In this post I explain how you can fix a known video problem on some HP laptops without actually taking it apart. Most likely the fix is not permanent but this will buy you some time, enough to backup personal files or even use the laptop until you get a new one. There is no guaranty this fix work 100%.
Here are some HP models affected by this known video failure problem: HP Pavilion dv2000, dv6000, dv9000, tx1000 tablet PC, Compaq 700, v3000, v6000 and probably some others.
If you know more models, please mention them in comments after this post.
CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM:
As I know, the video problem somehow related to NVIDIA chip located on the motherboard. Overtime the NVIDIA chip separates from the motherboard and the laptop video fails.
SYMPTOMS OF THE PROBLEM:
When you turn on the laptop, all LEDs light up but there is no video on the laptop screen or external monitor. The laptop screen remains completely black and blank. The cooling fan spins as normal, on some models it stars spinning right away on other models after some time.
I found this trick mentioned by Walliot (comment 85) in this post. This trick called “towel fix” and used to fix “no video” issue in xbox360.
HOW TO FIX:
1. Remove laptop battery and hard drive.
2. Plug the AC adapter and turn on the laptop. Make sure the laptop is actually on, all LEDs should work.
3. Wrap the laptop with towels so all air intakes are closed.
4. Keeps the laptop wrapped in the towel for about one hours.
5. Unplug the AC adapter from the wall the let the laptop cool down (do not touch it for a while).
6. Unwrap the laptop and try tuning it on.
I didn’t really believe that this trick might work and tried it just because of curiosity but… IT WORKED!!!!
LAPTOP #1. HP tx1000 Tablet PC.
First, I tried this fix on a failed HP tx1000 Tablet PC.
I didn’t have paper towels at work but I had plenty of bubble wrap.
I closed the laptop in a tablet mode (with hard drive and battery removed), plugged the AC adapter and wrapped the laptop properly in bubble wrap.
After that I just waited for about two hours and unplugged AC adapter from the wall.
Waited for about 30 minutes and tried turning it on.
Success!!! The laptop started with video.
I just couldn’t stop and tried the fix on another failed laptop.
LAPTOP #2. HP Pavilion dv6000.
This is a different model with very similar failure symptoms. It turns on, all LED lights work but there is no video.
This time I didn’t something extra. To make sure there is no cool air coming into the laptop though bubble wrap, I closed all air vents with sticky tape.
After that I turned on the laptop from AC adapter (again with hard drive and battery removed) and wrapped the laptop base with bubble wrap.
The laptop was running like that for about 60-70 minutes but then I noticed that all LED lights went off. Not sure what happened, maybe the laptop overheated too much and shut down on its own. Anyway, I didn’t touch it for about 30 minutes and let it cool down.
My fix was successful again! The laptop turned on with video and booted to the desktop.
HOW THIS FIX WORKS:
Here’s my understanding of how this fix works.
When you run a laptop wrapped in towels (bubble wrap in my case), it gets very hot because there is no air circulation inside the heatsink. The heatsink and GPU (NVIDIA chip) run so hot that it melt solder between the chip and motherboard and the video chip gets resoldered to the motherboard.
Now I have to test for how long this fix last. 
RELATED POSTS:
In one of the previous posts I explained how I fixed failed video chip by backing the motherboard in an oven.
In one of the following posts I explain how to reflow failed NVIDIA graphics chip with a heat gun.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
October 7th, 2010 at 3:24 am
This procedure is called reflowing of BGA soldering.. As being said before, I would not trust this fix to run for long – month if lucky.
In the ideal world you need to get video chip off the motherboard, clean the solder, reball it and solder it back to the motherboard, but I wouldn’t risk it doing at home without required equipment (costs thousands).
Great work for discovering this kind of kludge!!! I’ll try this fix next time I have hands on dead pavillion.
October 7th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Just like Max said, this is a temporary fix. The problem is due to certain circuits loosing contact with the motherboard. If you are trying to recover files and don’t have an external enclosure, then this should help to back them up before your computer fries again.
A permanent solution is to replace the motherboard.
October 7th, 2010 at 9:35 am
I think you are right, but for someone anxious to get personal data back or just make the laptop work for a while this could be a very easy and valuable solution. To be hones, I wouldn’t put any money in fixing this problem. Ideally you have to replace the motherboard but it’s too expensive.
This is a very good advice. If you are lucky and your laptop boots after this fix, back up all important files ASAP. After that just have fun with the fixed “zombie” laptop.
Yep, but I really doubt that you can find a brand new motherboard for these laptops. Most motherboards out there are refurbished.
October 8th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
I am so grateful for this advice……so far i have worked on about 23 HP laptops with similar problem. I have a blower…so i take everything apart and heat the motherboard with the blower. But in few weeks it goes off again. I want to know how to replace the chip.
October 10th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Hi,
I tried similar method with wifi not powering up on HP laptops as shown here:
http://electrode.pc-wizard.biz.....00-series/
So far, so good – customer happy and no problems whatsoever. I was wondering if this method would work on video card as well, as some HP models are well known to have construction flaw that results in fail-chain: WIFI -> Video card -> and motherboard finally.
If you could keep us updated if result is permanent, that would be great.
October 11th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
OHENE BA,
I really doubt that you can replace the chip at home.
October 11th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
int21h,
It might work. Basically it’s same method as described in my post – overheating the CPU and “resoldering” the faulty NVIDIA chip.
So far my “fixed” laptop work fine.
October 11th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
if you worked and did not burn your motherboard is a lucky man. please all the people who have video fails go to a service technician first. the only way to fix definitely the re-soldier or “reballing” process, but also works “reflow” is the same as explained here but with professional tools.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Thanks man! It worked perfectly! I wrapped the computer with 2 nylon bags, a towel on the top and some blankets on the back and bottom. The screen I left it open so that it wouldn’t get damaged with the heat.
I left it like 1:30 hour and I started smelling burned plastic. So I turned off the machine, uncovered it and waited for it to cool down. It was very hot!
Then I put the hard drive back in and now it is working.
Just in case though, I will leave the program “TeamViewer” very accessible in my desktop in case I have to get in blindly if the fix is just to last one month. It’s a pity to throw the computer away, so if I can use it from another computer, that’s better than nothing.
But for now this works, and I will enjoy my display once more.
I will also post a link to here in HP’s forum for all the people who couldn’t get into that class lawsuit against NVIDIA.
Thanks!
