Motherboard LED lights up, but NOTHING!!

Friedcomputerz208

Estimable
Jan 26, 2015
2
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4,510
Hi everyone!

Computer: HP Pavilion g6-1b79dx running Windows 7

So just yesterday I took apart my laptop to dust the fan. I thought it would go smoothly since I had done this before. Unfortunately, just after I put it back I got a warning upon booting it that the cooling fan was not connected. While I tried to figure out that problem I panicked and in that accidentally stripped a ribbon cable for the power button. I fixed that issue, but now there's a new issue: my computer won't boot and I think it's the motherboard.

Whenever I plug in the AC Adapter or put in the battery, the power light will illuminate and the computer will turn on for merely a split second (fan spins, the led light for wi-fi on the keyboard will flash, etc.) then just suddenly turn back off. The power LED stays lit the whole time and the process repeats itself every few seconds. I'm suspecting it's either ESD or there is a short somewhere in the motherboard.

I'm a little frustrated since I can't seem to find anything relevant to my issue on Google. I've also tried some other tricks, such as holding down the power button for 60 secs with no power source connected and removing and putting back the RAM. I have seen things such as reflowing the CPU or fixing the capacitors or applying thermal paste, but I'm not sure they're relevant to my situation and don't have much experience working with circuits (just hardware). I'm a little worried, since I don't want to have to buy a new PC and trash my old one or risk losing all my data, so any advice here would be greatly appreciated! :)