Member Avatar for James0711

I am having a really odd issue with my notebook.......

I was online playing a game when all of a sudden my mouse froze and the screen froze.....every 5-10 seconds I was able to move my mouse and could see the frames on the screen move slightly. I pressed ctrl-alt-del and nothing. I began to press alt-f4 repeatedly and caught it when it wasnt froze...game closed. Windows seemed to be fine so I reloaded the game and was frozen on the login screen....so i though wonderful I got to reinstall the game....

I powered down the computer by holding down the power button walked away from it for a few minutes and returned and attempted to boot. NOTHING. Power lights came on, hard drive spun a sec, CD rom spun. Screen stayed black...so I tried hooking to and external moniter. Notheing, solid black screen as if it wasnt on at all.

I began to try and power the system down and power it on....every so often it woul flash the HP logo and give me a chance to enter BIOS, I tried all options the only one that gives me anything is Start Windows Normally.....Windows Vista by the way.....it goes to the loading screen with a small load progress bar at the bottom and gets stuck...kinda acts like its running in slow motion.

I removed the battery, RAM, and Hard drive replaced them...I am currently testing it with only one stick of ram at a time...it has 2x 1gb sticks in it.

I would chalk it up to bad memory or processor except for the fact that when I shut it down and reboot it takes several attmempts to boot it. I had been having issues in the past that removing power and adding it back fixed but currently any time I boot down it takes 15 - 20 attempts to get the HP Logo and attempted boot again

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Master_Vos

Dani AI

Generated

This looks like a hardware-level problem rather than something Windows-specific. ’s freeze-while-gaming followed by intermittent POST attempts and a black screen (external monitor also blank) fits the classic pattern of a failing power/firmware/graphics subsystem. ’s suggestion that the fault may live on the motherboard or in the graphics/cpu area is reasonable — the goal now is to narrow which subsystem is at fault and to get user data safe.

Prioritized, practical checks (in order):

  • Verify the AC adapter: read the output spec on the adapter label and check it with a multimeter. An adapter that supplies the wrong voltage or is intermittent can let fans spin but fail under load.
  • Inspect the DC jack and cable for play or heat damage. A loose jack can cause intermittent power and strange POST behavior.
  • Watch for POST beep or LED blink patterns and document them exactly (number/timing). Those codes point to failed subsystems and are quicker to interpret than guessing.
  • Attempt a BIOS/firmware recovery or official BIOS reflash only with HP’s image and instructions; corrupted BIOS can cause intermittent logo/POST hangs. Do not use unverified utilities.
  • Clean the cooling path and verify the fan/heatsink seating. Persistent freezes under load point at overheating and solder/joint failures around the GPU/chipset; professional rework/reballing can sometimes restore function but is often temporary.
  • Isolate the OS/disk by booting a neutral USB live OS and, before major work, remove the hard drive and back up data using a USB adapter/dock.

If power, BIOS recovery and cooling checks fail, the motherboard or GPU/chipset is the likely culprit. Reflow is a short-term fix; board replacement or professional reballing is the long-term repair and should be weighed against the laptop’s value. Prioritize getting the drive backed up before attempting invasive repairs.

Member Avatar for Master_Vos

Try to download Hiren's BootCD. It contains a lot of programs that can check some devices. If you don't manage to get it; try downloading memtest86+ for sure. This small program checks your RAM to see if it didn't go faulty.

My guess would be a faulty motherboard, something wrong with the CPU chip or a problem with the graphics card. Try booting the computer with only the necessary components and keep adding new ones until it goes wrong.
Personally, but it's just a wild guess, i think your motherboard is fucked up... BUT it could be about anything so keep sorting things out :)

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