I’m looking at potentially buying a used laptop in need of repair, the question is how big a deal is the repair? The laptop in question is an HP Pavillion, here are the sellers comments regarding the problem with the notebook:
“the powersupply on the laptop, the pin is broke and the AC/adaptor cant work without it, the model# is ZV5000”
So, assuming I’m decent with tools and a soldiering iron, is this a relatively easy fix, and a fairly cheap part? If I want this item I have to move quickly (it’s a local sale in the classifieds, not an ebay item)
Okay, one more question, regarding a different notebook with a different problem:
Compaq Presario 1700, seems to work fine, except the screen goes completely white several minutes after being turned on. Anyone know the most likely cause and fix?
I’ll continue to search for info on-line, but any addition assistance would be appreciated.
P.S. I did check the compaq section on the notebooks forum, and saw the recent related thread, however there were only a few posts an no consensus on the cause of this problem.
Loren,
I searched yahoo for “Compaq Presario 1700 white screen”
Thinking it may be a driver problem. On one post I read, the user had another monitor connected and it was working fine while the laptop screen malfunctioned… that could possibly indicate a hardware problem.
Sounds like a tough one to guess at.
Did you try to boot to DOS from a floppy? (or F8 your normal boot)
If it doesn’t turn white in DOS I’d try installing new drivers.
The “white screen of death” on a LCD is often bad news I’m afraid.
If the driver is corrupt you should notice it right away after booting into windows, screen will then flicker or go black. If OS locks you would get the well known “blue screen of death”, a blank screen or a reboot.
The white screen indicates that you only got a backlight and no or a partial video signal. This can be a bit tricky to troubleshoot as you will have to open up your laptop and swap parts to narrow down the causes of the problem.
If you can get a working video out signal as Tony suggested you’ll know that the motherboard is ok, which is good. It could then be a loose or damaged video cable or connector to the LCD that’s not working properly and this might be an easy fix.
However this problem can also be due to non working electronics of the LCD which is bad news.
If you (or someone else) open up the laptop one could check if the motherboard is sending a voltage signal to the LCD.
If not, you have some damaged circuits on your board that need to be reparied if possible.
If there is a signal, the problem is the LCD and you’ll end up at +100$ to replace or fix it.
Thanks for the replies. The screen does work for a while (15 minutes this morning) and then fades to white. The computer seems to work fine, so I’m guessing it’s not the drivers or motherboard, which leaves the LCD or video data cable most likely?
Hmph, frustrating - no display problems when hooked-up to an old external CRT monitor, but my eyes are killing me looking at that thing How did we ever get by staring at CRT’s for so long - 20 minutes and I’ve got a raging headache
You need to change the monitor refresh rate in the control panel. default setting is most likley just 60 Hz (as used by the LCD).
Go to control panel/Display/Settings and select “Multiple monitor”, “secondary monitor”, “CRT” or something similar.
Then push the “Advanced” button and select “monitor”, here you should be able to change the refresh rate of the external monitor. Try 70 or 72 Hz to start with and dont go higher (85 Hz) if it is an old laptop and you dont have the data for the display adapter.
This should make your laptop work with an external monitor without giving you a headache.
To get your LCD to work is a bit tricker but I will ask my geek friends after the weekend.
Sounds like it is a loss of video signal as it works for a while and then goes white leaving you with only backlight.
Could be a lot of things maybe a heating problem in the LCD electronics.
If it was the other way around that you lost the backlight I found this article.
It has a geek score of 8 =
How did we ever get by staring at CRT’s for so long - 20 minutes and I’ve got a raging headache 
