Computer only starts up 1 in 20 times - Help needed

[KingManULTRA]

I have Vista (and actually also XP on a separate partition) and nowadays my computer doesn't start up 95% of the time.

I pres the start botton, the CPU briefly does something...and then nothing. Blank screen.

If I keep trying I eventually get to the motherboard/HP screen and the PC starts normally.

The only thing I remember doing recently is to try and fix my wireless internet connection. I enabled certain HP services and stuff but got rid of those again. I also changed the boot order so that the wireless card boots first, but now I tried removing the wireless card from the laptop altogether.

[AmIdYfReAk]

So, i would assume its a lappy?

its usually a little harder to get the correct issue with Laptops, But is the charger keeping the laptop charged?

go you have a multimeter? Check the voltage coming out of the charger.
Make sure its the correct Volts ( it should be labeled both on the charger and on the lappy itself.

Have you ran something like Memtest+ for any duration of time? ( there is a bootable CD out there.. google it )

Have you noticed any crashes or anything?

Uhhh, Have you tried without any of the removable expantions ( CD-rom, wifi, floppy, etc ) in the lappy?

[Fender]

Don't turn it off.

[axbaby]

there should be a light on your laptop that indicates that the power supply is plugged in and charging batteries.
see if that light is on.

heat .. make sure your not hindering your laptops ability to draw and expel air.

remember bios settings then boot with the bios defaults .. you may have changed something by accident

on a pc we would blame power supply, memory, cpu, motherboard, loose connection or cooling

[AmIdYfReAk]

Ax, for some laptop's the charge light would come on with the wrong voltage, that is why i mentioned to check it

My "Crap-Lap" that i rescued from the trash will say its charging at 15V, But have some issues.. the Charger is rated at 18V, then i feed it that... Bob's your uncle..

[obsidian]

CMOS battery?

[AmIdYfReAk]

CMOS battery?

Wow, i cant believe that i forgot that!

That could cause a Host of unstability issues with a laptop.

[KingManULTRA]

The problem happens even with a fully charged battery, regardless of whether it is plugged into the outlet or not. Also, I have used the same charger and outlet for ages.

Laptop has plenty of heat. Problem even happens when I turn it on after a long time and it is quite cool.

How do I know if I have a CMOS battery (HP Pavilion dv2000)? This might be the battery (no clue for sure though):
http://www.upgrademaster.com/pavilion-d ... 43164.html

Also, how do I totally disable my CD-Rom drive without physically removing it? Is uninstalling in the device manager sufficient?

Also, what button gets me to the BIOS part for removing devices? The thing only starts up 1 in 20 attempts now.

[AmIdYfReAk]

Thats not your cmos battery, its located inside of the lappy and its a small round watch battery.

it should be doing ~3.3-3 Volts.


and when i mentioned about trying it without anything in it, i was talking about Physically, so removing the cd-rom/etc out of it.

but lets Focus on the Cmos batt.

i'll check around to see if i can find where it is in that laptop.

[AmIdYfReAk]

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... 15&lang=en

that is all i found on the website, They don't mention the Cmos Battery at all.

Whenever those rather simple things don't work, they just say to send the laptop in for servicing.

This may be an odd question, but the laptop is not under Warranty, right?

[obsidian]

I don't know for sure that the CMOS battery is dead and is causing the problem, but considering the symptoms, it is certainly a likely culprit.

CMOS batteries in laptops may be located in different places depending on the model. It may be located in one of those access hatches on the bottom of the laptop, so just pop it open, find out the battery type, pick up a replacement for $5-10 and swap it out. Worst case scenario, the battery isn't located in a visible place and you'll have to disassemble the laptop to get to the motherboard (only do so if it's out of warranty and it's the last option since this may be risky).

Laptop CMOS batteries are usually just normal coin batteries, usually a CR2025 with a 2-pin lead and wrapped up in shrink wrap. Laptop coin batteries are NOT easily available in many stores and may be expensive ordering one after shipping costs and everything (~$30), but you can easily make your own with a normal coin battery of the same type (~$3). Just disassemble the shrink wrap of the original battery and salvage the lead wires. Then solder the leads onto a replacement coin battery of the same type observing polarity and wrap it up in shrink wrap or electrical tape. I've done the same thing with cordless phones, replacing my NiCad battery with a NiMH for much better battery life.


