HP DV6600 Motherboard

Hi

Just need a little advice. A friend of mine has a HP DV6600 with a suspected dead motherboard.

Basically the battery won't charge. A different charger and different battery have been tried but to no success. He has taken it to PC World who say the motherboard is fried, I come to the same conclusion as well as a different battery and charger have been tried. PC World want £250 to fix it.

I've taken a couple of Acer laptops apart and rebuilt them no problems. I'm thinking of doing this for my friend. How easy are HP's to dismantle to fit a motherboard.

Also does anyone know anywhere apart from ebay for motherboards. I've had a look but can only find one, and it may not fit as it's an AMD one, his may be an intel one, just in the process of finding out.

If anyone thinks it may be something other than the motherboard, please suggest.

Thanks

 

For an idea of how easy it would be to take a dv6600 notebook apart, I highly recommend you take a look at the maintenance and service guide located at http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01295877.pdf. You will basically have to take apart almost the entire laptop before being able to remove the motherboard (which is not unusual).

Even though I don't have a definite answer as to what may be causing the problem, I think by looking at the service guide it will help you narrow down the hardware that may be potentially problematic.

 

Cheers for the link, that should help, looks similar to taking an acer apart so I should be able to do it.

I've just found out that the laptop stopped charging when the Police took fingerpirnts after his house got burgled, they took fingerprints from the laptop, and it's not charged since then, so whatever is in the powder they use has screwed the laptop.

I've had a quick look on ebay and i've found an AMD based motherboard for around £100, which would work out cheaper than PC world, but havn't managed to find an Intel based one yet.

 

Dead Motherboard?? I doubt it - motherboards don't just stop working for no reason, unless he's taken a hammer to it, his girlfriend or wife (or girlfriend AND wife) picked it up and threw it across the room at him, or it got hit with lightning. I'm familiar with fingerprint dusting as well - the dust commonly used is graphite based and they'd only dust the outside anyway. I'd definitely blow out the keyboard assembly - you might want to even pop off the keys to get underneath just in case some blobs of dust got settled in spots.

Aside from a bad battery, there are other things that will prevent a battery from charging, though usually it's the battery itself. Since you've tried 2 batteries and adapters, that's unlikely.

Perform the following checks:

If the AC Adapter is plugged into any type of voltage converter (like 220 - 110) like people use in the UK and Europe, it'll screw it up as the Adapter is made to plug into any outlet anywhere in the world and utilize whatever line voltage is there without a converter. Since you mentioned a price in pounds sterling, I wonder if that might be the problem right there.

If it's plugged into a surge protector, UPS or AVR, unplug it and plug the adapter directly into a known, working power outlet.

To verify the system board:

1. With the Adapter and battery plugged in (adapter plugged into an AC outlet only) remove the battery from the system. Press and release the Power button to start the system.

• If the notebook PC powers on , then the AC adapter and system board are functioning properly.
  
  If the Power LED is off , then the AC power adapter needs to be replaced.
  
  If the power LED is on , but the notebook PC does not power on, then the notebook PC needs to be repaired.
  
  There are other procedure you should verify - go to this link and enter the system Product #, which will take you to the support site for the system's configuration. Click on Solve a Problem, then Power/Batteries. Also on the main page, click on Product Information. Since the system is a DV 6600 it's not a part of the HP Limited Warranty Service Enhancement Repair for the 6000 series, but you might want to check the Product # against the bulletin just to be sure. If it is a 6600 it doesn't apply, though the symptoms are consistent with the ones that are affected.

 

It probably has the usual fried NVIDIA chip:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01087277

 

Thanks cybervisions and brianstretch, your posts are very helpful.

I'll try the things you've listed Cybervisions.

The link to the HP site looks promising, definately some symptoms going on there, does this apply worldwide or is it just the US and Canada, as there are only mentions of the above (unless i've missed something on the HP page).

Thanks again.

 

You should go to the top of the HP homepage and change the HP site from US to UK, Australia, Hong Kong, etc., anywhere there's an English speaking site. Pretty much the data is the same, but I've noticed and found info on other sites that aren't on the US site, which means that they don't all update at once.

Check the Business Support area also. The Business area has much more info and resources than the Consumer Products Division pages do. Here's the link for the Business Support Center:

Something else you should be aware of - I came across a recent Class Action Lawsuit against HP for Pavilion notebooks (filed January 9, 2009), concerning the Power connection at the Motherboard.

Here is the summary of the Complaint:

"The Complaint alleges that HP misrepresented and concealed material facts regarding certain laptops including a design defect, which causes the power jacks of the laptops to fail. Specifically, the defect affects the attachment of the power jacks to the motherboards of the laptops. As a result of the defect, the solder connection between the motherboard and the power jack is interrupted, which ultimately causes the laptops to fail. The HP Pavilion laptops at issue in Plaintiff’s case include laptops in the following series: dv, zd, ze, zt, zv and zx"

The link to that particular CAL is at: HP Pavilion Notebooks

Your symptoms are consistent with what they're talking about. At the very least you should send them your information on that site so that you can find out more specifics.

 

That's very interesting, thanks. I'll pass this onto my friend. He has managed to get it sorted out through his house insurance, as it went wrong at the time of his house being broken into, which is fortunate in a way I guess. But if they decide not to fix it, he can go down this route.

I'll keep this info handy myself though, as I do know a few people with these laptops, so the info may come in handy in the future.

Thanks again.