Tomas.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
osvaldo,
Probably this is too expensive. Not worth repair.
October 17th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Sir, i like your site. i learn different kind of troubleshooting laptop.
id like to share my experience wih this kind of problem. when all LEDs are running but the screen is blank, i put some hot air pressure(480deg.c)to the video card or the whole motherboard. and after a while it runs.
Nixon
October 18th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Awesome!
Today a friend called me with exactly the same problem. i had no idea, didn´t google it, just stumbled a bit and stumbled upon this article
Awesome!
October 21st, 2010 at 9:47 pm
how can i fix my hp tx1000 ?chipset dont work …….my note book hasn’t wifi
(….so sad……Tell me how can i fix it ..thank
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:43 pm
@dvnhatbao
just wrap laptop as outline in article above, it will work for wifi problems as well, as both problems have same cause. If you want, you can run Everest CPU Test to make fix faster.
@cj2600
one i did actually dropped wifi few days ago, but after performing fix again it works well.
October 28th, 2010 at 9:10 am
So basically if i do this step on a dv9000 it wont set a fire
October 29th, 2010 at 2:41 am
does this only affect navidia card, or other vga card thanks
November 7th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
very informative post would this troubleshooting steps work with other brand of laptop?
November 11th, 2010 at 9:47 am
its work for me..thanks alot for this.. how longer this will work>? if i put cooler in the back, this will work permanent?
November 12th, 2010 at 7:12 am
Good fix well its more like a test, then you know you gotta take the laptop apart, blow tourch chip and put a penny under the heatsink. Put back together and if you lucky a very long fix
November 12th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Add me too the list of people for whom this solution worked!!!…… a million thanks…. !!! wrapped the laptop in towels for around 2 hours …. and allowed it to cool down ….. started up with fingers crossed… and it started up!!!!… there are some intermittent video issues (colour inversion)… but i am not complaining!!!
November 16th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
This procedure is called re-flowing of BGA soldering.. As being said before, I would not trust this fix to run for long – month if lucky.
In the ideal world you need to get video chip off the motherboard, clean the solder, re-ball it and solder it back to the motherboard, but I wouldn’t risk it doing at home without required equipment (costs thousands).
I think you are right, but for someone anxious to get personal data back or just make the laptop work for a while this could be a very easy and valuable solution. To be hones, I wouldn’t put any money in fixing this problem. Ideally you have to replace the motherboard but it’s too expensive.
If you are trying to recover files and don’t have an external enclosure, then this should help to back them up before your computer fries again.
This is a very good advice. If you are lucky and your laptop boots after this fix, back up all important files ASAP. After that just have fun with the fixed “zombie” laptop.
A permanent solution is to replace the motherboard.
Yep, but I really doubt that you can find a brand new motherboard for these laptops. Most motherboards out there are refurbished.
Hello All, interesting comments, I don’t normally reply to these things but I figured in this case I would. The correct term for what has occurred is re-balling of the BGA(BALL GRID ARRAY) Chip. I own two repair facilities(1 located in Silicone Valley, CA. & the 2nd in Concord “East Bay” ca.) this is all we do all day long 30-4- laptops a day, for a lot of Laptop repair Companies. We service customers in every state in the country as well as several locations outside the US. I assure you it is cost effective and it definitely is an ideal option to replacing a board. With that said, here is some additional information for you we see all brands not just HP, from MAC, Acer, HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba, etc… Hope you get the picture it is not just HP, but laptops in general run very hot. When solder becomes molten the chip as it cools sucks in dirt and contaminants from the board. This produces what is called a cold solder joint. If you are lucky and you can do the above process to a laptop with out completely frying the chip(which by the way is not recommended)then you will have re-flowed the solder. But as someone mentioned this is what we call a band-aid fix, we offer a 90 warranty to the parts we repair or replace. We couldn’t possibly do this if it didn’t work, nor could we do as many laptops as we do.
The proper thing to do as someone stated above is to pull the chip, clean the pads and the board, re-ball the chip and re-apply directly to the board. Not only does it take the proper equipment to do this, but it takes experience. NO ONE who does this with success publishes the times an temps, which are essential to do the work even if you laid down the thousands of dollars for the BGA equipment.
One final note is that when someone reports “NO Video” this doesn’t mean that it is automatically the video chip. There are 5-10 different components that control whether or not someone sees an actual picture. In some cases it is video chips but certainly not all, also unlike other companies we have the ability under high powered microscopes to jump from one pad or trace to another, when there is a short on the board.
The bad thing is that after 1-3 re-flows the chip is shot, which means higher expense, if it is sent in right away a re-ball of the current chip is usually all it needs to repair it, as long as your not using the laptop on a blanket, the carpet, your lap, or a comforter, etc…
Hope this helped everyone…
Best Regards!!
November 16th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
As I know, The problem is not just the contacts between the GPU and the motherboard, the problem is even the contacts between the real chip and the pcb of the GPU..
Please look at this site ..
http://www.laptoppartwholesale.....times.html
November 20th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
HP Pavilion dv9925nr model fe695ua
I purchased a hp hp pavilion dv9925nr model fe695ua in fall of 2008. In August of 2010 my computer begin looping on and off. then the screen was blank one day I turned it on. I took it to bestbuy where I purchased it and they sent it in to be looked at. Came back with a diagnoises of bad motherboard. it would cost me $400 to fix it or should I say replace the entire motherboard. I tried the blanket trip first for about 15min. I was afraid I’d burn something up. Then I tried turning it on. Did not work. Then I put it in the blanket for about another 10 minutes and then turned it off and then on. It booted up and now I am on it. I am looking for someone who works on the motherboard and does not jump to purchased and entire MB first. All I need is the place where its a bad wire connection or chip nvida that needs help. I am convinced this is whats going on by the sounds of many others who are or have experienced this problem. HP is a rats hiney for not fixing this problem. ugh
but I am looking for someone who works on the different components on the motherboard. someone who has experience but wont charge me an arm and a leg.
Please email me.
thank you
November 21st, 2010 at 7:19 pm
back again. I was trying to upload the newest version of adobe flash and playing poker at the same time and all of a sudden got this weird loud noise and the screen went white with black little dashes across the screen. I had my pc on continuous after the first blanket boot up. after it went down I let it rest and then went back and did the blanket technique again so here I am using the pc again. If I cant find local help I may need to send my laptop off.
Thanks
email me if you have repair place suggestion. I live in central arkansas
November 24th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
super! was my last chance, and it works!!!!
