Startup problems pavilion xe5738rs motherboard 344178-001 will not startup. Battery charge light and power light will flash for fraction of second when power button pressed, then all goes dead. Have to remove battery and reinssert before it will repeat brief flash, but stil will not startup. Is it the motherboard or some other fault in the laptop?

If you wish to troubleshoot further, please try removing RAM, Hard disk one by one, just you did about the battery. Start the notebook every time you remove a component. If any of the removed parts is culprit, the notebook should start after removint it. Further details on how to remove the parts are available on hp website. Thanks, Rajesh

I agree with bmwrider on this. I just had one last week which did the same thing. After replacing the power jack the unit would not boot but the battery light flashed for an instant. Took out the battery and tried it and it booted fine. Take the battery out and try it without the battery using the AC power unit. If the battery is the culprit it should run. In which case you will need a new battery. Good luck.

Have you considered it could be the battery has died. Have you tried external power? If the battery is OK then check the battery contacts to make sure they are clean. Has your power supply died and it won't power the laptop or charge the battery? It could be the motherboard but I'd put my money on it's power supply or battery. Without more details being supplied.