Question Used Laptop not turning on ?

[shawbicc]

I recently brought an HP Probook 440 G5 from my friend. The laptop had an issue of randomly shutting down. At first, it didn't happen a lot but in a few weeks, it really started to be a bother. The laptop would stay on for 10-15 minutes and then randomly shuts down without a warning, not even a shutting down screen.

Now when I try to turn it on, it doesn't turn on at all, not even the BIOS screen, no monitor response. The power LED would stay on for about 6-7 seconds, the cooling fan would spin at a really high RPM, and then everything shuts down. The caps lock LED would light up afterwards for a couple of seconds for whatever reason.

I tried the things below and here are the results:

1. Reinstalled RAM: Tried reinstalling the RAM on a different slot, but now the laptop won't detect the ram. Reinstalled on the previous slot seemed to work just fine. Overall, it had no effect on the issue.
2. Factory Reset: One youtube video suggested to take off both laptop and CMOS batteries to factory reset the laptop. It worked to some extend. The laptop went from not turning on at all to turning on and staying on for 15-20 minutes. It still shuts down without a warning. Taking off the batteries again would give me another 20 minutes of runtime.
3. Reinstall OS: Googling this problem suggested that it may be a Windows installation problem. So I tried reinstalling windows. While I was on it, I actually installed Ubuntu 20.04 on it cz I needed it. The laptop shut down during the first installation attempt, but the installation was complete on the second attempt. It still shuts down randomly without any warning whatsoever and won't turn on unless I take off the batteries.
4. Changed CMOS battery: Replacing the CMOS battery with a new one had no effect on the issue whatsoever.
5. Tried booting without the storage device: By this point, the "taking off the batteries" trick had stopped working. Now it does not turn on at all, just the power LED on and fans at max RPM for a few seconds and then everything turns off with caps lock LED on for 2-3 seconds. Tried booting without HDD (where OS is installed), nothing really changed.
6. Changed thermal paste: It seemed possible that it was an overheating issue as the fans would spin at a high RPM before shutting down. So I changed the thermal paste and tried turning it on. It also did nothing to the issue. It was my first time changing thermal paste of a laptop. I tried my best to spread out the paste evenly and tightened the heat sink. Although, I'm a bit uncertain about the amount I used; I took a pea-sized drop on each chip and spread it with a card evenly. It doesn't seem like a big issue to me.
7. Tried booting up with the battery detached: I plugged in the charger and tried booting with the laptop battery detached. It did not turn on and the issue was still there.

The monitor and RAM are working as far as I can tell. Reinstalling batteries provided the best results so far, but at this point, even this has stopped working. Now the laptop does not boot, no matter what I do. Can anyone suggest anything else before I take it to the repair store?

Update: Now the charging port isn't working either. So far, the battery was at least charging but now the charging port is bust. I highly doubt it's a power supply issue.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

From what you explained above, it would lead me to think that the power delivery area of the motherboard is compromised/faulty/failing. This is evident when you mentioned that the power input doesn't work. Have you verified if the power brick and/or the power input jack isn't compromised? What about the status of the battery, have you verified that the battery was being charged?

 

[USAFRet]

Replace the battery?
Some laptops will not function without a functioning battery.

 

[shawbicc]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

From what you explained above, it would lead me to think that the power delivery area of the motherboard is compromised/faulty/failing. This is evident when you mentioned that the power input doesn't work. Have you verified if the power brick and/or the power input jack isn't compromised? What about the status of the battery, have you verified that the battery was being charged?

I had tried charging the laptop with charger that I was sure not faulty, still no luck. I couldn't get enough runtime and didn't have tools to check the battery status.
As a matter of fact, the motherboard IS compromised, like you suggested. I took it to a repair store today and they found out an area near the power jack on the motherboard that's fried pretty bad. They're gonna try to have it fixed hopefully. Thanks for the feedback tho 😃

 

[punkncat]

Just for future reference, don't use other chargers on a laptop unless they are exactly the same output power and amperage. This could honestly be the cause of the burned board rather than the original problem. You mentioned putting in a CMOS battery and would have been looking right at that section of the board.

 

[shawbicc]

Replace the battery?
Some laptops will not function without a functioning battery.

As it turns out, the motherboard was fried at a spot and power wasn't being distributed. Although, I haven't really checked the battery status but the battery seemed to work fine. Now that I know that battery isn't the major issue, I guess I'll stick to the battery I have. Thanks for the tip 👍