November 25th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
paulss,
What is your laptop model?
Take a look at this site: http://www.nvidiasettlement.co.....odels.html
If your laptop is listed, you should wait. Maybe you’ll be able to get some compensation from NVIDIA.
November 26th, 2010 at 6:48 am
can i have a manual for disembling hp laptops. I am a technician.
Thanks
November 26th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
tony,
Most HP service manuals (with disassembly instructions) available directly fro HP website.
Check out this post: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....k-manuals/
November 26th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
This is amazing, I thought my lappy was dead..I tried a bunch of things with no luck..then I got really upset and in the middle of the night, decided to search the web more thoroughly regarding this issue. Luckily, i came across this article, didn’t believe in it at first, but had nothing to lose and symptoms were exactly the same, so I gave it a try and now it’s back to life again. Unfortunately, I can’t do the proper procedure (re-soldering) as I have no equipment for that, so I really hope it’ll work for at least 6 months, but people here say a month is the longest one can get.. WEll, I’m a bit more optimistic, at least I know what’s wrong now.. Maybe i’ll just sell it while it works.. Huge thanks anyway, you made my life happier again.
November 26th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
And yeah, my laptop is Asus X55s which has a quite powerful graphics card – GF 9500M and it’s not soldered to the motherbord, so it’s replacable. The whole thing started with freezing in videogames. I’m thinking it just lacks proper cooling, I’ll try to think of something and hopefully avoid further “black screens”. But I guess the best solution would be – new videocard. We’ll see how it goes..
December 3rd, 2010 at 9:03 am
I’ve found this article useful. Maybe I should try this next time if my laptop appear to have the same problem again. Thanks..
December 3rd, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Thanks a ton!
It really works, my HP DV65XX is working now.
December 5th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
hi!! i just wanna to thank you for this great trick!!! … IT REALLY WORKS!!
best regards from Brazil
December 6th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Hi!
This seems like an easy temporary fix! Which permanent fixes are there, except from replacing the MB?
Can anyone clarify whether this is happening to ALL laptops or if this is fixed on newer ones?
December 6th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Hi Its works for me on a HP DV 65XX Best regardes from me Lennart Skoeld from Sweden
December 6th, 2010 at 10:57 am
WOW! The power of “Bubble Wrap”! It worked! The unit is up & running normally! It may not be a permanet solution, but the unit is working and maybe Santa will be kind to me for a replacement. Thanks cj2600 for a great post! Man, I luv this site!!!
December 9th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
If my computer is the Pavilion entertainment HP Pavilion dv9925nr model fe695ua would mine be covered by this http://www.nvidiasettlement.com ????
I dont know if the dv9000 series covers my laptop.
It says it has an NVIDIA chip in it right on the lagtop sticker.
I am digging back in my 2008 taxes to get the receipt of purchase. I purchased a hp hp pavilion dv9925nr model fe695ua in fall of 2008. In August of 2010 my computer begin looping on and off. then the screen was blank one day.
thank you
December 10th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Paulss,
I don’t think your computer will be covered. If you look in the affected models, you’ll see the latest model they cover is dv94xx and yours is dv99xx.
December 13th, 2010 at 5:13 am
good idea..but how long life time after repair?
December 14th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
maskur,
I don’t know yet. People with “fixed” laptops not reporting back. I guess laptops still work fine for them after repair.
December 19th, 2010 at 1:39 am
damn… didn’t work.
December 19th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Update: The fix, on the Compaq V6000, lasted for about 5 days. I could do the “bubble wrappage” again, but with some time on my hands I’m going to disassemble the unit and heat-shim-regrease both the CPU & GPU. Yes,the “bubble wrap” was only temporary, and is great for retrieving data. The permanent solution for me will be to reflow the chip in question. There are other articles on this site to help one if you are tempted to perform this act.
December 23rd, 2010 at 8:38 am
Often no video in a laptop means a bad inverter board, in most cases a new one is under $20.
Inverter board powers the back light in the LCD panel.
You can tell if the back light is out simply by looking at the laptop screen, (powered on), in direct sun light. If you see a clear image of your desktop, your back light is out.
December 28th, 2010 at 8:18 am
So many cheap-ass graphics chips/laptop manufacturers KEEP ON MAKING these design flaws. I cannot believe it. So please, everyone – sue the sh*t out of them until they learn how to do their job! That’s all we’re asking after all. If everything had to be replaced after just 1/5 of the time it should last, then EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE would be more expensive, not less.
Fight this, don’t be lazy.
If you’re in the UK, remember, you have to prove the fault was there at the time of sale once six months has elapsed since purchase. This kind of site is GREAT evidence to show to a court that the fault is in the DESIGN (not durable enough due to a cheap BGA manufacturing process). Hence even, for example, 4 whole years after purchase you should be on steady legal ground to insist on a replacement/refund/high-quality repair.
6 months until an undefined period as the law only says items should last a “reasonable” amount of time. Laptops should last 5 years maybe more, plenty do, so why not yours?
I for one would be happy to pay, say, £20 more for every laptop in order to have proper soldering on my chips. It’s just less hassle. For now, though, make the dodgy manufacturers feel the pinch – that’s what the law is there for.
December 28th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Oh yeah, and nice one for this post and for this site, very helpful, even for those with experience.
December 29th, 2010 at 8:52 am
This is the same fix that the 360 uses when the GPU comes undone. It is just a temporary fix though.
December 30th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Hi, I have Pavilion dv6137tx. Guess what, it worked but the graphics is still blurred. Kindly post a link on how to resolder the GPU component to MB. Any specific tool required?
December 31st, 2010 at 6:15 am
Worked like a charm. I’ll report back when the laptop will stop working again (assuming the same problem will occur), but for now I’m not going to run any heavy applications on it.
December 31st, 2010 at 9:16 am
It did work for my dv6000, but only for 2 weeks. I fixed it again but did it the right way this time. Taking the mother board out and reseating the video chip by heating it with a 125wat flood lamp for 3 minutes,(do this from the bottom side and shield the rest of the board with aluminum foil)then press the chip in with a towel for 30 seconds, then regrease the cpu and gpu for reattachment. However, (and this is the big fix) take out the little rubber spacer between the video chip and the coolant line and replace it with a clean penny, greased on both sides. Since repair, it runs perfect.
