HP EliteBook 8440p (XN710EA) - random black screen while working

[blaze84]

Hi there,

I got my brand new notebook which is an EliteBook 8440p. Unfortunately, it makes some serious trouble and really pisses me off.

What makes me mad is that I get a black screen quite often.without any previous notice of an error message or something like that. The video graphics driver (Intel HD) does not report that it has stopped working. Suddenly, I get that black screen. All lights are still on but nothing works after that. I even cannot start the task manager by hitting CTRL ALT & DEL. The display stays black / blank.

I have two possibilities thereafter:

1. Pressing power button for as long as 4 seconds so the system shuts down.

2. Waiting for a while, sometimes the Windows desktop / programm / whatever reappears. But it takes 15 minutes or even more ...

I'm afraid that this symptom appeared only when I did a few things with my machine after a few hours:

1. I updated to the latest BIOS version which is F.20 and the update went well. I do not know which version was installed before but it wasn't F.20.

2. I substituted the 160 GB SSD for my existent Hitachi HDD. The SSD is now sold

3. I upgraded the memory. I removed the pre-installed 4 GB module and put in my brand new Crucial DIMMs (two of these). So now it has 8 GB of RAM installed.

I ran the machine for about 3 hours with its pre-installed config (SSD, 4 GB of RAM, no BIOS update) and everything went fine. The black screen appeared when I made these changes to my machine and after I did a clean install of Windows 7 64-bit with the latest drivers from HP and Intel websites. Now it is the 3rd Windows installation and the black screen continues randomly. So I guess it is a hardware failure nevertheless, isn't it?

Can anyone help me with that? Thank you so much.

drivers used:

graphics - http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=20391&ProdId=3231&lang=eng

LAN: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18713&ProdId=3244&lang=eng

WLAN: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=20433&ProdId=3408&lang=eng

everything else from HP website

[blaze84]

This is what it looks like:

http://www.abload.de/img/img_8686-kopie0ods.jpg

http://www.abload.de/img/img_8687-kopieyqk8.jpg

http://www.abload.de/img/img_8688-kopielosc.jpg

[chrisxcook]

I'm having this issue on a users Windows 7 Enterprise (32bit) machine running BIOS F.20

I think it's glitchy mobo's but I'd like to find a solution. More often than not my issue comes up when booting with a montior attached. I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this issue??

Machine: HP 8440p

Intel Video Drivers Installed: 8.15.10.2413

BIOS: F.20

[blaze84]

I received my EliteBook 8440p about two week ago with the motherboard being replaced.

The new one had the BIOS version F.12 pre-installed. I upgraded to version F.13 and afterwards to F.20 as I did when I purchased the unit seven weeks ago.

The problem has not being solved. I got that black screen for two more times with that brand new motherboard. This is why I guess the reason is a design flaw somewhere in the Intel chipset or maybe the HP design is just crap.

I feel extremely disgusted with this fact I have to deal with.

[ChyLou]

My New Elite book 8560Wwon't boot up, I just get a black screen. It powers up but the screen stays balck.

[NarendraL]

Finally found a solution for the blank screen issue on the Elitebook 8440p.

First upgrade the display adapter firmware to the latest available from Intel. Graphics:  8.15.10.2827

Second, with the laptop NOT connected to any external display, set the refresh rate for builtin monitor to 40Hertz instead of the default 60hertz.

BTW, when the screen goes blank, one way to get the display to show is to keep closing and opening the lid a few times. The display will eventually show up. You don't have to power cycle the system.

[toblcs]

Yes I can confirm that, changing the Refresh Rate from 60Hz- to 40Hz resolve the blank screen issue. But I'm still not happy to use Refresh Rate 40Hz because is to low and I can see the pixels flickering. But the main question how gigant  company as HP are not able to resolve this issue from 3 years, is a shame and specially when you pay a high price for HP product and then you face  annoying problems with NOT real solution.

I like the HP products but this time they really let me down!

[toblcs]

Hi all,

HP online chat support help me to find the solution on this issue.

My Laptop configuration is :

HP Elitebook 8440p Windows 7 Professional 64 bit with integreted Intel HD Graphic card.

1. If you done Graphic card Update probably this is the main issue. The only driver up to now for this system is:

"Intel High-Definition (HD) Graphics with Turbo Boost Technology"  easy to download from HP support

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=32...

Version: 8.15.10.2559 (6 Nov 2012)

I had a new version then this but only this version(8.15.10.2559) up to now have Turbo Boost Technology and this is the right version for your system.

2. Second suggestion is to Update your BIOS to Version F.23 (latest version for this system up to now)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=32...

3. Third suggestion is to install the "Intel Management Engine Components Driver and Interface" (chipset driver) from the link below

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=32...

If you all ready have the latest BIOS and Intel Chipset Driver you just need to update or downgrade the Graphic Driver to Version 8.15.10.2559 (6 Nov 2012) from HP Suppord and Drivers Download

I can confirm this is fix my problem, and my screen running on 60Hz Refresh Rate and the screen work  without any issue.

Thanks and I hope this to be helpfull for many people.

P.S. Atanas [edited personally identifiable information]

[westsys]

After installing Windows 8 on my Elitebook 8440p laptop, i got the problem that after going in sleep mode, the screen did not come alive after waking up again. I have been struggling a long time with this problem, but I can confirm that setting the screen frequency to 40Hz solves the problem.

[qbaran · Accepted solution]

Atanas, 

I appreciate your advice and followed it - I reverted from a newer video driver to the 8.15.10.2559 (6 Nov 2012) driver as you recommended and it resolved the problem. 

These are the problems I was observing that are resolved:

1. Computer going into sleep mode and only recovering to black screen
2. Games (particularly Warcraft III) loading to black screen (audio elements could be heard)
3. Changes in resolution, either through display properties, or other OS elements would cause a black screen.

Thanks for the assist - it was very frustrating to troubleshoot.

Quint