Laptop won't boot for some reason

[paulsiu]

I have a bit of a strange problem. I have a HP dv5-1150us that I attempted to upgrade to windows 8, but during upgrade, it failed and refused to boot from hard disk or CD or USB. When I boot the drive, I get the HP logo, then the hard drive or DVD spins, but then a blank screen.

Here's what I did so far:

1. Attempt to boot from the DVD. After trying different DVD including the windows recovery, and a linux disk, it does not work. The drive spins, but then blank screen. The same disk works on a different computer.
2. Attempt to boot from USB, some issue. This eliminates a bad DVD drive. USB key boots fine on other machine.
3. Reload BIOS settings from default. This sometimes clear up issues if your computer gets stuck in hibernate mode. Nothing.
4. Run hard drive test and memory test from the BIOS. All test passed.
5. Open up computer and reseat hard drive. Nothing.
6. Open up and reseat memory. Nothing.
7. Remove CMOS battery and reinstall. CMOS settings is wiped out, but it still does not boot.

This is a weird problem. Normally, the drives are spinning up but is not booting from the drive. It seems more like a motherboard issue since it affects all drives. I can't figure out what happened.I am fairly certain it was not caused by the windows 8 upgrade.

Paul

[MathWizard]

Go into the BIOS and change the boot drive order to have
Removable drive or USB first in the order. Some computers
allow younto press F12 when the system is coming up to
specify a boot drive.

My guess is that the Windows 8 install did not work and you now
are trying to boot this bad OS from the hard-drive and USB is being ignored.

The DVD or CD and before that the floppy drive was usually
first in the boot list so that you could just slip a floppy or
DVD in and run from that if the hard drive failed. Now
though some systems come with the USB and DVD drives not first,
for ease of use or security reasons.

[paulsiu]

Did change the drive order in the BIOS, I had it boot from DVD first and then from USB first, but it made no difference. I actually did not even upgrade the machine to win8, it was just running upgrade assistant. The fact that it won't boot from CD or USB would indicate more likely a hardware problem.

Paul

[Bengineer]

I see you've become a victim of the MS secret plan to force hardware upgrade when upgrading to windows 8.

Admittedly, most of the following is a stretch. So the MB boots the BIOS. Does the BIOS ID the drives ok? I'm thinking so, since they spin up when you attempt to boot. AHCI vs ide mode for the drives? You might try unplugging all but one drive. Is it plugged in? Maybe the PS +5 is ok, but not +/-12... Battery & brick good? Any prior glitches with the graphics / screen? It seems pretty new to have the MB/caps go bad. Good luck.

[paulsiu]

Yes, the BIOS does ID the drive and it can test the drive and say that its working perfectly. I swap in different drives and none of them boot. The BIOS does not have options to change mode. It does have a delay start, which I adjusted and it didn't do anything. The drive spins and then blank screen.

The battery has died and no longer holds a charge. Frankly, I think the computer has always been a bit glitchy. When the HDMI is plug into a TV, half the time it won't boot and the keyboard starts doing blinking lights. One day, windows update install a driver that cause IE to crash because it was attempting to do hardware rendering. I turned off iE's hardware rendering to eliminate the problem. The touchpad button started coming apart. The network occassionally maintain connection to the router, but loses internet connection (probably a driver problem), then I lose sound to one account (probably a registry problem). The machine seems haunted. You think bad caps can prevent a drive from booting? It could be the power supply, but I rather doubt it. The power supply is just a standard laptop brick.

My wifes HP has had to have just about everything replaced (under warranty). My mom's HP Photosmart developed bulging caps after about a year and kept displaying ink errors. I am not liking build quality of the HP of late.

Paul

[LadyGeek]

You shouldn't be doing a major upgrade on battery. This needs an absolutely reliable power supply - do it while plugged in. It also needs a reliable network connection, wired is best.

Plug it in for as long as it takes to get to full charge. With the power adapter plugged in, it has to boot the DVD. If not, you've got problems and hopefully have a backup of your data somewhere.

Do you have an original (whatever it came with) install CD / DVD? That has to work.

[Bengineer]

Bad capacitors was a stretch - you seem to have too much working. You mention HDMI & HW render, both tied to the graphics hardware. I wonder if it _is_ booting, you just have no graphics. Does the disk access seem like a norma boot or a quick blip & stop? I might be inclined to try something like the SystemRescueCd and boot it into VESA (low-res, lowest common denominator) graphics. If you're seeing the BIOS screen, your graphics card is booting & your LCD is working. You also might try hooking up an external monitor. If the HDMI isn't good, does it have a VGA port?

With a dead battery, you might be pulling a lot of power trying to charge it - will it boot with the battery removed?

It might just be time to cut your losses and recycle it.

Thinkpads & Toshibas have a good rep for reliability in my book, Dells, HP & Sony not so much, but that's historical, anecdotal experience and so not worth much.

[lemon-lyman]

Did you download the Windows 8 installation and burn it to DVD? Will another computer boot from this DVD? I'm wondering if this is not a bootable disc. Not every disc is.

If another computer will boot from it, some people suggest disabling AHCI mode in the BIOS for certain bootable CDs/DVDs. I would also try a different bootable CD/DVD. (there are plenty available for free download if you don't have access to any)

Good luck!

[paulsiu]

I mentioned that I tried several CD that boot on other machine but not the laptop. I also tried usb boot stick that worked on other computer but not this one. The system rescue CD boots into other machine but not this one. There are no achi mode in the bios.

It does not boot with the battery remove or in the bay. If this was a video issue, I probably wouldn't see a logo on boot and it would at least respond to the keypress. Something is probably fried.

Paul

[LazyNihilist]

I would suggest to burn a Knoppix cd. You can try booting from it to see if it boots.
If it boots, then backup your hard drive contents, format the hard drive and then try upgrading Windows.

[grok87]

I have a bit of a strange problem. I have a HP dv5-1150us that I attempted to upgrade to windows 8, but during upgrade, it failed and refused to boot from hard disk or CD or USB. When I boot the drive, I get the HP logo, then the hard drive or DVD spins, but then a blank screen.

Here's what I did so far:

1. Attempt to boot from the DVD. After trying different DVD including the windows recovery, and a linux disk, it does not work. The drive spins, but then blank screen. The same disk works on a different computer.
2. Attempt to boot from USB, some issue. This eliminates a bad DVD drive. USB key boots fine on other machine.
3. Reload BIOS settings from default. This sometimes clear up issues if your computer gets stuck in hibernate mode. Nothing.
4. Run hard drive test and memory test from the BIOS. All test passed.
5. Open up computer and reseat hard drive. Nothing.
6. Open up and reseat memory. Nothing.
7. Remove CMOS battery and reinstall. CMOS settings is wiped out, but it still does not boot.

This is a weird problem. Normally, the drives are spinning up but is not booting from the drive. It seems more like a motherboard issue since it affects all drives. I can't figure out what happened.I am fairly certain it was not caused by the windows 8 upgrade.

Paul

I would just buy a mac. I used to have HP/Compaqs. They gave me endless problems. HP is a company that has lost its way.