Member Avatar for philval

hello everyone -- i bought this new and barely used it. i suddenly got the urge to use my laptop and it didn't start. i was told to replace battery and hard drive -- i did both. still it doesn't boot. power goes on but only to a blank screen. any ideas?
thanks -- phil

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Dani AI

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Troubleshooting notes for an HP ze5200 that powers up (LEDs/fan) but shows only a blank screen. Since already replaced the battery and hard drive and, as suggested, tried an external monitor with no result, the fault is occurring before the OS loads. The fan that spins briefly then stops is a useful clue: it often means the system starts POST and then halts quickly, so the next steps should isolate power, memory, video, and BIOS/EC problems.

  • Power-reset: remove AC and the main battery, press and hold the power button 20-30 seconds, then plug in AC only and attempt power-on.
  • Check the AC adapter and DC jack: confirm the adapter LED and that the voltage equals the label on the brick (use a multimeter if available); inspect the jack for looseness or damage.
  • Minimal boot: disconnect HDD, optical drive and all peripherals; try to boot with only one RAM module installed, then swap modules. Note any beep codes or power LED blink patterns.
  • External display check: cycle the display output with the keyboard display-toggle (the Fn + F-key that has a monitor icon) and test with a known-good VGA cable/monitor.
  • Backlight test: with the machine powered on, shine a bright flashlight at the LCD at an angle to see a faint image (suggests inverter/backlight failure if present).
  • CMOS reset: remove the coin cell for a minute to clear BIOS settings if accessible.

Electrostatic precautions are important when handling modules. If none of the above changes the behavior, the problem is likely at the motherboard/voltage-regulator or EC/BIOS level and will require professional board-level diagnosis or replacement; given the model age, compare repair cost to replacement.

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Member Avatar for TT4Titans

have you tried reinstalling the operating system?

Also does POST come on?

Member Avatar for philval

yes -- won't boot from disk.

Member Avatar for TT4Titans

Can you hook a external monitor to it and see if it does anything?

Member Avatar for philval

i tried hooking up external monitor -- no luck. could it be sink fan? sounds like fan starts then stops.

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