# Need help...HP laptop stuck in continuous boot loop (with video)



## synysterxj

Think i got a nasty virus or something. Laptop rebooted itself and now its stuck in a boot loop sequence. I can get into BIOS and already did a restore to earlier date and a clean factory restore. Also set BIOS to defaults. Still stuck in the bootloop. Any ideas? Definitely going UBuntu if I get this fixed.


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## jellybellys

Have you tried pulling the CMOS battery?


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## synysterxj

Yea didnt fix the issue though. Running a hd test now.


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## jellybellys

synysterxj said:


> Yea didnt fix the issue though. Running a hd test now.


..wait one minute... on another computer or on this one...


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## synysterxj

On this one. There is a HD test and memory test within BIOS


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## jellybellys

synysterxj said:


> On this one. There is a HD test and memory test within BIOS


Can't even boot to a CD I assume.


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## synysterxj

Correct. Hard drive test passed. Running memory test now.


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## jellybellys

Is the laptop still on warranty?


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## synysterxj

Good question ill check after the memory test


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## Snow02

Likely causes:
CMOS corruption.
Motherboard failure.
Power supply failure (though less likely since you have a battery).

Try flashing the bios.
If you have the ability, open it up and check out the motherboard looking for leaky capacitors or burned circuits.


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## jellybellys

Snow02 said:


> Likely causes:
> CMOS corruption.
> Motherboard failure.
> Power supply failure (though less likely since you have a battery).
> 
> Try flashing the bios.
> If you have the ability, open it up and check out the motherboard looking for leaky capacitors or burned circuits.


He already tried pulling the CMOS battery...
Usually, if the cmos/bios is corrupted (it checks with MD5 sums) it will automatically reflash to the default.


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## Snow02

jellybellys said:


> He already tried pulling the CMOS battery...
> Usually, if the cmos/bios is corrupted (it checks with MD5 sums) it will automatically reflash to the default.


Did he also pull the laptop battery and unplug it and wait several minutes? Otherwise just pulling the cmos battery won't do anything as the system still had power.


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## synysterxj

So far:

1) Pulled the laptop battery, then put it back in.
2) Ran a memory and hard disk test both passed

What is the CMOS battery and how do i pull it?

Warranty started 6/07/11, so it looks like I should hopefully have a year warranty on it from the factory.

Also found this little gem:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Lockups-Freezes-Hangs/HP-Pavilion-dv6915nr-will-not-boot-continuously-reboots/td-p/496791


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## Snow02

synysterxj said:


> So far:
> 
> 1) Pulled the laptop battery, then put it back in.
> 2) Ran a memory and hard disk test both passed
> 
> What is the CMOS battery and how do i pull it?
> 
> Warranty started 6/07/11, so it looks like I should hopefully have a year warranty on it from the factory.


Yeah. If it's under warranty I just go that route.


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## jellybellys

synysterxj said:


> So far:
> 
> 1) Pulled the laptop battery, then put it back in.
> 2) Ran a memory and hard disk test both passed
> 
> What is the CMOS battery and how do i pull it?
> 
> Warranty started 6/07/11, so it looks like I should hopefully have a year warranty on it from the factory.
> 
> Also found this little gem:
> 
> http://h30434.www3.h...ots/td-p/496791


This is the CMOS battery:








It's usually a CR2032 battery, located on the motherboard. If you yank it out, then boot... it should reflash the BIOS to when you first got it, then put it back in.
Good thing your warranty is still in effect, then you could replace it if all else fails.


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## synysterxj

Alright well I think I found it. Unfortunately i torched it when I was taking it out. Its all one piece, so I am going to order one.


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## jellybellys

Just as a test, if you stripped the wires connecting to the battery, and used tape to connect them to a 3v battery, or 2 double/triple A batterys, then you could test to see if it has any effect. The computer should boot without the battery, but it will reset the system clock and all bios settings on every boot.


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## Snow02

synysterxj said:


> Alright well I think I found it. Unfortunately i torched it when I was taking it out. Its all one piece, so I am going to order one.


Lol. What do you mean when you say "torched"?


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## synysterxj

Well I pulled the battery cover back which kind of stripped the wires off...gonna see if the electronics store has one tomorrow.


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## synysterxj

Plugged it back in anyways and reset the BIOS still stuck in a boot loop...what are the chances the battery is bad.


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## jellybellys

synysterxj said:


> Plugged it back in anyways and reset the BIOS still stuck in a boot loop...what are the chances the battery is bad.


If it still won't boot without the battery, then it has nothing to do with the BIOS or the CMOS.
If the battery were the problem, it would boot.


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## synysterxj

So with the battery out it still stuck in bootloop


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## Gman

I wouldn't necessarily trust the BIOS hard drive test. If you have another drive you put in there, it should be able to eliminate the HD as the isssue. Otherwise, if you boot from a CD and install a fresh copy of the OS, then all should be good. If that doesn't work or can't work, then I would start to look at the hardware and using my warranty.


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## jellybellys

Gman said:


> I wouldn't necessarily trust the BIOS hard drive test. If you have another drive you put in there, it should be able to eliminate the HD as the isssue. Otherwise, if you boot from a CD and install a fresh copy of the OS, then all should be good. If that doesn't work or can't work, then I would start to look at the hardware and using my warranty.


If you read the whole thread, then you would know that he can't boot from a CD.


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## doug piston

jellybellys said:


> If you read the whole thread, then you would know that he can't boot from a CD.


How do you know? Are you certain he changed the boot order in the bios? Possibly he just threw a cd and said, dang, doesn't boot...


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## Gman

Not sure how a virus does all that..... personally, not being able to boot from CD is more of an issue. If you have bootable CD ROM, unless there is damage to the drive, I would rather format and reinstall. They did say they flashed/restored some stuff in the BIOS. I would check out why the CD ROM isn't reading either. Just my two cents.


jellybellys said:


> If you read the whole thread, then you would know that he can't boot from a CD.


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## jellybellys

doug piston said:


> How do you know? Are you certain he changed the boot order in the bios? Possibly he just threw a cd and said, dang, doesn't boot...


Most people in this world aren't that stupid you know...


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