Compaq Presario CQ60-211DX Troubleshooting

Your laptop gets really hot when in use.

Built up layers of dust block airflow and prevent the cooling system to function properly.

Clean all dust and debris from the laptop's exterior, internal components, vents, and fans using a compressed gas duster can, as well as a dry paper towel.

Make sure the laptop has proper space for ventilation by avoiding placing it on blankets or other insulating material. Always place the laptop on a hard level surface, and make sure there are at least 6 inches of open space around each vent.

Overtime, cooling fans slow down or stop operations entirely. These can lead to the fans being unable to cool the laptop. In order to fix this, try replacing the cooling fans using this guide.

If the problems persist after completing these steps, your laptop may have sustained damage to one or multiple pieces of its hardware. A hardware test may be performed using the the built in diagnostic software provided by HP and Compaq. If you are unable to perform this step, contact HP customer support.

Your laptop has a problem reading critical information on your hard drive, and shows an error message when starting up.

This is a problem reading critical information on your hard drive. This can occur when the proper logoff and shutdown sequence is neglected. This can easily be repaired by using a Windows DVD for the version of the operating system on the laptop. Choose the "Repair Your Computer" option, and click next. Click on "Startup Repair" and let the program run.

If your laptop is still not booting up, you should contact HP customer support.

If you continue to have boot errors, refer to the following steps:

• Step 1: Reset your hard drive, as when a computer is jarred, the hard drive can come unplugged from its slot. To see how this is done, refer to the guide on hard drive replacement.
• Step 2: Make sure the hard drive containing your operating system is installed in hard drive slot 1 and not as an external drive or in an add on dive bay installed in the disk drive.

If you installed an operating system on the laptop, then something may be wrong with your hard drive. In this case, the hardware must be replaced. You may want to replace the hard drive using this guide.

If your laptop still is not booting up, you should contact HP customer support.

If you find your computer constantly crashing or freezing during run time, this means you do not have enough RAM installed on your laptop. This common error could also mean that you just have bad RAM installed and have to install new RAM. You may want to replace the RAM using this guide.

Your screen won't display anything even though the laptop is turned on.

If the LCD screen on your laptop has similar malfunctions to: a completely black screen, a screen with black or miscolored lines, or the presence of black dots on the screen. Your screen is likely to be broken and needs a replacement. You may want to replace the LCD screen using this guide.

Your laptop produces no sound or distorted audio.

If you are having audio problems with the laptop's speaker, consider the following steps:

• Step 1: Go to your start menu, click on "Computer", and click "Manage."
• Step 2: Click on "Device Manager"
• Step 3: Look for any listings with an exclamation point beside it. (This means that specific listing has an issue)
• Step 4: If no exclamation points appear, click on "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers." This shows all the drivers for your sound card and other similar devices.
• Step 5: Click on your sound driver and click "Properties".
• Step 6: Click on "Drivers" on the top of the window.
• Step 7: If you can, click the "Roll Back" button and check if the sound drivers work.

If your audio is still not working, consider visiting the HP website and downloading the newest sound drivers for your laptop.

If you are just experiencing audio problems when using headphones, this could be a sign of a damaged media jack. Ensure your headphone jack is fully inserted into the media jack. If the audio is still distorted or nonexistent, you should look into replacing your laptop's media jack.

Your laptop only turns on when connected to the charger.

In order to diagnose this, ensure your laptop is connected to the charger. If your laptop powers up when connected, the battery is most likely faulty and does not want to charge anymore. You may want to replace the battery using this guide.

Laptop chargers usually carry a needle inserter inside the charging jack in order to connect to the laptop. Inspect the charger jack and see if the needle is still present in the charger. If the needle is not present, this means you need a new charger to adequately charge the laptop.