BleepingComputer.com: HP Pavilion laptop won't start up..black screen & clicks

My daughter's 2 year old HP Pavilion laptop has failed to startup without any previous problems. We can hear motor running and some clicks, but the screen is black. We contacted HP tech support and he had us hook it up to a desktop monitor, with no results. He said it sounds like a graphic card problem or dead hard drive. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I could determine problem before I start ordering parts....would really appreciate any help.

Can you please post the model number of this laptop?

This clicking sound you hear, is this coming from the inside of the laptop or the laptop speaker system?

It is unusual for a hard drive to fail completely inside of 2 years, but not unheard of.
Usually you will see some random start up issues before a hard drive fails to the point of not booting at all.
You would usually see the computer doing a disk check at boot up.
Have you been seeing this happen lately?

From reading your description above, I believe your are saying there is nothing at all displayed on the screen. Is this correct?

If this is correct, you may have a setting on the FN keys where the contrast or brightness is turned all the way down making the screen appear completely dark.
Can you please check this function to see if this is not the case here.

No display on either internal or external monitor could very well be caused by the video processor failing.
I can not tell you why this would have happened, but I can suggest that the reason may be do to over heating, which is often caused by dust accumulation build up inside the laptop.

Bruce.

Hi Bruce.
The model is dv 7.
That is correct, screen is blank.
Since I posted, I checked my notes from the tecn support chat. We also removed and reseated RAM & hard drive and did a power drain.
I checked brightness key and nothing.
After posting, I removed the dvd drive and the noise has stopped.
I don't know if I overlooked this before, but the cap locks light & one above the page up key are flashing constantly.

This post has been edited by funlover: 30 December 2010 - 02:52 PM

funlover, on 30 December 2010 - 02:51 PM, said:

This is only a partial model number.

Here is a link with the whole list of the DV7 laptop range. Can you please pick the correct one from this list and post the link in your next reply?

http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Lookup?h_lang=en&h_cc=us&cc=us&h_page=hpcom&lang=en&h_client=S-A-R163-1&h_pagetype=s-001&h_query=dv7&submit=Go+%BB

Thanks in advance.

Bruce.

Its odd that you are getting no video at all.
Take the hard drive out and see what happens

Hi Bruce, the model is HP Pavilion dv7-1127cl. Eyesee thanks, I removed the hard drive and have the same results.

Here is a link to a support page for your laptop.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=3802945&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&cc=us&submit=Go%20»

I do not know 100% for sure if this is the case, but your back light or inverter could be defective.

When the computer is booted up, or running can you point a flash light at the screen to see if you see any images?

If you see images, your back light is either defective or it has burned out and needs replacement.

If there is no image at all, this could mean the inverter is defective, or you have a bad connection or broken wire in the laptop hinge.

The manual at this link may be helpful, take a look through it.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01918142.pdf

Please let me know if pointing a flash light at the screen produces any results.

Bruce.

Edited April 7 2011 for mis-spelled word. ~ Bruce.

This post has been edited by MrBruce1959: 07 April 2011 - 08:43 AM

Thanks Bruce...embarrassing but the batteries to my only flashlight are dead. Would a table lamp produce same results? I used one and can see nothing?

Hello MrBruce and funlover,
I have the exact same problem with a Pavilion DV7 1245dx. Caps and num lock lights will perform a steady, continual flash, and all top bevel lights are on, and the CPU fan will spin up for a couple of seconds and it seeks the DVD drive when you first power up, but that is it.
I have looked up a few threads here at BC and have not found a solution yet. I am a tech, but have not come accross this exact issue until now. I have determined so far what is is NOT, and think that it most likely is a bad motherboard or CPU. (kinda out of luck at this point). I did test the display, HD, Memory, BIOS battery, DVD by removing them or connecting a monitor to the VGA port, etc, still same result, ie WILL NOT POST. AT ALL!
If anyone has an idea for me on this, it would be appreciated. Otherwise, I will salvage what I can and dump the rest. :-(
Thanks!!