8510p just died???

Had my computer on, watching a tv show, and all of a sudden the computer just died?

Thought it might have been a power issue, so I reset the power bar, ensured the power supply was plugged in (battery is almost dead on the unit), and there is no light showing where the power supply indicator is. Tried a hard reset (believe that is the proper term?), holding for 10 seconds. Took the battery out, but it back in, and still nothing but black screen.

Hard drive dead? If the hard drive is indeed dead, wouldn't the power supply light still show up?

The battery is low, but not to the point that it shouldn't work without the power supply. Even when I tried powering up without the supply connected, it did nothing.

I've got a completely black screen, with no response to any touch. XP SP3, and just recently blew all the dust out of it (if that helps )

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

It should. Did you try pulling the memory and powering it on? My guess would be it's a dead board.

 

If I pull the memory and it powers on, that will signal what exactly?

I've had the experience with a dead mother board before, and it wasn't cost effective to replace it. Are these reasonable to replace, or am I looking at a new unit if that is indeed the case?

 

The memory has failed. I'd say it's unlikely, but it doesn't cost anything to try.

I'm not super familiar with HPs, but you should be able to pick up a used board on eBay for $100-150 if you can do the repair yourself. I'd say that's more cost effective than a new machine.

 

Could be a dead PSU or even motherboard. Both are around 100$ to replace.

 

^ I hope not considering I've purchased and seen a few 8530 motherboards for about 50$

Few core 2 series motherboards are priced at over 100$ everywhere, fewer are worth that.

 

Yea so I guess most of them are overpriced. But, here go for this:
HP 8510P 8510W laptop motherboard systemboard 452218-001 TESTED | eBay

Also what about the graphics card?? If you have Nvidia then they are especially prone to failures. Here is a replacement ATI card:
HP 8510 Video Card And Heatsink 256M P/N; 454247-001 | eBay

Not sure how to help you diagnose that. IMO from what I'm reading there may be multiple issues, but you should definitely try each stick of RAM alone in each slot.

 

Update... I'm typing on it right now..

It sat for the weekend, and I took it to our IT department today.. Of course, I look foolish when the thing starts up just fine...

Any suggestions on programs to analyze what went wrong? Should I run some sort of a stress test on it?

 

my goess was it was just static in the MB, nothing more...

in future to remove static.
remove battery and power cord
hold down power button for 8-10sec
put battery and cord back in, and get back to what you were doing...

 

This.

Either that or a flaky power cord. HP's are notorious for faulty power cords. In the 5 years that I've owned my nw8440 (direct predecessor to the 8510w), I've gone through about 5 or 6 power cords.

 

If you have a bad battery and the power adapter or the power cord flakes out, your computer can play completely dead.

I've bought a couple of "dead" HP computers that returned to life with the replacement of a power supply, a battery, or simply another cord. One HP laptop I bought recently on eBay revived when I re-seated the processor.

HP computers are easy and fun to work on. HP's website has detailed service manuals--with dis-assembly/re-assembly instructions--for most models. As far as your particular problem, I suspect it is the adapter or the cord.

It could even be as simple as the mickey-mouse plug coming partly loose from your adapter. Good luck.