Laptop doesn't turn on

[AndreW-NdK]

I'm trying to power up a laptop, which was the property of a medical office. It seems there's some security mechanism that prevents it from turning on. That's what I suspect. Does anyone know if it's a possibility? The laptop doesn't turn on even when I press the power button for 20 seconds.

Any suggestions?

[WAWood]

@AndreW-NdK 

The only security mechanism would be a BIOS password -- and that would not prevent the PC from initially starting.  You would just get a prompt for a password soon after it started up, and before you saw any kind of Windows login screen.

In some models, when the battery is stone dead, even though the laptop is connected to AC power, it will not start up.

You will need to take it into a laptop repair facility to see if they can swap in a battery to get it started.

[AndreW-NdK]

There's a smart card slot in there. Do you think it can affect the powering up issue? Smart cards are used for some authentication purposes. Might that be the case?

[WAWood]

@AndreW-NdK 

Not seeing the slot, my guess would be that it's for added storage, not for boot authentication.

Such authentication slots are typically internal to the PC or accessed through a door that can be secured -- because if those cards were used to control access, then being easily able to remove them (as in an external slot) would tend to defeat the purpose of the card.

[AndreW-NdK]

[AndreW-NdK]

The SC (smart card) slot is on the top picture.

If you can also note that on the other side of the laptop there's an unmarked slot under the SIM card slot. Would you happen to know what is it?

[WAWood]

@AndreW-NdK 

Sorry no -- and the only slots listed in the HP specs are the external SIM slot and the SD media card slot.