dv9000 laptop no external video?

This laptop's screen got stepped on and broken, unit powers on but no video on the external connected monitor, I don't want to replace the entire top half of the laptop and then find out something else is wrong, any ideas please?

 

All I can think of is to ask whether you hit Fn-F4 to toggle the external display on?

 

Tried that but it didn't work. Nothing on the bottom part of the laptop seems to be damaged, I think there should be a video cable which runs from the video card to the screen, maybe that got damaged in the process?

 

Entirely possible. The internal video cable is a bit fragile. You might try booting with the screen and internal cable removed? The HP service manual provides a good disassembly walkthrough. That wouldn't explain why the external display isn't lighting up. It should at least light up while the notebook is booting, though IIRC some Intel GPUs only light the external monitor after Windows finishes booting. If you've installed Win7 the Fn-F4 behavior is a bit different, it gives you a list of display options to choose from rather than toggling between modes.

 

Try this: turn the machine on, immediately close the lid, and see if the external video works that way.

 

No, that does not work, guess I will have to try disassembling the video cable to test tomorrow, get back to you.