Motherboard or processor, which is it??

[GLENDAGIRL]

I have a compaq presario, CQ56 115DX Notebook, by HP.
Problem started last week and resurfaced again this monday.
could not get my notebook out sleep mode, the caps lock was blinking once, indicating a cpu problem.
took it in to a tech, who changed the cpu. System was running until 2 days, ago, when again, could not get it out of
sleep. Press the power button, turns the laptop off completely, press again, back to sleep, with caps lock blinking once, indicating cpu issues. Took it back to tech, who now thinks it could be the motherboard.
If that was the case, then HP diagnostics would have the caps lock blinking 5 times, right?


HELP, THANKS

 

[TVeblen]

Hello GLENDAGIRL. Welcome to the forum.

Not necessarily. If the problem were in the motherboard's CPU socket that could be mistaken for a CPU error.

CPUs are hardy components. It's hard to kill them and they don't usually go bad. The fact that the CPU was switched and the problem persists would pretty much eliminate it as a suspect.

Have you or the tech checked and reseated the RAM? It is generally a good idea to check everything for loose connections.

 

[GLENDAGIRL]

checked the ram, yes, and..

yes have checked and reseated the ram.
how do you do motherboard diagnostics on this laptop that will not boot?

 

[TVeblen]

Not easily.
You can disconnect any removable parts: hard drives, optical drive, WiFi, battery or power supply, even the RAM sticks then see if you can get a different error code, or with RAM in, get to the BIOS screen.

Beyond that there is not much you can do outside of a shop. You switch processors, then motherboards. Not many people have a spare.