HP laptop boot problem

katherinej · October 20th, 2008, 07:13 AM

I have an HP Pavilion ze4700 laptop. When I press the ON button the lights come on and the fan starts for about 3 seconds then it all turns off again.

I have tried booting without the battery, that didn't help.

I tried removing the memory thing (I think that's what it was) from the underneath. When I turned it on without this it kept turning on then off then on then off and so on. I put this back in where it had come from and it turned on and went to a screen that said there had been an error and I could start normally or go to the last know safe mode or something. I chose one and it went to the Windows screen for a few seconds then turned off. I chose the other option and it did the same thing.

I then turned it on again and it didn't even go to those screens, it just turned off after about 3 seconds again.

I don't know if this is related but the picture on the screen was wobbly and when the laptop was off but plugged in, the battery was getting quite hot.

Please help me!

BipolarBill · October 20th, 2008, 08:40 AM

The cooling tract is probably clogged with dust and the laptop overheating. Get a can of compressed air, find the air vents on the bottom and blow air in there while it's running. Also blow air into the exhaust port (usually on the outer edge of the notebook).

If no joy, take it to a shop. They can do a better job of it for a reasonable fee.

katherinej · October 28th, 2008, 12:16 PM

I tried that and it still doesn't work. It gets as far as the windows screen then dies. The fan doesn't seem to be coming on then.

Any other ideas??

BipolarBill · October 28th, 2008, 02:46 PM

If you hear no fan, it may be broken - or you may not have one at all.

I would take it to a shop.

tony_j15 · October 28th, 2008, 03:02 PM

My best guess is the culprit is the fan, memory not seated correctly, or corrupted files on your hard drive. All three of these take technical expertise to diagnose and repair. HP's come with a one year warranty, so if that's an option you can get it fixed for free. Otherwise, find a reputable repair service, such as Best Buy's Geek Squad.

katherinej · October 29th, 2008, 11:56 AM

I've discovered that I can start it in safe mode and it works ok. Would it help if I did a system recovery??

BipolarBill · October 29th, 2008, 03:06 PM

Maybe.

Back up all of your critical documents to CD and give it a go. Keep in mind that you will need to get a lot of updates after the restore.