Troublesome HP Pavillion laptop

[metallicnitro]

Recently my friend gave me her laptop to look at. When the power button was pressed it would turn on but never go anywhere. It wouldn't go into BIOS, I would just be presented with a blank screen. I heard hardware creaking and thought it could be related to that. Laptop is no longer under warranty and she can't afford a new laptop at the moment.

1st Test:
Took the battery out and held the power button down to drain an extra charge in the laptop. Tried to use it with the adapter only, battery and adapter and battery alone.

2nd Test:
Switched RAM around, nothing worked. Tested her RAM on my Macbook and it worked fine. Tested my RAM on her HP and I still had the same problem.

3rd Test:
Switched hard drives with a spare one I had. That appeared to work. However it was a Bootcamp partition so it wouldn't boot up fully. It would get to the Windows loading screen and restart. I thought the HDD was the problem. When I went home and try to boot up the laptop, it was a no go. I had the same problem as before. The power button would start to flash and nothing on the screen. Her HDD was working fine as well.

So I eliminated the common problems. I decided to open up the laptop and see if maybe something had come lose. Unfortunately there were 3 screws that I could not take out, I tried several sized heads to no avail Those screws need to be extracted. Now the outer casing has that problem as well and I can't take the casing off.

Now I ran into the problem that it would not boot up. I decided to leave it running for a bit and hope it would kick start itself up. After about an hour I cut the power and restarted the machine and it worked! Now I ran into ANOTHER problem. the laptop screen was not working AT ALL. I can get an image out to an external monitor, but not the laptop monitor. I tried changing the settings around when I logged in. However I still don't have access to the BIOS because my monitor doesn't show anything until the login screen. I did notice that the DVD drive tries to start up but fails. I am wondering if this could be a problem. I removed the drive and tried to boot without it but I had no luck there.

Anyone have any idea of what might be causing this problem? If it is the motherboard, would I just be able to replace that and keep the hardware. Also, why would the laptop screen not work but an external monitor will? Also, anyone have any recommendations on how to get the worn out screws out?

I greatly appreciate any help.

[tehboris]

Does the backlight come on at all?

The screen is probably broken. Best bet for replacing it is buying a broken laptop of the same model which has a different problem. That way you stand a chance of been able to fix one of them.

[shawn228642]

Anyone have any idea of what might be causing this problem? If it is the motherboard, would I just be able to replace that and keep the hardware. Also, why would the laptop screen not work but an external monitor will? Also, anyone have any recommendations on how to get the worn out screws out?

I greatly appreciate any help.

I have limited knowledge with hardware, but I have learned that 9 out of 10 times, you will not be able to replace a motherboard on a lapotp, because everything is built on the motherboard most of the time.

When you get in to worn screws, if you mean that the heads are stripped *place a drop of superglue into the hole, just enough to fill the socket, but not the whole hole, and then place the screwdriver in.

*i am not responsible for anything that may come of this, it is just a suggestion.

also, have you thought that it may not be worn at all, you just might be using the wrong screwdriver? Laptop makers are notorious for placing TORX screws inside of laptops to discourage opening of the laptop. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx for more information about this.

[metallicnitro]

The LCD screen was working just fine until I cracked open the case, I made sure all the connections went back where they belong.

As for the screws, they are regular philips head screws and I have tried several sizes to try unscrew them. It is only about 5 screws that are giving me the problem. Also I don't think I feel too comfortable putting in super glue in... but I feel confident enough to use a screw extractor... don't ask, I don't know why either.

[shawn228642]

The LCD screen was working just fine until I cracked open the case, I made sure all the connections went back where they belong.

As for the screws, they are regular philips head screws and I have tried several sizes to try unscrew them. It is only about 5 screws that are giving me the problem. Also I don't think I feel too comfortable putting in super glue in... but I feel confident enough to use a screw extractor... don't ask, I don't know why either.
LOL I am the same way. I googled the problem and I am not turning anything up but I will continue to research the problem when I can go back to work saturday when i get back to florida. My boss at the computer repair center is good with the hardware. I am more of a software person.

[metallicnitro]

Thanks, I searched so many different terms in Google and it seems like no one has had an sucess or they never update on their situation. I checked the LCD screen and all the connections seem ok on that end. However I will be going out to get the screw extraction kit so I can get access to the motherboard.

All this started when my friend dropped her laptop.... and it is very hard to explain to her that my initial thought was wrong and that it could be any other number of things... I always get hit with the "but you said..." line...

[metallicnitro]

OK... so now everything is working.... WTF is up with this laptop? The screen is OK everything booted up...

I think I will leave it on all night and hope it doesn't freeze. I'll try to restart it and hope I can get into the BIOS and maybe I'll see something weird.

