Maintenance and Service Guide

Table Of Contents
7. Status lights, blinking light codes, troubleshooting lights, and POST error messages
Carefully observe any behavior the computer may be exhibiting: status lights, blinking lights, and POST error
messages during boot. It is important to understand what these indicators mean.
Status lights
See the chapter titled “External Component Identication” for light locations. The following table describes
basic lights on the computer.
Table 8-6 Power button functions and lights and their descriptions
Component Description
Power button When the computer is o, press the button to turn on the computer.
When the computer is on, press the button briey to initiate Sleep (Windows) or Suspend
(Linux).
When the computer is in the Sleep state, press the button briey to exit Sleep (Windows) or
Suspend (Linux).
When the computer is in Hibernation, press the button briey to exit Hibernation.
CAUTION: Pressing and holding down the power button results in the loss of unsaved
information.
If the computer has stopped responding and operating system shutdown procedures are
ineective, press and hold the power button.
Front power light On: The computer is on.
Blinking: The computer is in the Sleep state.
O: The computer is o.
Front AC adapter and battery light White: The computer is connected to external power and the battery is charged from 90 to
99 percent.
Amber: The computer is connected to external power and the battery is charged from 0 to 90
percent.
Blinking amber: A battery that is the only available power source has reached a low battery
level. When the battery reaches a critical battery level, the battery light begins blinking
rapidly. By default, the critical battery level is dened in Power Options as 5%.
O: The battery is fully charged.
Front hard drive light Blinking white: The hard drive is being accessed.
Amber: HP 3D DriveGuard has temporarily parked the hard drive.
Rear AC adapter light White: The computer is connected to external power.
O: The computer is not connected to external power.
General troubleshooting steps 87