Laptop won't boot. Shift lock blinks 3 long and 2 short.

[HoopyFroodAdams]

My 17" laptop refuses to boot, and shows the 3 long blinks, and 2 short blinks on the caplock key. I have removed memory modules one at a time, and tried to boot, but same thing. I used the Recovery Console and HP diagnostics and no issues have been found.

I finally booted by using a bootable USB thumb drive with the Recovery Console, and reloaded Windows 10. It booted up after the installation finished, and was able to be used. But when shut down and the power button pushed an hour later, same blinking shift lock key and no boot. Repeatedly pushing the ESC key, F1 key, F2 key, F8 key, or F10 key results in no reaction. Trying the Windows key and B key, or V key results in no reaction.

This laptop has 16 gig of memory, and a 512 gig Samsung SSD drive. I'm wondering the boot sector on the drive could be bad. SSD drives are cheap and am considering installing a new NVMe drive and try that.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[BeemerBiker]

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@HoopyFroodAdams wrote:

My 17" laptop refuses to boot, and shows the 3 long blinks, and 2 short blinks on the caplock key. I have removed memory modules one at a time, and tried to boot, but same thing. I used the Recovery Console and HP diagnostics and no issues have been found.

That code is a memory failure.  Either the memory sticks themselves or, less likely, the memory controller on the motherboard or in the CPU has problems.  You should not attempt a bios update when you have memory problems.

There is a windows memory test here but you need to boot windows first

Clean the contacts of the memory with a q-tip and alcohol . Use an air duster to ensure the memory socket is clear of any particles.  if the system still has problems then run an extensive memory test:

Download the free version of memtest86+ and create a usb boot drive.    This program can determine if the controller or the memory is at fault and handles newer ddr4 and ddr5.

[HoopyFroodAdams · Accepted solution]

Thank you BeemerBiker. You bumped me enough to recheck the memory sticks, there are two. I pulled both of them and tried an 8 gig stick of DDR4 2400 memory that I had sitting around, and it booted up several times with no issues. So I pulled it out, and put in the 8 gig OEM stick of 3200 DDR4, and it booted. Then I put in the 8 gig stick of PNY 3200 memory, and no boot. Pulled it back out and put the OEM stick back in, and no issues. So it would appear the PNY module is the culprit. I thought I had tried switching the modules before, but I think I wasn't thorough enough. I've ordered another stick of Crucial memory and we'll see how that goes. But for right now, the issue seems to be resolved.

I had run the HP Diagnostics memory tests and they showed the memory was fine, but that is not the case. Not sure what to make of that except to conclude the HD Diagnostics aren't worth much.

Anyway, thank you Beemer for the nudge.