TouchSmart 300Z: Screen Dead

[efawcett]

First off let me say I am a huge HP, every PC and PC peripheral I have purchased over the last 10 years have been HP and usually purchased direct from HP.

In 10/2009 I purchased a TouchSmart 300z (serial #: MXV94502PQ)... Two months out of warranty (12/2010) the screen has stop working, power on and the screen is black and unresponsive. I'm unsure as to whether it is even booted up as I can hear a fan come on (and looking through the top vents I can see a blinking green light inside) but no other indication of life. 

Very disappointing, ever since it has sat on a shelf on my den while I try to figure out what to do with it.

Has anyone heard of this being a common occurrence? What next? A out of warranty repair that will cost a 1/3 or more of what I paid for it originally?

I really expected to get more than 14 months of use out of it....

Thanks,

Eric

[erico]

In a darkened room shine a flashlight on the screen. If you see a very dim Windows desktop then the display(screen) inverter has failed.

Have you tried plugging in an external monitor to see if normal video is present?

Best regards,
erico

[Jonathan_N]

First thing i would do is a hard reset.  Unplug the power cord from the back and unplug any other peripherals (ethernet, printer, external drives etc...)  After you have done this press the power button for a few secs.  It's worked for me on tv's computers and stereos you name.  I hope it does the same for you.

Just an employee trying to help and in no way speaking on behalf of "The Company".

[gdesai]

Eric,

I ran into the same issue this morning on my Touch Smart 300.  We had some storms recently so I reseeded the power and pressed the power button on the upper right side (very inconspicuous place) and the PC booted just fine.  I initially pressed the Home |-^-| button in lower right of front screen and realized that this is the sleep/standby button. 

I am immediately putting this device on a surge-protector.  The last thing my family can afford is to lose is this device on the kitchen counter.  Live TV, Stereo Music streaming from the Internet, Recorded TV shows, Video Conferencing, and access to the Internet.  

We purchased our unit in December 2009, and have had no issues.

Hope this post  helps you and others in the future..

Ghan

[Dr_Doug]

The hard reset worked!!! Thanks very much.  But, do remember to press the power button with the power cord unplugged THEN plug it in and you'll get the hard reset to work properly.  Time to plug connect my new battery back up/surge protector now.   (BTW, everyone who sees this machine falls in love with it - well done HP!)