HP TX1000 Laptop won't turn on

I have a TX1000z HP laptop and it stopped booting up a couple of days ago. The power lights flicker on and then shut off after just a second or so...I don't get any clicks - just nothing - on then off. I contacted HP and they gave me direction to try resetting the memory module by lifting out the memory cards and putting them back in - didn't do a thing. Any other suggestions? or am I just out the $1000???

 

Probably the usual NVIDIA chipset failure that HP is refusing to acknowledge in the TX1000/TX2000 notebooks for some reason (the TX2500 uses ATI). See here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c01087277&dlc=en&lc=en&cc=us
There seems to have been a spike in such failures recently. Tell HP that your notebook has the same defective NVIDIA chipset that the dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 enhanced warranty covers and ask why your tx1000 isn't included?

Of course it could be something different, like a broken power jack and a nearly depleted battery. I'd bet on a fried NVIDIA northbridge.

 

Thanks for the advice! I've checked out the other possibilities you mentioned - the power cord is in perfect condition and the power cord light actually remains on (even when the power lights don't), and I tried my main and spare batteries, to make sure it's not the battery. Also I re-set the memory module as they recommended.

Going to call HP and see what they say about this NVIDIA problem...

 

Keep us updated on this issue.

 

OMG.. I have the exactly the same problem... tx1921us .. i had it for a year now ... no problems so far ... and then 2 weeks ago i tried to put it out of stand by and it just lost power .... when i try to start, the light flashes for a sec and then loses power again. Now when i leave it like that for several hours, after that after few times it starts... and i can see that there is nothing wrong with the system. If i leave it overnight, in the morning I usually succeed to restart the machine without problems, but after a while the same thing happens (can't turn it on). Sometimes the light stays on but the system is not starting at all - only blank screen. I would appreciate if you keep me informed on resolving this problem, cuz obviously this is some hardware issue and it is characteristic for tx1000 series..

If i find the solution, i will post it....
good luck

 

That laptop sucks really hard. I would just buy a warrenty and send it in for repair then hopefully it breaks quickly enough for you to get it replaced.

 

yes count me in too.....exactly d same issue....

turning off on powering on aftr 1 sec and one out f ten times light glows but no display n booting....m tryin to figure out wit hp...

also lemme know if any one found any trick to turn it on.... will keep u updated wit hp experience

ps: my system is hp tablet pc tx1003au....

Enjoy~!

 

Any updates on this? I have a Compaq Presario F750Us and its doing the exact same thing

 

Unfortunately, it looks like yours is not on the list for the repair coverage. HP has only been extending the free service to the some of the older models which shipped with the Nvidia nforce 410/430 chipset based systems. Yours doesnt fit into this criteria since it has nforce 600 series chipset.

 

what would my options be for repair? or would it just be better to get new laptop. im mainly worried about the stuff on my computer. i really dont want to lose alot of that stuff.

 

Gettting it fixed from HP is going to cost probably more than the laptop itself is worth. A new laptop with similar or faster specs could probably be available for the same price as the HP service. If you are a DIY'er then you could probably buy a new motherboard from ebay for ~US$150 - 300 and replace it yourself or you know someone who can do that for you at a discount.

As far as your data. if the system doesnt boot then get an external adapter and connect it to another system via USB and you should be able to backup your data off of the drive.

BTW, this might be worth trying. A lot of HP's have this not booting issue occur from time to time. Remove the power cord, battery and hold down the power button for 10 - 15 sec and put the battery, power cord back in and see if it boots.

 

hmm how hard would it be to actually replace a motherboard (for an amature and someone who knows nothing about this kind of stuff) because 300ish is still cheaper than a new laptop and even paying someone like geek squad to install it. It's an awesome laptop and i'd really rather not let it go but i'm starting to hear about these problems and i dont want to have to deal with it every time i have a problem.

 

Well, its not something that I would recommend for an amateur but fortunately there are resources which can help. HP has posted stuff online which should help in the dismantling process. They have both videos and pictoral(PDF's) demonstrations of the dismantling process...

Service Manual (PDF)
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01295900.pdf

Media Services Library
http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent/NACSC/SML/

I would recommend that you look through both the above links and decide for yourself if you are up to the task.

