I have a Compaq laptop

[shashgo]

The laptop itself is 18 months old, and was running win XP.  She said she has been using it for chatting and surfing.  Anyway, one day when she tried to turn it back on, it just kept cycling between power on (The power light came on and the fan came on) and power off.  There is no display on the screen at all. 

I tried to reboot it with a win xp disk, but whenever i press the power button, the laptop comes on for a while and it seems like in addition to the fan, the disk is also being read (flashing light on disk drive).  But the laptop turns off shortly thereafter without any display. 

What do you guys think is the problem?

[soybean]

Is this with the battery in it?  And, running on just battery power or with the AC adapter plugged in? You might try removing the battery and running it directly off the AC adapter.

[shashgo]

Sage,

Okay I tried it, battery out and AC plugged in.  Nothing, the same thing as before.  I cant even get safe mode or anything.  There is absolutely nothing that happens, only the power light comes on, fan comes on, and then 30 seconds later, they both turn off.  Then it repeats again.

What else could be the matter

[soybean]

It has a one year warranty, I presume.  Right? 

[shashgo]

yes it does but it is 18 months old now.  I also reseated the rAM but no luck.  The AC adaptor works fine.  Why is the darn thing not working?

[soybean]

I don't know but it clearly seems to be a hardware problem, not a software problem.  Is the memory the original memory in that computer?

one day when she tried to turn it back on, it just kept cycling between power on (The power light came on and the fan came on) and power off.

So, how long did this go on?  How did she stop it?

[shashgo]

it didnt stop, its still going on, the cycling

[soybean]

Whoa! All this time!  I'd remove the battery, if it's in the computer now, and pull the plug to remove all power to the computer. 

Unless someone else here can suggest otherwise, I think your only option is to take it to a repair shop. I'd certainly ask for an estimate of cost.  You don't want any big surprises when you get the bill for repair work performed.  You might conclude it's not worth the cost.

[shashgo]

The motherboard is bad.  I did what they said on the compaq site to fix it, and they said if nothing works, its the motherboard thats bad, and that is something only a compaq person can fix cause they make proprietary stuff only.  Anyways thats that.

[soybean]

Well, that's a real bummer.  I gather you're not the primary user.  Do you know how she normally uses the computer?  Any chance user habits might have contributed to the pre-mature demise of that computer? 

[shashgo]

mainly she said she just uses it to surf the net and to chat with people.  But for something major like the computer not staying on continuously , she must have done something like drop it.  Could be wrong, but what else could make a computer keep cycling from on to off by itself?

[soybean]

Yes, some kind of accidental or unknowing abuse seems likely.  Extreme shock, such as dropping it, could be a cause.  And, some people have ruined laptops by spilling liquid on them.  I guess you'd know about that if it happened.

[shashgo]

oh well, thanks for helping out