January 1st, 2011 at 8:44 am
Ok, here I am reporting back with my asus x55sv). Today this black screen thing happened again. It’s been one month and 2 days since the day I brought it back to life. So I didn’t what else to do but to perform this method one more time and to my surprise, it worked again. I’m not sure for how long it’ll last this time but to be honest I’m not as optimistic anymore. I’ll let you know if it breaks down again and if I’ll be able to recover it for the 3rd time (Still hope it doesn’t come to that though)
January 4th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Helpful, but here is my problem. I have an HP Compaq f700 presario. The screen suddenly went blank. It works with an external monitor just fine. I have replaced the inverter board and still no picture. It seems to me that if it was the backlight then it would have gone out gradually, not suddenly. Is my next step replacing the LCD screen? Thanks so much
January 5th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
Thank you so much. It worked for my V3000. I am trying it now on my DV6000. I will let you know how it goes later.
January 6th, 2011 at 2:21 pm
OMG, it worked thank you for this post,had`nt used the laptop in over 2 years because of this prob,nice to have it back again THANK YOU
Kieron
January 7th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
It actually works!!! I can’t belive it!!
Thank you very very much
January 8th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Warren Carley,
I don’t think your problem is related to the inverter board failure. When inverter goes bad, the screen loses backlight but you still should see a very faint image on the screen.
If your laptop screen went completely blank (but external monitor still works fine), it could be one of the following:
1. Bad connection between the LCD cable and motherboard or LCD screen. Try reconnecting the LCD cable on both ends.
2. Failed LCD cable. Try replacing the cable.
3. Failed LCD screen. Try replacing the screen.
4. There is a chance of bad video cable connector on the motherboard but it’s not a common one.
It’s hart to troubleshoot these kind or problems without spare parts.
January 8th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
WOOOOOOOOOOOOW ITTTT woooorked
Compaq presario v3000 45 on and 30 rest thank you so much.!
January 9th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
OK! Disassembled the V6000, and found very little “Thermal Grease” on both the GPU & CPU! Blew all the tumble dust out of the fan assembly, as it was loaded. Used the wife’s “Creme Brulee” torch to reflow the GPU chip. Note: be very careful about using heat on the board for there are several plastic pieces that don’t react kindly to overheating, and explain to your significant other that it’s all to save money!*wink* Cleaned, regreased, and shimmed the CPU & GPU. Re-assembled the laptop,and…”BAM”! It’s acting like a brand new unit! I don’t know how long the repair will last, nor do I have much faith in this model, but for now it’s working and I can delay the purchase of it’s replacement!
January 10th, 2011 at 10:21 am
It’s been a few days since I said I would get back to you about my dv6000.I had to keep it wrapped and running much longer than I did with the v3000 because the problem with this computer was more extreme. I was doubtful about the outcome because of this, but it worked.
January 10th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Thank you soo much i was wondering about these very same things myself and i happened to run across this site thank you so much
January 11th, 2011 at 5:04 am
My hp dvnr6800 purchased 3 years ago develop a black screen and I tried the bubble wrap fix, it works manage to retrieve my data but moments ago 3 days after the fix it develop a white screen of death, from being black now I have white,darn any more smart fix?
January 11th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
………. Did anyone stop and think how bad this could be for your processor?
January 11th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Johnson,
Why would you need a processor if the motherboard is dead?
January 12th, 2011 at 6:55 am
The processor is detachable, so yeah, dont burn that up, its worth quite a bit. However, dont worry, the processor can handle the heat. The degree of heat this operation attains wont melt it. Its the gpu that has malfunctioned and cant take the heat. Thats why works, at least temporarily. By the way, if you are doing any damage to the motherboard, its ok, cause its the motherboard that needs replacing to fix this issue.
January 13th, 2011 at 11:44 am
ken,
Does your laptop still work with an external monitor? Can you get image on the external screen?
The white screen could indicate bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen. Sometimes reseating the cable can fix the problem.
http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....ned-white/
January 17th, 2011 at 5:17 am
yes yes yes!
finally solved it.i just removed the keyboard and found the loose connection of lcd and fixed it.
January 23rd, 2011 at 6:37 am
daughter had hp dv4 computer on then she noticed it shut off went dead ,no activity ,went to office depot they said it was a mechanical problem . Help
January 23rd, 2011 at 11:27 pm
This solution. can make damaged seriusly?
How long limit time turn on the laptop?
can i set power setting always on to operation mode during hotting?
January 25th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
спасибо. Всё помогло. Сделал так, как вы и описали. Всё заработало!!!!!
January 25th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Anton,
You are welcome! I hope this repair will last for some time.
Пожалуйста! Не уверен как долго компьютер будет работать но будем надеяться на лучшее.
January 26th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
please help me fix my laptop? i have hp pavilion dv2000, the problem is that the screen always malfunction. sometimes it turns off by itself or otherwise the screen blurs it self with different side colors what pattern of repairing should i use?
January 30th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Matthew Manzano,
Test your laptop with an external monitor. Start the laptop and configure it to output video on the external monitor or even better on both internal and external monitors. What until laptop screen fails and look at the external monitor.
If external video works fine and the problem appears only on the laptop screen, this could be related to one of the following:
1. Loose connection between the video cable and motherboard or LCD screen. In this case reconnecting the video cable on both ends might fix the problem.
2. Could be bad video cable.
3. Could be bad LCD screen.
On the other hand, if video fails on BOTH the internal AND external screens, this is graphics card failure. The graphics card integrated into the motherboard. When graphics card fails, the entire motherboard has to be replaced.
January 30th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
francis hamzik,
How dead is it? Do you see any light when AC adapter plugged in?
Maybe it’s just bad adapter and the laptop is dead because there is no power coming to the motherboard?
January 31st, 2011 at 12:21 pm
I have a Compaq CQ50 that doesn’t get any video the first time I turn it on. After turning it on and off a few times, the screen comes on and works fine. I took it apart and checked the connections, they are all tight. I decided to purchase a new (used) video cable to make sure it wasn’t a bad wire or something.
Do you think it is the same as the problem you described with the HP Nvidia chip? Any way to re-solder it permanantly? Or, could it be a bad inverter? I wouldn’t think it’s the inverter because it works sometimes.
Thanks,
Dave
January 31st, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Dave,
Did you test laptop memory? This could be memory failure.
Do you have two memory modules installed? Try running laptop with only one module (either one) and see what happens. One of the modules could be bad.
Do you see a faint image on the screen when the laptop “fails to start”? If not, this is not inverter problem.
