Laptop not booting

[LavaCooled]

I went on my laptop today and it was on for about 20 seconds then the screen went off and it made a beeping sound. It would beep three times, wait a while then beep again. The battery was kind of low but it hadn't given me the low power warning yet. It's an HP laptop but I don't know the model (it is touch screen though). Please help me this is the best laptop I ever had and I really hope it's not broken. 

[VTF5252]

can you find anything at all to identify it. its really hard to help without necisery info.

[Mazeman03]

did you try charging it? 

[evilarceus]

What model is the laptop? Pavillion? Compaq?

[LavaCooled]

It's a HP 15-f337wm pretty sure it's a Pavillion 

 

[Choy188]

13 minutes ago, LavaCooled said:

It's a HP 15-f337wm pretty sure it's a Pavillion 

 

Search it up online that happened to my MBP and I looked it up then it told me to reseat the memory and then it was fine

[NeoFrux]

According to HP's website, three beeps on boot usually means a memory error. Try following the directions for accessing and removing the memory modules, and try re-seating them. If you have more than one or more than one slot, try running with one at a time to see if you can narrow down which module / slot is causing the issue.

 

If you can get it up and running again by doing that, I'd strongly suggest downloading and running memtest86+ for at least one full pass to make sure your RAM is good. Any errors (they will highlight in the lower half of the screen) means that your RAM will need to be replaced. If you tested with two modules installed, remove one and test again; If you've still got errors, that module is likely bad. Repeat for the other module. If both test bad, see if you can get hold of some RAM that you know is good and test again. If you still get errors, you're likely looking at bad slots or a bad system board, which is not exactly the cheapest or easiest to repair.

[LavaCooled]

I tried turning it in again and it started to boot and now the screen is on and the caps luck led isn't blinking anymore but it's still unresponsive and the screen is black. 

[LavaCooled]

11 minutes ago, Runefox said:

According to HP's website, three beeps on boot usually means a memory error. Try following the directions for accessing and removing the memory modules, and try re-seating them. If you have more than one or more than one slot, try running with one at a time to see if you can narrow down which module / slot is causing the issue.

 

If you can get it up and running again by doing that, I'd strongly suggest downloading and running memtest86+ for at least one full pass to make sure your RAM is good. Any errors (they will highlight in the lower half of the screen) means that your RAM will need to be replaced. If you tested with two modules installed, remove one and test again; If you've still got errors, that module is likely bad. Repeat for the other module. If both test bad, see if you can get hold of some RAM that you know is good and test again. If you still get errors, you're likely looking at bad slots or a bad system board, which is not exactly the cheapest or easiest to repair.

Is there any possible way to fix this without opening the laptop. 

[NeoFrux]

5 minutes ago, LavaCooled said:

Is there any possible way to fix this without opening the laptop. 

Well, this one should just be a single hatch on the bottom of the laptop. I doubt that you'll be able to fix it without doing so, but if you want to try a hail-Mary, try this:

1. Pull the power cord and battery out of the laptop
2. Press and hold the power button for roughly a minute
3. Release the power button
4. Plug the power cable only into the laptop
5. Try turning it on

The long and short of what that will do is basically reset a power fault, if that's what the problem was. It's not likely, but if you don't want to open the computer, that's really the only thing you can do to try and get it to run outside of pure luck if it's an intermittent problem. More than likely, you will have to open the memory door and play with the modules... However, if this does work, I'd still suggest running memtest, since that is the error that corresponds to the beep code.

[LavaCooled]

1 hour ago, Runefox said:

Well, this one should just be a single hatch on the bottom of the laptop. I doubt that you'll be able to fix it without doing so, but if you want to try a hail-Mary, try this:

1. Pull the power cord and battery out of the laptop
2. Press and hold the power button for roughly a minute
3. Release the power button
4. Plug the power cable only into the laptop
5. Try turning it on

The long and short of what that will do is basically reset a power fault, if that's what the problem was. It's not likely, but if you don't want to open the computer, that's really the only thing you can do to try and get it to run outside of pure luck if it's an intermittent problem. More than likely, you will have to open the memory door and play with the modules... However, if this does work, I'd still suggest running memtest, since that is the error that corresponds to the beep code.

