Pavilion dv5, freezes immediately on boot-up screen

[pepe999]

The same problem. My laptop freezes on HP logo screen. I installed Ubuntu 10.04 last night so I expected it's a hdd issue and BIOS. I removed the hard drive, plugged in an usb flash with Sabayon Linux 5.2 on it and my laptop is working again!! I can use only linux and also liveusb but it's better than nothing. I'm going to try to fix the internal hard drive but if it's dead, it's gone and have to send the laptop back for warranty..

[mygoogoo]

Excellent write up. Thank you. Worked like a charm. 

[jss123051]

Had similar problem with Pavilion dv5. Internal diagnostics checked out OK. Had a bad ram module. Currently using only 2 meg of ram until I replace bad module. Hope this helps. Take out one module at a time to test which one is bad. You can operate on only one ram module until you get a replacement.

[webeatgeek]

I finally resolved this after combining every suggestion I have found on line.

The final for me was:

Take out the HD

Put in a SATA external case and use another system to run a hard drive repair.

After this I used F11 to restore from recovery

Used that to bring a older boot back

Reload that boot

this fixed the hang on boot problem without having to format the HD

[sam2400]

This Method Worked GREAT!! Awesome, I thought the hard drive was dead but no, hard drive was fine,

I would like to add one thing, After you put in one memory chip and hit f10, on some laptops It won't take you to the bios, so you have to press escape first then it'll ask you if you something and then it'll give you the options to goto the bios, Also I also took the cmos battery in the process so it helped as well. Thank you very much!!!!

[Faheem_amir]

WOW... I am grateful for the post above that gave the answers to this issue. It worked for the issue I was having on a DV5. I removed the battery, the hdd , the memory and the cmos battery. I did not remove the cd rom. Put one memory stick in and booted and was able to get into the BIOS and reset the date and time. Shutdwon and reinserted all removed parts and now the computer is working like a charm. Thank you Anonymous TECH.... you deserve the Kudos you said you would receive.

[bjmarte]

I'm posting my kudos for AnonymousHelp.  The screwdriver in the arrows by the CMOS battery seems to have done it.  I have yet to put my hard drive back in but it is getting past the main HP boot screen and actually recognizing that the hard drive is missing, which is a big step up from what it was doing.

[Gato_negro]

I'll try the screwdriver thing tomorrow.  I tried everything else today and didn't go anywhere.  It has been very frustrating and obviously something wrong with these machnes since all these people are having the same problem.

[Gato_negro]

AnonymousHelp,

Please clarify this for me:

You said:

8. Replace ONE stick of RAM .

9. Plug in the power and start the unit , IMMEDIATELY pressing F10 as soon as you see the logo .

10. Smile . You should now be on your BIOS screen and seeing seconds tick off your life . 😃

11 . Carefully replace all your components that you removed .

We replace the components while the machine is running?  I have to check...I am in desperate mode now, so nobody else is helping with this issue, therefore going to use your tip.  thanks

[watash60]

that worked for me...

THANKS