January 31st, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Removed one RAM chip and got the same results, repeated with the other chip and same results. No faint image, just nothing from video the first couple of times the system is turned on. I can see the backlight come on once the system decides to boot.
Any ideas?
January 31st, 2011 at 10:16 pm
Dave,
Well… the problem is still there with different memory modules, so we can assume it’s not memory related failure.
It’s really hard to tell what is causing the problem.
The following troubleshooting technique require laptop disassembly.
You can disassemble your laptop to bare bone system: motherboard, CPU and memory and test it in this basic configuration. If it still fails intermittently, most likely this is motherboard related failure. If it works, start adding parts one by one and test the laptop after each part. This way you can find the part which is causing the problem.
February 1st, 2011 at 4:21 am
hello experts. i have problem in compaq cq60-101au . no display on screen. hdd like blinks afer 5 sec. pls help me. some body says its nvedia chip is burnt .
February 1st, 2011 at 8:22 am
SAN,
1. Try removing the hard drive. Does your laptop start with video when hard drive removed? If yes, probably the hard drive is bad.
2. Try removing memory modules one by one. This could be memory failure. One of the modules could be bad. Test your laptop with only one (either one) memory module installed.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:16 pm
hi I have a compaq preserio F700 laptop an when I turn it on it stays on for a few seconds an turrns off lights all on the sceern black the fan starts for a sec can someone tell me wats rong
February 4th, 2011 at 4:41 am
So you’re effectively doing an ‘in-situ’ reflow of the graphics chip, very clever! If this doesn’t work, you can take the more extreme measure of baking the laptop motherboard as described here http://www.computerrepairtips......therboard/
Thanks for this tip.
February 9th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
shean,
First of all, I would test the AC adapter. It’s possible the AC adapter is dead and the battery doesn’t have enough charge to start the laptop.
If AC adapter is good, try reseting memory modules. Try removing memory modules one by one.
If the laptop still fails, most likely this is motherboard problem.
February 9th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
David,
Here’s how I baked the motherboard: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....deo-issue/
I did it a few months ago and the laptop still works fine.
February 11th, 2011 at 11:04 am
This is what I do.
Power down and remove the battery. Wait a minute or two, the refit the battery and power lead, restart.
All is good again.
Lead solder needs a much higher temp than you are talking about!!!
Brian
February 11th, 2011 at 11:27 am
I have a HP Mini Model 1035NR. My problem is I cannot get full screen video, and it seems to double whats above at the bottom. I checked the bios, and it’s the same, only part screen. I have replaced the motherboard but same thing. Any Ideas
February 12th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Kevin,
Why did you replace the motherboard. Was it giving you same problem on the external monitor?
I think this LCD screen problem.
February 14th, 2011 at 6:53 am
Hp suggested replacement of the motherboard. Should have known better. Should I replace the LCD
February 21st, 2011 at 5:59 pm
kevin,
Is this laptop worth replacing the LCD screen?
I don’t know what else could be wrong: it’s either motherboard issue, bad video cable or failed LCD screen.
You’ve replaced the motherboard already.
From your description it doesn’t sound like the video cable issue.
Most likely it’s bad LCD but I cannot tell if it’s worth replacing. It’s up to you.
February 22nd, 2011 at 7:21 am
Just tried this fix on my problem DV9700 and it worked. Has anyone determined yet how long this fix lasts. Wonder if adding the copper shims to the on board video at this point will help prevent the overheating from happening again. Anyone try this yet?
Anyway, thanks for the tip.
February 23rd, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Michael,
If it fails again, you can try the heat gun repair. I just published a new post about NVIDIA chip repair here: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....hics-chip/
March 14th, 2011 at 5:29 am
Hi, I just did the bubble wrap method.
My display got garbled last time and it was repaired a year ago. Now same thing happened the display got garbled and I did the bubble wrap method. It worked. I was happy.
But now i only boot to bios. I cannot go to windows, everytime it shows the logo screen the laptops BSOD. Please help.
March 14th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
I managed to get my laptop working again. Thanks to this method. I just figured out the problem, one of my RAM was not properly seated. Now it is booting up fine and no more garbled images. Thanks!
March 16th, 2011 at 9:40 am
please my laptop has problem.it felled on ground.so when i picked it up and boot the laptop, i found out that the screen is divided into three equal half one part displaying while the other half is blank.when i push in the back of the blank screen it will display but once i remove my hand from it, it will go back to it,s blank state.
March 18th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
dv6000,
Maybe the OS got corrupted? Try booting your laptop with Ubuntu (live Linux CD). Will it boot and run properly with Ubuntu?
April 11th, 2011 at 12:36 am
Please remember the is a law suit against HP regarding this issue. You may get your money back or a new computer.
Research more and get your money back like me. Best regards.
April 11th, 2011 at 1:53 am
Never expected that this would work be it worked for me!
This is much beter than the oven trick!!!1
Thank you very much.
April 11th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Peter,
Not sure if it’s better but definitely easier.
April 18th, 2011 at 5:10 am
I purchased the following model of hp in april-2011 recently this is also effected by the similar problem with little variation.
Model HP Notebook PC G62-a22se
May 4th, 2011 at 7:02 am
Just tried the heat gun method on a LG E500 without a heat gun, but with a hair dryer at full speed and full heat for about 8 min. (it then turned off by itself to prevent damage of overheating). Laptop works fine for about 3 hours (reinstalled Windows to stress it). Hope it lasts or at least will work again in the future!
Thanks a lot!
May 11th, 2011 at 6:27 am
OMG You are a genius my friend. I have a HP dv2000 that has sat in a draw now for almost a year after my local computer repair shop told me my video card was damaged and could not be replaced or repaired. Little do they know. I did as instucted and removed battery and hard drive, then taped all air vents plugged it in and bubble wrapped and also wrapped in a towel. After 80mins i just switched off at wall and left for 30mins. Put back in the hard drive and battery and am extremely happy to say IT WORKED. I am far from a computer genius and found this all very easy. Again Thanks very much.
May 23rd, 2011 at 8:33 am
Hi, when i power on my pavillion dv6000, all led light on, couples of seconds, it shut down, and automatically on bec again for 2 seconds, then shut down again. may i know wat is the problem? how to do this oven trick, or bubble wrap trick since it will auto shut down within 10 seconds.
Btw, in that case, is it means tat i have to use heat gun? is it possible to use a hair dryer?
thanks.
