BleepingComputer.com: HP Presario F500 Wont Boot/Post

Model#: F572US

Laptop won't boot. Was working 3 days or so ago, albeit with a 10ish min boot on/off before starting up. Now it wont boot at all! I'm posting here as i think it might be a different issue the the F700 and don't want to confuse any helpful forum members .

It been weeks of it struggling to turn on and
finally it is no longer booting at all. When i push power button
the LED's light for 1/2 a second then they turn off and stay off.
Holding down power does nothing. NO sound of HD or Fan or
anything, laptop will no longer boot. Please help!





I welcome any ideas, or solutions! Up to try almost anything to get it up and running! Have 3 dead HP laptops right now... not a great sign!

I've tried: (and none of these have worked)

Power Drain: Unplug, Remove Bat, Hold power 60s, plug back in
Reset CMOS battery
Removed/Swapped RAM
Removed/Swapped HD
Tried new Battery
Tried new Power Cord

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SupportTaskIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=110&prodSeriesId=3316438&prodTypeId=321957&supportTaskId=22882

Louis

No luck there on the HP page same as the F700. However the F500 isn't quite as bad off, i discovered that when warm the F500 will try to boot with LED's on solid for maybe 30-45 seconds, turn off and some times try again. Very odd hairdrier/space heater for few mins until warm and it will last 30seconds (no hd/fan) but on a cold boot test it will do the basic fail of 1/2 a second then off.

Looking at the age of this laptop I have to ask if you have a AMD CPU and Nvidia graphics? If so it could, repeat could be the motherboard. The warmth test makes me suspect a bad solder joint that expands when warm.

From reading here it seems lots of people had problems with these.
http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=F572US+power+on+off&btnG=Search

I wish I could be more helpful.

Yeah i was hoping to find a solution that wasn't the mobo. It was I suspected but was really hoping it wasnt

Could it be the overheated GPU problem and just needs re-sodered?

Or could it be this odd CPU fan speed problem with bios? (though fan never does spin)

Looking for ways to test to see if it is the mobo, have tried -ram/dvd/hd etc and it doesn't change the non-boot. Heat thing is really weird to me id think its a warped chip, because wouldnt it take a LOT of heat to make a soder point reflow?

And if it was a GPU then it should still boot the fan/hd up and run off onboard to the bios.

Ugh I'm at a loss between this one and the Presario F700 which doesnt even try to boot!!!



Any way to definitively tell if its the mobo? so if i do break down and buy a replacement im not stuck with a new mobo but something else broken that was the cause?!

Thanks for helping guys! I'm at my wits end!

This post has been edited by DeadHPLaptops11: 28 December 2011 - 03:08 AM

What I used to do with IBM Thinkpads T41 model that had a problem with the ATI video breaking the solder connections was lightly press down on the video chip and then power on the laptop and if it worked that was where the problem. Thinkpad maintenance manuals are available to all. Usually HP & Dell manuals too. Only go to the maker not one of these manual sites that want money or worse.

There was another Compaq NC6000 laptop that pressing on the right area of the keyboard as a test and then powering on told where the problem was. Using a fine soldering iron and resoldering all the lines on the Max chip fixed that one. But not a later model.

Trying a reflow may work but usually only for a short time. You'll probably see that suggested somewhere.

On the dv9000 HP for example there were people that swore adding a copper shim between the video chip and the heatsink that added more cooling surface was the key, but only if done before it failed.

If you are feeling super brave and do not care if you damage the laptop beyond repair then the HP maint manual could help you narrow it down. I say beyond repair as the connectors for the speakers, touchpad, keyboard, power switch, indicator board lights and sometimes daughtercards for USB ports are very delicate and easy to damage.

If you decide to open it up post pictures of the connectors and I can help on the proper method. Some flip up, some pull a little clip, some just poll out and so on. Very easy to damage. I liken the proper strength to using your two pinky fingers.

Don't even think about used motherboards if it is a video chip issue. They'll fail. HPs first cure was a Bios update that ran the fan stronger for better cooling.

This post has been edited by rotor123: 28 December 2011 - 10:53 AM

Solved: finally broke down and gave it one last attempt and heated up the gpu with space heater and hairdrier lol. Re-assembled and it works fine!

so looks like it was the soder points, a lot of the heat fix instead of reflow appears to last week/months at best from what Ive read.. but its something

Hi
Glad to hear it is working right now. You may be one of the Lucky ones.

A couple of tips
1. Be sure the heatsink is clean and that the laptop sits on a hard surface rather than a soft surface that might block the air intake.
2. Move it as little as possible.
3. When moving it lift by both sides to avoid flexing the motherboard.
4 If you do not need to avoid moving the screen open and close to avoid flexing the motherboard.
5. as a precaution, keep any important data backed up.

On to the other one I'm guessing?

Happy New Year
Roger