Bro's laptop only shows a black screen when powered on.

[andrewanimation]

My bro's laptop, an HP Pavilion dv6700, only has a black screen when powered on. The only test we've done so far is that it isn't the monitor because we connected it to another monitor and still nothing. We're going to use a hard drive enclosure to save the data off the hard drive. As for the computer itself, we'd just like to get it working again. What should we do? Again, we only get a black screen when turning it on, other than a few normal lights being on, like the power button and other normal indicators. And the computer fan can be heard spinning.
Thank you

 

[flanker]

Looks like he has lost his video driver or the video card is gone south. Did he make some changes to the video feed?

 

[Twinbird24]

I've had this exact same problem with an HP dvxxxx laptop. Most likely the GPU has overheated and the connection between the GPU and motherboard is no longer good. This can be fixed by performing a reflow or reball (which I did, and it fixed the problem for me). However, this is not a permanent fix (it may last from 1-6 months), the laptop apparently has a design flaw and it may overheat again in the future and cause more problems.

Doing a reflow can be quite a complicated procedure if you've never done it before, and you would have to take the motherboard out of the laptop completely.

It would be faster (and more expansive) to buy a new motherboard and replace the old one.

I'd recommend buying a new laptop, preferably not one that is on this list.

Also, if your laptop is on this list, you may recieve compensation, I haven't looked at that list myself, just got it from another forum member on another site.

 

[BobTheTechdude]

Is it black as in it doesnt turn on or is it black with the backlight?

 

[A Cheese Danish]

Oh boy. DV6700...It is the videocard itself. The card seems to move itself off the contacts causing it to malfunction.
I agree with Twinbird on buying a new laptop though. If you (or bro) decide to purchase a new laptop,
just for kicks and giggles, try and bake your motherboard and see if that fixes the issue with the video card.

 

[wolfeking]

try something else first. Pull your ram and try some more. Its just an idea that beckons from an IBM R52 laptop. Ram failure causes no sound and no image. Ram runs everything and can stop everything.

If you test this and it still does it, then I will be on board with the Video card idea.
(if it is the video card you could replace the mainboard for $90.)

 

[Twinbird24]

If you buy a new laptop, you could also sell the parts of the dv6700 separately on eBay or another website (like the LCD screen, keyboard, case, RAM, etc.), or maybe even just sell the entire laptop (some local computer repair shops may buy broken computers).