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Roy Wall
02-28-2006, 12:31 AM
Once I hit the power button, I hear the CD drive give a little rattle - but NO LIGHT on the hard drive. The screen is blank - power is on - but nothing. All I can do is hold down the power button till it clicks off.

Did this a couple times last week; now it looks like it's dead in the water..

Any thoughts??? Loose connection to the HD - so it's not spinning up?
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HP ze4900 - 2yrs old.... added 512 mb ram to it around Jan 20th.

Windows XP (home ed.)......centrino

Mike Evertsen
02-28-2006, 1:06 AM
mine did that when the HD died.
I bought a new HD off ebay.

Ian Abraham
02-28-2006, 1:55 AM
Remove the hard disk and try powering the laptop up, it should try and boot, and tell you there is a problem with the hard disk or that it cant find an operating system. If thats the case, get a new drive. If it still wont try to boot... ummm.. thats bad:(

Ian

Joe Pelonio
02-28-2006, 8:26 AM
If the boot sequence starts with the CD, it could be the problem. Is there a CD in it? If so remove it and tryt again. If not, I'd try to boot from the original boot "rescue" cd if you have one and see if you get a cd error.

George Kretschmann
02-28-2006, 7:28 PM
Has it been dropped??? if so it could be something inside came loose or broke if not possible HD gone bad. From my past experiance with the hard drive lasting 2 years and turning them off daily increases the problem.

Check this forum out I have used it when I had problems and the guys there are good.http://forums.infoprosjoint.net/...thx gk;)

Matt Meiser
02-28-2006, 8:02 PM
Try just removing and reinserting everything that removes including the hard drive a couple times. That may make it work if the problem is dirty contacts.

Roy Wall
02-28-2006, 11:15 PM
Thanks guys.....still working on it!

The sequence of the CD drive jiggling has always been normal.

It booted up miraculously this afternoon......I went to the HP website and updated the BIOS, etc..everything I could..

Went to dinner at 7pm and regrettably turned it off.........its dead in the water again!!

Matt, I had every screw in the back off but couldn't get the cover off for some reason.... I was hoping to check a loose connection...

George K. - I haven't dropped it yet.......but I'm getting closer to it.

Matt Warfield
02-28-2006, 11:32 PM
If you've taken it completely apart, inspect for any cracks in the boards. Also, if you have a deoxit pen, clean the memory socket and reinstall the memory.

The biggest issue with laptops is the heat. Essentially, for most computer components, every 10C rise cuts its life in half. You could have a few components on the mainboard going out of tolerance and intermittently allowing it to function properly. However, doesn't sound like the case if it works well after it boots up. I would also check the voltage on the battery and power supply to ensure proper output.

Ken Fitzgerald
02-28-2006, 11:38 PM
I've had some issues with previous laptops where the internal fans locked up and intermittantly it would overheat and fail. Check to see if you have airflow when you turn it on.

Ben Roman
03-01-2006, 11:35 AM
Sounds like a HD problem. Visit www.foxtec.com (http://www.foxtec.com) for a replacement. I own the company so all woodworkers get a discount:o :p .

Ben

Joe Pelonio
03-01-2006, 11:56 AM
George K. - I haven't dropped it yet.......but I'm getting closer to it.
If you do that don't just drop it, throw it out a high window.

Seriously if the power supply is failing it probably wouldn't be trying to access the CD drive. Try this:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=411