Laptop help

[jaywood]

I have an HP laptop. I have used it everyday for the past 3 or so years. I leave it plugged in usually because the battery has a life of ~1 minute.

Last night I came home to find the laptop had been turned off. (possible power outage - lightning, thunder, rain, wind) So I turned on the laptop. It immediately turned off. I got confused, so I tried it again. Same thing - it immediately turned off, only this time it decided to let out a whiff of smoke. At this point I was worried. So I took out the battery, turned it on, and once again it let out some more smoke :( The third time I turned it on (I waited about an hour before trying again) it showed me the "HP" logo on the startup screen just like it always does (lasts about 5 seconds), but it was very, very dim. It made the noise (start up noise) but nothing on the screen. It's a black screen.

That is as far as I have gotten. Looking for opinions on what I should do next.



I am going to hook up the laptop to my T.V. and see if I can get the laptop image on the tv.

Thanks r3v.

[imsotyerred]

fire is generally a good reason to stop trying/open it up and see what's going on.

Don't try it again wthout at least checking what's smoking ALSO keep an extinguisher handy

[jaywood]

Yes, will do.

Thread will be updated soon.

Opinions are welcome.

[Fusion]

HP's had (still do?) tons of problems with overheating and therefor parts coming off the PCB. Most had to have their mobo replaced.

[TurboJake]

HP's had (still do?) tons of problems with overheating and therefor parts coming off the PCB. Most had to have their mobo replaced.

Crack it open. If it puffed smoke, something got hot. And will be visible.

[Dermeister3]

Crack it open. If it puffed smoke, something got hot. And will be visible.

this. get out the smaller phillips head you have and split it open.

Also, my old HP had an overheating problem. Eventually fried the power supply b/c the fan was constantly on ultra high speed. In the future, I'd keep your laptop elevated with air flow underneath it to keep the fan ports clear. (if you already dont do this.

[Fusion]

And everyone who knows how should take their laptop apart once a year or vacuum the fan ports because a majority of overheating is caused by dust. Especially people using laptops in bed. The crap I've seen inside peoples electronics baffles my mind.

[spike68]

Try hitting with a hammer first.


But seriously, id probably just crack it open and see what it making it heat like that. If there was a power serge, then its tought to say what would burn first, but probably the power supply.
Usually if its doing that already, you might as well get a new one. Its probably cheaper to buy a new one that has the same specs since its a few years old now.

[jclar]

I have an HP laptop. I have used it everyday for the past 3 or so years. I leave it plugged in usually because the battery has a life of ~1 minute.

Last night I came home to find the laptop had been turned off. (possible power outage - lightning, thunder, rain, wind) So I turned on the laptop. It immediately turned off. I got confused, so I tried it again. Same thing - it immediately turned off, only this time it decided to let out a whiff of smoke. At this point I was worried. So I took out the battery, turned it on, and once again it let out some more smoke :( The third time I turned it on (I waited about an hour before trying again) it showed me the "HP" logo on the startup screen just like it always does (lasts about 5 seconds), but it was very, very dim. It made the noise (start up noise) but nothing on the screen. It's a black screen.

That is as far as I have gotten. Looking for opinions on what I should do next.



I am going to hook up the laptop to my T.V. and see if I can get the laptop image on the tv.

Thanks r3v.

If you see smoke you need to stop. Continuing to attempt to power the laptop on won't do anything but cause further damage.

fire is generally a good reason to stop trying/open it up and see what's going on.

Don't try it again wthout at least checking what's smoking ALSO keep an extinguisher handy

Bingo.

HP's had (still do?) tons of problems with overheating and therefor parts coming off the PCB. Most had to have their mobo replaced.

No. A laptop will power off much before it gets anywhere near hot enough to have components falling off of a PCB. Generally speaking a laptop won't get any higher than about 130C(in extreme cases) which is about 266F. Just to give you an idea, a soldering iron will generally operate around 365F or so, if memory serves correctly. While HP's(Pavilions) are piles of shit, they have never had a real problem overall with overheating and certainly not to this degree.

this. get out the smaller phillips head you have and split it open.

