HP Pavilion dv9000 monitor problem... again

[wilsonrs]

Hey,

As I have seen scattered all over the forums are people having problems with the display on their dv9000 laptop, but unfortunatly I haven't been able to track down my exact problem.

So my problem? I'm currently on vacation and just finished a two day drive across the country, an it was durring the ride that the problem occured. The laptop has been in a warm and sometimes hot car all day and halfway theough the day I popped it out, fired it up and found the csreen resolution was messed up. The screen looks like every other vertical column of pixels is dead or at least dimmed way down. Its like the screen was perfectly sliced a thousand times up and down. I had to turn the reolution all the way down just to read letters.

I've got Windows 7 and an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS (If anyone needs more specs I can give them)

If this has been solved please direct me to the site/thread, or if there's an easy fix I'd love to hear it. Unfortunatly the solution to most screen problem for this laptop is a new $350 motherboard. I know this computer is beyond warrenty. If it comes to buying a new hardware I'll just shell out for a new laptop. Besides all of the issues I have with all HP products, this is a surprisingly slick and fun computer so I'd hate to get rid of it, but thanks for the help.

[HaggisCat]

See this thread, the solution and the post by Cheryl with the youtube videos.

 http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Notebook-PC-questions/hp-dv6000-won-t-complete-start-up/td-p/3077...

[Big_Dave]

You should be able to get your system repaired for $125 or so if it's only a soldering issue.

[wilsonrs]

After reflowing the graphics chip I hooked the monitor back up, plugged in the power button and the fan and tried to turn it on but the screen is just all black now which is worse than it was and I'm concerned I might have done some damage. I haven't  hooked the entire system back up because I want to make sure I've done all that I can. Is there a simple step that I'm missing in order to test the monitor? Or did I just ruin my graphics chip, or even worse, my motherboard?

[HaggisCat]

Personally I have never reflowed a graphics chip before, but I have watched the youtube video's. There was a long one in the link which is a good one. I am going to assume that the video chip did not crack. What kind of heat did you use and what sort of shielding was in place ?

 Maybe you didn't get it hot enough to melt the solder or as you said things got too hot. It's really difficult to say what went wrong here.

 You said you plugged in the power button. Is this from the adapter. The youtube video used the battery only.

[wilsonrs]

I was following the link your talking about and I used a pen torch like the video and I heated it until the green was a little bit discolored, like in the video. It was also hot to the touch but I was careful not to overheat it and the chip did not crack, nor did anything around it. I had aluminum from a pop can protecting all the edges and I kept checking the heat of the surrounding just in case and it was never too hot.

And as for the power I used a charged battery as well and I get all of the lights for the buttons lighting up and the fan turns on so the motherboard does have power going to it.

[HaggisCat]

I am thinking that it may have become too hot. Here is another method that uses a quarter and a heat gun if you want to try again. It's certainly less evasive.

 If it did get too hot I am also thinking that it has gotten to the point where the solder has become too oxidized to flow properly.

 I am sorry that this is not working out for you so far, it was worth a try though.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MGvJCMQFis&feature=related

[CherylG]

I have seen several videos using the pen torch, but if you pay close attention they are used & pulled back,used & pulled back. And only used for 45-60 seconds I believe. The heat gun method is applied for around 2-3 minutes,but is much less heat...and safer,imo,for novices.

Using the quarters as mentioned by 'TheLaptopXpert' in first link posted by Haggis_Cat above is a new approach to me, but makes a lot of sense.Helps distribute the heat slowly and adds just enough downward pressure to reseat the gpu snugly.

The idea of adding a copper shim or a copper penny on top of the gpu seems a good way to prevent the overheating from occuring again. I like this guys YouTube video,doesn't even require a heatgun but a 150-200 watt lamp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctHTF3oNdxI&NR=1

[wilsonrs]

I've got good news and bad news!

Good news: My display is alive!

Bad news: I'm back to the original problem of every other column of pixels looks dead.

I was told that it could be a wiring issue. any comments?

[cplasse9]

I am having this same problem with the lines. It is fixed when the computer is shut down (for rebooting or to enter bios) but every once in a while it does come back. And I have contacted hp and gotten to the point where i show them pictures of the screen and they will still do nothing about it. Let me know if you hear anything.

_/.\_