Monitor went out...

Hi, I have a Pavilion dv1000, model dv1040us. I'm very much a novice, so bear with me on this.

Recently I came home to a cold house (bout 45 degrees) and my monitor wasn't working. I can see things in the background so I know the computer is working, but the LCD isn't "lit up". The HP people thought it was probably my backlight that has gone out, and recommended hooking up to an external monitor to check that.

A few questions...is this problem probably due to the cold? Does it sound like it is a backlight problem? They said it would be $298.00 to fix if I send it in. Would that be the way to go, or would taking it to a local computer shop be cheaper maybe?

I guess I am looking for whatever advice I can get. Thank you very much!

 

Outside of condensation I can't think of any reason cold would be a problem, if anything computers like cold. I agree with HP's diagnosis.

You might be able to replace the backlight yourself. HP posts service manuals online. Go to the hp.com downloads page for your notebook and click the Manuals link on the left-hand side. If the manual lists the part #, or if HP Partsurfer lists the part #, search for it on eBay.

EDIT: Well, I was curious. Searching dv1000 backlight brings up several hits and reminded me that it's probably the backlight inverter rather than the backlight itself that's broken. $20+ship or thereabouts. You should still figure out the exact part #, just to be safe, maybe look at the label on your current inverter (don't forget to remove the battery before disassembling the notebook!) which will also show you how hard it'll be to replace. A local shop could do the work for considerably less than what HP is charging.

 

Cold could be a problem. The backlight is a flourescent lamp, and flourescent lamps have difficulty starting in the cold. This is easy enough to check, try the computer again when your house warms up. If it still won't light up, you'll have to replace the inverter and/or the backlight as brianstretch suggested.

 

Alright, thanks a bunch guys. The place has been warm for a few days now and the problem persists, so I will have to get it checked out.

Like I said, I am VERY green when it comes to pretty much anything but the internet when using computers, so me taking anything apart is a no no.

So next step would be getting it fixed. You are confident that taking it to a local shop would be cheaper than sending it in to HP?

 

brianstretch mentions a good cheap way to fix it, if it is the back lamp. The only problem with that is, I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself unless you've had experience taking about and handling computers. You can screw up a lot more than just the monitor if you aren't careful. If you do decided to do it yourself, I would recommend buying an anti-static mat, you can find them at any major computer store such as CompUSA, or an anti-static mat. It might be cheaper as well if you call some computer places and get a price on installing the lamp in your laptop, and provide them the manual.

Here is a link to the manual for your laptop:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00444244.pdf

 

I just realized that my 3 year warranty that I signed with Best Buy (and paid well for) expired exactly 1 month prior to the date of the monitor going out. ARGH!!

 

Ouch that sucks. Like I stated though, go price around on how much people would charge you to install the part, unless you are doing it yourself. Then compare the prices and see if its worth it. I mean if HP is going to charge you $300 to fix it, you can spend $300-400 more if you have the money, and buy a whole new laptop. Basically its upto you on how you want to approach the situation and what kind of money you want to spend.

 

That is what I was thinking. I'd almost rather get a whole new laptop than spend 300+ to get this one fixed. My first choice would certainly be to get it fixed at an affordable rate, though.

So do you think that buying the part and then having someone install it would be the best way to go. I actually have a cousin who works at a computer place. Do you think this is something he could do? Like I said I'm really very green at this, so any help is greatly appreciated.

 

It would be well worth asking your cousin.

You could wipe the hard drive and sell the notebook as broken on eBay and apply the funds towards a new notebook. There's a surprisingly good market for those, but let's leave that as a fallback position.

 

I think cound also be high voltages too in the lcd

 

If the problem is the inverter, that part is not difficult to replace.

First turn off the computer and remove the battery. Pry off the rubber dots you see around the LCD bezel and remove the screws you find underneath. The bezel is now just held on with snaps. Using your fingernails between the LCD and the bezel, pry up the bezel. Go all the way around and unsnap it.

Once the bezel is off you'll see the inverter (a small rectangular printed circuit board) at the bottom of the screen. Unplug the connector from the inverter to the LCD (the 2-wire cable) and the connector from the motherboard to the inverter. Check the part number on the inverter, get a replacement inverter ($20 or so from ebay) and try it. Inverters seem to die more often than backlights, and if it doesn't help you're not out a lot of money.

If the inverter is not dead then the problem is the backlight. Replacing the backlight requires disassembling the LCD panel, which is more involved. In this case you could buy a new LCD panel for about $110 or so on ebay and swap yours out. This would still be cheaper than paying HP to fix it.

EDIT: I've edited this post to delete some bad advice I originally gave. The inverter puts out close to 1000 volts at a very high frequency. Don't mess with a live one unless you absolutely, positively know what you're doing.

 

I just re-read your earlier post about being very green, so in your case absolutely DO NOT try to measure the voltages.

 

Hey once again, thanks a lot for the help guys.

Someone mentioned taking out the drive and selling on Ebay or something. What would that get me?

Also, could someone point me in the direction for these parts that I may need?

Thanks again, guys.

 

You wouldn't get much for the Hard Drive, they are very cheap nowadays. How big is your Hard Drive anyways? You might get a little bit of money, say under $50, but not much. You might get a couple hundred if you sold the entire laptop if you are lucky.

Also, if you are going to sell your Hard Drive, you better make sure that you wipe it, otherwise even if you format your Hard Drive, all your information is still accessible by people who know what they are doing.