Member Avatar for FragFighter

Hi,

I have a HP Pavilion dv6000 notebook. I switched over to Linux a few months ago, and have been very happy with it. (running Ubuntu 10.04) Recently I've had the need to install Windows on my laptop again. I've got Windows XP Media Centre, which came with the laptop, and I've been trying to install that from CD. However, when I insert the disk, it will start to boot up and load the setup, and then the computer will shut off. There is no specific time in the boot when it does this - sometimes immediately, other times I've managed to start to get Windows installed. I then have to wait a few minutes and then turn it on again - just to have the same happen. I know it's not an overheating issue.

Prior to installing Ubuntu, I was having issues with my CD drive in Windows. That was one reason why I changed.

Other than that - I've successfully installed Ubuntu 10.04 from CD several times now. This doesn't make sense.

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A few focused diagnostic steps will narrow this down quickly and avoid swapping the motherboard unless necessary. has already isolated the problem to a hardware-level failure, and and others are right to point at DV6000 lines as being flaky — but the next move should be confirmation, not assumption.

Try these in order:

  1. Eliminate the internal optical drive. Create a USB-based Windows installer or use a known-good external USB DVD drive and run the setup. If the install completes from USB/external drive, the internal drive or its power/data cable is the culprit. If the machine still dies mid-install with the internal drive removed, the problem sits elsewhere on the board or in power delivery.

  2. Test power rails and minimal hardware. Run the install on AC only with the battery removed, and also try battery-only (with AC disconnected) if possible. Swap the AC adapter with a known-good adapter. Remove nonessential parts (card reader, Wi‑Fi module, extra RAM stick) and retry. Persistent shutdowns with minimal parts point to motherboard/power circuitry.

  3. If installing Windows on another PC and moving the drive back, avoid driver issues: set the target laptop BIOS SATA mode to IDE/Compatibility (so XP doesn’t choke on AHCI/SATA drivers), or prepare the image with Sysprep/generalize before transplanting. Alternatively slipstream the laptop’s SATA drivers into the XP installer so the transplanted system will boot on the original hardware.

  4. Run focused diagnostics before large repairs. Boot a Linux live USB and run Memtest86+ for RAM, and read a large CD/DVD sequentially to see if the drive or controller errors out under continuous load. Update the laptop BIOS only if a newer official build addresses stability issues.

If the machine fails while booting from USB or fails with the internal optical drive physically removed, the motherboard/power subsystem is the likely cause. Swapping the optical drive is cheap and worth trying first; replace the motherboard only after these isolation steps confirm it.

Recommended Answers

All 17 Replies

Member Avatar for jingda

Have you download any files or apps so far.

Member Avatar for FragFighter

Have you download any files or apps so far.

What do you mean?

Member Avatar for jingda

Sometimes before that you may have download any files that is harmful to your laptop. Maybe it contain virus and other malwares and your laptop will shut down by itself

Member Avatar for FragFighter

Sometimes before that you may have download any files that is harmful to your laptop. Maybe it contain virus and other malwares and your laptop will shut down by itself

I was able to, at one point, format the harddrive.

Member Avatar for jingda

Have you try another CD, maybe there is some problem with your CD. Reinstall it, if the problem still occur, it is your laptop hardware problem

Member Avatar for FragFighter

Have you try another CD, maybe there is some problem with your CD. Reinstall it, if the problem still occur, it is your laptop hardware problem

It is a hardware problem; I've used three different versions of Windows XP and then tried Windows 98.

Member Avatar for jingda

Ok, so it is the hardware problem. Are you confident it is not a overheating issuse?

Member Avatar for Rik_

The DV6000 is one of the laptops that is well known for graphics failure. I suspect yours is showing the early symptoms!

Edited by Rik_ because: n/a
Member Avatar for FragFighter

Ok, so it is the hardware problem. Are you confident it is not a overheating issuse?

I used to game on this laptop - never had any issues with it shutting off due to heat. I've got an external cooling pad on the bottom which offers extra, so it's well ventilated.

Member Avatar for jingda

You might have a faulty motherboard. This problem is common in DV6000.

Member Avatar for FragFighter

Okay, thanks!

Member Avatar for jingda

Change it and tell us whether it works if not something is seriously wrong with your laptop. Do you still have the warranty if yes you could always sent it for repair ( last resort )

Member Avatar for FragFighter

Change it and tell us whether it works if not something is seriously wrong with your laptop. Do you still have the warranty if yes you could always sent it for repair ( last resort )

I got the laptop secondhand and did some repairs on it myself as it was no longer under warranty.

I've got a spare motherboard, just need the time to put it in.

Member Avatar for jingda

After you put it in. Tell us whether it works. Good luck

Member Avatar for flashgames87

may be your laptop have problem with hardware CD.

Member Avatar for jingda

Did the motherboard cure the problem?

Member Avatar for FragFighter

An update on the status - took apart the laptop and double checked all connections, unplugged the CMOS battery, replaced the hard drive. Thus far, it now seems to shut down at 52% through the install. It will run through to loading 52% of the files on the first part of the screen, then the CD stops, not suddenly, but does, then it pauses and shuts down. All other random shutting down issues seem to have been fixed. I've also removed one stick of RAM and tried, then removed the other, then switched them to see if it was the socket. Still nothing. I think I've narrowed it down to the optical drive or the motherboard. What I intend on doing is taking the hard drive out of the laptop and putting it into another computer and loading Windows on to it, then putting it back into my old laptop, I'm just not sure if it will work as I've never done this (drivers may be loaded differently between computers?)

I'm willing to try using a different optical drive before I go ahead and replace the motherboard - it's a pain to pull apart the laptop and actually get to it, and I know that the optical drive, which under the BIOS states the type as being a DVD RW, does crash when I put DVDs into it, and it very may well be affecting Windows. The issue came from Windows drivers (when it first started crashing, the drivers from Windows for my optical drive were corrupt and I couldn't get it fixed under Windows). Will post findings later.

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