[BTDCU422]

Hello everyone ,

I come today with an interesting predicament. About a month ago my Mom's HP Pavillion laptop (model dv6000) started acting up. I would turn on the laptop, and as soon as it would switch to digital the screen would go blank. I looked around and found a solution that worked temporarily: turn the laptop off, take out the battery, and unplug the power cord. Hold the power button for 30 - 60 seconds and then plug the power cord back in and turn it on. It worked a few times, but now that won't do it. So I read around and discovered that this particular laptop model was known to have the onboard graphics card go bad after two years (about how long we've owned it). However, if I plug it into an external monitor it works fine. So how could it be a problem with the onboard graphics card if it still works on an external screen? This leads me to believe that it is a problem with the laptops LCD screen. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advanced.

[Albert Lionheart]

Hi - not good news I'm afraid
As you have found out these machines all had this weak spot. The only cure is to have the board "reflowed" which means reseating the graphics chip. A complete strip down is necessary which pushes up the costs of the repair - in the UK not usually less than £120/£140 + tax or nearly $200.
I have one in my workshop awaiting the customers decision on what to do with it - my recommendation is to chuck it and get a new one. As you can access the system using an external screen it is possible to recover any data - in any event never ever throw a machine away with a hard drive in it!

[BTDCU422]

Mm that is rather unfortunate news indeed. Well for the price we paid for it ($1,500 when said and done) I don't think the best idea would be to get a new one. For now I guess we'll just have to keep using the external monitor and be SOL when we want to go somewhere and take it with us. Thanks for the info .

[Albert Lionheart]

Please don't take my word for it - using a forum is no proper means of diagnosing a problem like that!
If you can find someone who can do board level repairs, ask them to confirm what I say - shame you are not in the UK as I know just the man!