Laptop Help please

[Admiral Huddy]

I've been given a laptop to look at and it's puzzling me a bit.

It starts up, tries POST, then I get a blank screen.. then it whirrs for a bit, then restarts. It's annoying because I can't even get to run UBCD or run any recovery disks. Can't get into BIOS or anything. The owner reckons by pressing firmly down this enables the PC to boot into windows but only for a limited time.

There are no POST beeps codes no any error messages.

I'm having problems getting the back off as well which isn't helping.

Any ideas? I'm thinking dodgy motherboard.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

'Pressing down'? What do you mean by this? Pressing down on a part of the laptop? Pressing the down arrow key?

Sound's like it might be a possible short circuit, or dodgy connection on the mobo?!

Literally just lightly pressing the case.

Could be heat issue causing reboot.

Dust in fans? Heatsink paste dried up?

Good call.. Would this happen from cold boot though?

very surprised there are no error indications at all.

Do none of the power batt or hdd lights flash at all?

That can sometimes give you a hint.

Also what laptop is it?

I'm running it from main with battery out.. then again with a charged battery.

It just shows thre power light and disk activity.. The speaker emits no beeps at all.

I'm not near the laptop at the mo. All I know it's an Acer. It appears also to be a nightmare to get inside.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

It's an Acer Travelmate 291 lci

Does anyone have any instructions on how to open the thing up?