BleepingComputer.com: Laptop Will Not Turn On

This evening I was using my laptop at school when it froze up. I had to do a hard shut down. When I tried to restart the laptop, it will not turn on. Im prettu sure the AC adaptor is fine as the light comes on the laptop indicating that a power source is plugged in. I've tried starting without the ac adaptor plugged in as well as taking the battery out of the laptop and have had no luck. I have some critical files on the laptop that would be nice to retrieve so any help would be greatly appreciated. The computer is a HPze4500 running windows XP. The computer is a few years old

Im also not that smart with computers so you might have to dumb your answer down a bit. I know how to do most basic things, but Im sure most people on here have far more superior skills.
-christopher

This post has been edited by drivethrurecords: 05 November 2006 - 08:22 PM

Do you think it might be a motherboard problem?

I'm no pro when it comes to laptops, but it sounds to me like either a power issue or a motherboard issue. When you turn the laptop on, do you hear any noises form inside it, like the hard drive?It could also be that the hard drive has died.

What happens with some laptops is that the switch to tell the machine that the screen is open gets stuck. This will stop the laptop from turning on.
At the bottom of the screen(where it meets the base unit) have a look for a unusual protruding piece of plastic. Looks like a sharks fin or simular.
That will normally push down into a grove and in the grove there is a button. If you have a very small screwdriver (flat head is better) and just flick the switch a few times. Warning: be very careul not to snap it. Maybe if it is easy to get to a new paint brush could be used to clean the contact.
Not saying this will def work but it is something that normally sorts out these sort of issues in my experiance.