I got the back of the laptop open but do you think switching the RAM into the other slot would help? 

[NeoFrux]

2 minutes ago, LavaCooled said:

I got the back of the laptop open but do you think switching the RAM into the other slot would help? 

It will confirm whether or not the RAM module got jostled loose or the slot is bad if it works, and it won't hurt anything if it doesn't as long as you're gentle. If it doesn't work, I'd recommend looking for another stick of RAM to swap in and see if it's just the RAM at fault or if it's something deeper than that, but this is the next troubleshooting step.

[LavaCooled]

53 minutes ago, Runefox said:

It will confirm whether or not the RAM module got jostled loose or the slot is bad if it works, and it won't hurt anything if it doesn't as long as you're gentle. If it doesn't work, I'd recommend looking for another stick of RAM to swap in and see if it's just the RAM at fault or if it's something deeper than that, but this is the next troubleshooting step.

I swapped the slot but I'm still getting the error message. I think the stick might be bad. Can I access the BIOS from here? Would that help? 

[NeoFrux]

Just now, LavaCooled said:

I swapped the slot but I'm still getting the error message. I think the stick might be bad. Can I access the BIOS from here? Would that help? 

Error message? Do you have anything on-screen, or are you referring to the beeping? If it's still beeping, chances are you won't be able to access the BIOS at this point in time. One thing you might want to try just for giggles is to plug in an external monitor or a TV and see if you get any display. Not thinking that's going to work, though. At this point, the way I see it, the best bet is to try a different stick of RAM that you know is good. If you have a computer store nearby, or even something like a Best Buy, they should have a "bench" stick they use for diagnosing this kind of thing.

[LavaCooled]

6 minutes ago, Runefox said:

Error message? Do you have anything on-screen, or are you referring to the beeping? If it's still beeping, chances are you won't be able to access the BIOS at this point in time. One thing you might want to try just for giggles is to plug in an external monitor or a TV and see if you get any display. Not thinking that's going to work, though. At this point, the way I see it, the best bet is to try a different stick of RAM that you know is good. If you have a computer store nearby, or even something like a Best Buy, they should have a "bench" stick they use for diagnosing this kind of thing.

I live in The Bahamas I can't get a stick unless I order it online and that won't come for at least a week. We only have a few, small computer stores and they don't believe in "bench sticks". I'm screwed aren't I? 

[NeoFrux]

Just now, LavaCooled said:

I live in The Bahamas I can't get a stick unless I order it online and that won't come for at least a week. We only have a few, small computer stores and they don't believe in "bench sticks". I'm screwed aren't I? 

Humm... That seriously limits your options from this point on. Without being able to rule out your RAM as the problem, you're stuck either contacting HP if it's under warranty, or taking a chance on purchasing replacement memory. Unless you had another laptop with DDR3 RAM lying around... You could try and track down a laptop with a working DDR3 module and beg whoever owns it to let you try it.

[LavaCooled]

25 minutes ago, Runefox said:

Humm... That seriously limits your options from this point on. Without being able to rule out your RAM as the problem, you're stuck either contacting HP if it's under warranty, or taking a chance on purchasing replacement memory. Unless you had another laptop with DDR3 RAM lying around... You could try and track down a laptop with a working DDR3 module and beg whoever owns it to let you try it.

OK thanks for the help. I had an old laptop that's at my grandmother's house. The hard drive got messed up but the RAM should still be good. I'll salvage the stick from that. Goodnight my good sir. (it's half past nine where I am) 

[NeoFrux]

Just now, LavaCooled said:

OK thanks for the help. I had an old laptop that's at my grandmother's house. The hard drive got messed up but the RAM should still be good. I'll salvage the stick from that. Goodnight my good sir. (it's half past nine where I am) 

Hopefully that'll work out for you; If it's too old, the RAM might be DDR2 and not DDR3. At any rate, good night and good luck!