DV6700 boot problem

The son in law dropped off a DV6700 with me the other day to have a look at and I am stumped as to what the problem is. Sometimes it will boot into windows, sometimes not. Mostly not, it will just hang at the HP splash screen. Out of all the options at the splash screen the only one I can get into is the BIOS but even that takes quite a long time, approx 10 min.

So far I have tested the memory and the hard drive and both come up clean, no issues using the tester options built into the BIOS. For the times I have been able to boot into the OS (Vista) it comes up clean using MSE & Malwarebytes.

Hoping someone may have a clue as to what is going on. Could the CMOS battery cause problems like mentioned? My gut tells me it is some type of hardware issue.

thanks

 

The DV6700 is over three years old...the CMOS battery could be dying and not holding settings...that might be why the splash screen sits there...while the machine detects hardware each time. Try replacing the battery and see if the issue persists. Once you do that...make sure that your bios is up to date...go to the product page and check for a newer version. Start there...

Other "Possible" issues might be that the Power supply is underpowering the machine and not enough juice to the motherboard. If you have a local computer store or Best Buy handy...take the machine there...tell them that you may need to purchase a new PSU for the machine. Have them hook it up and see if the machine boots properly. Did that to my son's dv6700Z and found that the port for the PSU on his motherboard broke and we had to have a new one put on before the machine would power up. In your case...if the machine powers up correctly....you might be in need of a new PSU. Best Buy carries the "Smart" 90, which basically knows what amount of power to send to the MB. OR...if still under warranty...see how quickly HP can send you a new PSU.

Some thoughts to try

 

Thnks for the suggestions Bobmitch, i'll give them a try. Hopefully I can figure this one out.