- Jul 7, 2006
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Greetings all,
I recently acquired a few older notebook computers that had some sort of issue and have been seeing if I can get any of them to work since A) I'm friggin' broke and have lots of experience getting stubborn desktop PCs to bend to my will, and B) I could really use a notebook that I could use to surf the web and do word processing.
I've been told the HP Pavilion dv5000 notebook computer I've been poking at has a "motherboard issue", and thus far my testing hasn't been able to rule that out. Apparently, the previous owner had taken it to the Geek Squad and had been told as much. The HP tech person I talked to on their website made a prompt diagnoses of motherboard problem as well.
Frankly, from what I've heard of Geek Squad, I tend to take such things with a grain of salt.
What I've done to it thus far:
I can't get the thing to boot, but it will turn on and stay on. I'm wondering if it IS a motherboard problem, if it's one I could fix. I can't access the BIOS (already tried resetting it as well as reseating the RAM), it seldom will even give me a POST error message. The monitor will power on, but I can't get it to do anything. I've tried getting it to turn both with the battery, DVD-ROM, and hard drive installed, as well as with them removed (no change). The power LEDs come on, and will sometimes flash very rapidly in endless succession. My operating theory is that the computer has either a corrupt BIOS, a "bad" motherboard, a "bad" power converter of some kind (tried two different power cords already), or possibly some sort of weird heat issue. HP offered to fix it for $398, which seems silly considering I could get a modern serviceable netbook for that much.
I've yet to completely rip the thing apart, but the case contradicts the website by having a Intel Celeron M sticker on it (the website implies the 5000 series is AMD based). I'm also unsure if this notebook has the NVIDIA chip that had some manufacturing defects (a bad or loose die or something).
If I can't get the thing to work, I'd probably be happy to part it out to folks who could use the stuff in it that does work. Any suggestions / places to start? Should I just give up and try to find a place that I can recycle it for $50 or so bucks? I've yet to resort to the "freezer fix" that I've heard of.
Any suggestions welcome.
I recently acquired a few older notebook computers that had some sort of issue and have been seeing if I can get any of them to work since A) I'm friggin' broke and have lots of experience getting stubborn desktop PCs to bend to my will, and B) I could really use a notebook that I could use to surf the web and do word processing.
I've been told the HP Pavilion dv5000 notebook computer I've been poking at has a "motherboard issue", and thus far my testing hasn't been able to rule that out. Apparently, the previous owner had taken it to the Geek Squad and had been told as much. The HP tech person I talked to on their website made a prompt diagnoses of motherboard problem as well.
Frankly, from what I've heard of Geek Squad, I tend to take such things with a grain of salt.
What I've done to it thus far:
I can't get the thing to boot, but it will turn on and stay on. I'm wondering if it IS a motherboard problem, if it's one I could fix. I can't access the BIOS (already tried resetting it as well as reseating the RAM), it seldom will even give me a POST error message. The monitor will power on, but I can't get it to do anything. I've tried getting it to turn both with the battery, DVD-ROM, and hard drive installed, as well as with them removed (no change). The power LEDs come on, and will sometimes flash very rapidly in endless succession. My operating theory is that the computer has either a corrupt BIOS, a "bad" motherboard, a "bad" power converter of some kind (tried two different power cords already), or possibly some sort of weird heat issue. HP offered to fix it for $398, which seems silly considering I could get a modern serviceable netbook for that much.
I've yet to completely rip the thing apart, but the case contradicts the website by having a Intel Celeron M sticker on it (the website implies the 5000 series is AMD based). I'm also unsure if this notebook has the NVIDIA chip that had some manufacturing defects (a bad or loose die or something).
If I can't get the thing to work, I'd probably be happy to part it out to folks who could use the stuff in it that does work. Any suggestions / places to start? Should I just give up and try to find a place that I can recycle it for $50 or so bucks? I've yet to resort to the "freezer fix" that I've heard of.
Any suggestions welcome.