A single symptom can be listed under dierent groups. For example, No Video can belong to (1) Power-on or
(4) Display; but Flickering when powered should be listed in (4) Display. Or, in another example, a blue screen
can be caused by a driver conict in Performance (4), but it can also be caused by a defective hard drive under
(6) Storage. Therefore, failures that share similar symptoms are noted..
If possible, make a record of the failure symptom, the phase of the boot-up sequence where the failure
occurs, and the most likely location in the failure tree (Table 7-3 Failure classication by boot-up sequence
on page 85 and Table 7-4 Failure classication by hardware devices and mechanical on page 86). This will
help isolate the issue and indicate the next steps. For example, when the computer is running the operating
system, it may experience an issue with (4) Display, (5) I/O devices (keyboard, wireless, and so on), (6)
Storage, or (7) Mechanical components (stuck buttons, thermal shutdown, and so on).
NOTE: “Uncategorized” is used if an issue found is not listed. For example, Bluetooth is oered on certain
hardware congurations; therefore, a Bluetooth issue can be classied under “I/O Device” if needed.
Failure classication by boot-up sequence
Table 7-3 Failure classication by boot-up sequence
1. Power-on 2. POST 3. Performance
1. No Power on page 101
2. Intermittent power-on, shutdown,
reboot on page 103
a
3. AC adapter issue on page 104
4. Battery not recognized, not charging
on page 104
5. Battery discharges too fast
on page 106
6. Burnt smell on page 107
1. No video (with power)
on page 107
2. Blinking lights on page 108
3. Diagnostics error messages
on page 109
4. BIOS password on page 110
1.
Intermittent shutdown on page 111
a
2.
Blue screen (BSOD) error on page 136
b
3. Freeze at Windows Logo (hang/lockup)
on page 114
4. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
on page 115
5. No wake up on page 116
6. Unresponsive on page 117
7.
Slow performance on page 117
c
8. HP Smart Adapter warning message
on page 118
9. Incorrect time and date on page 118
a,b,c
similar symptoms
General troubleshooting steps 85