May 30th, 2011 at 5:42 am
Hello, I’d like to ask you, if I have a hp pavilion 6200t CTO (probably
) Which has three microchips on the motherboard and the nvidia gpu has a designated heatsink, the cpu and the “other” is on one heatsink arm, should i heat the processor which i do not know what it is and the gpu too, or just the gpu, and if i’m aloud to place a copper shim on that, or just the gpu? Thanks
May 30th, 2011 at 10:05 am
@ Pete,
I guess you are referencing another post where I fixed failed GPU with a heat gun.
You have to heat up only the GPU chip.
The GPU is soldered to the motherboard. The CPU seated in a socket which can be opened. If you know how the GPU looks, it’s hard to confuse with the CPU.
May 30th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
@ Geoffrey,
Most likely this is known GPU failure. HP Pavilion dv6000 laptops are know for this issue.
If you going to remove the motherboard, I would go with heat gun trick.
I believe one guy mentioned that he was able to fix it with a hair dryer, it’s somewhere in the comments. You just have to figure out for how long you have to heat up the GPU chip.
June 5th, 2011 at 6:10 am
In our computer repair shop Brooklyn NYC, we have a lot of clients, bringing on for repair laptops with Nvidia chipset failure. Beside HP and Compaq these problem appear to Sony Vayo, DELL and IBM also. The best fix for you, if you’re not a computer technician is to bring it to a computer repair shop near you, and ask them if they’re using the reflow method. The regular air method to fix the falling video chipset will not last specially now in the hot season.
Also, be aware that a laptop with falling memory chip will have the same symptoms like a laptop with falling video chipset (light on laptop but no video on screen), also before you going to a laptop repair shop try to hard reset your laptop, as they have the tendency to freeze and act like a video chipset problem.
June 5th, 2011 at 12:28 pm
I have an HP Pavilion tx2100 taped up all air vents, wrapped in towel as directed, left it on for 75 min, and bingo screen works again. Thanks for this jewel!
June 16th, 2011 at 3:45 am
Hello If I have a hot air gun capable of 400C degree,what do you think for how long should I heat the GPU, and from what distance? Thanks
June 20th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
My daughter’s DV9000 was having similar symptoms (blue lights lit but dark screen, etc.) however it would boot into safe mode okay – it just wouldn’t boot into a hi-res video mode. After fooling around for 20 hrs. with start-up items, etc., I figured it must have been the NVideo driver. I updated that but still wouldn’t ‘boot’ normally. I found this site re the bubble wrap method & said ‘what the heck’ ‘cuz I was out of free options. I took out the battery & disk drives, taped up the vents with foil tape, wrapped up the laptop with a large bath towel & left it on for 75 minutes. Let it cool for 2 hrs. & lo and behold it booted up normally! It’s been good so far for the last 3 days. I told my daughter to look for a new laptop ‘cuz I don’t know how long this one will last.
June 22nd, 2011 at 10:50 am
I can believe this actually worked, i have a compaq presario f500 and i had the same issue i.e. Lights on but no screen, done exactly as above except i wrapped bottom half of laptop in clingfilm and then towels and after cooling down it worked first time. Not sure how long it will last but gives me an opportunity to back all my stuff up, cheers mate great soloution
June 27th, 2011 at 11:59 am
Update to my June 20 post: Daughter’s DV9000 failed again after 1 week. Rethinking next step.
July 2nd, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Thanks for this info! Performed this rather unconventional ‘fix’ on my HP dv9700 today, and it worked! The reasoning behind the procedure is sound, and I figured that I had nothing to lose by trying this, as I had no display anyway! It was simple, and saved $ by not having to take it for repair. If it will last for a while with gentle use, it’ll buy time to backup important info from the unit while researching the next laptop purchase…not thinkin’ HP, though! THANKS again!
July 23rd, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Had the same problem with my HP DV9072ea,
had the thing apart (+60screws!). Added a copper chim and thermal paste, both on CPU and GPU. Ran the computer wrapped in towels for an hour until the bottom of the computer reached 50,0C.
Tried to start the computer, first time it did show a ‘No operating system installed’, second time a warped HP logo and after that no succesfull booting.
Thats it, 4½ year old HP is going to the recycling.
We have had 5 HP laptops in the family and they all have stability issues, especially the TX2690.
Never an HP again.
July 23rd, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Oh, did I mention the left hinge was broken to?
I wonder how a MBP will compare to my old unstable HP
July 31st, 2011 at 12:38 pm
I tried this fix on my DV6000 taping the vents, removing hard drive and battery but I wrapped bottom half of DV6000 with a towel. Left it on for an hour as instructed, then shut off. Let it cool. When I rebooted, I was truly amazed that it worked. If it goes out again, I will try the baking the motherboard fix. I tried this one first becaue who wants to take apart their laptop if they don’t have to? Thanks for a great workaround fix.
July 31st, 2011 at 12:42 pm
@ realhockey,
I would try the heat gun fix instead. I think it’s more reliable and safe.
August 14th, 2011 at 8:43 am
@cj2600
Hi,
I have a HP DV4 1204TU. A couple of weeks back, when I switched on my laptop, all I could see was a solid white screen. The laptop works fine with an external monitor. The guys over at HP told me to replace the motherboard. Another guy told me it was probably related to the graphics card. I’m not sure if that’s true because it I can use it with an ext. display.
What do you think the problem is?
August 14th, 2011 at 10:33 am
@ BSat,
It’s hard to tell without testing the laptop without known good LCD screen.
This could be one of the following:
1. Bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen.
2. Bad LCD screen.
3. Motherboard failure.
Probably this is not graphics card failure because you still can see the external image.
First, I would try reconnecting video cable on the back of the LCD screen. This could help.
September 29th, 2011 at 2:58 am
I have an HP Pavilion DV6700.But my problem is not the screen going blank completely. When i turn on my laptop, it starts completely well till it get to the ” windows starting” point, then the screen starts going off and on. it will do this for some time before it stops. when you i try putting a usb or even earphone in, the screen goes crazy again.I tried booting it from safe mode and to my surprise it works perfectly.Can someone please help me. The OS is Windows 7 32bit. Thanks
October 8th, 2011 at 9:47 pm
I did the tape up the vents on my tx1000 and 10 minutes after turning on the computer did a self reboot and now works fine, I also redone the thermal paste and added a penny to the gpu.
