HP Spectre 13T-3000 Won't Boot At All

[DKJain]

Hi.  I have an HP Spectre 13T-3000 Laptop.  It is about 2.5 years old, in great condition.  I plugged it into charge it up a couple of nights ago, but in the morning it would not boot up at all.  The only thing that happens is that the Power light and the Wifi Light (F12 Key) flash periodically, about every 5 seconds.  The screen does not come on at all and is completely black, I don't hear any fan, and no other activity of any kind.

I'd appreciate any info or suggestions about what may be wrong.

I've tried a number of things based on web searches.  These include:

- I hold the power button for 30 seconds to do a "hard reset".  This will stop the flashing.  But if I hit power again, then the power button & wifi button start flashing again, but no other activity.

- I have verified that the battery is indeed charged.  The led near the charging port turns amber when I plug in the charger, then after a while it turns white to indicate that it is fully charged.  I even put a voltmeter on the power supply to verify it was producing 19.5 Volts.

- I have removed the bottom cover to check for any loose connection or dust.  There is no dust, and the laptop is extremely clean.

It was storming the night that I plugged it in to charge, and it was plugged directly into the wall.

Any suggestions of how to fix this myself, or what it should cost to have someone else fix this problem would be appreciated.

Thanks.

-Danny

[ichi730]

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@DKJain wrote:

Hi.  I have an HP Spectre 13T-3000 Laptop.  It is about 2.5 years old, in great condition.  I plugged it into charge it up a couple of nights ago, but in the morning it would not boot up at all.  The only thing that happens is that the Power light and the Wifi Light (F12 Key) flash periodically, about every 5 seconds.  The screen does not come on at all and is completely black, I don't hear any fan, and no other activity of any kind.

I'd appreciate any info or suggestions about what may be wrong.

I've tried a number of things based on web searches.  These include:

- I hold the power button for 30 seconds to do a "hard reset".  This will stop the flashing.  But if I hit power again, then the power button & wifi button start flashing again, but no other activity.

- I have verified that the battery is indeed charged.  The led near the charging port turns amber when I plug in the charger, then after a while it turns white to indicate that it is fully charged.  I even put a voltmeter on the power supply to verify it was producing 19.5 Volts.

- I have removed the bottom cover to check for any loose connection or dust.  There is no dust, and the laptop is extremely clean.

It was storming the night that I plugged it in to charge, and it was plugged directly into the wall.

Any suggestions of how to fix this myself, or what it should cost to have someone else fix this problem would be appreciated.

Thanks.

-Danny

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Youre on the right track Danny. Heres how you can dig deeper.

Perform Hard Reset

Turn the computer off
Unplug the charger from the computer
Unplug the battery (if possible)
Press and hold down the power button for
30 secs then release the power button

Plug the charger back to the computer
(without the battery)
Turn your computer then immediately tap
the ESC button to access Start Menu.

Load Bios Defaults

Press the F5 function key.
Select Yes or OK.
Press the Enter key.
Press the F10 function key.
Select Yes or OK to save the defaults.
You can also complete the following steps to reload the factory BIOS settings using the menu:
In the BIOS Setup utility, select the Exit tab.
Select Load Setup Defaults.
The system prompts you to load the optimized setup defaults. Select Yes or OK and press the Enter key.
Select Exit Saving Changes.
Press Esc and then press Enter to exit Setup.

Bios combination key

Good luck!

[DKJain · Accepted solution]

Just wanted to follow up on this, since I've seen similar questions asked, but never a definitive answer.

After calling HP Tech support, they told me that the flashing power light & F12 key is a symptom of motherboard

failure.  The fix is to change the motherboard.

My computer came with a 2 year warranty, but the computer was 2.5 years old, so was out of warranty.

After some negotiation on price, HP agreed to repair the problem for $250 including shipping both ways.

It was less than a week turn around including shipping time, and I have the laptop back and it appears to be working

well now.  I've got a 90 day warranty on the repair.  In the future I'll be careful to always use a surge protector

when charging it up.

-Danny