HP Pavilion DV7-4177nr no boot blinking CAPS LOCK and F12 solid led amber light

[zacoalco]

- hard power reset: same issue

- took out RAM: no beeping, ok motherboard issue

- replaced motherboard: same issue, crap

- returned motherboard (glad there a return policy)

- replace CPU: same issue, super crap

i'm out of ideas...

any input would be greatly appreciated.

Zac

[banhien]

Hi,

Please use the following instructions to check and fix:

  http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01732674

Good luck.

[zacoalco]

followed the instructions:

Step 1: when the CPU was replaced, the heatsink & fan was throughly cleaned. didn't work

Step 2: did the power reset & forced reset which was done in the beginning and did it again just for kicks. didn't work

Step 3: there are no beeping sounds. blinking led on the CAPS LOCK only with solid amber led f12. battery instructions doesn't apply. the laptop does have the following, LEDs blink 1 time. so i followed the instructions here.

LEDs near Caps Lock and Number Lock keys blink:

CPU not functional: replaced CPU. didn't work.

BIOS corruption failure: no boot, no BIOS. didn't work

Module error not functional: reseatted RAM including not putting on and turning on the laptop, there are no beeps. didn't work

Graphics controller not functional: there are no 4 blinks. nothing i can do.

General system board failure: replaced motherboard. didn't work

BIOS authentication failure: there are no 6 blinks. nothing i can do.

thanks for the suggestions but these instructions did not my issue.

zac

[rgsgroup2005]

What the hell! I tried all steps accept for replacing the motherboard and CPU! I am beginning to think may have something to do with your LCD Screen / Cable? I can't think of any other solution but maybe you received a defective motherboard? I am now afraid to replace the board because I am beginning to think it may not work or will do the same thing as there is too many similiar complaints... I have replaced many boards and repaired countless PCs over the past 10 years and never seen such an issue accept for the DV6000 and DV9000 not reading the DVD drives. This is a nice looking laptop and seems just as retarded as the DV series!!! HP needs to step up on the workmanship here.... Not bashing them but come on guys!!! Beats Audio and alluminum paperweight? I'm venting...

[rgsgroup2005]

I'm going to bring it in my shop and do a full chipset repair... Let you all know if it works. Sorry for last post as I know it did not help.

[maxmodder]

Any luck? I have the same exact problem. Caps lock LED blinks non stop, so HP has no clue as to how many blinks mean what error.

[TwoPointOh]

Hi maxmodder. This document has the blink count chart for the DV7-4177nr, and the required troubleshooting. I hope this helps.

Computer Does Not Start and the LEDs Blink or the Computer Beeps
http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01732674

[maxmodder]

I have read that article.  Im waiting for rgsgroup2005 to reply because he's tried all of those things and none of them worked for him.

[TwoPointOh]

OK then. If none of the troubleshooting works, the answer is to contact support for more options as you most likely have hardware failure. Let me know if you need the number.

[maxmodder]

OK, I installed a new CPU and fan, cleaned it all up, used artic silver, and also cleared the CMOS.  Installed the latest bios.  I got windows to boot, and run well.  However the keyboard and touch pad didn't work regardless of what was tried (installed new drivers, windows driver, uninstalled, dos command prompts yada yada....I did it all still nothing) The ext mouse/keyboard work fine.  It's probably a hardware issue, as the laptop keyboard/mouse doesn't even work in F2 diagnoistics mode.  Everything has been disassembled and reassembled multiple times, new keyboard installed, contacts cleaned and positioned properly, etc.

The laptop keyboard does work in the BIOS settings scren, so perhaps it's not a hardware issue?

Anyways, I decided to run system recovery restoring it to out of the box state with no saving of any prevous files of any kind. At about 30% the system shuts down once the fan starts spinning fast (I suspect the CPU is getting too hot even though the laptop is raised and nothing blocking the fan exhaust holes)  I tried to do a recovery twice, and still it failed.

Could I install a new heat sink, new mobo, and mess around with this until it all works?  Sure.  Could I repartition the hard drive so that only windows is installed an all the HP junk removed for easier faster use?  Sure!

But why should I when I can just sell it as is and be done with HP.  I bought this used for $300 and it worked for a good year without issues.  I'll recoupe my losses selling it for $200 and be done with HP.