HP EliteBook 8530w Troubleshooting

The laptop’s battery may be damaged by age, heat, water, or some other source that is causing it to fail. Plug in the power adapter for the laptop to charge it and look for the battery light located on the bottom left of the laptop. The battery light has a lightning bolt icon.

If the battery light is solid amber:

If the battery light is amber, the battery should be charging. Try to turn on the laptop at this point, it should be able to do this while it is charging.

If the laptop does not turn on, then the laptop has some other power failure. Try looking at the laptop’s manual or contact HP support for this issue.

If the laptop does turn on, wait until the battery light changes from solid amber to blinking turquoise. Refer to the blinking turquoise scenario.

If the battery light is blinking turquoise:

If the battery light is blinking turquoise, the battery should be close to a full charge. If the computer is off, turn it on.

If the laptop does not turn on, then the laptop has some other power failure. Try looking at the laptop’s manual or contact HP support for this issue.

While the laptop is on, unplug the power adapter. If the laptop instantly turns off, then it may have a bad battery. See our guide on replacing the battery.

If the laptop stays on, the battery is operating normally. If the lifespan of the battery seems low for a single charge, then the battery could be damaged and may need replacing. See our guide on replacing the battery.

If the battery light is off:

If the battery light is off, the battery should be fully charged or the power adapter is faulty. Check to see if the power adapter is faulty. The power adapter may have a small light on it to tell if it is working.

If the power adapter is plugged into a working AC outlet (wall outlet) and the light on the adapter does not turn on, then the power adapter is faulty. Refer to the failing power adapter scenario.

If the light on the power adapter is on, then the adapter should be working properly. Try to turn the laptop on at this point.

If the laptop does not turn on, then the laptop has some other power failure. Try looking at the laptop’s manual or contact HP support for this issue.

If the laptop does turn on, unplug the power adapter to see if the laptop stays on.

If the laptop instantly turns off, then it may have a bad battery. See our guide on replacing the battery.

If the laptop stays on, the battery is operating normally. If the lifespan of the battery seems low for a single charge, then the battery could be damaged and may need replacing. See our guide on replacing the battery.

Check to see that the charging light is illuminated on your power cable when plugged in. If you do not see the charging light, consider replacing the Power Cable.

Dramatic decrease in the laptop’s performance from when it was first purchased.

If you are using a program that requires an internet connection, a slow connection may give the illusion that your computer itself is slow; this may be resolved by switching to a different network (if available) or using an Ethernet cable and plugging it into the port on the left side.

A computer has a finite amount of performance it can delegate to all the programs that are running.  To improve performance, you will need to terminate unneeded programs; this can be accomplished by pressing and holding Control, Alt, and Delete at the same time — this will open a menu with a few options; click on “Task Manager”.

A small window should open on your desktop. Make sure you are under the tab labeled “Processes“ at the top.

We are interested in everything under the “Apps“ section. Don’t worry about all the other stuff you may see as it can get very technical. Everything under “Apps“ are the current running apps/programs; you can see how many resources each uses by looking under the CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, and GPU columns.

To stop an app/program, click on it and then click “End task“ located at the bottom right.

Sometimes programs and software can become hung up and cycle, costing performance and therefore slowing down a computer; this can be solved by a simple restart of the laptop.

We know this sounds like a “Did you try turning it off and on again?” tech support call, but doing this can genuinely solve a lot of common computer problems.

To reboot the laptop, click on the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. Click the power icon and select either “Shut down” or “Restart”.

Shutting down the laptop may be better as some apps/programs need the laptop to completely power off to stop what they’re doing.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is a component in your computer that helps the computer handle large apps/programs. As programs become more and more resource intensive it may become necessary to replace your old RAM with a higher performance component. For an in-depth guide on RAM replacement click here [HERE]

Screen is blank or has observable cracks, black spots, or lines streaking across the laptop.

As the EliteBook does have an HDMI port, a common issue may be that a user has been using an external screen and unplugs the cable, yet the laptop screen remains blank — this is an easy fix. Simply plug one end of an HDMI cable into your computer and plug the other end into an external screen. Right click a free area of your laptop and select “Personalization” from the pop-up menu. When in the personalization menu you will presented with a few options; click on “Display” and you can choose where your computer’s image will be sent.

A screen may be affected by faulty programs or errors, a simple solution could be to reboot the laptop.

To reboot the laptop, click on the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. Click the power icon and select either “Shut down” or “Restart”.

