I posted this to the laptop groups and, as you can see from the
followups, didn't get any replies. Anyone have any idea about this
very common problem with HP laptops?



On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 22:07:53 GMT, Joe
wrote:

I've been reading the forums at HP and noticed that there are
literally dozens of threads with the same problem:
One day the laptop will not boot, fan will spin up for a few seconds,
Cd will spin up(this is variable), always no video(external or
internal), sometimes the floppy will light up, the hd will usually
spin up but show minimal activity at boot up.
Some people notice that the lappy will freeze at random while in the
OS and then fail to restart, while others will not be able to cold
boot, but the symptoms, especially the fan and video, will always be
the same. I always read those, hoping it would never happen to
me....but now it has and now to another one owned by a colleague.

Now in my case(a GF), I *can* get mine to boot.....sometimes....by
stripping it right down and booting it an external monitor(Also a
couple of times to the lcd, so I know that and the inverter are OK).I
can't get the 2nd Xe3-GC one to boot at all. Also tried plugging in
all peripherals, so they are OK
It also booted a few times after I'd reassembled it, but celebrations
were premature.....

Tried reseating everything, seems to make no difference.
Replaced the hdd and the right angle connector so they are ok and of
course, I tried one stick of ram and different ram and the only thing
I noticed was that I do get the "no ram" error beeps.

Finally, I took the MB out, desoldered the Cmos battery and
reconnected it agfter 20 minutes....nada.

My guess(hope) is a dodgy PCA to MB connector(on either side), so I'm
about to try cleaning with 95% alcohol, but I fear it may be a failing
component on the MB or an internittent track somewhere in the
(integrated) PSU circuitry. I'm pretty sure a faulty hdd or anything
that could cause a high current drain could cause exactly the same
problem. Strangely enough, I managed to fix a similar fault on a
Toshiba about a year ago by reflowing the solder around the AC socket.

Surely with this many reports of an identical problem, something must
have come to light. I've just about given up on mine and will sell the
parts on to buy a new (non HP) lappy, but thought I'd ask here as a
last resort.


Now, the inevitable answer from HP is to "buy a new motherboard" and
the cheapest I've seen are $450. Since, for little more, I can buy a
new Toshiba Celeron, that doesn't make much sense


Take off the Hat to reply......

Anybody? Mr Ikenfixit? You MUST have come across this problem. The
forums are full of posts with the same problem. With all the different
omnibooks and Xe's I'd say I've seen hundreds of em. Anyway, I'm fed
up with wasting time on this thing(but it has been tempting after the
succesful repair of the Toshiba) and will probably sell the lcd and
some other parts on. Is there a market for this? Put the money towards
buying a new one....but it won't be an HP, that's for sure. There's a
design flaw here somewhere and I guess it won't come out on usenet.

Looks like I'm reduced to replying to myself, but I've worked on the
MBs a bit and this might help some of the many XE3/Pavilion owners out
there with the same problem, which is, in short, green light on, Fan
for 5 seconds, HD activity, CD spin up, but doesn't get to bios. Very
similar to the notorious Presario fault .
I resoldered the ac power sockets and thoroughly cleaned all the plugs
sockets and ribbon connectors. I then cleaned the entire motherboard
with an electronic solvent
Switched on and both the GF and GC booted up!! But *why* would the
ground on the ac socket prevent them booting up on battery?
Sadly, the GF still won't boot up 100%.....maybe 50%, but, insanely, I
*can* get it to boot up every time by firmly grabbing the left hand
rear of the case, or by pressing on the metal shield under the MB near
the bios/ram, so I'm pretty sure this is a ground problem

Really would like to find a circuit diagram.schematic for these.

Joe wrote:
I posted this to the laptop groups and, as you can see from the
followups, didn't get any replies. Anyone have any idea about this
very common problem with HP laptops?

HP laptops have an atrocious reputation. Owners who are experiencing the
reasons for this are best advised to cut their losses in favour of a
Toshiba or IBM replacement.

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 22:07:53 GMT, Joe
wrote:


I've been reading the forums at HP and noticed that there are
literally dozens of threads with the same problem:
One day the laptop will not boot, fan will spin up for a few seconds,
Cd will spin up(this is variable), always no video(external or
internal), sometimes the floppy will light up, the hd will usually
spin up but show minimal activity at boot up.
Some people notice that the lappy will freeze at random while in the
OS and then fail to restart, while others will not be able to cold
boot, but the symptoms, especially the fan and video, will always be
the same. I always read those, hoping it would never happen to
me....but now it has and now to another one owned by a colleague.

Now in my case(a GF), I *can* get mine to boot.....sometimes....by
stripping it right down and booting it an external monitor(Also a
couple of times to the lcd, so I know that and the inverter are OK).I
can't get the 2nd Xe3-GC one to boot at all. Also tried plugging in
all peripherals, so they are OK
It also booted a few times after I'd reassembled it, but celebrations
were premature.....

Tried reseating everything, seems to make no difference.
Replaced the hdd and the right angle connector so they are ok and of
course, I tried one stick of ram and different ram and the only thing
I noticed was that I do get the "no ram" error beeps.

Finally, I took the MB out, desoldered the Cmos battery and
reconnected it agfter 20 minutes....nada.

My guess(hope) is a dodgy PCA to MB connector(on either side), so I'm
about to try cleaning with 95% alcohol, but I fear it may be a failing
component on the MB or an internittent track somewhere in the
(integrated) PSU circuitry. I'm pretty sure a faulty hdd or anything
that could cause a high current drain could cause exactly the same
problem. Strangely enough, I managed to fix a similar fault on a
Toshiba about a year ago by reflowing the solder around the AC socket.

Surely with this many reports of an identical problem, something must
have come to light. I've just about given up on mine and will sell the
parts on to buy a new (non HP) lappy, but thought I'd ask here as a
last resort.


Now, the inevitable answer from HP is to "buy a new motherboard" and
the cheapest I've seen are $450. Since, for little more, I can buy a
new Toshiba Celeron, that doesn't make much sense


Take off the Hat to reply......

Anybody? Mr Ikenfixit? You MUST have come across this problem. The
forums are full of posts with the same problem. With all the different
omnibooks and Xe's I'd say I've seen hundreds of em. Anyway, I'm fed
up with wasting time on this thing(but it has been tempting after the
succesful repair of the Toshiba) and will probably sell the lcd and
some other parts on. Is there a market for this? Put the money towards
buying a new one....but it won't be an HP, that's for sure. There's a
design flaw here somewhere and I guess it won't come out on usenet.


Looks like I'm reduced to replying to myself, but I've worked on the
MBs a bit and this might help some of the many XE3/Pavilion owners out
there with the same problem, which is, in short, green light on, Fan
for 5 seconds, HD activity, CD spin up, but doesn't get to bios. Very
similar to the notorious Presario fault .
I resoldered the ac power sockets and thoroughly cleaned all the plugs
sockets and ribbon connectors. I then cleaned the entire motherboard
with an electronic solvent
Switched on and both the GF and GC booted up!! But *why* would the
ground on the ac socket prevent them booting up on battery?
Sadly, the GF still won't boot up 100%.....maybe 50%, but, insanely, I
*can* get it to boot up every time by firmly grabbing the left hand
rear of the case, or by pressing on the metal shield under the MB near
the bios/ram, so I'm pretty sure this is a ground problem

Really would like to find a circuit diagram.schematic for these.