HP Pavillion dv7 black screen.

[spacemaynee]

My dad has a HP Pavillion dv7 and recently it stop showing video. It appears to be stuck in sleep mode. All the lights come on the keyboard and than it two lights blink as if it were in sleep mode.

No hard drive activity is happening at all. Looking at the light at least.

This is what i have tried so far to fix it

tried hooking it up to an external display, vga and hdmi. nothing. no signal.

Turned it on with the ac adapter plugged in. Removed battery with it still on. Turn off, wait 5-10 seconds. Turn back on with just ac adapter, no battery. That hasn't worked.

I let the cmos battery unplugged overnight. Hasn't worked.

Tried holding F2, Delete, F8 while first turning it on to try and enter bios. No luck.

Using one RAM module at a time in both slots. Hasn't worked.

CTRL ALT DELETE, HOME KEY, all while on and nothing.

it sounds like a normal laptop when you turn it on (fans, and lights). All the lights stay on and than the the two keys start blinking as if it were in sleep mode.


Any ideas on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated. It would be cool if i could return his laptop in working condition. I am out of ideas and there is not much trouble shooting information on the web on this laptop.

thanks in advance!

 

[kineticdragon]

Hi,
Im wonderind where u live. I wish I can bring my hp Pavillion dv7 to u. My has dark grey screen after I start it, tried to boot from repair disk - no luck: bootmngr is missing. I got with F11 recover from HDD, it started reformat drive and ...again grey screen. Once booted to 45%. I reset HDD and changed cmos battery - no luck. My first question: is it any way to find out if it's hdd failure, if I dont have any other hdd to replace. They are expensive, cant buy untill know for sure. Is USB Enclosures just to read data, wat is it, I didnt quite understand. Probably it wont help me to find out if my HDD failed. Sorry not technical person, but cant waist money for expensive repair,
Thanks Elena

Hi Elena,

It sounds like your BIOS is corrupted. Blue Screen means hardware error but yours is abnormal so maybe BIOS corruption.

Im in Southern California. For your problem I would try downloading the latest BIOS from the HP web site. I then would use a Windows 98 start up disk or any type disc to boot into DOS mode. You can find some available on the net.

You will need to boot into DOS either with recovery or boot disk. Run the DOS method of the BIOS upgrade as instructed on the HP website.

Then you can try to reinstall Windows. If no grey screen the problem is corrected. If it still is there I would try the method I explained in this forum. You would need to completely take apart the laptop and reflow the North Bridge chip.

HDD test can make a HDD worse if it already has something wrong in it. I would not go for replacing the HDD right away. I think you should definitely try upgrading the BIOS and see what happens. Take care.

 

[kineticdragon]

No hard drive activity is happening at all. Looking at the light at least.

Say what? Say what?

 

[Elena 2012]

Hi Elena,

It sounds like your BIOS is corrupted. Blue Screen means hardware error but yours is abnormal so maybe BIOS corruption.

Im in Southern California. For your problem I would try downloading the latest BIOS from the HP web site. I then would use a Windows 98 start up disk or any type disc to boot into DOS mode. You can find some available on the net.

You will need to boot into DOS either with recovery or boot disk. Run the DOS method of the BIOS upgrade as instructed on the HP website.

Then you can try to reinstall Windows. If no grey screen the problem is corrected. If it still is there I would try the method I explained in this forum. You would need to completely take apart the laptop and reflow the North Bridge chip.

HDD test can make a HDD worse if it already has something wrong in it. I would not go for replacing the HDD right away. I think you should definitely try upgrading the BIOS and see what happens. Take care.

Thank you so much.
At least some hope. Iwill try to do it tonight probably. I wish u live in VA,
Thanks Elena

 

[Elena 2012]

Hi Elena,

It sounds like your BIOS is corrupted. Blue Screen means hardware error but yours is abnormal so maybe BIOS corruption.

Im in Southern California. For your problem I would try downloading the latest BIOS from the HP web site. I then would use a Windows 98 start up disk or any type disc to boot into DOS mode. You can find some available on the net.

You will need to boot into DOS either with recovery or boot disk. Run the DOS method of the BIOS upgrade as instructed on the HP website.

Then you can try to reinstall Windows. If no grey screen the problem is corrected. If it still is there I would try the method I explained in this forum. You would need to completely take apart the laptop and reflow the North Bridge chip.

