Is my HP Pavilion dv6500 not repairable?

[ksher]

My laptop just suddenly shut down when in use 2 days ago . Then when I pressed Power button, it just kept switching on and off repeatly without going into boot mode at all. After reading some posts on internet, I removed the battery from the motherboard and main battery for 45 minutes, and put the main battery back on again. The laptop could then be boot and went into Windows Vista Home Premium (32). But after Windows Restart, same switching on/off started again. The only way to start Windows was to drain the power completely from the machine (motherboard battery, main battery and AC power all disconnected).

Before the sudden death, the laptop had been unstable for about 1 to 2 weeks, e.g. sometimes Device Manager did not detect CD/DVD Drive, sound lost during operation, etc.

Now I cannot access to DVD Drive (I'm sure it is still working, just not controlled by motherboard and Vista). I have system recovery files on USB stick, but the default boot sequence put it after optical and hard drives. I can only access to Windows after the first boot. After shutting down and restarting Windows, the switching on/off happens again.

What else can I try to save it before I break it down and sell the components on ebay ? Does it sound like 99% motherboard or BIOS failure, which cannot be fixed? I tried installing different versions of BIOS, but it did not work. At the moment, Windows Update does not work, Windows does not detect any sound device installed, but I can still access to internet with wifi or cable. Thank your for any advice in advance.

[peddy]

It does seem to be the MB and if it is then you can fix it by replacing it.
Question is... Is it worth repairing...?

[ksher]

A like-for-like replacement is between £300 and £400.

[sp3ctre]

HP dv** laptops had problems with the motherboards caused by the nvidia graphics chipset overheating. Google it and you will see a lot of people had the same issue (including my wife, hence I know about it). If it is not under warranty it would be best to bin it and start over. If you repair it or replace the motherboard it will likely happen again anyway, as it is a fundamentally flawed design.

Actually, thinking about it I believe HP did offer to repair them FOC, although I am not sure if they do it for us UK forl or just USA... worth looking on their site though

[Breaker]

Yep. Only had 3 HP laptops at work (we normally use DELL) and both have crashed because of motherboard issues. The last one went down yesterday! Replaced with DELL. Never had a problem with them!

[aquazi]

I was just about to say it sounds like overheating.... the fact you let the battery drain could be enough time for it to cool down...

Might be worth blasting the fans/ heatsinks with some compressed air to clean them out... using it ourdoors (when it is colder) and see if it still happens?

[peddy]

A like-for-like replacement is between £300 and £400.

I got a brand new acer laptop with an Intel i5 processor for my little brother for £500 at Currys...
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspir ... 5-pdt.html

[BluZiff]

It is somewhat possible that the heatsinks in the laptop are stuffed with dust causing it to overheat. To fix this would just take a you tube video on dismantling the lappy and a hover.

I have seen many afflicted with this in my time, mostly toshiba's though.

After a bit of digging I have found that the graphics processor in this laptop has a know issue of the solder between it and the motherboard failing after a while. There are a few quick fixes of taking the thing apart and taking a heat gun to the chip. I wouldn't advise this though as its risky and wont last more than a few months at best.

It needs re soldering more than likely, thus its basically new laptop time.

Read read your full post and the graphics issue probably isn't it.

urrm more youtube unearthing found this, possibly a faulty connection somewhere, really without looking at it myself its difficult to diagnose.