dv9700 won't power on -- 3 blinks from battery LED

[FeRD_NYC]

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@KBirman2012 wrote:

Then as a last resort I searched the "3 blinks from battery LED" and saw the following post from doug1234:

"I have the same problem, but accidently found how to get my laptop to work.  Press the Quicktime or DVD player button just to the right of the power button.  Apparently, according to my son who works for HP the wire to the power button needs to be reset or re-attached.  That's all I know for now, but my laptop does turn on.  I even bought a new battery, but didn't need it."

...so we tried it...and it actually worked!  The only difference was that I pressed the mute sound button just after the DVD player controls...anyway if you have this problem, there is hope!

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That's great news, I'm glad it worked out for you!

I'm curious, though: Now that youve taken that step to get the laptop to power up, is it "back to normal"? Meaning, can you now use the actual ("Real") Power button to turn the laptop on? Or do you have to use one of the media controls every time?

If the power button is now working normally, then that means there was something "confused" in the system that was causing it not to respond to the power button, and getting it to power up using the media keys somehow "reset" the power button (as doug1234 sort of alluded to in his post). That'd be an extremely weird type of failure, but if there are possible ways to bypass it then that'd be great information for other HP laptop owners to have, in case they encounter the same problem.

If your power button still doesn't work, and you have to use the media keys every time, then what you have is simply a laptop with a broken power button. It should always be possible to power the laptop on using some or all of the media keys, at least for many of HP's models. In fact, some of them (like the dv9700 I originally posted about) power on into a special "media-viewing" mode when the QuickPlay button is pressed, which starts up faster than booting all the way into Windows. The mode's intended for using the laptop like a portable DVD player, basically.

If you do have a broken power button, and you or anyone you know is brave enough to void your warranty (if you're still covered) and disassemble the laptop, replacements can be obtained pretty cheaply on eBay. It looks like the part number for your model's power board is DAUT7GB8A0, and I see an eBay listing right now for a used-but-tested replacement (with 30-day guarantee) for US $42 shipped.

Unfortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, I'm not seeing a downloadable copy of the service manual for your laptop's model line. The service manual for the dv9700 series is posted right on HP's support site! Perhaps it's because the HDX18 series is newer, and is still receiving support updates from HP. It's too bad, because having access to the service manual makes the job of opening up and working on the laptop a lot simpler & less dangerous.

[testube]

Just wanted to resurrect this forum thread with some slightly new information. I have an HP DV6 laptop that suddenly quit working, giving me the dreaded 3-blink light in lieu of powering up. Removing the battery and running from AC did not fix the problem. Nor did a different battery or power adapter. There is an HP support page that I found that states that the 3-blink is an error code for a memory problem. So I was getting ready to remove/reseat my memory, but was at the library and nobody there had a tiny screwdriver.

Then I noticed people on this thread talking about pressing a 'media' or 'quicktime' or DVD volume button next to the power button that somehow tricked their laptop into firing up. Well, my model doesn't have that type of button by the power button, but for some reason when I held down the speaker 'mute' button at the same time as the power button, it fired up like normal. The mute button is also the F11 key on my model - nowhere near the power button. But it worked.

Keeping my fingers crossed, I shut down the laptop. And when I went to power it back up again, using only the power button, it worked like it is supposed to (no mute button required). I tried shutting down and restarting several times, just to be certain. It is apparently back to normal.

I can't explain why this worked, but figured it was worth sharing.

Good luck.

[mumonline]

Hi,

I posted on this forum about my Hp having this problem.  Not a great help but I can now update on my HP. 

After giving up on it, we got a letter telling us that out 'free repair warrantee was running out in 2 weeks', now I thought it had run out already, but I rang up pretty quick (bought from PC World) and was told that indeed, I could still bring it in to be fixed. 

Off I went to hand it in at a store and he tried it with another power lead and of course it just did the '3 blinks' bit and that was it.

I've been looking for the slip with the fault listed, but afraid I've lost it.  However, I do remember that it was to do with the power connection inside and that it wasn't something easy I can remember.  (sorry!).   I'll  post again if I find it.  I do remember that what the guy said at the desk and what the slip said was different and that the slio wasn;t that illuminating. 😕  which is why I didn't post at the time.

Actually I'm quite surprised it's lasted up to now.  It's still working, but it does have 'crash' problems, whenever it does the automatic updates from Microsoft it has terrible problems, leadin to crashing and a day or two in 'recovery' before I can get it up and working again.  I feel it's on it's last legs.  In addition the battery life has dropped dramatically since the repair and now the wire has to be carefully 'held in place'  with a book or 2, or else the power doesn't reach the machine.  (that occurred some time later, but is getting worse and worse now)

Meanwhile 'old dell', although very slow and having had all software stripped, is still working as an internet only machine.  (HP was bought as a replacement!).   

Meanwhile our HP printer is so thirsty on ink that it's sat pretty much idle since I first posted.  Needless to say I've seriously fallen out of love with HP and will not only be sticking to Dell's but will never touch the printers again either.  Though I've still not found a decent printer, as they all seem to be rip offs.

I wish everyone the luck we had with fixing the machines.

[Stubroc]

This is very helpful to find such a lucid solution.  I appreciate your efforts on the behalf of others.
Thanks!

[andrealuvsuuu]

How can you charge your battery by using another machine? ?_?

[EvilChuckie]

I have 2 HP9000's and I had intermittent issues with battery "battery plugged, charging" (without actually charging the battery) "battery plugged in, Not charging" sometimes a RED X on the battery Icon or sometimes "no battery" and if I removed the battery sometimes this would change but the battery still would not charge! both of these laptops showed similar issues, after reading about the cable issue that connects the motherboard to the top cover (where the volume, Q, DVD control etc.) I disconnected the "top cover" from the first laptop and now the battery issue if fixed, on the second laptop I disconnected the "top cover" but the battery issue remained? so after lifting the keyboard and removing the "flat cable that connects the "top cover to the mother board, it to is now working perfectly.

:cathappy:

Now I could start to check out if its the same issue with both laptops either the cable or the small PC board under the top cover, but as they are now old models and I didn't need the touch buttons to work I left the cable out of them both, now I have 2 charging/working  laptops   apart from the CD/DVD player not working on both?? but that's for another day.