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 6-3 Failure classication by boot-up sequence on page 61
and Table 6-4 Failure classication by hardware devices and mechanical on page 62). 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 6-3 Failure classication by boot-up sequence
1. Power-on 2. POST 3. Performance
1. No Power on page 77
2. Intermittent power-on, shutdown,
reboot on page 79
a
3. AC adapter issue on page 80
4. Battery not recognized, not charging
on page 81
5. Battery discharges too fast
on page 82
6. Burnt smell on page 83
1. No video (with power) on page 84
2. Blinking lights on page 85
3. Diagnostics error messages
on page 86
4. BIOS password on page 87
1. Intermittent shutdown on page 88
a
2. Blue screen (BSOD) error on page 114
b
3. Freeze at Windows Logo (hang/lockup)
on page 92
4. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
on page 93
5. No wake up on page 93
6. Unresponsive on page 95
7. Slow performance on page 95
c
8. HP Smart Adapter warning message
on page 96
9. Incorrect time and date on page 97
a,b,c
similar symptoms
General troubleshooting steps 61