13 replies to this topic

[cardie]

Ive had this HP G6000 now since about 2008 and from all the reviews ive read saying it is the worst laptop in the world ive had very minimal problems with it! Its been through 1 charger... and thats it, apart from sometimes the speakers dont come back on if youve had headphones plugged in.

 

Anyway a few days ago I had turned it off, (went to hibernate) and left it, when I turned it back on, I press power, comes on as normal then about 3 seconds later it will turn off, not even enough time to get to the bios screen, about 5 seconds later it repetes the same process without me touching it and it will do this until the battery goes flat or I take the battery out.

 

The only way I could get it to boot was to take out the Main board battery for half an hour, then it will would fire up until the next time I turned it off.

 

So when I had finally gotten it to come on I downloaded an updated official BIOS for the system and flashed it. This was one off the HP website.

 

It said on the dialogue box it will shut down and restart it self. So it shut down, 10 minutes later still hadnt even attempted to turn back on.

 

So I pressed the power button and.... Yes, nothing happens, when I say nothing happens I mean it DOES NOT come on, no response from the button or anything.

 

So after takeing the batterys out etc trying hard resets im still at a loss. Its as if the button doesnt work, far as I can see there is no way to get it to come on!

 

Ive even left all the batteries out for 24 hours, left it on charge for about 5 hours and still its completly dead. Although it will charge the battery and I get the battery charging light which goes off when its full, thats the only thing that works now!!

[Deathclaw]

It's f***ed.

 

If you installed a firmware update and it failed you've bricked it.

 

The issues you've been having sound like dry solder joints from ROHS solder (it's lead free, crap basically).

 

I would start looking for a new laptop.

[cardie]

yay!

[adb]

Agreed, with Deathclaw, completely f***ed now, just strip it for parts & bung on ebay. If it had power issues i'd of been wary of bios updates in the first place.

 

i had a HP DV6 that was flawless for about 3 years then it just died all of a sudden, same symptons as yours with the battery etc. Would of reflowed the GPU on mine myself but after having the laptop half apart & seeing where the ribbon cables were it was a no-no.

[Daryl]

surely though if the BIOS update is specific for that model/type, and it fails whilst updating, there is an app that lets you at least go into BIOS mode to either reset the configuration or something?

 

I mean, imagine doing just that with a computer/laptop that is just a couple of years old with an updated BIOS update available... it is a hell of a lot of money to throw away because of an internal update - there must be safeguards, surely?

[stanmarsh14]

Right, best off if you have a chat with Guitar (Nick), as he has quite a bit of experence with HP's products.

Additionaly, some laptops come with a secondry / recovery BIOS, so it maybe possible to recover via that.

Think a bit of in depth reading concerning BIOS updates is in order, to see if you can force some sort of recovery mode.

[adb]

surely though if the BIOS update is specific for that model/type, and it fails whilst updating, there is an app that lets you at least go into BIOS mode to either reset the configuration or something?

 

I mean, imagine doing just that with a computer/laptop that is just a couple of years old with an updated BIOS update available... it is a hell of a lot of money to throw away because of an internal update - there must be safeguards, surely?

The safeguard is that the laptop wants a 50%+ full battery and to be connected via AC power. & that you check, double check & triple check it's the right version, HP's bios even detect system tag to make sure it's right.

Right, best off if you have a chat with Guitar (Nick), as he has quite a bit of experence with HP's products.

Additionaly, some laptops come with a secondry / recovery BIOS, so it maybe possible to recover via that.

Think a bit of in depth reading concerning BIOS updates is in order, to see if you can force some sort of recovery mode.

 

Never known laptops to have secondary bios, I know some gaming motherboards do & newer high end gpu's but HP are cheap skates in that respect so doubt an old laptop like that will have it.

[Deathclaw]

From the issues described, as I pointed out, it sounds to me like the solder is/has failed. The laptop would not power on unless left for a while which indicates movement of the PCB. Hence when it warms up it flexes, breaking BGA contacts.

 

If you tried to bios flash it whilst it was suffering from that sort of a problem then we're talking 99.9% certainty that it's f***ed.

 

It's only been recently that one company (Asus) have offered any sort of bios recovery, via a USB 'flashback'. The only motherboards that I am aware of carrying two bioses are Gigabytes, they have for years.

 

Never, ever heard of a laptop having any sort of bios recovery. In fact, come to think of it why would they? you brick it you send it back to them for costly repairs.

[cardie]

Unfortunatly its in the 0.01%.

 

Its been sat on the floor for the past 3 days, I was going to take the HDD out and start copying all my files off it, when I opened the lid the charging light flashed? same thing that would happen if the battery is too low to start when you PUSH THE POWER BUTTON? Which I didnt! I simply opened the lid and it started flashing? So I then pressed the power button and it flashed again? So now the button works? I plugged the charger in and yes, it turned straight on as if nothing had happend? Apart from Firefox going ape shit with security certificates etc because the Time is wrong.

 

But I havent got anything up about the BIOS, about any changes etc? Its working fine aswell, if anything its a bit laggy. As im on it now

 

Its a bit of a surprise to me! Going from a non responsive laptop, even by power button, cmos battery out etc etc etc AFTER a BIOS update, to turning on as if nothing happend?

 

What would be the safest thing to do next? If its started to work now would it be an idea to try and restart it? Or is it one of them 'back everything up' jobs?

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[Daryl]

Backup everything to either disk images of your PC if you think it is OK now or to external HDD for all your work, folders, files documents etc... and make sure you back up and save to your external HDD every time you use any app or save any image etc.

In other words use your external HDD as your 'My Folder' option and not the standard automatic 'C' drive on your laptop

[cardie]

I dont have an external HDD or anything like that All I have is a 2GB USB Pen at the moment!

 

One cheeky shut down and il see what happens ! YOLO!

[cardie]

Right it KIND OF worked... It came back on, then started coming on and off again BUT it now stays on if I press ESC... but it doesnt do anything no HDD activity or booting?

 

If its staying on if I press a particular key could it still be down to soldering etc?

[launton]

It's dying, install google drive you get 16 gig of space and dump all your important stuff there, otherwise you'll lose it. Now. 

[shaun2097]

I have been repairing laptops for years now, and certain HP models have major solder problems with the chipset (esp if an nvidia chipset) and gpu.

when i come across this problem, i strip the motherboard naked, put x4 screws in the boards corner holes to act as "legs" to keep the board off ground level. heat up the kitchen oven, and then put the board in the oven on a sheet of tin foil (the four corner screws should keep the board from contacting the tin foil) after around 10mins, check to see if the solder is "shiny" (i know, bad description)

if it has, then turn off the oven (DO NOT OPEN OR KNOCK THE OVEN, otherwise if the solder has not set, you will dislodge all the componets on the mobo)) wait for 15 mins and then remove the board and let it cool. reassemble laptop and with any luck the board will have been "re-flowed" and all will be good (hopefully)

 

I suggest that you make this your "last resort" because you could seriously "over cook" the mobo and it will be proper f***ed then!!

 

i have used this method on many, many hp laptops (esp the CQ range) and 90% of the time it does work, (especially with the symptoms you have given) but i do know its a "crude" method (you can even fix dead graphics cards and ps3 and xbox 360 this way (if its a solder problem)

 

Just search youtube and you will see hundreds of guides to "re-flowing" boards in this way (yes, i know its crude, but with good timing it can work)

 

Or look on ebay for "re-flowing services" proably will only cost you about £25 to send it to a professional company with the right kit.

and when you strip the board, make sure the bios battery is also removed!!!!!!