Laptop won't always switch on

bestpud

Hiya

I have a HP Compaq nx6125 laptop which has worked fine until recently.

Sometimes it won't start up but it's a mechanical rather than software issue. It whirrs and then dies - it tries several time before stopping and then just the fan is running. The noise is coming from the CD drawer area and the CD light comes on - as though we have just put a disc in (don't know if that's relevent or not?)

Does anyone have any suggestions as we don't want to spend loads if it's something fairly easy to sort (or indeed waste money fixing the unfixable!)?

Thanks in advance

Bestpud

johnmc

Have you checked the BIOS to see what the boot order is?

Does it do this regardless of whether the power supply is plugged in or not?

bestpud

Thanks for replying.

It does it whether on battery or mains power - is that what you meant?

It can't be the boot order as sometimes it works absolutely fine - I'm using it now - it has started up straight away twice today. Yesterday, it would not start up at all. Friday, it wouldn't work in the morning bit eventually kicked into life (after several tries) in the evening.

It's like there's a switch or something that is stopping it fully starting - it tries really hard but can't quite get going.

It doesn't get as far as starting windows, or even getting anything on the screen. It's the actual machine itself rather than windows.

albertross_2

try taking the battery out, and powering on

bestpud

I didn't think we were supposed to use it without the battery in?

albertross_2

if it won't switch on, first thing to try. (if holding the on/off button down 6 seconds doesn't work)