Need help with laptop that won't turn on | Linus Tech Tips | Page 1

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:11 AM

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Our laptop won't turn on after a windows update. The only sign of life is the battery light and the power light that lights up for half a second after I press the power button. I have tried disconnecting the battery and powering it on with the charger and reseating the RAM and SSD but got the same result. I'm thinking it's a motherboard issue but wondering if there are any other troubleshooting steps I haven't done. The brand is a Any help is appreciated (Laptop brand is "Monster, model Abra A5 V15.2" if it matters)

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:13 AM

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is the light blinking?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:14 AM

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nope, it lights up and immediately off

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:15 AM

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is it orange?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:15 AM

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battery light is orange but power light is green

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:16 AM

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is the battery plugged in?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:17 AM

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it is yes

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:17 AM

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have you left it to charge a while?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:18 AM

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not really

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:18 AM

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is the power light green?

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or orange

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:18 AM

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for a split second it's green and then it's gone

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almost like it's trying to boot up but losing power

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:19 AM

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hard one, can be a battery or charger issue

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laptops are always the hardest to diagnose

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:20 AM

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yeah another reason why I don't like them

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I did try wall power alone by removing the battery but got the same result

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:22 AM

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do you have a multimeter?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:23 AM

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I do somewhere

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i can find it

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:36 AM

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i also have a low tech way

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just plugg it in and wait 5-10m and see if it is hot

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:38 AM

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winged cypress just plugg it in and wait 5-10m and see if it is hot

the battery? the heatsink?

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:38 AM

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nah the power adapter

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:38 AM

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ohh the adapter

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:38 AM

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dose it say 19V / 6.32A on the charger

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 10:39 AM

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yeah it does

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:39 AM

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good

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 10:50 AM

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Is the battery dead?

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:50 AM

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yes

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orange means it is low

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critically low

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 10:51 AM

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So can it charge

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:51 AM

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it gets power

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 10:51 AM

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Well thats good

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:52 AM

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not if it dose not turn on

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 10:53 AM

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Well do fans spin up

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:54 AM

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i do not think they have enough time to as almost instantly after it turns on the leds turn off

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 10:55 AM

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This is after a windows update too

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:55 AM

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yeah

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 10:55 AM

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Strange

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 10:55 AM

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ye

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what we know is that the charger "works" and the laptop is getting "power"

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:00 AM

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Can it boot without the charger

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I mean on battery

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Nvm same result

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Maybe it's shutting to prevent damage

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:07 AM

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might be too fast but can be

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:08 AM

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An update shouldn't damage the mobo

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:08 AM

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yo the charger did not get warm but battery led turned green now

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:08 AM

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POG

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:09 AM

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still skiff An update shouldn't damage the mobo

to be fair he did open the pc up and unplug the batterie

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try to power on the laptop

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:09 AM

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dang it same thing

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:10 AM

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is the batterie led orange now?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:10 AM

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nope still green with the charger plugged in

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:10 AM

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Maybe its need a long charge

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:11 AM

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nah the green led says that the mobo knows the batterie is fully charged

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:12 AM

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Unplug the battery and drain all power?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:12 AM

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pretty sure I did that when I was taking parts out

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:13 AM

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still skiff Unplug the battery and drain all power?

some laptops do not work without the batterie

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:14 AM

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winged cypress some laptops do not work without the batterie

I meant holding down the power button

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:15 AM

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what I did was I disconnected the battery and pressed the power button a couple times to make sure there's no charge then I proceeded to take stuff out and powering it back on in hopes of it posting, even with all the parts I could remove removed and on wall power it was the same which is what makes me thinks its something with the motherboard

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:16 AM

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still skiff An update shouldn't damage the mobo

but yeah it doesn't make sense why would an update break the motherboard

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it wasn't a bios update as far as I know

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I wasn't using the laptop at the time it broke my brother said it broke after an update

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:17 AM

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can ofc be from a drop "test"

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:18 AM

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a drop "test" huh

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:19 AM

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So you weren't there when it broke

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:19 AM

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yeah

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:20 AM

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You sure he ain't broke some other way?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:20 AM

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he would tell me he's like 21 years old

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:21 AM

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Cause my brother would say something like that if he broke it

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A search on Google just says to do the things you've already done

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:22 AM

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i also read the manual thats why i know abt the power led

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but i dose not look like it has error codes 😦

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:22 AM

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Guess maybe need to check with a multi meter

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:23 AM

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still skiff Guess maybe need to check with a multi meter

I don't really know what to look for tho

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oh wait wth

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i held the power button and battery led turned orange again

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with the charger plugged in the whole time we were discussing

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:24 AM

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I'm in a electronics server that will be helpful but can't post invites

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It lost power somehow

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:25 AM

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still skiff I'm in a electronics server that will be helpful but can't post invites

ah rip

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ok now the power button does nothing

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oh wait nvm it did the thing

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:27 AM

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can you film it?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:29 AM

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here it is

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this is all it does plugged in and everything

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the delay is normal it always took some time to actually power on after I press the power button

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also I got some more info abt how it happened

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so windows updated and restarted and he got to the login window then from there he turned off the laptop and it never turned on again

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so nothing to do with the update?

