HP Laptop Startup Problem Bypass
Posted by Chris (chris) on Oct 03 2009
Blog >> Public

Many HP Laptops have a startup problem where the machine never gets beyond the initial startup and continually restarts. The cycle lasts up to 10 or 15 seconds where the lights come on but there is no display. You may see the Hard Drive light flicker but not much happens. The machine then shuts down and immediately tries to restart again. This continues indefinitely.

I have managed to get past this and my bypass/solution might work for you. If it does, please provide a response to this item so we can see if this is unique to my machine or a more general bypass.

My Laptop (DV9201)

• Purchased in early 2007
• AMD processor (not Intel)
• Has the latest bios (issued in 2007 for AMD machines)
• Motherboard was replaced more than a year ago (by HP under extended warranty) because of a failure with the wireless facility.
• Runs Vista. I tried a new hard disk and used XP but I had the same problem.

The Problem
The symptoms are pretty consistent across a range of HP machines so it would seem that they probably all have a common cause. It is claimed that the NVIDIA chip has a problem that it can't cope with the heat generated in laptops. Mine fails when trying to boot (in the POST - Power On STart process) and continually restarts. From the many online postings that I've read, this is exactly what many other users have seen as well. There is an attempt underway to initiate a Class Action suit against NVidia for this problem. HP has a Limited Warranty Extension Progam but I believe that this only applies to machines with Intel processors. If you are inclined to pull the whole machine apart, this hardware fix might be worth a try. That uses a version of a BGA reflow (Ball Grid Array solder reflow). Here's the toaster oven version.

My Bypass
I tried many suggestions that I found when I was browsing postings for the problem. Most didn't work at all. This one has worked consistently for me but it may take a few tries.

When you start the machine, hold down the delete key as you press the power button on the machine. Keep holding the delete key until you see the initial HP Logo on the screen or until the boot fails and it shuts down. If it fails, then you need to shut it down and start over. To shut it down, hold the power button down until it shuts down and doesn't try to restart. Then start the procedure over again. In my experience, it will probably start within 5 tries but it might take more.

After It Starts
Once it starts up, what then?

I suggest that you immediately turn off the power saving options (Sleep and Hibernate). I have had problems with my machine trying to bring it back to life from either state. In some cases, Sleep was ok but not not consistently. I have had to force a reboot in a number of cases and then struggled to get it to start again.

Since I first encountered the problem in mid-July (now it's October), I have mostly left the machine running 7/24 (without any power saving). This has kept the laptop usable even though it isn't ideal. With the alternative being to make it a door-stop, it's the much better of the two. I experimented and shut it down overnight a few times, The first few time, it restarted ok and then it went into the restart loop again so I stopped shutting it down. I had the same experience with Sleep.

I can do a restart and this has worked every time so far. When there are Windows updates to be processed, it restarts the machine on its own and so far that has not been a problem. Generally, if the machine is hot, it seems to restart. It is mostly when it is allowed to get cold that the problem occurs. 

Your Feedback
I encourage you to try this and see if it works for you. Either way, I'd appreciate a response so I can find out if this bypass works for others (especially on other models and machines with Intel processors). If any of you have used the Limited Warranty Extension, did that really fix the problem or has it occurred again?

Chris

Last changed: Oct 06 2009 at 10:50 PM

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