 

I too unfortunately have an HP Pavilion tx1000 that powers up to a black screen and gives no indication from the disk light that it is even trying to boot. I attempted all of the other suggestions given at this site and others as well (e.g. remove the A/C power cord and the battery and power cycle the tx1000 to run down the static energy and reset the lap top, borrowed another A/C HP power supply from a friend at work, air dusted the inside, etc.) This tx1000 is 18 months old and like the only other HP I bought a few years back, just died on me and HP is absolutely no help other than trying to sell me motherboards and hard drives. I too have some important data that has been put on the tx1000 hard drive since my last back up last month. I have been playing with all kinds of desperate methods to try to bring up the tx1000 long enough to get the data off of it.

He is what worked for me. I removed the battery and disconnected the A/C power cord. I connect the tx1000 to an external monitor. I reconnect the A/C power cord. As I switch on the tx1000's power button, I also start pressing the F4 (external video output) key repeatedly. Some times it only take 3 or 4 iterations of me doing this complete process and sometimes it takes me up to 13-14 times but I have repeated these steps at least 5 times tonight to get my tx1000 up and running. I have been able to connect to an external hard drive and back up all the files I needed. I have also run a serious of utilities to try and figure out what the issue is but no luck so far.

I know this sounds like ridiculous voo-doo magic but I wanted to share it in case some one else who just wants to recover data wants to give it a try. It is certainly not a long term solution because once you reboot the tx1000 you are right back to where you started.

 

Count me in too...

tx1000 magically decides it won't turn on. Tried all of the above suggestions, but merely get a momentary flicker of lights and then death.

I am going to call and harass HP and see if I can get anywhere with them.

Wish me luck and keep me updated.

 

Here is some vudo magic.

Before I get to what worked for me a little background.

I was on an airplane reviewing some documents (not plugged in which means not the full processing power or fan cooling).

Put the unit in hibernation and when in the terminal I tried to restart and was dealt with all of the above symptoms mentioned above as well as on many other forums. Lights on around the edge of the screen, volume lights on, mute light amber, wifi light amber. Fan starts at high speed and then slows, then nothing, blank screen.

Thought at first that my hard drive had crapped out. Got home and tried to boot from the cd with a recovery disk. Same symptoms, realized that the main board was probably the culprit. Went on line and and found that many people had the same problem, most out of warranty as myself.

Found several discussions concerning crystallization of solder joints on the nvidea chip. Had nothing to loose so I took my laptop apart. Found a little help with this document:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3370388&

The first on the list.

I was looking for crystallized solder joints and/or dry solder joints. Found no evidence. Only one small spot that showed heat, nothing obvious.

Put the machine back together hoping that the problem would go away. It didn't. Tried all of the various power up configurations, no help.

Did some more reading and found the comparisons to the x box soldering problem and the famous "towel fix."

My kids had one of the x boxes with the bad solder joints and I had heard of the towel fix but since theirs was still in warranty I did not try it.

Now to my fix. My laptop is out of warranty so I had nothing to loose. At 0200 I left my laptop in the hung up "on" stage and wrapped it in a towel and went to bed with full faith in the smoke detectors.

At 0530 I got up with one of my kids for school, unwrapped the now hot laptop. Unplugged it, removed the battery and let it cool until 0930.

IT WORKED!!!!! Booted up just fine. I have since booted and hibernated several times, still working. I am still a skeptic and I believe that this is just a temporary fix but it is working now.

After all of this I called hp to let them know of my disappointment in their product and the service. After being told that my warranty had expired and that I did not have an extended warranty many times, I forbade the script readers to tell me that again. I then said that I wanted to speak to someone in this country (US). I got this number: 877-255-1508 ext 93. I told this person that I was not looking for something for free but that I wanted them to know of this problem. This person did acknowledge that several other models did have this problem but that the tx1000 was not part of an extended warranty program as the others were. She did say that the replacement main board was $370.00 parts only, plus shipping, and that to have them change it out would be approx $398 with shipping. I then asked her if the new motherboard would have the same problem and she said that they had changed them and the problem was fixed. Caught her in the trap that I set for her and she acknowledged hp knew of the main board solder joints. She then told me that not enough people had sent them in for the repair and that I should and if enough people did they would take action against their supplier and that I would get a refund. Yeah right.

Thats my story.

Good luck

 

This started happening to my TX1000 today.

After I hit the power switch, the hdd light blinks a couple of times --- and nothing. The computer does not boot, does not even show the BIOS screen.

After many attempts fix it -- I figured something out.

If I used my palm and press FIRMLY down around the keys J, K, L, I and O.... the computer boots!

