My Dead HP Laptop

[Sonic 296]

Seeing gben's thread about a laptop he wants to buy reminded me of my totally screwed HP Notebook/laptop. Plus I remember Doc saying in this thread he knows of a fix for the problem but its not pretty.

 

It has a major hardware problem. When the Notebook is powered on nothing appears on the screen at all. It stays blank, there appears to be no hard disk activity and Windows doesn't boot. The power/battery LED are on.

 

I've tried starting the Notebook with and without the battery connected, same result. I've searched high and low on the internet seeking a solution to this problem. Even swapped the hard drive to another one to rule out a faulty hard drive.

 

I've heard this is a common problem with the dv6700 range of Notebooks, where the GPU chip inside overheats, hence the blank screen. And apparently HP refuses to acknowledge this major design flaw! There thousands of forums posts all over the internet and many videos on YouTube that describe exactly what I'm experiencing with my Notebook.

 

I purchased this Notebook in March 2008, so of course means its outside of its 1 year warranty. Throughout all of 2009 and all of this year the Notebook has hardly been used and has been stored inside a protective carry case. When I switched it on for the time in many months back in October 2010 this fault occurred. So since then its be sitting there doing nothing. During November last year I contacted HP support, not a single reply... ****ing brilliant support

 

For the record, the specs are....

 

Hewlett Packard Pavilion DV6747TX Notebook

• 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 Processor
  
• 160GB Hard Drive
  
• 2GB DDR2 Ram
  
• NVIDIA® GeForce 256MB dedicated graphics
  
• 15.4" WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen Display
  
• Windows Vista Premium
  
• ExpressCard/54 slot (supports both 34 and 54 form factors)
  
• Integrated 5-in-1 digital memory reader slot
  
• Intel PRO/Wireless 802.11a/g/n; Bluetooth, integrated 10/100 LAN
  
• LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD±RW with Double Layer Support
  

[Guest Stevie_K]

I've seen the exact same problem with newer Hewlett Packard laptops as well.

 

Last time was a few weeks ago, where my friend had bought an all new, and literally unwrapped it over at my place.

After installing Starcraft 2 and playing for 10 minuttes it crashed, and the behaviour was just like you described.

Luckily for him he was able to get all his money back. I don't remember the model, but it had a dark red casing.

[PurpleGaga27 40]

I was hoping there's no virus that affected the BIOS preventing the laptop to boot correctly. Also was there a cell battery that controls the system time on the laptop? Maybe that went off.

[Luk3us 63]

Well unless you want to spend money on it, I'd say just put it on Trademe and see what you get for it. Always someone out there willing to buy a 'broken' machine to fix it, or for parts.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Replace the motherboard. You can find OEM replacements on eBay for relatively cheap. I have an HP laying around that I need to fix up. Hell, I'd take it off your hands if you wanted to ship it overseas.

[comander starlin 6]

it is a bit of a waste of time as HP is leaving the market in new zealand they have 2 years tops, we are trying to drop them in store before this happens. and they company we get them off are about to drop them to. so good riddance HP is Dead.