Some laptops just have a normal desktop battery socket which makes finding a replacement much easier.


Some Googling and I found some more info...

According to this, your replacement battery is part number 417076-001, which is a CR2032. Like this one.

Replacement should be pretty easy, it looks like it's right underneath the hard drive panel (just right of the Windows license sticker) for the dv2000.

[KingManULTRA]

I found the CMOS battery. I also removed the regular laptop battery as a test and tried to re-seat the RAM (seemed fine before). Now, the computer starts up 9/10 times. Perhaps the CMOS battery is starting to die. I'll monitor the situation and get a new CMOS battery if problems persist. Thanks.

[SoM]

since when do CMOS batteries fail?

i've never had one crap out since 1990

ahh it's an HP, figures then

[AmIdYfReAk]

Som, i've had about 9 Batt's die on me... two of them where in laptop's.

When a computer is plugged in, it go's off of the constant 3.3V rail of the PSU.. but if you leave it un-plugged/removied from the computer/etc it will go off of the Cmos batt.

Laptop's overever, go off of the Cmos basically 24/7 unless powered on wile plugged in.

[AmIdYfReAk]

Laptop CMOS batteries are usually just normal coin batteries, usually a CR2025 with a 2-pin lead and wrapped up in shrink wrap. Laptop coin batteries are NOT easily available in many stores and may be expensive ordering one after shipping costs and everything (~$30), but you can easily make your own with a normal coin battery of the same type (~$3). Just disassemble the shrink wrap of the original battery and salvage the lead wires. Then solder the leads onto a replacement coin battery of the same type observing polarity and wrap it up in shrink wrap or electrical tape. I've done the same thing with cordless phones, replacing my NiCad battery with a NiMH for much better battery life.

thats what i had to do with my "Crap-lap" thinkpad ( pre-lenovo ).. when i tested the batt with my multimeter, it was putting out 2.1V ( ouch )

Pulled a CR2032 out of a remote for an old Car HU that i had, taped it up with the Tabs, And BAM! she's been great for ~3 months thus far.

[KingManULTRA]

Darn...now it starts up only 1 in 40 attempts.

Mmm...a new CMOS battery it is. And perhaps that Ram test?

[AmIdYfReAk]

yessir!

Here is a link to memtest,
http://www.memtest.org/download/2.10/me ... 10.iso.zip

That is a Bootable ISO file, pop it in, boot it, and it will do the rest.. Leave it run for a little wile ( Min 4 hours, MAx.... well.. how ever long you can stand it )

I'm not sure if its a Thinkpad kinda thing, but When i run HWmonitor on the lappy, it actually says the volts that its putting out.
so you may want to give that a shot as well, heres a link:

32-bit: http://www.cpuid.com/download/HWMonitor_112.zip
64-bit: http://www.cpuid.com/download/HWMonitor64_112.zip

[KingManULTRA]

I need to track down some empty CDs before I can do this.

Btw, does anyone know when, with my HP laptop, the wireless card doesn't seem to work? Oddly enough, it isn't even in the device manager. If I go to the BIOS and enable the device, it is there when I boot-up the PC (it doesn't work) but disappears again the next time I boot-up. My wireless services are all enabled, as is the HP wireless switch under the keyboard.

[AmIdYfReAk]

Your Cmos bat is low/dead...

its not holding the settings...

Thats your whole issue

[obsidian]

$3 for a generic coin battery and a piece of electrical tape. You waiting for Christmas?

[KingManULTRA]

$3 for a generic coin battery and a piece of electrical tape. You waiting for Christmas?

Ordered it already.

[KingManULTRA]

Crap...new CMOS batter didn't work. Will try ram test.

[R00k]

I also changed the boot order so that the wireless card boots first, but now I tried removing the wireless card from the laptop altogether.

Umm, is your laptop still trying to boot to your wireless network card?

Have you tried resetting your BIOS/CMOS settings back to factory default?

[KingManULTRA]

It turns out that HP released a BIOS update to fix the problem of the wireless network card not showing up in the device driver and being unusable.

So now I have wireless. I'll see if this BIOS update has fixed the other problem also.

[AmIdYfReAk]

great to hear man!