboard LCD is fine.

I'm slightly intrigued by the prospect of the "stuck in hibernation" idea, but it seems a little obscure. My next and maybe final step is to replace the original RAM (256MB I believe) and see if it responds to that. As you said, I can't get to BIOS or see the HP logo. Lights come on and I hear the fan.

This does seem again intermittent, and out of the blue it looks like it boots but I've seen a blue screen for a split second before it shuts off. The first time I encountered this I was working on it and got it to fire up--I promptly went into safe mode and began running diagnostics. I did a defrag and full chkdsk on restart. But, then after that completed and it booted normally I was working and it froze up. That was it...

I'm leaning more toward some (non-video) component failure and am absolutely positive this isn't a virus or software related issue. Hey, maybe I need to replace the CMOS battery too? The HP was bought around 2001 or so. Good luck and I hope you or someone will post a note if you find the solution or have other ideas. [My site is www.Infynite.com]

 

[cdogg]

dglienna,
I just want to explain bygeek's comment. I've supported thousand of HP and Compaq laptop models at the company I work for. It is VERY common to see a weak or malfunctioning battery cause boot problems in a laptop, even when it's plugged into AC power.

Whenever you have a power-on issue like the one described here, it makes perfect sense to unplug the laptop and hold the power button down for 30 sec. Doing this drains the capicitors on the motherboard. This is actually the standard procedure HP's phone support will give you.

After holding the power button down for 30 seconds, it is best to ONLY reconnect AC power leaving the battery out. It can continue to cause problems when you put it back in if its malfunctioning.


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[cdogg]

woodsman50 & surfkid,

Unfortunately in both of your situations, I highly suspect a damaged motherboard - especially in your case woodsman50, where you have tried to replace almost every component. Hopefully you have some kind of warranty left.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[bombin]

having similar trouble on a zv5000.. shut down at night then next morning tried turnin on from hibernate to no avail, would give me problems before where id have to keep the power button pressed maybe 5 10 seconds until it finally came out of hibernate but not this time, seems it could be power related as, after pluging in ac the power led will turn off after about 3 seconds.. recognizes its on yet wont do anything and without the battery led wont turn on, not sure if the zv5000 is made to boot without battery but its not letting me, brick seems to be working tested it with a car circuit tester

ive heard some hp's come with a reset button on the mobo was thinkin resetting that and cmos, already tried pushing the powe button for 30 sec(rather 3 min!!) power light stayed on a while longer but when i came back was back to the same 3 seconds n turns off im really lost doubt its the ac plug/mobo connectionas it does not seem lose at all though i cant see the solder points so any ideas? im also looking for a manual for this model was able to get this one, very handy but for a ze5200

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/bph08402.pdf

any help is much apreciated as i cannot even access my files id never had this happen on a desktop, very very stumped n confused!

 

[ahv]

unplug battery unplug ac cable then press power for 30 sec then conect cable AC then turn on and see what happens

 

[quantikev]

Hello.

Bombin, I have a similar situation on the same laptop.

Essentially, the power & charge lights blink dimly on a/c only.. and a quiet clicking can be heard which sometimes changes speed. This is in the vicinity of the cooling fans / ac plug.

On battery power, the cooling fans turn on for about a second.

On battery & ac, power lights engage, cooling fans come on, and it sometimes reaches the HP logo screen.

This started occuring about a month after replacing a 14.8v 6.0a hp hstnn-ib03 with a 14.8v 6.6a hp hstnn-ib04.

Power supply was tested on a compaq unit with similar input requirements; good.

AC jack solder joints appear fine.

Bios reset via power button made no change.

I would love to see some more input on this; judging by quotes I've recieved already vs a new mainboard from ebay repair from HP or a shop is not an option.

 

[KDOVB1RD]

Mine is a HP Pavilion xz185, which I've had since new and purchased in 2001.

My problems sound very similiar, although there have been no modifications to the original computer.

First error was a "The image shell32.dll is possibly corrupt. The header?? checksum does not match the computed checksum" This kept repeating, although once I was able to get Windows XP into SAFE MODE, however then everything froze.

I booted from the Diagnostic CD and ran the Diagnostic program which at one point indicated a problem with the hardrive, but then the remaining diagnostics did not run. It just froze at the hardrive indication.

I repeated this a day later and was able to get a complete diagnostic check and everything checked out. I specifically checked the fan cause I suspected fan problems and over heating but CPU temp was in limits and fan checked OK.

Tried to completely replace systems with the System CD, started and went to bed.

Next morning had a note on the screen and the computer was like in DOS with an x drive indication.

Now it won't even turn on, very last time I booted into BIOS, but it froze in the midle of the BIOS options function.

I have noticed that if I let it sit for 24 hours and try to boot the HP comes up and I can get into BIOS, but shortly (and shortly seems to be getting shorter and shorter) everthing freezes. Then once I turn it off it won't come on again until I let it sit.

The fan seems to come on initially then stops as the computer freezes.

Submitted because it sounds similar to other problems posted. Could it be we have all reached the useful limit of the CMOS battery?

I suspect the CMOS Battery is failing, and am wondering if it is replaceable?