HP dv9700 (dv9847ca model) stuck on bootup, or shuts down spontaneously

[Majestic]

Hi...

So I went to a client today and she has this HP Pavillion dv9847ca laptop (part of the dv9700 series).

Anyway when I arrived this laptop was extremely hot and the fan was spinning nonstop. It's stuck on the pre-post screen where you see the HP logo with the F9,f10 options etc.

Pressing the Functions keys did nothing so I tried to shut down the laptop by holding down the power button for 6+ seconds.. That did not shut it down at all. It really was stuck. I pressed it again and held it for 10 seconds. Nada.

So I pulled the power wire out and tried that once more.. nope. I had to eject the battery while the laptop was on and I'm not sure if that's dangerous or not but that concerned me nonetheless. I really had no choice.

Anyway I boot up the system now without the battery and its stuck again. Can't power it down with the power button so I pull the power wire instead. Fine. After 3 more times it finally gets past the post screen. I get into windows vista.. Now her touchpad is not working. The blue light is on and pressing the button above it does nothing at all.

So I connect a usb mouse and do what I have to do (she needed a cleanup + antivirus installed.).. I reboot and it's stuck again. I shut down. Restart it with again and now it starts. I had UBCD4win in there and I get in.

When I arrive in ubcd, I notice still the touchpad does not work (I took the chance that maybe it's a windows/software issue). So I reboot and after 3 more tries I get back into vista and update the touchpad driver. Still does not work. Still a problem.

I reboot AGAIN.. and now I try to get into the bios by pressing F9. It reads "waiting..." then just shuts down. I try it again after a couple of reboots and it just stays on with that message and does nothing.

I read on some forums about some issues with the bios and heat (even though I realize the touchpad is probably not related I figure it's a shot). So I successfully flash the latest bios on the machine after getting back into vista.

I rebooted, got the HP screen again but now it never gets past it. Pressing down the power button does NOT shut down the computer (even though it does turn it on and does shut it down from windows).

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I figure the touchpad issue might be as simple as a wire that's fallen out. The not shutting down on power button.. not sure at all. I'm convinced it has a heat issue. I'm also worried that I had to remove the battery physically while the system was on (I did have the power wire out each time I did that of course.)

Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Majestic

 

[NYJimbo]

Why didnt you investigate the heat issue right from the start ?.

And no, dont ask me how to do that.

 

[Majestic]

Why didnt you investigate the heat issue right from the start ?.

And no, dont ask me how to do that.

Oh I know how to do it. But the simple answer is I don't take apart laptops aside from blowing compressed air or replacing hard drives and memory at clients places.

A little update now though:

I have tried with different memory, and removed the wireless card and the hard drive. After disconnecting the touchpad I finally managed to get into the bios. I'm going to give it another try with everything connected but the touchpad and see if it boots everytime.. then perhaps there is a short?

Majestic

 

[NYJimbo]

Oh I know how to do it. But the simple answer is I don't take apart laptops aside from blowing compressed air or replacing hard drives and memory at clients places.

A little update now though:

I have tried with different memory, and removed the wireless card and the hard drive. After disconnecting the touchpad I finally managed to get into the bios. I'm going to give it another try with everything connected but the touchpad and see if it boots everytime.. then perhaps there is a short?

Majestic

Regardless of what you are finding now, keep the thermal situation in mind. Many times when you "fix" a problem it's on a cold or cool computer and when the client gets it home and starts playing some stupid game for an hour the machine starts to exhibit the same problem.

YOU NEED TO PUT A TEMPERATURE MONITORING PROGRAM IN THIS MACHINE NOW and then go from there.

 

[richr]

I'm with NYJimbo about the heat issue, HP did a poor job designing these. The heat sink runs from the CPU then over the graphics chip then to the fan.


Heres a good video show you how to open her up and upgrade the cooling system abit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnkQNmKauEc

 

[Majestic]

NyJimbo, Richr: It seems the whole issue was a short on the machine. I disassembled the laptop and disconnected the touchpad for about 20 minutes as well as the hard drive, wireless card etc. I reconnected the touchpad and ensured all the wires were tight then reinserted the hard drive and now everything is working well again. Never seen this before.

I also checked with hardware monitor and both cores are at 37C. Working well. It was a shorting issue overall but I'm not sure how a short got it so hot in the first place?? I'm going to continue testing this laptop over the next 24 - 48 hours before returning it to the client.

Thanks for the help

Majestic