HDD test can make a HDD worse if it already has something wrong in it. I would not go for replacing the HDD right away. I think you should definitely try upgrading the BIOS and see what happens. Take care.

Im just wondering, do u mean, I can probably boot from MS DOS, if I wasn't able to boot from Win 7 or I tried XP CD? If so, which site I can trust to download, is bootdisk trustworthy site?
Thanks Elena

 

[Elena 2012]

I also found on web aboutany jumper on motherboard, related to BIOS. Does it exist on HP Pavillion dv7?

 

[Elena 2012]

One last thing I believe you might need a tutorial to help you take your laptop apart safely...this is a good one for most HP laptop models...

http/www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemble-hp-pavilion-dv7-notebook/

Hi again,
I took HDD from my another HP Laptop with XP and tried it to dv7 one. It started booting (Windows is loading files) and then again the same thing _ bluesh screen. I went to Walmart and bought high heat glue gun. Is it wat u mean by heat gun? It was around $20. I'd like to try reflow like you said it helped. Do u have any video or pics to help? Now I'm watching youtube for taking apart my laptop. The thing I would do after: would be buying a new motherboard, but I'm not even 100% sure it is the reason, however most likely it is according to wat I found on web. But still its expensive.
Elena

 

[coastie65]

Most MOtherboards do have the jumper, but if it has a CMOS battery ( and most do as far as I know, you can turn of the poweer, removeve the Laptop Battery, then remove the CMOS battery for a minute then replace it, This should also reset the BiOS. I have my Brother-in-Law's Dv9 over here with a blank screen, but I know what the problem is with that after some checks. The GPU on the motherboard is gone and need to replace the motherboard. AS for buying a new motherboard, make sure the number matches the one in it or Windows won't be happy because it is an OEM operating system.

 

[Elena 2012]

Most MOtherboards do have the jumper, but if it has a CMOS battery ( and most do as far as I know, you can turn of the poweer, removeve the Laptop Battery, then remove the CMOS battery for a minute then replace it, This should also reset the BiOS. I have my Brother-in-Law's Dv9 over here with a blank screen, but I know what the problem is with that after some checks. The GPU on the motherboard is gone and need to replace the motherboard. AS for buying a new motherboard, make sure the number matches the one in it or Windows won't be happy because it is an OEM operating system.

Thanks,
I still didnt have time to take apart, but was considering to wrap in blanket and let it shut down from overheat couple times, someone said it helped: something like reflow this way. But probably I'll take apart and try put motherboard in oved. Some folks had success. Than I'll go for buying motherboard.
Elena

 

[rick12]

we have had more trouble with the DV series HP's that i would not even stick the money in it to fix it, if you want HP get a NX or NC series you will be happier

 

[jkowski]

Also I forgot to add to my complete fix for those who may not know exactly how to reseat these.......e

Use a heat gun to do this...you might

melt some of the plastic tape but dont worry about it...i did its fine...you cant melt anything on the motherboard unless you hold the gun right next to the board for a long time

Reseat instructions:

Warm up: about 5 inches from the southbridge and northbridge and cycle back n forth heating each one for 4-5 seconds before cycling... do this for about 45 seconds. Use a clockwise circular motion when on top of cpu or northbridge.

Next move to about 2 inches from the cpu and northbridge. Cycle back and forth between CPU and Northbridge chipset( it is usually the one that is linked to the heatsink with the CPU). Make sure to keep a straight line between the two pieces. Do this for about 45 secs....

Next go back to 5 inches for about 30 secs....

Next go back to 2 inches from the units for another 30 secs...

Thank you! after heating all function just fine...

Next go back to 5 inches from the units for about 20 secs....

Now let air cool with a direct but light flow fan...It does not have to be close to the board....

Let this cool about 20 mins and then put the whole thing back together.... Power on and it should come on right away....

To prevent this from happening again Im thinking about drilling a few holes in safe places on the bottom and getting one of those laptop platforms with fans that help cool laptops..They are pretty annoying but it might prevent it from happening...also they might help even if you dont drill the holes... Ok people let me know if you do what I mentioned and fix the problems like I did...that would make me feel good if I helped! take care...

 

[jkowski]

after heating with heatgun, everything function well! thanks!

