Please please help - HP dv2000t just died on me :(

So I came home today to find that my beloved HP dv2108tx that worked perfectly well last night just died on me. When I turned it on, the power did run but only gave a blank black screen and emitted 3 screeches after that (1 long one followed by 2 short ones).

I got so nervous because there's so much valuable information in my hard drive. And so I googled and googled and surprisingly found out that about a million other HP users out there also faced this same problem as I did. In fact, I should consider myself lucky that mine lasted as long as 2 years and 3 months.

A few websites I found suggested replacing the Mainboard e.g
http://www.markmc.co.uk/2008/03/20/hp-dv2000-emits-3-beeps-and-displays-blank-screen/
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service...47626+1237569589605+28353475&threadId=1191277

The problem is, this could very well cost me $300-$400 and based on previous posts, it seems that this mainboard replacement might not be long-lasting.

So guys, I really need some help here. Any suggestions on what I should do?

1) Invest on a new mainboard...and hope for the best that this time it willl last for another 2-3 years
2) figure out a way to fix this myself without replacing the mainboard --- is there a way?
3) Just throw away this laptop, forget about it, and curse HP forever

Either way, I will need a way to retrieve important information from my harddrive asap. Any solutions on that is much appreciated as well. Thanks so much guys!!

 

take ur hard drive out and (with an adapter) connect it to a computer via USB to retrieve ur data.

as for the laptop, no need in spending $300 to fix an old laptop when for practically $500 you can get a new one (depending on what ur looking for, obviously)

gl.

 

Is it an AMD laptop or an Intel? If it is AMD you qualify for a free repair through HP's Service enhancment program ( http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us ). You should go check it out.

 

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately it is an Intel Core Duo 2 so i dont think it qualifies for that free repair. What's the rationale behind reparing AMD but not intel anyway?

So is there any other way i can repair this without spending $300 on a stupid mainboard?

 

The intel systems use intel chipsets while the AMD laptops use nvidia chipsets which went defective. Take a look at ebay for motherboards.

 

Mine had the exact same problem but luckily mine is still under the extended warranty. I sent it for repair with HP and they did end up replacing the motherboard to get it working again.

I don't think it's fixable without replacing the whole motherboard. The story I got from HP tech support is that it's a dead graphics chip. Unofficially I've read that it's down to with these faulty nvidia chips.... http://www.infoworld.com/article/08...dia_hid_serious_flaw_in_graphics_chips_1.html

Unfortunately, as the graphics chip is integrated onto the motherboard, there's really only one way to fix it.

It might be worth getting in contact with HP. They may be running some kind of repair program for this problem if it's a common issue.

 

Pavilion dv2108tx specifications

Yup, it's another fried NVIDIA GeForce 7200. Apparently HP decided that it was cost effective to build new and hopefully non-defective NVIDIA-chipset AMD CPU motherboards but not the relatively smaller number of Intel boards upgraded with NVIDIA discrete GPUs. But complaining to a HP case manager is often effective.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will try complaining to HP though I doubt it will work. I live in Thailand and the service center here is terrible. Can't find any reason why they will install a new mainboard for free when this laptop has passed its 1-year warranty by as much as 1 year and 3 months already.

If it doesn't work I will try and check the prices of mainboard from third parties.

Just wondering though, do you guys know if the new mainboard will continue to have this same problematic graphics card? If so I don't see any point in spending $300 just to have it fried again in a few months' time...might as well buy a new lappy?

 

Please add your info to this list:

database.hplies.com

I too had my dv2000t die on me from the nvidia card issue (geforce 7200 go). Hopefully with some better organization we can get HP to admit to this defect regarding intel chipsets and extend our warranties too. There are some pending class action suits but i don't have the most up-to-date info on them...good luck