tomtomg

Hey guys

Right, basically, a while back, when plugged in and running, my laptop turned itself off and would not start again. When it was in this state, even the charging light would'nt come on, or any lights or hp quicklaunch buttons wouldnt start it so it wasnt the power button. (there was a very faint very high piched sound beeping when plugged in though)

Long story short, i paid a shop to diagnose it, but told them not to fix it if it was goin to cost more than £50-60 as its not worth, so with a quote of £120 for a new power-supply and motherboard, i turned them down, but they made the laptop work again! It seems they just reset something on the inside? but they told me not to use the power supply again on it as its faulty?

what i want to know is what they might have done to get it going again and if a pleb can do it themselves if i plug it in again. (the reason i would even consider plugging it in again is i dont trust the shop because they tried to steal RAM from the laptop but i caught them and got it back)

If the laptop is working(it is) should i plug it in again and be able to do a magic reset as there clearly isnt too much wrong with the motherboard they wanted to replace.

I dont really want to pay for a different diagnosis... So any thoughts?

Laptop is HP Pavillon DV9022. Three and a half years old. Centrino duo. XP.
oh yeah, there is a part of the motherboard that i burnt a bit, techie said its the part of the motherboard that relates to the keyboard?and it overloaded? the keyboard was smegged ages ago so i disconnected the ZIF and used a usb keyboard.

plug in or not plug in. or new cheapo powersupply off e-bay? or nothing and regular magic resets?

any opinions welcom and all usefull
pre-cheers guys/gals

TriggerFinger

You can check the adapter yourself using a multimeter. Plug the adapter on the wall outlet but do not plug the output jack into the laptop. Measure the voltage from the output jack. The voltage should match the one indicated on the label. If you hear the any sound coming from the adapter as soon as you plugged it in the wall outlet, do not proceed. It is already proof that your adapter is faulty.

csc2000e

I myself had a similar problem with my HP Pavilion Laptop. Turns out, it was eligible for a free repair from HP. Because something with the motherboard was defective. This is the link to that site:http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...77&lc=en&cc=us
Check to see if your laptop is eligible. I'm glad I did, because now my laptop runs better than ever.

tomtomg

no, not elligible for the free-fix unfortunately. i do like free stuff!!

but any ideas how the techie at the shop got the laptop going without replacing anything?!?

also, when i have the adapter checked on a multi-meter, what is an acceptable overdose of voltage, if any?

csc2000e

It's possible that he reseated the RAM. I'm not too informed on the hardware and such with laptops. Perhaps it overheated as well. And it shut off to keep itself from being damaged. That would point to a bad power supply I would think. But TriggerFinger should be able to help you with the voltage stuff.

TriggerFinger

What did you get when you measured the output voltage? What is the rated output voltage as per the label on the adapter?

tomtomg

Sorry about the delay replying guys, had to get my hands on a multimeter.

The voltage reading is 17V out of the 19V the charger said it would deliver.
I figured that was close enough so i plugged it in and am now writing this on my working laptop!!!

I have no idea what has happened, why the laptop failed originally, or how it is going again so I will continue to use the charger at 17 Volts untill it dies again.

Any ideas what may have caused the fail, or how the laptop was fixed without any new parts?

TriggerFinger

How much current should the charger deliver (in AMPS based on its label)?