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:33 AM

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That is messed up

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Never heard of that happening

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:33 AM

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me too

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:34 AM

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Caps Lock Status LED
ON (Green)
Charging & Battery Indicator
Charging: Orange
Battery Low (<6%): Orange (3 Sec/Cycle)
Charging finish (w/AC ): Green, (w/o AC): Off
Power indicator
Power ON: Green
Suspend: Green , Slow / Smooth, Blinking Green (3Sec/Cycle)
Power Off: OFF

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:38 AM

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Apparently it can be caused by a faulty battery but you'd know if that the case. But windows should not stop it from turning on

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:39 AM

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and you would also see something while booting up

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:39 AM

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Like the manufacturer logo

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:40 AM

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or just the bios

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:40 AM

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the keyboard had rgb and not even those light up

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:40 AM

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In the manual does it say how to reset the CMOS?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:40 AM

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also battery led back to green

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:41 AM

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still skiff In the manual does it say how to reset the CMOS?

i couldn't reach the CMOS battery but i found the cable of the battery, I could not get it out fully but i could kinda move it out of its place

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:43 AM

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Well try and get, hopefully this fixes it

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:45 AM

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actually the CMOS battery might just be dead

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somethimes when windows boots up its completely a different time and usually the time i turned off the computer

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pretty sure thats caused by the cmos but i might be wrong

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but ill try to unplug that cable

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:49 AM

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A dead CMOS messes up your time

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Youll have to replace it

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You can use two AA and some wire though this is kinda tricky for laptop

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:52 AM

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some laptops also have a special batt that can only be a cirtin vattage that is not normal

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or just connector

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:52 AM

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would it prevent it from booting up tho?

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also I got it out

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:54 AM

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i do not belive it will

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:54 AM

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Dead CMOS same as no cmos

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:55 AM

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yeah true

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:56 AM

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its been dead for a while i know that

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:57 AM

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Got another laptop with a CMOS battery?

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:57 AM

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and hope it has the same connector

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:57 AM

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Generally are

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:57 AM

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i do have another laptop

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its an hp something but im sure it has the same connector

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:58 AM

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And it can keep time?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:58 AM

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yeah perfectly fine

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 11:58 AM

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Model

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 11:59 AM

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just check the voltage of the cmos batt

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 11:59 AM

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its an HP Elitebook 840 G5

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here's the cmos of the dead laptop

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_62a11472-5718-49fa-9c9b-e8cb5f2cdfc7.jpg

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buried deep beneath

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:00 PM

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yeah looks like it might work

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 12:01 PM

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They really made it hard to reach

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:01 PM

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thats hp

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:02 PM

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nono that's the laptop we're dealing with

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im opening the hp one now

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 12:02 PM

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Oh

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:04 PM

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here's the hp battery

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_5f2d9aab-2f91-4d97-8581-791370862a8f.jpg

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looks like the same connector

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 12:06 PM

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They look to be the same type of batteries aswell

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:06 PM

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man how did they get this in there

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 12:07 PM

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Child labour

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:07 PM

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probably

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oh here we go

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I got the little man

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I'm plugging it in the broken laptop now

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it's in enough

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not fully but pretty sure the metal parts are touching

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it really doesn't wanna go in further

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nahh same thing

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im going to try one more thing

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I'll swap out some parts between the two laptops

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:14 PM

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like what?

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:14 PM

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idk the ram the ssd

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:14 PM

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yeah

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:14 PM

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that's all I can remove

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:14 PM

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that hp for ya

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and laptops

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:14 PM

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yeahh

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nothing man

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i think i gotta send this to the manufacturer or something

still skiff Jul 29, 2023, 12:18 PM

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Well we tried

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Gl

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:19 PM

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try to unplugg the storage

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and turn on

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:21 PM

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winged cypress and turn on

same thing

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:21 PM

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try to unplugg one of the ram

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and if that dose not work replace it with the unpluged one

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after that no hope

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:24 PM

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nahh nothing

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so strange

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i can't think of any other way to fix this

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still thanks for your time both of u

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ill let the manufacturer have a look

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:26 PM

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np and if monster finds out what went wrong i want to know 🙂

zenith heath Jul 29, 2023, 12:26 PM

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winged cypress np and if monster finds out what went wrong i want to know 🙂

dw ill let u know

winged cypress Jul 29, 2023, 12:28 PM

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thanks and i hope they can fix it 🙂

zenith heath Nov 18, 2023, 8:49 AM

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yo @winged cypress hope you're doing well not sure if u remember this but i finally sent the tortoise over and they said a chipset on the motherboard had fried so i was doomed from the start anyway xD they said they could try to fix it and it would cost abt 80 dollars.

#Need help with laptop that won't turn on