Shutting down the laptop may be better as some apps/programs need the laptop to completely power off to stop what they’re doing.

The screen may be broken or faulty; thus, you will not be able to fix it with software solutions and will be required to replace the screen. For a screen replacement guide you can click [Here]

Laptop is unable to store any more data, any attempts at saving documents or files results in an insufficient storage warning.

Your laptop has multiple drive bays in which it can use multiple drives to expand its storage capabilities. However, factory settings will choose one storage drive as the default for downloads and other file related activities.

To change this, click on the Windows icon and type “file explorer“. Click on the app that says “File Explorer“. File Explorer will present you with a menu on the left with a list of locations on your computer. Right click on downloads and scroll down to “Properties” and click on it. This will open a menu with a few options at the top, click on “Location” and from there you can customize where you want your downloads to go.

Space can be cleared up by deleting files that no longer have use to you — this can be done in a few ways. The first is to clear your desktop of any unwanted documents. To do this, right click on the program and select “Delete” from the list.  To permanently delete a program, you must go to your recycle bin on the desktop and delete the programs again from the list. This process can also be done for programs outside of your desktop such as in the Download folder, Program folder, or Pictures folder. If you delete something accidentally, you can right click the on the white space inside the Recycle Bin and click on “Undo-Delete” to bring your files back.

If all else has failed and you’ve filled up your storage with no way to reduce, don’t worry. You can replace the drive with a larger model that will have more storage and may even be faster. For specific instructions on how to accomplish this click [HERE]

Over time, the laptop, or any type of computer for the matter, can gather dust in places where it is hard to remove or see. Laptops, being their size and having few places for air to pass through it, make it important to keep clean.

Dust reduces airflow and can clog fans that are trying to cool the laptop, it also acts as an insulator when there is enough of it to cover a surface causing increased heat generation.

How do I know if my laptop is overheating?

Computers of all types have a similar reaction to overheating. They usually start to slow down during heavy use or, in extreme cases, shut off to protect themselves from damage.

Try to turn the laptop on, assuming the battery is charged, or the power adapter is plugged in.

If the laptop shuts off before it reaches the lock screen, the laptop is likely experiencing a serious overheating problem.

If the laptop reaches the lock screen and you are able to sign in, but only have a few seconds or minutes to do anything, the laptop is likely experiencing a moderate to serious overheating problem.

If the laptop slows down and/or shuts off only during heavy workloads or long hours of use, the laptop is likely experiencing a minor to moderate overheating problem.

The laptop’s fan(s) are always/near max speed and it’s making a lot of noise.

How do I stop my laptop from overheating?

There are seven vents on this specific laptop, one is on the left and the rest are on the bottom.

Before starting, make sure the laptop is turned off. While not required, it is recommended to remove the battery.

Try to use some type of blower or suction tool to get dust out of the laptop without having to open it but be careful of what you use.

Things you can use are things like the hose of a vacuum cleaner or spray canned air directly on top of the vents. There are products that range in price online that are very good at this job if you are not comfortable with what is currently available to you. Feel free to alternate between blowing and sucking on all vents and try forcing clean air to go in the opposite direction where hot air is vented out of the laptop.

Things you should not use are things like your own breath or an industrial air compressor. As convenient and easy it is to just blow into the vents of your laptop, remember that your breath contains moisture. Enough moisture can lead to water which is much worse than heat. An air compressor, while very effective for this job, can be too powerful such that the compressed air can break small components inside the laptop that are needed for operation.

WARNING: If you are planning to use something to clean your laptop where there is a high probability that serious damage can occur, either to you or the laptop, use something else!

After you are done with trying to remove as much dust as possible without removing any components requiring tools of the laptop, turn it on and check for any changes. If you are satisfied with the results, you can stop here, but we encourage you to continue as the laptop could still be operating at high temperatures (which is bad).

At this point, we want to open the laptop and clean it. See our guide on cleaning the inside of the laptop [HERE].

If you haven’t already, turn the laptop off, we highly recommend removing the battery now because we will be opening the laptop. At this point was are going to remove all the covers that have vents. See our guide on removing/placing covers [HERE].

Check all fans to make sure they spin freely. If any fans have a hard time spinning, they may need to be replaced. See our guide on replacing fans [HERE].

Put the laptop back together, turn it on and look where the fans are. They should start spinning when the laptop first turns on. If they don’t, then they may need replacing. See our guide on replacing fans [HERE].