I pulled up the TX1000 repair guide and found that this is where the CPU is... which is kind of scary.

People with broken TX1000s --- try this out! Using your palm, hold down this region firmly and pull the power button.

Does anyone know what's wrong?

 

The NVIDIA northbridge chip is coming apart from thermal stress and you're putting enough pressure on it to make it work.

 

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service...47626+1238487099486+28353475&threadId=1268501

 

How exactly do you do this, and is it possible with an ethernet cable? I ended up buying the wrong double-ended USB.

 

Get an external HDD enclosure(make sure you get one compatible with the format of your HDD -SATA, PATA etc) like these...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...10090092 1053807124 1054144017&name=SATA I/II

You will then be able to put your HDD into the enclosure and then using the USB cable connect to another computer.

P.S - If you are using a tx1000 then it should be using a 2.5' SATA HDD.

 

Hello,
We have to make HP responsible for this disaster.
We have to wake them up.
For the average user to Affix a flatened penny on a Laptop chip or wrap your laptop in towels or set a hair dryer blowing on it to get it started it is ridiculous.
Has anyone had a fire due to this issue? We can come together and get this muilti-million dollar company. Write to the consumer affairs.
Everyone Write to the Better Business BBB Consumer and Business Reviews, Reports, Ratings, Complaints and Accredited Business Listings - U.S. BBB and click on "File a Complaint"
Find HP on the BBB site and voice your opinion on the company. Warn others how they do not stand behind their product.
It is your right and your responsibilty as a US citizen. Dont let HP walk all over you or any new customers.

 

I had the same thing happen to me 3 months after a 2 year warranty expired. HP won't budge in repairing it. They completely denied having problems with the GPU. They wanted to charge me to assess it and charge me to get a new motherboard.. $350 and only guarantee it for 3 months! So what I did was I went to eBay and got a motherboard exchange replacement with the new GPU cooling modification for $150. It's been 6 months and no problems at all but the wireless went kaput again like it did on the original MB. I just bought a USB dlink wireless N stub (dwa131).

 

i have hp tx1000z... i been using it almost two years and facing that problem almost 6 months... i have search a lot... and find an easy way to start up my pc... what u need to do is tape the grill around the fans and leave your pc open... after while it will heat up it self and turn off automatically and you will be able to start up it again...

please update me if there is a better solution

 

I had this laptop, with the same problems its the GPU proc. thats not properly soldered (it de soldered during overheating).

HERE IS THE SOLUTION:

1.Take out the battery

2.Lay the laptop flat

3. TAKE A HAIRDRYER (I know it sound ridiculous but it really works) and heat up the corner where the fan is, but be very careful. You will want to heat it up, then periodically put the battery back in and try to turn t on, for the first time it will probably take you 2-3 cycles of heating then testing.

After it does turn on, turn it back off and let it cool BOTTOM FACING and then your good to go.


-Googlei

 

my laptop did the same thing this morning. i got it back up in 10 minutes. after you UNPLUG you laptop and remove the battery remove the ram from your laptop then remove your hard drive. between the hard drive and motherboard there is a thin layer of plastic film that acts as a heat shield. DO NOT REMOVE THE HEAT SHIELD... toward the top center of the heat shield you will feel a square chip that is almost 1 inch square. firmly but slowly press straight down on this chip to reset it. it seems the the laptop gets hot and loses the connection here so you are making it reconnect. after your done reinstall your hard drive and your ram. now put the battery back in plug it in and try to power it on.. like i said i had this problem like 45 minutes ago and it took me 10 minutes to get it going and now im writing this to you from the same laptop. good luck if you have questions feel free to email me at [email protected] aslo hit me up on yahoo messenger screen name revkeener.

 

My TX-1000 started to have this issue last year. I bought on the internet, second hand. At that moment it was just 2 years old. I send the laptop to a company who repaired it. They didn't heatup the GPU but they completely renewed the GPU. Got it back after 6 weeks and it worked fine. Then 3 months later...same problems started to come back. Send it back to them because it had warranty of 6 months. No problems with repairing, got a whole new motherboard. Back in 3 weeks this time because they had one on spare. 2 months ago, same problem again. The fan got louder and louder, and really, Windows wasn't doing anything, just loading! I found a site from a guy who did some modding on his TX-1000, but I didn't want to break into my own laptop earlier...but this time it was time to measures into my own hand and followed the instructions. Basically it comes to this: Take out the heat sink, fill up a jar with acetone (here in the Netherlands: Thinner -> Praxis) and put the heat sink with it's black painted side into the jar. And there it was...nice shiny copper! It took just 10 seconds before the fluid turned black! I let the heat sink dry and cleaned it from the thermal paste with alcohol (100%) and used new Arctic Silver5 thermal paste. Put everything back to it's place...and guess what: IT WORKS! My TX-1000 has never been so quiet as it is now.
Before I would have system crashes when installing Windows Updates, but yesterday I installed Service Pack 2 for Vista in just 15 minutes and almost didn't hear the fan!

