Laptop HP: No more display

[themaster1]

I have installed the software Notebook Hardware Control to control the fan of the graphic card ( among other things) and right after the install finished (or during the install not sure) i had no more display. Now i'm struggling to start in safemode it seems i tried F8, F5 but i get absolutely nothing on the screen.

Someone help me to get out of this mess please

The brand of this laptop is HP and i run Vista on it

[freebird73717]

Hook up an external monitor to the laptop. Then you should be able to see so that you can uninstall that software and get back in working condition.

[themaster1]

Hmm i just tried this, i hooked up a vga monitor without much luck (black screen).

[budwzr]

Try toggling the display using the function keys.

[themaster1]

toggling the display ? What do you mean and what function keys

[Poppa_Meth]

Each laptop is different but usually one of the F keys at the top of the keypad has a monitor icon on it. You hold the "fn" function key and press the F key with the monitor icon to toggle video outputs.

[themaster1]

Yeah i found a page talking about it: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000801.htm

I'll try tomorrow hopefully it work for Hp laptops

[TimA-C]

You know there's been a problem with several models of HP and Compaq laptops where parts on the motherboard get so hot that the solder starts to melt? Usually it's the graphics chip but I have seen one where it was something to do with the internal wi-fi (but not the actual wi-fi card). The symptoms you describe sound frighteningly similar, especially the one where you can't get a picture on an external monitor. I really hope I'm wrong about this.

If you've got access to another computer with a reasonably fast internet access you might want to try downloading a Linux Live CD image and burning it to CD and try booting your HP laptop from it. This will give you a good indication if it's a Windows problem or a hardware problem. I'd recommend either an Ubuntu or a Linux Mint live CD. (Live CDs lets you boot & run the operating system without installing anything on your hard drive) Good Luck.

[themaster1]

I heard about these linux live cds,but i've never used them thus far, can you point me out to a link to DL it and also a quick start guide

[TimA-C]

Do you get anything appear on the screen when you turn on? Any text at all or an HP logo? If you don't then the Linux Live CD may be a waste of time as you should get something before Windows loads.

However, if you want to try the Linux option the 32-bit Linux Mint Live CD can be found from here or the equivalent Ubuntu image can be found from here. The Ubuntu link will download the .iso image file whereas the Linux Mint link needs a bit torrent client - I'd use uTorrent as it's small, quick, and doesn't need to be installed so you're not left with a load of unwanted cr@p on your system when you've finished using it.

Once you've got the .iso image file downloaded, burn it to a 700Mb CD using your favourite burning software but you MUST tell the burning software that it's an image that you're burning, don't just burn the .iso file to the disc as it almost certainly won't work! (In most burning apps that I've seen there's usually an option to load an image file.)

As for using one, just put it in the drive and boot up from it (I hope your laptop is set to boot from CD/DVD...) It will take a while and hopefully you'll get quite a bit of text flash up on the screen and then you'll end up with a GUI not too disimilar from a Windows GUI - if that happens then your problem is a windows problem and should be fixable, if you don't get anything then it might be that the Linux you downloaded doesn't have built-in drivers for your graphics card or that you have hardware problems with your laptop. The newer Linuxes seem to be MUCH, MUCH better in this respect than those of a few years ago, and both Mint and Ubuntu have worked on probably 80% - 90% of the machines that I've tried them on over the last 18 months or so. I don't know which model HP you've got, but I know that the latest Linux Mint CD (Julia) worked on a Pavilion dv2000 laptop (dv2166eu on the service tag on the underside) that I was working on last week. I haven't tried the latest Ubuntu so I can't comment on that.

Let us know how you get on.

[themaster1]

I've downloaded the ubuntu desktop x86 and (quickly) tested on a flash drive on my own PC, it's working fine.
The goal would be to have access to the drive in the laptop and repair it...somehow.What would be the procedure to do that ?

It doesn't make much sense to me that this piece of shitty software messed Vista so badly on the laptop.

[themaster1]

Try toggling the display using the function keys.

I tried that today Fn + F3, F4, F5, F8, or F9 without much luck.

I suppose something's really wrong with the graphic card.

Would it be possible to swap the graphic card with a GT220 (pci express) or it's a no-no ?

Also what about a clear cmos for laptops ?

[themaster1]

Well i found out: i did a clear cmos, and a system recovery to a previous date, everything went ok

[TimA-C]

So your laptop is now working? That's great news if I've understood you correctly! Well done!

[jagabo]

How do you clear CMOS on a laptop?

[themaster1]

open the pc behind , find the small lithium battery and remove it for about 3min.Job done

[jagabo]

open the pc behind , find the small lithium battery and remove it for about 3min.Job done

Ah, I thought maybe there was some secret key combination or something.

[aedipuss]

i thought most laptops could be cleared by removing the main battery and then holding down the power button for 10 seconds>

[themaster1]

I don't know i'm not familiar with laptops. Actually i have removed the big battery first and then unscrewed some plastic below to reach the small lithium battery and removed it (= clear cmos).
When i have booted the HP recovery tool popped up asking to restore the system which i did.

[budwzr]

This thread is the poster boy for dinkerers out there. Let it be a wakeup call to the rest of us.

My wife had a similar situation with one of those stinkin' iPads, then the fix was to hold down two of the buttons for 10 seconds, but it was scary.

Having two computers around in case one goes down, at least you can look around online for some help.

[jagabo]

We have three or four computers that get used every day, a few more that get used occasionally. And a few more that are hardly ever used.