Black screen on HP dv2000 notebook

[William J. Lunsford]

A niece brought home an HPdv2000 notebook with an absolutely blank black
screen. There is no beep or fan noise on startup -- nothing but the normal
lights at the top of the keyboard. I tested the AC adapter following the
instructions on the HP Website. The AC adapter is OK. I reseated the RAM and
tried each DIMM individually in both slots, but nothing worked. My niece
took the notebook to Geek Squad before she came home and was told by Geek
Squad that the motherboard is bad. Is there something else I should try
before telling her that Geek Squad may be right.

 

[bobmct]

A niece brought home an HPdv2000 notebook with an absolutely blank black
screen. There is no beep or fan noise on startup -- nothing but the normal
lights at the top of the keyboard. I tested the AC adapter following the
instructions on the HP Website. The AC adapter is OK. I reseated the RAM and
tried each DIMM individually in both slots, but nothing worked. My niece
took the notebook to Geek Squad before she came home and was told by Geek
Squad that the motherboard is bad. Is there something else I should try
before telling her that Geek Squad may be right.

Try plugging a VGA monitor into the VGA port to see if you get any
display on that first.

 

[William J. Lunsford]

Thanks! I'll try that and report back tomorrow.

Try plugging a VGA monitor into the VGA port to see if you get any
display on that first.

 

[bobmct]

The external monitor didn't work either. I suppose I'll have to tell my
niece that Geek Squad may be right about the bad motherboard. Thanks again
for the suggestion.

Remember that there is a function button combination to toggle/cycle
through the LCD/external monitor. I recommend this because my similar
Compaq V3000 went black and the external worked. Fortunately it was
still under warranty. Hopefully the DV2000 is new enough.

Good luck.

 

[William J. Lunsford]

Unfortunately, the fn+f4 toggle didn't do anything and the machine is out of
warranty. I suggested that she look for a new notebook on sale. She's not
interested in a desktop machine that would be easier and cheaper to repair
and upgrade. She doesn't sit at home with her computer the way her old uncle
does.

 

[John O]

Pull out the battery. If you can get to it, pull the internal battery too.
Check that internal battery's voltage, probably should be 3V, or google the
type and see what it's supposed to be. Put it back in if it's good and
restart the system. Sometimes just pulling all the batteries out can reset a
locked up mobo.

If that doesn't do it, try removing the HDD and restart. Are there any
mini-PCI cards attached under doors on the bottom of the machine? Pull them
out and try again.

If nothing works, the geeks are probably right. Check the prices on new
laptops before replacing the mobo on an older one. You can transfer data
from laptop HDDs with a cheap USB adapter, basically you convert the old
laptop's HDD into an external USB drive.

If there's data on the HDD you need to keep, tell the geeks not to lose it.
Make them promise, and if they say no ask to talk to the head geek at the
store. Don't let them take the lazy road.

Good Luck!

-John O