# Smoked an elitebook laptop



## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

An elitebook 8560p laptop, running windows 7, I bought refurbished about four years ago. I know it was hot when I got it shut of, it showed a problem and was going to restart it and it wouldn't. I have tried a reset start, not for sure if that's right. I've done that once before to get it up and running again. I like it, not for sure if it is worth repairing and updating to windows 10 or buying a cheap laptop to replace it with. I don't need much really, I have an accounting program I use and mostly web browsing, I do download some information to keep.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Take the battery out. Press the power up key in and hold down for 20 seconds. Then put the battery back in and try starting.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Allen W said:


> An elitebook 8560p laptop, running windows 7, I bought refurbished about four years ago. I know it was hot when I got it shut of, it showed a problem and was going to restart it and it wouldn't. I have tried a reset start, not for sure if that's right. I've done that once before to get it up and running again. I like it, not for sure if it is worth repairing and updating to windows 10 or buying a cheap laptop to replace it with. I don't need much really, I have an accounting program I use and mostly web browsing, I do download some information to keep.


Sounds like your heatsink is clogged with dust. Your particular model is easy to fix. Remove the bottom cover, then remove the the fan using a small phillips head screwdriver. You don't need to unplug the fan, just pull it out of the well. You can see where the fan has been blowing air into the heatsink. Remove the dust, replace the fan & bottom cover.

As far as it being "smoked," it's possible but not likely. Processors get overheated and shut off but are usually fine after they cool off. I'm amazed at the punishment some processors take and turn out fine.

Sure, you can upgrade to Windows 10. It won't cost you anything with the new licensing rules. During the upgrade you can enter your Windows 7 key. Sunce you are upgrading it might not even ask for a key. You can download the Windows 10 media at this link.



Download Windows 10



Good luck!


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Michaelz I've tried that with no luck.

Nevada How hard is it to take the bottom cover off? I don't doubt I can do it, I haven't looked that close at it.

Thanks for your responses.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Allen W said:


> Nevada How hard is it to take the bottom cover off? I don't doubt I can do it, I haven't looked that close at it.


Super easy. Turn the laptop over with the battery towards you. You will see two slide releases. The one on the right releases the battery and the one on the left releases the bottom cover. .Slide the left release and the bottom cover will pop loose.

As an added note; the Windows 7 COA sticker is probably under the battery, What I do is to take a photo of the COA sticker and print it off to make Windows 10 registration easier.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Allen W said:


> Michaelz I've tried that with no luck.
> 
> Nevada How hard is it to take the bottom cover off? I don't doubt I can do it, I haven't looked that close at it.
> 
> Thanks for your responses.


I was able to do my dell without any problem. You should be able to locate a step by step guide for your computer.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

The laptop still isn't working after cleaning and restarting, I can hear the fan and a sound when I turn it on and then nothing comes up on the screen.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Allen W said:


> The laptop still isn't working after cleaning and restarting, I can hear the fan and a sound when I turn it on and then nothing comes up on the screen.


Are any keys blinking? If so, what is the blink pattern?

Try tapping the esc key multiple times as you turn it on. That should take you to the bios setup.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Nothing is blinking, the cap lock button light is on and the three buttons in the top right corner are on if I remember correctly. I've tried the escape button but not when it is booting up.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Allen W said:


> Nothing is blinking, the cap lock button light is on and the three buttons in the top right corner are on if I remember correctly. I've tried the escape button but not when it is booting up.


You have to do the esc key really early. Immediately after powering up you should see a momentary flash on the bottom-left of the monitor that says to press the esc key to enter Setup. If you can enter setup your computer is fine. If not then you might have trouble.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

No luck trying your latest suggestion Nevada.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

For HP's you can press F10 for Bios. F8 (and on some models F11) will enter you into recovery options (to get to safe mode). F12 is a network boot option (for enterprise style setups).


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

I'm still studying on my problem as I get time, if I find an answer I'll post it here.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Without a detailed, precise description of what it is & isn't doing, we can really only take wild guesses. What I've pieced together from your posts is: It may have overheated, gave some kind of error message, shut down, and now you get only some lights, fan noise, and nothing ever on the screen. Is all that correct? If so, do the lights & fan stay on as long as you leave the power on, or do they go off after a few seconds? Is there any hard disk activity?


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

I need to set down and get a good handle on what it's doing . I mess with it a bit at a time and answer questions here from memory most times. Sometimes I don't have or know the right answers when asked something. I've took apart and put back together lots of things but electronics are a not what something I know where to start on.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

This is an hp8460p laptop, was listed as an 8560 when I bought it, refurbished at least two years ago. The vents were almost completely clogged when I cleaned it after it shut down this time. It has refused to come on one other time, unplug, pull the battery, power it down and then restart. I wasn't successful this time.

Currently when it is powered up the scroll key will flash for a second. The two outer leds on the lower left hand edge will light up and stay on as well as the three leds on the upper right hand of the keyboard.The fan will run and it sounds like something inside starts up.

The caps lock key was blinking at start up but doesn't seem to be now, between crashes it seemed to stay on something it hadn't done before the first crash.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

The 8460p is a 14" laptop while the 8560p is a 15" laptop.

If the caps lock & num lock keys are on continuously it's telling you that you have a power problem. Try removing the battery and try to start with just the AC adapter.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

Allen W said:


> This is an hp8460p laptop, was listed as an 8560 when I bought it, refurbished at least two years ago. The vents were almost completely clogged when I cleaned it after it shut down this time. It has refused to come on one other time, unplug, pull the battery, power it down and then restart. I wasn't successful this time.
> 
> Currently when it is powered up the scroll key will flash for a second. The two outer leds on the lower left hand edge will light up and stay on as well as the three leds on the upper right hand of the keyboard.The fan will run and it sounds like something inside starts up.
> 
> The caps lock key was blinking at start up but doesn't seem to be now, between crashes it seemed to stay on something it hadn't done before the first crash.


Allen W - how many times does the light on the cap locks blink? The reason I'm asking is described at this hp link HP Notebook PCs - Computer Does Not Start and Emits an LED or Beep Code | HP® Customer Support


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

sniper69 said:


> Allen W - how many times does the light on the cap locks blink? The reason I'm asking is described at this hp link HP Notebook PCs - Computer Does Not Start and Emits an LED or Beep Code | HP® Customer Support


I asked about that in post 8, and he said there were no lights or blinking in post 9. I can't say for sure without examining the laptop myself, but I'm leaning towards a bad video chip.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

I've put this on a back burner for now. Too many things going on to worry about this right now.


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