Blank Screen on Startup

I'm having a problem on startup. I have a HP dv2500t Notebook running Vista Home Premium.

I left the room for about an hour and when I came back, I had a BSOD. I didn't think to write it down.

When I try starting my laptop now, nothing happens. The screen comes on (turns a different shade of black), but stays blank. No HP logo, no Windows, no nothing. The HD light flashes every once and a while but nothing else happens.

I looked on the HP site and they said to reseat the memory. Is this possibly the problem or is it just a generic fix-all? I thought it had something to do with the BIOS being jacked up. Is it possible the BIOS has gone corrupt? Anybody have any suggestions?

 

I had something similar with my Sager and they told me to reseat the RAM and isolate any bad RAM sticks (start up with one stick at a time in each slot), and then reset the CMOS.
I don't know where the CMOS reset is on an HP but there usually is a metal area that you have to short circuit for 30 seconds or so to reset the checksum. Have them walk you through it.

 

Answered in the identical post over here

 

I'm trying to get as many opinions as possible so I posted in both forums. Is this against the rules of this forum?

I got it to start, but then it froze, both in linux and windows. Then I had to wait a while in order to be able to start it up again.

I got the memory reseated and it seems to be OK. But I'm not sure if that is the real problem.

I have had problems with overheating recently. Could that have something to do with it?

 

Not at all. At least as far as I know. Just letting you know.

Heat is the enemy of circuitry.

 

Could be a motherboard problem, make sure theres no cd's in the drive

To reset the CMOS take out the battery and unplug the AC. Hold the power button for 30seconds or so

 

Now it is completely dead. I got it started again last night, but then I got a BSOD (that had some weird lines through it like graphical corruption). Then it wouldn't start again, so I left it off over night and it wouldn't fire up in the morning.

Tried resetting the CMOS as recommended with no success. I will call HP tech support later today and see if they can do anything. At least it's still under warranty.

 

Almost certainly a hardware issue

 

I called HP and told them about the situation and they're sending a box now. Does anyone know the timeframe for repairs?

Also, this is what they put as the reason:
Failure : LCD no back - light / video / display

This doesn't seem right to me. Should I get them to change the problem when they call after the box arrives? Will they figure out if that's not actually the problem, that they should try other things?

 

Yes Explain to HP in detail as soon as you can or else they will only replace the LCD and send it back to you broken. Tell them its not the LCD thats broken

 

I think it might be the video card driver, my brother rolled is driver back after he updated and this happened.

 

OK I got it back. They replaced the MOBO and CPU fan and my computer seems to be running much cooler and the problem at startup is fixed. The only problem is they put an Intel GPU (X3100) back in but before the service, I had a Geforce GPU. I already called and they are sending a box to send it back and get the Geforce 8400m GS GPU.

My question is this. Is it worth my time to try to get them to do some kind of reimbursement or upgrade on my computer since they made a mistake? Or will they just spew back a bunch of "It's not HP policy" stuff? I don't want to waste a bunch of time and get really stressed over something that isn't likely to happen.

 

They will either have to give you a brand new one or replace the motherboard because the GPU is integrated into the motherboard.

Theres a chance theyll give you the new penryn processors if they are gonna replace the whole thing. If not then tough luck. Id definately return it for a geforce GPU though.

 

So should I ask them if they will upgrade to penryn (as compensation for the time they have wasted)? I just don't want to sit there waiting to talk to case managers for hours or having to deal with the annoying tech support hotline more than I have to.

 

I dont think they will on your request, but you can always try.

If they dont have your specs in stock (T7300 according to your sig) then they will have to replace it with either a T7500 or a penryn T9300 with a geforce 8400gs

Ask for the exact specs of the next laptop they are going to send you. Make sure you clearly get the right specs and you get no less that what you bought