 

[ushotkennyx]

couldn't be bothered to read more than the initial problem but this happened to my hp compaq presario recently, does the caps and num lock flash whilst it loads up? without the screen turning on of course. if so it is probably a graphic problem, mine overheated and costs much too much to repair so i'm buying a new, better laptop

 

[smullens]

Hello! I have an HP dv9700 that broke 31 days after purchase, preventing a return. Its been repaired at least 10 times for blue screen. It won't turn on at all now. The indicator lights on lower left just slowly blink a few times, the charge light goes off soon after plugging it up, sounds like its booting up for 1 second & then just stops & all lights go out. I don't know squat about repairing it! But the extended warranty just elapsed. I've fixed my car with youtube tutorials, so I'm going to attempt fixing this. Do you think heating it with a craft heat gun, along with the site you recommendedmm for dismantle, will get it tp boot? Is there anything else I should try? I have removed battery & unplugged it several times. Do you still repair laptops via mail service? I sincerely appreciate any help you can offer. I know I just need a new 1, NOT HP!, but not a good time financially for it! Thanks in advance!!
Susan

One last thing I believe you might need a tutorial to help you take your laptop apart safely...this is a good one for most HP laptop models...

 

[roblmoore]

Seriously? are you that dense? Read the thread! all these people cant even boot their systems, the systems are basically DEAD. If the systems cant boot, how can you expect us to boot into safe mode?

 

[TheMan90241]

I got mine to work. The Laptop is a HP DV7-1245DX, Windows Vista 64-bit, and I was asked to look at it by a friend.

These were the symptoms:



1 - When you press the power button, all the panel lights come on.

2 - The CD/DVD drive starts clicking or searching for media.

3 - The Caps Lock and Number Lock lights continually flash every couple seconds.

4 - Upon initial power up, the display backlight turns on and then immediately turns off in about one second.

5 - There was absolutely no hard drive activity.



The Fix:



I first read a lot of other posts on what they had tried. The only useful information I got was, if you power on the computer and let it sit long enough (up to 3 hours in some cases), it will eventually boot, removing the batteries and bleeding the power off did not work, and removing / reseating the memory did not help.



1 - I powered on the computer and let it sit until Windows booted. This took about 45 minutes in my case.

2 - I then went to HP's Download Page and downloaded the latest bios update. The bios on my machine had never been updated and if memory serves me correct, it was version F.30. The latest bios version available is now F.49.

3 - I completed the bios install which automatically shut down my computer after the installation was complete.

4 - When I powered up the computer, it started normally. I immediately did all available Windows updates.



I have using the computer for two days which included about ten restarts and there has been no sign of a problem yet.





I hope this helps and please let me know if this procedure worked for you too.


Terry

 

[DSL]

Well the reflow thing works! Had the black screen and performed the procedure and its working perfectly now. I was looking at $800 or more for a new computer but a $25 heat gun from the hardware store solved the problem. No more blinking lights and powered up just like it used to.

After cycling it 3 times I updated the bios as well. Mine was on version 35 and is noow on version 49.

Thanks so much for the advise.

DSL

 

[beatmaster38]

ive had this same problem, under the right side of the screen there is a little hole, poke in it with a paper clip, Hope this helps!

 

[tomo79]

hello if u could phone me would be great give me step by step im happy to put money into your account trust me 0432260963

 

[informalys]

Good afternoon,

I have a HP Pavilion DV7, core i7, with the same problem :
- Black Screen
- 2 blinking lights every 3-4 seconds
- Fan running at high speed
- No harddrive activity

1. I opened the RAM cover, and I have removed the CMOS Battery (CR2032)
2. I have removed the laptop battery too
3. I have unpluged the electric cord
4. I have pressed the on / off button like I wanted to turn up the laptop during 5 seconds

After that I have put again the CMOS Battery and the Laptop turns up correctly

Hope this help

Alain Fischele
www.informalys.com

 

[tinstar1]

Aloha,
Have exactly the same thing going on. Did you get any answers?

w.

nah i didn't. i did take it completely apart though and reseated the cpu. i was told that might work. it however did not. i don't know i have narrow it down to the video card and/or dead motherboard. it could very well be a dead cpu too. i've heard things about motherboards dieing on the HPs so my gut says that is the problem. haven;t done anything to replace it either. it is just sitting collecting dust.