October 12th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
So to everyone who has owned a HP/Compaq with these problems listen up:
Short version of my story….Own a DV6000 HP laptop. After being in and out of the repair shop at Fry’s for the better part of 3 years, my extended warranty finally ran out. Once again my laptop died. I felt like this was the end, but started doing research on the problem and possible solutions.
The problem is with the Nvidia Graphics Chip (GPU). It was not properly soldered to the motherboard; they used a lead free solder which is of poor quality. When the computer would get hot, as most laptops do, the solder would come un-done, causing the connections to get loose, and bam! screen would get black, not boot, beeps, loud fans, crazy lines across the screen, its a little different the exact outcome from laptop to laptop, but you get the point.
I have tried all the ‘cures’ out there. Blanket trick, oven trick, heat gun trick. I won’t go into detail, but you can google any of the above with HP laptop in the search box and get an answer.
Conclusion? All of the above methods work, although I have had the best results with the ‘heat gun’ method. It lasts the longest, but requires that you completely take apart the laptop, so it does require some technical skill, although there are many videos on YouTube that will walk you thru the process of taking apart the laptop.
Bottom Line? No matter what you do, as far as methods go, eventually the laptop will not work again. The best length of time I have gone is 4 months between fixes. The last problem came when I was updating my laptop. As it was installing new drivers, the GPU went out. Because of this the BIOS/registry got messed up. I had to re-install my whole operating system. Unfortunately it corrupted some files when the GPU went out. I had recovery programs, but wasn’t able to get everything off my Hard drive.
So if you are still using your HP/Compaq laptop and using the trick, please keep in mind that there could be a failure that might cause you to lose files/info. Please keep a backup of all important files (4-8gb USB stick should be fine for most people, they are like $15 now) so you don’t lose anything important.
I am still doing the trick, but after 3 years I am ready to move on to another laptop. I am tired of the stress and anxiety that I get from constantly working and fixing this one. Recommendation would be this: Don’t buy a HP again. The problem is you usually get alot for the money with HP and that might sway you to once again try them out. Because this could only be a one time thing right? They wouldn’t want this to happen again right? Wrong! I have already seen blogs and reports about additional problems with newer HP’s with i3 and i5 core’s.
Hope this helps someone out there!
October 19th, 2011 at 5:19 am
I have fix my HP dv3 1075us. when i though it was time to trash it, after i got a macbook pro. I have given to my hp a a second life!!! Do you think it would last long since i used it about one time per week and just for running a softphone? It is a app that does not work with my mac, and it is not heavy.
Thank you so much I am so happy to give a new life to this baby
October 20th, 2011 at 7:43 am
@ Walter,
Cannot tell. All laptops are different.
Hopefully it will last for a while.
October 24th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
is me again. i contact hp about this issue, and also i told them how i fix it, so I told them how disappointed i was on the product and they offer me a free repair after i show knowledge thanks to you!!! I do not have a warranty for almost two years therefore they were hard to get!
October 24th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
@ Walter,
Congratulations! Hopefully your laptop will last for a while after the motherboard replacement.
October 27th, 2011 at 5:26 am
My computer tech did the bubble wrap and my Compaq V6000 worked for about a week then black screen again. I’ll never buy another HP laptop.
October 31st, 2011 at 12:36 pm
I got repair my notebook following your instructions, thaks for all!!!
November 2nd, 2011 at 4:32 pm
“Fixing” your laptop this way is a very bad idea. Yes it does reheat the solder on the GPU, but it also overheats EVERY other component on the motherboard. This will not be a permanent fix and will cause more damage than good. The best way to conduct this fix is to completely disassemble the laptop and just heat the GPU to reconnect the solder points.
November 2nd, 2011 at 5:00 pm
@ Beau,
It depends on what your goal is. If all you need is to make it working for a while in order to backup personal data quickly, it could be a very good idea.
Nope, the best way is replacing the motherboard with a new one but it’s very expensive.
I explained how to reheat just the GPU in the following post.
http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....hics-chip/
But it requires complete laptop disassembly and most people cannot do that.
Also, I believe it’s not a permanent fix either. It might work for a while (and maybe a long time) but also it might fail soon.
December 7th, 2011 at 8:47 am
thanks man , it worked for me, my laptop is toshiba L300D-21M.
thanks
December 12th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
HI Everyone,
My laptop was died just before a thanks giving and i was very disappointed. It was started but the screen goes Grey (Black and White) look. The sound system was working so I am able to hear the startup sound. The funny thing was i have auto login to gtalk and skype so the moment I logged in people start sending a message and I am able to hear the sound…
The main problem was, I have not taken the backup of my data yet … and was try to find how to take the backup.
Here is a trick:
1. Microsoft Windows has a “NARRATOR” (Speech), so if you hit the windows key + R, it opens the run window.
2. Type “NARRATOR” and hit enter.
3. The narrator will start. And it start taking about the open window, the command you type or the button you press.
4. So after Narrator stared, I attached my external hard disk and run the command prompt by: windows key + R and then type CMD and then enter
5. It speak everything about the open window, drive name and folder name in the drive.
6. For example I type dir on c:, it gives a list files/folder name, .. etc.
7. So I used xcopy command to copy everything from the drive. Goto the destination path and type below command. http://www.computerhope.com/xcopyhlp.htm
XCOPY /A /E /C/H enter
Now I was ready to use this method, and I did it… and it works …. Now I install new windows 7 and it works fine. I have to wait and watch how long it work… !!!
I will post you the updates…
Thanks
December 12th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I just tried this on my HP DV2000 and it worked! I couldn’t believe it but I am so happy! This thing has been dead for years and I am glad I kept it now! I knew it would be fixed one day! Thank you many times!
December 15th, 2011 at 3:48 am
Actually its really not a bad idea. in this way. the motherboard will detect over heating to harm the motherboard.(stable heat)
wont harm the chip set it self.
but by using a heat blower,spot light heat, or any kind of heating.
you wont know how long you need to heat it. you just heat it for just 2-3min. then u can see the board have funny puffed-up.
December 26th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Thanks for the great idea for presario fix. Previously I had taken in my ailing computer to repair shop. They offerred free diagnostics. They couldnt figure out problem. I have found several solutions on the web and all involve removing motherboard and heating NVIDIA chip. In most cases this works. However, it doesrequire a lot of time and skill without screwing up some connector or component. I needed to get a few hours of reunning time to allow me to transfer to new computer. Basically one has not much to loose, just a cheap, crappy, poorly designed dead computer. Best regards
December 27th, 2011 at 6:32 am
I can’t believe it!
