Pavillion dv9580us turns on, but won't boot or POST

[Darksnider]

I have an HP dv9580us that I bought about 2 years ago. It had been working well until a few days ago. Now when I turn it on the lights come on, the fan turns, but nothing happens. A few seconds later everything turn off, then the lights come back on again, and it just stays like that. No beeps, no blinking lights (they turn on but don't blink), no sounds, the screen completely blank all the time.

So, I think the BIOS is not even making it to POST at all. I already tried re-seating the RAM, took the battery off, took the CD drive off, re-seated the HD, and reset the bios.

Any ideas on what may be the problem? I suspect the motherboard, but on most cases I read about the system does boot or POST.

[BaselZZ]

Dear Darksnider,

I am facing the same issue with DV9610US. If you reach any soluation please post it here

Thanks

[RoyalSerpent]

Remove main battery and CMOS battery for one day.  Clean the CPU heat sink and apply a thin layer of thermal grease to the heat sink.  Disconnect the hard drive with this test.  Turn on PC.  Do you see video on the LCD screen?

[Darksnider]

RoyalSerpent,

Thank you for your advise. I guess you suspect the problem might be that the CPU is overheating? I will follow your recommendation and post my results soon.

[VivienGatineau]

In addition to removing the battery etc, you can try to remove/change your memory modules.

At first, remove all the memory modules. The laptop should beep to indicate no memory (not sure about this particular laptop but this is usually what a computer does when you try to boot it without memory). If it does not beep, it might mean that the CPU or MB is dead.

If you have 2 RAM modules, just keep one of them and try to boot up.

If there was only one module and you can find a compatible mémory module, try to replace it.

Also, try to enter BIOS settings (with at least one memory module in the computer!).

It you can, it means that the CPU and memory are not completely dead. Otherwise, well...

Good luck!

[Darksnider]

Vivien,

Thank you for the recommendations. I did what you recommemded and nothing new happens when you turn on the system without RAM. There is no beep at all. I can't try the BIOS since the system won't go that far (no POST).

So, based on your comments and the recommendations above it seems like the problem is the CPU or motherboard. Is there a way to identify which is the problem?

Right now I'm trying to access the processor to clean the fan, but so far it seems like I will have to take the entire thing apart and I'm still trying to figure it out.

Any recommendations?

Thank you,

Darksnider

[Old_hp_tech]

Normally if it does not go past post or you can not get into the bios it is a motherboard problem and if covered under warranty will need to be sent in for repair.

[VivienGatineau]

According to the result of your tests, you arer pretty sure that there is a CPU or Motherboard failure.

Not easy to say which one fails. Maybe both!

If your computer is under warranty, don't hesitate!

You can extract the HDD and make a backup of it before you send the computer.

I would recommend using a USB adapter that can connect your internal hdd (now external!) to the USB of to another computer.

Modern USB adapters for HDD can do SATA and (P)ATA. They are even shipped with an external power supply so that you can power on your hdd. 

If your computer is not covered by any warranty, well, that's harder. You could try to extract the CPU and replace it to see if anything goes better.

Or you could just purchase a new computer and transfer your current data to your newer computer.

There are even some tools that allow you to transfer the data AND the system+applications directly to your new computer so that when you power it on for the first time with the transferred configuration, it can boot enough of Windows to detect the new hardware.

I used to use Qualystem ubiboot to do so but now that Qualystem has been acquired it seems that this tool is not available anymore (or with a larger/more expensive package). There was a company from New Zealand that had a similar tool...

Good luck

Vivien

[Darksnider]

Old_hp_tech,

Thank you for the feedback. I'm inclined to say its a motherboard issue too since the system won't go into POST or the BIOS.

Would I be able to access the BIOS if the processor had been the problem? I would expect a beep or something if it was a processor problem.

As for a warranty, regretfully it expired one year ago. Which is the reason I have been trying to find a way to fix it myself.

Thank you,

Darksnider

[Darksnider]

Vivien,

Thank you for your help. I'm more inclined to say it is a motherboard issue since I would normally expect a beep or something if it had been a processor issue (I may be wrong on this).

As for warranty, regretfully it expired one year ago, which is the reason I want to find a way to repair it.

Seems like I'll have to change the motherboard though. Anyway, please feel free to send any other ideas.

Thank you,

Darksnider