HP G72 Laptop Question

[mau64]

Ran into sort of a weird problem here I was hoping to get some feedback from.

Lady brings me her laptop and charger cable and says the laptop won't do anything. Her laptop has a crack in it near the mouse button. She thought either her battery was dead or her charger cable burned out. So I ordered a cord from amazon and just received it.

I plugged in the new cord and when plugged in the laptop showed no life; wouldn't turn on or anything. But when I unplugged the cord, the CD-Rom span for about 5 seconds, just long enough for me to open it and remove a disc. The power light didn't come on, nor did any other lights besides the CD-Rom. Now the computer won't do anything, not even CD-Rom related.

I removed the battery but still came to nothing. I need to talk to the lady and ask her if her son did anything to it like punch it, I thought it was a weird spot to have a crack in it. I'm still a little new to laptop repair and not sure even if she would be willing for me to dive deeper into this.

Does it sound like something could have came unhooked? I just thought it was really weird that the computer came to life for a split second but then died again. That makes me think a connection might be severed in someway.

[Tepin]

I have opened a few laptops that won't power on to find a loose/disconnected cable from the power board.

Powering on for a few seconds and then shutting off could have been the machine trying to start from the battery. Leave it plugged in for an hour or more with the battery in and see what happens then. I have seen laptops (my mother's for instance) that can charge the battery and run off the battery but won't run on AC with the battery out.

[14049752]

Originally Posted by mau64

I need to talk to the lady and ask her if her son did anything to it like punch it,

You'd actually ask that? Why not rethink that a little...get the same information, but ask in a less accusing way. "Was the system dropped or did anything happen to fall on it?"

The other thing I'd say is.... Why would you order parts without doing any kind of diagnosis? Did you test the power cord with a volt meter? There are plenty of reasons why a laptop won't turn on. The crack could be related, but until you actually check it all you're getting here is (basically worthless) shots in the dark.

[mau64]

Originally Posted by 14049752

You'd actually ask that? Why not rethink that a little...get the same information, but ask in a less accusing way. "Was the system dropped or did anything happen to fall on it?"

I wouldn't just ask any client about it, but she works where I work my day job at so joking around with her wouldn't be a big deal. I would never make assumptions like that to a complete stranger. I probably could have been a bit cleaner on that.

As far as testing that stuff, I haven't bought a volt meter yet. I know its one of the first things I should have bought, but I've been buying things as I need them and I think this might be my first job where I actually need one. I'm still learning laptops and am not 100% confident rooting through one, but I can definitely crack into it and see if anything has become disconnected.

[mau64]

Originally Posted by Tepin

I have opened a few laptops that won't power on to find a loose/disconnected cable from the power board.

Powering on for a few seconds and then shutting off could have been the machine trying to start from the battery. Leave it plugged in for an hour or more with the battery in and see what happens then. I have seen laptops (my mother's for instance) that can charge the battery and run off the battery but won't run on AC with the battery out.

I charged it up for an hour and unplugged it. The DVD-Rom spun for a couple seconds and died. I'll have to crack into this one and see if anything came undone.