I think my laptop computer crashed- HELP!

[Rot 911]

Last night, while perusing the Pelican Board, the screen on my laptop started to flicker. Went off and on a few times and then nothing but a black screen. I tried to reboot several times and it would do the same thing over and over. Only difference is it would reboot itself a few times before completely going black. I tried to boot in safe mode with no success. The laptop is an HP, about 4 years old. The hard drive just pops out of the bottom of the machine. Is it possible to just take the hard drive out and get someone to retrieve the data off of it? I don't care if the computer can be fixed, I just want my pictures, documents, etc. I back up the computer, just not often enough. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[dhoward]

Can you attach a regular CRT to it?
I had the same thing happen to me, backlight in the LCD went bad. Laptop worked fine, just couldn't see it...

[Dave L]

I have had my HP/Compaq laptop crap out on me 3 times, LAST MONTH.

From what you describe it sounds like the screen, video card or conection may be dead. Have you tried hooking the laptop up to an external monitor? If this works I would back everything up to an external harddrive or CD's.

I cant see why you couldnt take the harddrive out and plug it into another computer. The only exception would be if there is a problem with the actual drive. With my laptop the motherboard was bad and would short out the harddrives after a weeks use.


I hope you have better luck.

[Rot 911]

Thanks guys I will try that tonight and literally "see" what happens! I am not too hopeful in that it appears to keep trying to reboot. I would think if it was just a video card or bad screen it would not keep trying to reboot.

[SolReaver]

I am a PC tech. Worse case you can get a Laptop drive hooked up to a pc with an adapter (8$) and transfer data. I have done this dozens of times. The actual drive can even be corrupted and you can still read data off of it with specialized applications.

It may not be a video card, sounds more like a motherboard or connection. The reboot means it is not passing POST, so there is likely a hardware fault somewhere. Good luck

[Joeaksa]

Do you hear any beeps when it starts up or reboots? The POST that is mentioned above will tell you of errors if there are any. If its beeping once, or three or four times, its telling you something. Then you need to find out which kind of BIOS it has, then look up the POST codes (both on the internet) and that will tell you a lot.

How about sticking a floppy in the laptop and see if it will boot off of a startup disk? If it does this and comes up with a DOS prompt, then you may have a bad hard drive but until you have a bit more information its just a guess.

Considering the snow and ice in Mid-Mo, you probably have some time on your hands to troubleshoot it!

joe

[Rot 911]

Thanks guys for the additional advice. Sol I suspect it probably is a motherboard problem, but am going to try using a different monitor and also use Joe's suggestion and see if it will reboot off a floppy disk.

[Icemaster]

If its a hardware problem i.e. mother board or video, you wont make it past the post even if you try to boot from floppy. Very unlikely that your drive is cooked from the description.

What model HP?

[Joeaksa]

Kurt,

Make sure that the floppy is a bootable version. Otherwise stick it in and see what happens.

If it does not boot then you might check the BIOS settings and make sure that "boot from floppy" is enabled then try again.

Joe

[RickM]

As mentioned it could be the backlight or video section of the MB...some laptops have separate cards as well. On Dells a common problem is the failute of an Inversion Board. This is a small circuit board at the base of the screen. Inexpensive to replace and fixes the prob a majority of the time...kind of like the DME relay on a Carrera.

The other ideas are excellent as well. Plugging an external CRT in should tell you alot.

[Joeaksa]

Kurt,

If you do get it to boot but no screen, turn it off then plug another monitor in the back. Let it boot then hit the ALT and F8 keys at the same time (thats what it is on my Dell, should be marked on the keys) and that will switch the video output over to the jack on the back.

Joe

[Moneyguy1]

Symptoms sound like our Compaq desktop. It is a random occurance, sometimes going for months between the times it tanks. I have a neighbor who is a computer tech, 20+ years of experience working at IBM. We have checked everything from software to memory to hard drive. Since the problem is intermittent it is difficult to find. I suspect a bad solder joint or the like on the motherboard, but flexing does not make the problem become evident. I would never buy another HP/Compaq machine. The company tried to renege on a memory stick that went bad and it took a complaint to the State Attorney General to gat a positive response.

[Rot 911]

Moneyguy I agree with you. I have had numerous small problems with this laptop and now this.

[beepbeep]

With little luck it will be only backlight or LCD connecttor that's toast. In that case you should be able to connect external monitor to it and at least get you data transfered to better place. (Don't forget to switch on VGA output)

If it's a motherboard failure, you can always take out ther HD, connect it to IDE adapter and connect it to stationary PC to get your data transfered.

2.5 inch HD's are tough, if your file system isn't corrupt, you'll be able to get your data from it. Even if it is, it's possible to extract it.

[slodave]

Originally posted by Kurt V
Thanks guys for the additional advice. Sol I suspect it probably is a motherboard problem, but am going to try using a different monitor and also use Joe's suggestion and see if it will reboot off a floppy disk.

If things are ok with an external monitor, I'd say the FL inverter has gone south(could be the FL too). Our little laptops have fluorescent lamps at the base of the LCD.

Dave

[Joeaksa]

Kurt,

Well???? What happened?

One other thing that Goran touched upon is that they now have small USB enclosures that you can use to get your data back with if the laptop does not work any longer.

Both of these (two out of hundreds on Ebay) will take your old laptop hard drive inside. You then plug the USB cable into the device and a laptop or desktop computer and it shows up as an additional drive. Copy the data you want to save and BACK IT UP next time!

I use these enclosures all the time. When I head overseas I take an extra hard drive with me full of videos. Am addicted to CSI and so on and I copy them from my TIVO then to the external drive. This way I can watch the tv I want to out on the road.

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-2-5-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-Anti-Shock-On-Sale_W0QQitemZ190059179786QQihZ009QQcategoryZ41911 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-2-5-Laptop-hard-drive-Enclosure-External-case_W0QQitemZ290058398647QQihZ019QQcategoryZ74949 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Joe

PS you also might want to join and look into this Yahoo group. Its called "Laptop Repair" and is very good with issues like this. I am a member and we all pitch in and help people who are having issues with their laptops. Its free and a good group of people.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Laptop_Repair/?yguid=8713648

[Rot 911]

Joe and others, well I don't think it is the video card. I can get into the bios settings and the screen is just fine. I tried to reboot off the installation and recovery CD and it starts off ok, screen clear, but after a few minutes the screen gets full of static and then the computer crashes without ever getting through the complete boot process. I am going to see if I can have a local repair place either try to fix the problem, if inexpensive, or at least copy my hard drive onto an external drive for me.

[Joeaksa]

Kurt,

Post something on the Yahoo group first if you can. Its free and full of computer repair techs who will help you for free.

Wonder if the memory or CPU is heating up and going South?

[dhoward]

Could be memory. Laptops often use a shared memory area for video. Something that might work, if you have two memory cards, is swap slots...

[Rot 911]

Joe and Dhoward, I have already done a bit of research on the Yahoo board and both of you are suggesting what I have read there, a possible problem with the memory cards. Memory is fairly cheap so I may try to swap the chips out.