video monitor not recognized by notebook will not come on

[dabowring]

HP Pavilion Entertainment Pc dv7 1245dx windows vista 64bit. screen won't come on. updated to the latest drivers for the videocard ATI Radeon HD 3200. using external monitor and it works just fine. looked in device manager and the notebooks monitor isn't even listed. try to search or find and it doesn't exist.

[erico]

Have you tried holding the Fn key and then tapping the F4 key?

Have you tried usin a different  VGA  or HDMI cable than the one you are using?

You may test the cable's operation on another PC.

[dabowring]

just tried the holding the FN and tapping F4 nothing just did latest BIOS according to troubleshooting and nothing now going to try latest CPU chipset. its the notebook monitor itself not working external monitor seems to work just fine. not sure about VGA or HDMI cable as the monitor thats not working is the one connected to notebook itself.

[erico]

I misunderstod the original post.

Darken the room and power it the notebook up again without an external display connected.

Shine a flashlight on the display to see if there is a very dim normal windows desktop visible.

If you can see a dim Windows desktop that would mean that the display inverter has failed.

It is not an expensive repair but does require some tecchnical ability.

[dabowring]

Ok, tried the darkened room trick and there is no dim display. guess it wil go to the computer repair shop seems to be more wrong than just reloading drivers. Thankyou for the helpful tips.

[erico]

No worries.

At least since it operates with an external monitor you know that your laptop's video output isn't dead.

Now you will have to decide is how much you are willing to spend. It may cost you almost as much as a new notebook to replace the LCD display, unless you do it yourself.

My own rule of thumb and I advise my clients of this as well is that if the repair costs more than 50% or the present value of the notebook, then replace the notebook.  At least this way you will have a new notebook that comes with a warranty for at least one year. A repaired LCD repair may have only a thirty day warranty.

[glebeboi]

Now you will have to decide how much you are willing to spend.

Erico, 

There shouldnt even be a question option to ask how much we are willing to spend.

If this was an isolated case well maybe you could ask that but its not. One only has to look at the forum pages at any of the computer manufacturers - not just HP, Microsoft, nVidia and also help advisory forums on Google etc to see that this is a world wide issue affecting several hundred thousand customers.

Its the same with all - computers are working fine - some a few years old, others only months when suddenly after an update the whole thing shuts down.

Someone (Company) needs to take responsibilty for this and wear the cost of having these computers fixed by either repairing them by replacing any parts such as the inverter you mentioned (including labour costs, cos its not our fault) or coming up with a fix/patch/workaround for us to download. That is the correct answer to offer rather than "oh well just buy a new laptop cos then you'll have a 12 month warranty and a nice new computer" - especially when there isnt even a guarantee that it wont happen on the new computer seeing as the issue hasnt been solved (as evidenced by many a request for help in the forums).

These pavilion laptops dont come cheap with many of us paying in excess of $2000. For that amount of money spent you would expect a better performance from the computer AND its manufacturer. Its not always economically convenient to just go buy another one - especially when you cant even use the faulty one as a spare monitor.

cheers

[dabowring]

Ok, fired it up today without the external monitor and laptop display works just fine.......lol, Go figure. Begining to think something is loose in the laptop.

[erico]

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dabowring wrote:

Ok, fired it up today without the external monitor and laptop display works just fine.......lol, Go figure. Begining to think something is loose in the laptop.

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That could be so. It would be quite a bit of work to see if that is the case. I am glad it is working again.