Also, my old HP had an overheating problem. Eventually fried the power supply b/c the fan was constantly on ultra high speed. In the future, I'd keep your laptop elevated with air flow underneath it to keep the fan ports clear. (if you already dont do this.

A fan at high speed will not burn out a power supply. The only issues you'll have from a fan running at full speed all of the time are premature fan failure. The power supply in a laptop is really your AC adapter that plugs into the wall. The problems OP is experiencing are likely not related to overheating at all, although keeping the laptop elevated is definitely good advice. Laptops don't fare so well on your lap.

And everyone who knows how should take their laptop apart once a year or vacuum the fan ports because a majority of overheating is caused by dust. Especially people using laptops in bed. The crap I've seen inside peoples electronics baffles my mind.

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend you take your own laptop apart. It's usually a real pain in the ass and if you haven't done it before or you're not really familiar with computer hardware you could damage something easily.


HP provides a pretty decent service manual for just about any semi up-to-date laptop. This includes instructions on disassembling the entire unit, and HP service manuals usually include part numbers if I'm remembering correctly. You can find service manuals at http://hp.com/support

Either way, smoke is one of the worst things you can get out of a laptop, if you bring it somewhere for service(assuming you can find a competent place)it'll probably cost almost as much to fix as a new laptop. If you decide to do it yourself it'll be a pain in the ass, and you'll probably just wish you bought a new one.

Laptops are largely throw away items nowadays, especially if you didn't spend a good amount of money on it.

[TurboJake]

No. A laptop will power off much before it gets anywhere near hot enough to have components falling off of a PCB. Generally speaking a laptop won't get any higher than about 130C(in extreme cases) which is about 266F. Just to give you an idea, a soldering iron will generally operate around 365F or so, if memory serves correctly. While HP's(Pavilions) are piles of shit, they have never had a real problem overall with overheating and certainly not to this degree.

It was the repetitive heat cycles and poor soldering that caused it, not overheating. Part of it was the Nvidia chipset completely melting down, but the majority of them was the component seperation. It affected the Apollo motherboards of the DV series several years ago. It was a HUGE issue. They were actually sued in a class action lawsuit and settled for a voluntary recall of the devices.

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/recall-hp-pavilion-dv2000-dv6000-dv9000-compaq-presario-v3000-v6000-series-laptop-701879/

https://www.google.com/search?aq=1&oq=DV9000&ix=seb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=dv9000+recall

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/282375-30-nvidia-recall-list

[b*saint]

I took my wife's hp apart to dry out the motherboard from tea. The motherboard/riser board to the keyboard ribbon was the hardest thing to put back together. If I didnt have long tweezers, it still would've been apart.

[jaywood]

Does anyone have recommendations on a new laptop? I think I might need a new one. The other one is pretty old and abused.

[jclar]

Does anyone have recommendations on a new laptop? I think I might need a new one. The other one is pretty old and abused.

Most all of them are junk. The cheaper Toshibas are always pretty good. What price range are you looking at?

[jaywood]

Not too expensive, at all. Somewhere around $600 ish.

I have been on C-list and found a few macs for sale. I will possibly look into macs

[spike68]

Id probably just find any name brand laptop that has good specs.
I usually buy a new version of windows too, so i can reformat the hard drive when it comes out of the box just to get rid of all the poop companies preload on the computers like norton and all that crap.
This way i start with a fresh operating system that isnt molested at all. Makes my computers run way better and last way longer. Just keep track of devices that are built into the computer, like a webcam, so that way after you format it, you remember to reinstall those drivers so they work properly.


EDIT: Something like this could be a good start. Depends on what to do with it too.
Always have the option to upgrade the RAM since it gives you 64 bit windows. I dont think Asus preloads bullshit on the hard drive either.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834230240