Here’s how I fixed a Compaq Presario V6000 motherboard with “no video” issue. Not sure if this fix will last forever but it works and the laptop is back to life.
Also, this fix might work for the following HP/Compaq laptop motherboards: HP Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000, Compaq Presario V3000 and probably some other models.
WARNING!
This repair might be harmful for your health and baking motherboard in an oven could be a bad idea. It could be toxic. I don’t know if it is or not. I did this repair for myself, at my own risk. I’m just sharing my experience. If you decide to fix your motherboard the same way, please do it at your own risk.
Again, proceed at your own risk. Otherwise, close this page and take your laptop to the professional repair shop.
FIXING “NO VIDEO” ISSUE BY BAKING THE MOTHERBOARD.
Problem description: I had an abandoned Compaq Presario V6000 laptop. The laptop was turning on when I press on the power button but after a few seconds turning off by itself. There was no video on the laptop screen or external monitor. I tried another AC adapter, new memory modules but it didn’t help. I was pretty sure this is motherboard related failure.
Research: After I did some research on the Internet, I found that this is a known problem with Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 and Presario V3000/V6000 motherboards and most likely related to the graphics chip failure. The graphics chip (aka GPU or video chip) is soldered to the motherboard. Apparently, there are bad solder joints between the graphics chip and motherboard. Overtime the graphics chip separates from the motherboard causing all kind of different video problems.
Possible solution: One guy suggested baking the failed motherboard in a conventional oven preheated to 385 degrees Fahrenheit for exactly 8 minutes. This process should reflow the graphics chip solder joints and give the motherboard a second life.
I had nothing to lose and decided to give it a try. Here’s how I did it step by step.
First of all, you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and remove the motherboard.
STEP 1.
Remove all peripheral components installed on the motherboard (memory, cooling module, CPU, etc…). Remove all protective films from the motherboard. The motherboard will be baking at a very high temperature and all that can burn has to be removed.
Tip: Make lots of pictures while stripping down the motherboard. They will help you to put all removed protective films back in proper locations.
STEP 2.
Here’s how the same side of the motherboard looks without protective plastic films.
You can see the problematic graphics chip, it’s on the right side from the CPU socket.
STEP 3.
Remove all protective plastic films from the other side of the motherboard. Disconnect the audio cable.
STEP 4.
The motherboard will be seating in the oven on the baking pan. In order to elevate the motherboard above the baking pan I’ll use a few screws.
STEP 5.
I installed screws in four corners of the motherboard. There are plenty holes for screws.
STEP 6.
You can see there is a 3/4 inch gap between the motherboard and desk surface. By the way, I positioned the motherboard so the graphics chip seats on the top.
STEP 7.
Place the motherboard on the baking pan. Make sure it’s not touching anything.
Preheat the conventional gas oven to 385 degrees Fahrenheit and place the motherboard in the middle of the oven for 8 minutes. You’ll smell some burning plastic in about 6 minutes. 
After that remove the baking pan with motherboard and let it cool down for about 30-40 minutes.
Install the motherboard back into the laptop, assemble the laptop back together and see if it works.
This fix worked for me! After I assembled the laptop, it started properly right away taking me to the BIOS setup menu. I didn’t have the hard drive, so I tested my laptop with a Knoppix live Linux CD. The laptop video works great!
RELATED POSTS:
In the next post I’ll show a much safer way to fix same problem using bubble wrap. Which requires no laptop disassembly.
Here’s another way to fix failed NVIDIA graphics card with a heat gun.
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April 25th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Bill,
I think there could be a problem with the LCD cable.
Just in case test your laptop with an external monitor. The black color on the external monitor should be displayed properly. Isn’t it?
April 25th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
My HP Pavillion dv9700 laptop’s screen shows a neon green rather than black for all pixels. If I start to close the screen, when it gets maybe three incles from being all the way shut, I can see the black go back to black, but when I reopen the screen the problem reemerges. I did open up the LCD area and attempted to wiggle/squeeze various wires but not seemed to do anything. Further, the brightness on the LCD is dimmer than I would expect (but still easily seen)and the function keys for brightness do nothing to alter the brightness of the screen.
From some various forums, I think it may have something to do with a slightly loose connection to the motherboard, but that’s a guess.
Can you help?
April 24th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
john shung,
You’ll find disassembly instructions for a Dell Inspiron 8600 in this service manual.
April 24th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
effthech,
Not sure what’s going on. Did you test the output voltage on the AC adapter. Maybe the voltage is not correct?
What if you remove the battery and start the laptop only with AC adapter? Do you still have a garbled screen this way?
What if you start the laptop in Safe Mode? The image is still garbled?
April 22nd, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Well this fix worked for me. Amazing that such a bizare procedure works. I had nothing to lose at the V6000 wouldn’t boot. Now it seems completely normal.
HP was very stupid for using such a feeble cooling design. They should have sone extensive testing before going to mass production. If they had, this weakness would have been detected.
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:51 am
i have a toshiba A205 laptop but whenever there is the charger plugged into the laptop the screen image gabbled but if operate it with the battery alone the system works fine. so please i wnat somebaody to help me out.
April 11th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
I don’t see why decent graphics companies like Nvidia and ATI don’t make all of their GPU’s the same as CPU’s with pins that slot into a socket.
In fact those boys who write the weee regs should insist on it because the professional repair of this more often than not is not worth the charge, especially as it is likely to fail again.
I do the repair for other people now but only offer a 28 day guarantee. When I tell them why, even with my modest fee of £75 most of them prefer to just go buy a new laptop with 12 months warrenty. Imagine globally how many laptops must get scrapped and the increase in electronic waste? And this problem doesn’t seem to be getting better, in fact from my experience it’s getting worse.
April 11th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
john chung,
Do you mean the laptop assembly procedure?
Check out this service manual for Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 laptops.
http://support.dell.com/suppor...../index.htm
April 11th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
I agree with Adam. I bought a hot air gun from Argos in the UK for £12.99, stripped my Sony Vaio, put a G-Clamp (TWO FINGER TIGHT ONLY) on it and heated evenly about 3mm from the top of the chip untill stuff started to smoke! As the board cools very gently tightened the G-Clamp a bit at a time untill it was to the point where I would have to use a minimum force to tighten any further. Basically what you need to avoid is putting too much force on the chip while hot as all of the solder underneath will just spurt out like an over-filled jam sandwich! I advise practicing on another simular type chip from a broken TV or something first.
It worked after re-assembly but as Adam said it only lasts between weeks and months, just like the X-Box 360 X-Clamp repair which is much the same thing.
Basically it is down to the new weee regs that don’t allow the use of leaded solder anymore. The lead played a vital role in solder giving it much better tolerance to expansion through heat where as the new stuff just cracks.
April 11th, 2010 at 6:09 am
bro can u do an assembly procedure for Dell 8600 ?