Pavilion laptop powers up for 3 seconds then shuts off.

[dondd]

This laptop sat on the shelf for several years when I decided to find out what was wrong with it.  Plugged it in, turned it on and I got a scree to start windows normally or run a repair function because it didn't shut down normally the last time it was used.  I chose the repair option, it ran for a while and when I came back it was shut off.  I hit the power switch expecting it to either boot up or tell me it couldn't fix the problem.  Instead, the lights came on for about 3 seconds, and it shut off.  I tried several times...no joy. 

 As I haven't used it in years, I don't care about any files or programs that are installed.  I can start from scratch, if necessary.  How do I get it to boot up?  Appreciate any input! 

dondd

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

If you want the files just pull out the hard drive from the door on the bottom and connect it externally to another computer. What you have there is one of the infamous AMD-based dv6000 models that spawned the biggest laptop-related class action lawsuit (against nVidia not HP) and silent recall (by HP) of any model ever. From about 2008 to about 2011-2012 those things accounted for well over half the traffic on the equivalent of this Board at that time. In a nutshell, the video chip is defectively attached to the motherboard and causes slow death of the laptop. You might get it to turn on occasionally when it is cool but once it warms up you are seeing that it will not. There are services that will temporarily repair the chip on the motherboard and you might get a year of use out of it but why would you spend any money on a 10 year old obsolete laptop? GIve it a decent burial and move on.  

[dondd]

Thanks Huffer,

After serious, gut wrenching, and teeth clenching consideration of your recommendation (about 12 milliseconds), I've decided that you are 100% correct !!!!

I wasn't planning on spending anything (other than a new battery, if necessary) on this boat anchor.  I tinker with pc's and this is the first time I've encountered this symptom, so I wasn't sure how to approach it.  I was going to pull the HDD and stick it in my SATA adapter to see if it passed a few tests.   And if I could repair it, I would upgrade it to Win 7 and give it to one of my grandkids.  But, given your robust decimation of this pc, I will take it to BestBuy for recycling.  Thanks for responding.  I would never have figured out the issue with the video board.

Live and learn!

dondd