[computoman]

It has been said that some compaq and hp laptops will not boot if the battery has a low charge. Depleteing the battery will only make things worse. I have seen that happen on a rare occasion. Probably when the laptop had a chance to charge the system seem to be good again. I do have several old hp desktops still in production though. Unless you have seen the laptop on fire there is no reason to open the case, it just leads to more complications. I have even seen Certified (or certifiable) Dell techs who only open a laptop as a last resort.

[metallicnitro]

Well the problem is that it does this with every single connection. I've tried to turn it on with and without the battery and adapter connected. Right now it will not boot up. It has both the battery and adapter plugged in.

I was also wondering if it might be a power issue because it is the Power light that keeps flashing on and off. I am not too sure about that though. If I keep it in this state for long enough and restart it, it boots up... we'll see if it works this time around.

[tehboris]

Perhaps you should educate this person about taking care of there stuff and not treating it like a hair dryer.

[metallicnitro]

Oh I'm trying, but she's just an average computer user. I mean I've dropped my Macbook on several occasions, I have even chipped it when it was in my bag and I blacked out and fell a few hours after donating blood. My Macbook has gone through much abuse. Her laptop seems to be in pretty good condition after several years of use.

Well I managed to get it to boot up. So leaving it on for about 20 min and restarting it manages to get it to boot up. Also, when I was first trying to turn it on, the DVD drive sounded like it wanted to start up but couldn't. I managed to see some kind of bent metallic object where the DVD drive is suppose to be and straightened it out. Now it doesn't make that sound when booting up.

Currently I am running certain software from a certain retailer and see if that gives me any results.

[revision3fan]

Try the <Fn><F4> or <Fn><F5> key combinations to switch to and from the external monitor and the laptop display.

Have you tried different monitor types such as S-video, VGA etc.?

[metallicnitro]

Try the <Fn><F4> or <Fn><F5> key combinations to switch to and from the external monitor and the laptop display.

Have you tried different monitor types such as S-video, VGA etc.?

I managed to fix the video cable and now the LCD screen works. I ran the diagnostic software, ran about 6 or 7 anti-virus and malware programs. Everything is in tip-top shape. There were no errors found hardware wise. I still do have trouble powering it up. I've been meaning to make a video to show what the problem is.

[adisonic]

The earlier problem occured to my mum's hp pavilion laptop and the screen problem happened to my dad's dell laptop.
The hp pavilion has its graphics card messed up due to overheating. It works sometimes, but very rarely and then i stoppes workiong after a bit. There is no wqay out of it. HP is in court at the moment coz of all this trouble - hpnotebooksettlement.com check it out

Now to the other problem, your inverter probably has a loose connection so you should probably check that out while opening the laptop. It will be somewhere near the top oh the keyboard area, i think.

If anyone needs help, just reply on this forum or twitter.com/adisonic

[metallicnitro]

The earlier problem occured to my mum's hp pavilion laptop and the screen problem happened to my dad's dell laptop.
The hp pavilion has its graphics card messed up due to overheating. It works sometimes, but very rarely and then i stoppes workiong after a bit. There is no wqay out of it. HP is in court at the moment coz of all this trouble - hpnotebooksettlement.com check it out

Now to the other problem, your inverter probably has a loose connection so you should probably check that out while opening the laptop. It will be somewhere near the top oh the keyboard area, i think.

If anyone needs help, just reply on this forum or twitter.com/adisonic

I do think it has something to do with the graphics card. The boot problem occurs right about the time the screen is suppose to come on.

I did check the LCD screen and tightened up any connections that could have been loose on the inverter.

[trunolimit]

It has been said that some compaq and hp laptops will not boot if the battery has a low charge. Depleteing the battery will only make things worse. I have seen that happen on a rare occasion. Probably when the laptop had a chance to charge the system seem to be good again. I do have several old hp desktops still in production though. Unless you have seen the laptop on fire there is no reason to open the case, it just leads to more complications. I have even seen Certified (or certifiable) Dell techs who only open a laptop as a last resort.

truer words have never been posted.

I have a friend at my job who cracked his screen. All that needed to be done was to replace the screen. This idiot thought it was a good idea to take matters into his own hands and take the laptop apart. When he handed it over it was in pieces and he was missing parts. all i could think was "you moron". Anyway I ordered an new screen and internal power converter for the screen. I installed it and the screen still didn't work. I chalked it up to the fact that the video circuit must have gone bad.

so please take this as a warning. Do not dive into the hardware unless you know what your doing. And if you must go that route, document everything, what screw came from where and such. And DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING OPEN, if something won't budge it's because you aren't going at it the right way.