Pavilion dv5t-1000 power-on issue (help/advice would be appreciated)

[Cosmic_AC]

The problem:

The other day, my notebook turned off on its own - possibly while saving a Word document, though it seemed to have finished (in other words, I don't actually have a clue as to whether or not this issue is of the power-off-while-hard-disk-is-busy variety).  I found this behavior rather odd, since the machine had only been on about 15 minutes and battery life appeared to be at 75%.

Now, the blasted thing won't even boot.  That is, it "turns on" in the basic sense; pressing the power button/quickplay on the machine or on the remote causes the fan to spin and the power-on LED to light up, followed by all the Quickplay buttons.  Then the Caps Lock and Scroll Lock LEDs light up.  They don't flash (it's not a POST code as described in the support center thingy).  They're just...on.  Sometimes the "HDD is busy" light blinks red (on for a half-second, off for a half-second, forever - or perhaps only 3 hours, since that was the longest I've let it stay on).  Nothing is ever displayed to the screen, and no beeps or flashes form any kind of code or pattern.  Either way, the notebook cannot be turned off via power button; holding down the button for any length of time up to 120 seconds (haven't tried much longer than that) does nothing.

Another oddity: if the notebook is powered on while "charging," the charging light stays on for several minutes even after the power cable has been unplugged.

What hasn't worked so far:

Assuming the issue was power-related, the first thing I tried was removing the battery.

Then I tried charging the battery to 100% (or perhaps only what the notebook "thinks" is 100%).

Then I tried accessing the BIOS menu by holding down F10 while turning the computer on (nothing happened - no BIOS menu).

Then I tried accessing the BIOS menu by holding down F10 just after turning the computer on.

Then I tried accessing the BIOS menu by holding down F10 a few seconds after turning the computer on.

Then I tried leaving the machine on for about an hour and a half (the usual duration of battery life; although doing absolutely nothing might increase battery life dramatically, I can't know for sure, and these rechargeable batteries usually malfunction if drained to 0%).

Then I tried reseating the RAM.

Then I tried reseating the CMOS battery.

Then I tried reseating the RAM again.

Then I tried turning on the computer with the CMOS battery and the RAM out.

Then I tried turning on the computer with the CMOS battery, the RAM, and the rechargeable battery out.

Then I tried putting everything back in.

Then I tried recharging the battery to (apparently) 100% again.

Then I called tech support and some guy told me (slowly, using small words) to remove the battery, unplug the machine, hold the power button down for 30 seconds, replace the battery, then plug the machine back in and attempt to turn it on.

When that didn't work, I tried repeating the procedure - this time holding the power button down for 120 seconds.

Then I tried repeating that procedure, holding the power button down for 120 seconds, with the CMOS battery removed as well.

By sheer coincidence, it happens that the warranty on the notebook expired fewer than two weeks ago.  Since I'd prefer not to be charged for post-warranty "service," any ideas about what to try next and/or some kind of diagnosis would be most welcome.  I'm fairly competent when it comes to replacing parts, but since I haven't the foggiest what parts need replacing (if any), I'm sort of stuck.

[kumarmsk]

Hi Cosmic_AC,

I have the same model as well and a similar problem. What is different in my laptop is that it won't boot from my battery at all. I removed the battery and booted out from power, it works fine.

If I have the battery in the laptop and the power goes off, my laptop will go off immediately and will never boot again. I have to remove the battery and power,  then put the power back in after couple of seconds and boot.

Looks like I may have to replace the battery or something wrong with the battery/charging circuit.

Were you able to fix your problem?

Please let me know.

Thanks.

[Cosmic_AC]

Well, I'm still not sure how, but I did eventually get it to boot.  I suspect both the main battery and the CMOS battery are drained/damaged.

I actually can still get it to boot even with the battery in, but it's constantly "charging" and never actually gets any power.  It boots up fine most of the time without a battery now, anyway (though I still don't have a clue why it wouldn't before).

With a new CMOS battery, I went into the BIOS and changed the configuration to make POST last five seconds; apparently by default POST lasts zero seconds, hence the inability to run any sort of diagnostic.  Hopefully now that there's a fresh battery in there, it'll keep that configuration long enough to either continue booting normally or actually "say" what the problem is if it has another one.