Now...there are more ways to a solution. But I recommend to think about a solution that works longer than just 3 months. In case of Shaneks input here, I don't think that is going to be a solution that works for extended period of time. Because that chip he's talking about is not the only NVidia chip on the motherboard! Yes...there's a second one, although that in my TX-1000. This second chip is location right next to the CPU. And now comes the funny part:
The heatsink transports the heat not only from the CPU but also the GPU, this second NVidia chip! Deffective thermal paste and black brushed parts of the heat sink just makes me wonder...what was HP thinking???

I got my info here:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/hew...-tx1000-part-1-changing-thermal-compound.html

And the man is right, take the manual seriously! I've got 1 screw left and don't know where it came from hahaha.

Arjan (Amsterdam)

 

Read this in another forum I think. I had the same problem with the black screen yada, yada. I read a post from a guy who says he has a shop and has fixed 12 TX 1000s by wrapping them in a towel to heat them up and re-flow the solder to the GPU...sounded laughable, but I figured I was desperate enough to try anything. What I really liked about it was the fact that I wouldn't have to take my computer apart and shove pennies in it : ) Which, in my opinion, is begging for a short further down the road. anyways, IT WORKED!!!!!!

I got the Tx to turn on into the black screen, wrapped it in a thick terry cloth for an hour. then let it cool for about 15...and boom, start-up as normal.

Has anyone else tried this? Is it a permanent fix?

It doesn't look like the wifi is back but I'm just glad I got to retrieve my data.

 

I have the same problem, my laptop is hp tx1000. The screen goes black when turn on, only with LED light on. I have tried for several months for solutions and I find out this solution for the problem. I quote from hptxuser from hp support forum link

"After giving up hope on my tx1000, I tried to turn it on again. Somehow I had it tilted so the monitor was laying flat and the keyboard was up at a 90. degree angle. To my surprise the laptop started. I was able to backup the pc and save my work. I now use the tablet pen. I'll see what happens next time."

It work perfectly and I am very very surprised. Only 1 try with this position my laptop started and become normal again. Now I can continue to use this laptop. lol

p/s: i try this method using AC power w/o battery

 

Here is the fix- did it last night- Turn laptop over, in the upper right portion where the fan is, use blow dryer on hot for 2 mins. Then turn your machine on. This is the weirdest fix i've ever seen and didn't think it would work and honestly don't see how it can fix the solder on the nvidia chip but indeed worked...good luck w/yours..Mike Paget $

 

My friend had his TX1000 stop working and here is how I fixed it:

He put it to hibernate and the screen never turned back on. I researched the issue and found that he had very old drivers that Vista wasn't really using well and cause his screen to remain off.
So I removed the battery for a day (you could try a couple of hours) because this allows the electricity in the system to dissipate completely, plugged it in and turned it on and it worked. (He had been trying this for 2 weeks but never unplugged battery).

This is not your issue necessarily, but I just thought it might help some other people. The TX1000 has overheating issues and when I opened up his laptop, I noticed burns inside his computer, the plastic, the Wifi cards components were melting but still working.
The most common problem is the GPU and it thermal compound not being applied well in quantity and quality. The GPU comes off the board or gets too hot and starts to malfunction. This is the same issue with the older 360's and their RROD and why some will get a temporary fix by heating it in various ways.

Companies can apply new compounds for you for $50-100 and although I do not remember the link I sent my friend, I recommend that at least for the long-run you either do it yourself or get it done (repaste, etc)

 

I did it: just 2-3 minutes with the hairdrier (max power) on that corner, moving alternate holes. At second chance, the fu**** laptop runs!.

At work, we use a similar way to solve problems with multifunctional and printer motherboards, but with a bread toaster, like a little open oven with heat from up & down.

Can u imagine whos the manufacturer? Exactly: HP.