Opening HP G30 laptop

Maineman

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Dec 16, 2010
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The HP G30 laptop will not power up. Power supply works, power button lights up but laptop does not power on. I think the problem is the BIOS on the MB, otherwise the laptop would power up to BIOS screen. Could be the LCD screen but I doubt it.

Tried to open the case but could not. Took out all obvious screws on bottom no luck. What am I missing?

I am not a computer tech but worked as an electronics tech for 12 years. Have been building my own desk top computers for at least 8 years and fixing family and friends computers for a long time. Never took a laptop apart before.

Any thoughts?

I put this here as no other forum seemed to fit.
 

Djhg2000

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May 16, 2009
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You're most likely looking for the "Maintenance and Service Guide", I know I have seen the service manuals for HP laptops floating around somewhere on the HP website (takes a while to find them though). Their support should be able to help you find it.

I am however unable to find any G30 laptop among their selection of products. In which country was the laptop purchased?


I would also suspect the LCD connection or backlight CCFL (assuming it's not an LED display, I don't know how old it is) which would most likely mean it's still able to boot. Have you checked the HDD light when you try to boot it and made sure it doesn't doesn't display any HDD activity?


I have disassembled a few laptops myself and there should be at least one screw underneath a warranty void label, usually underneath the battery. Laptops are quite a different animal than desktops though and make sure you keep track of where each screw is supposed to be as they may not all be identical and the difference may also be hard to notice (this was the case with a ThinkPad I replaced the lid hinges on, one set of screws looked the same as another but was just slightly longer so of course I used the wrong set resulting in having to disassemble half the laptop once again and swap the screws).

Nowadays I usually use some transparent tape and tape the screws to either the hole it was in or the table I'm working at in the same layout as on the part. I've hard that a lot of others use small boxes with a lot of really small compartments (can't remember the name of it, English isn't my native language either but I hope you know which ones I mean since you have experience with electronics) to keep track of the screws but I find it hard to remember which compartment belonged to which part from such a complex device as a laptop. Your mileage may vary.