I just resurrected a Compaq that has been DEAD for 4 years.
In the process of trying to steal the touch pad out of it to fix another computer, I came across this fix.
With nothing to loose, I tried it and IT WORKED!!!!!!
December 28th, 2011 at 3:45 am
Hi,
I ma trying to do the exercise on my HP tx 1200, which has the same identical symptoms. It is not opening now although it is getting th power on. I went to HP Tthey sais they cant repair and i have have to pay 450$ for new mother board. I said thank you & went to another laptop repair shop.They said it is the Nvidia chip problem and they would replace it. And would cost me $150.What should I do? Cant it be soldered and fixed, while i buy in good time a new one.Please suggest.
Santanu
December 28th, 2011 at 11:00 am
@ Santanu Sengupta,
If the graphics chip failed, most likely any repair will not last for a long time.
If you would like to fix it yourself, you can try this heatgun repair trick:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....hics-chip/
January 8th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Wow, thanks lot, it worked and laptop got even to a better state than before. I had some strange lines on the screen for few months and it worked only with generic driver (hanging with nvidia drivers).
After heating everything is back to original state
January 12th, 2012 at 3:05 am
For everyone who wants to FIX his broken laptop,
i’d strongly recommend to use the oven OR heatgun reflow method..
This bubblewrap is a good theory, but you have to think about the other components, which get EXPOSED to TOO MUCH HEAT..
This will only shorten your laptop’s life..
You can better investt 3 – 4 hours in taking apart the laptop,
and do a oven or heatgun reflow (heatgun beaing the best),
it will satisfy you way more with a good working laptop..
Also invest in good thermal paste! (or new thermal pads!)
Good thing you put the information up cj2600,
but you should warn other surfers for the damage they could do to their laptops if they use your bubblewrap method..
January 13th, 2012 at 4:59 am
Hi,
I am sakthi, I have one Compaq 610 Laptop.Its motherboard power regulating IC Out put giving only 4.9 volt and other 3.3volt,1.7volt out put failed.It has a TPS5162 IC.I am unable get it in Chennai-India.Is there any equivalent IC or How to solve this problem KINDLY HELP ME. ADVANCE THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY.
by
s.sAKTHI
January 13th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
@ Kiwi,
How about the over method. Do you think nothing is exposed to too much heat?
I would say the heat gun method would be preferred if you are able to disassemble the laptop and remove the motherboard.
On the other hand, if you need just a quick fix in order to access the data, you can try bubblewrap method. It doesn’t require any laptop disassembly.
January 13th, 2012 at 3:36 pm
@ sakthi,
Sorry cannot help here. I’m not fixing motherboards on the component level.
January 23rd, 2012 at 7:52 am
THANK YOU! THANK YOU AND THANK YOU!
IT F*** WORKS! I wrapped it up with plastic cooking wrap (the cheapest) and then with the towel. I wrapped it hard tied. No air at all! I switched on for 1 hour and a half. It got really warm. (do not forget to remove the battery and the HardDisk)
Then let it chilling out for more than 45 minutes to chill out (with the plastic and the towel on) and it worked. unbelievable!
The chip is Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS
Besides my computer is not a compaq o HP but a COMPAL one!
COMPAL IFT00
Thank you so much!
January 23rd, 2012 at 7:59 am
I forgot! after all, the chip is working but it gets really warm, it’d be useful to buy a cooling stand if you dont want to disasembly the whole computer…
Good luck to everyone!
Thanks again!
February 20th, 2012 at 1:50 am
I have about 7 or 8 HP Pavilion boards in the computer room. I tried eBay to get so called refurbished motherboards for DV6000′s. Next I started to look for TX1000 boards. After I got 4 bad DV6000 boards from power sellers, I decided to try the heat gun trick. I took apart a TX1000, used foil that I folded & made a 1″ cut out. First I put the gun on low & warmed up the top side of the board. Next I took the heat gun [Note I timed how long it took to get the solder to start to flow. In my case 9-10 seconds heating up a small piece of solder on a penny.] Now that I knew how to time it, I got my cell phone, started the stop watch & when I got to like 20-30 seconds [I waited for a zero, ya know 20, 30, with the heat gun on "HIGH", at 1" away from the chip I timed it to 10 seconds. Just as I was about to lift the heat gun, I had a oven mitt on my free hand, I pressed as hard as I could for about 3 seconds, let the board cool [which took about 5 minutes.] Then I put it back together. Note: I had a set of feeler gauges from my tool box & I measured the space between the Heatsink & the GPU.I decided to do this because that thermal glob that HP calls a thermal pad, was all balled up from over heating. The gap was the same thickness as a penny so you know what I used for a shim. I even went as far as getting a penny from 1981 because 81 was the last year for solid copper pennies. It took me 35 minutes to assemble the notebook, started it up & it was like new. I even got my missing wifi to show up in device manager & actually work. I used this method on 2 TX1000 series notebooks/tablets. My $118 investment for the 2 ended up being sold for $225 each. Now I’m getting out all my DV6000 motherboards so I can finally sell them. Note, I test them for a few days because if the first heat didn’t work, I’d just do it again. Once you do it a couple of times it’s just like no job at all. It took me more time thinking about doing it than just doing it. What did I have to loose? Broken notebooks? Oh yeah & the temperature? I was getting readings in the 50′s [Celsius] Both ended up in the mid 30′s which is perfect. I di buy a small sheet of copper so I could make my own shims & toss the thermal pads…. Good luck to you guys who decide to try it. Hey, if I can do it, you can too. Take care, Dan
March 28th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Lol, I can not believe that this worked on my Toshiba sattelite A200. Here is what I did:
I wrapped the laptop excluding the monitor side after turning it on(of course without HDD and battery). I could hear fan accelerationg as it gets hotter. As someone else mentioned in the comments, computer shut down when temperature got very high (to protect system I guess). I waited for it to cool down some time and gave it a try. First try was failure, however it started working after second try. I don’t think it is a permanent fix for me as it didn’t work straight away. If is stops working, I can try other methods.
Thank you
May 13th, 2012 at 3:01 am
my HP laptop pavilion g6. the videos go blank after few seconds but the audio continues to play on any media player.even the web cam fails to show the video. in some instances the problem disappears but it comes back again. it kind of haunts me.please tell how to fix.