14 replies to this topic

[sorrycharlie]

Hello, everyone. I'm having a problem with the monitor of my HP Pavilion zv6233nr laptop. I bought my computer brand new about two and a half years ago. I've never had any display problems before this current problem. I put my computer on Stand By, then woke it up an hour later to find that the screen had a bunch of thin, colorful horizontal bars. I then shut down my computer and booted it back up again with no problem. This continued to happen off and on after either putting my computer on Stand By, Hibertating, or Shutting Down, but would always go back to normal after another reboot. That is, until a few days later. The thin, colorful horizontal bars appeared again, right after the Windows logo appears during boot-up, and ever since then I haven't been able to see anything but that unless I plug in an external monitor. The only time I can use my laptop now is if I plug another monitor into it, thus eliminating the portability of my laptop. Everything works like normal except the display. Can any of you help me out? I've searched long and hard for any help for this, but I can't find anything. I even chatted with an HP representative, but they won't help because my tech support warranty has expired. I would take it to a repair shop, but I'm currently in Brazil and the repairs are super expensive. I won't be going back to the United States until after March of next year. My PC information is below. If you need any other information about my PC, I'd be happy to provide it to you. Thanks for checking out my post.

Here's my computer info:

• HP Pavillion zv6233nr laptop
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3
• AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ 1.99 GHz 512 MB of RAM
• Display Adapter: ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress 200 Series

Edited by sorrycharlie, 11 August 2008 - 01:26 PM.

[paws]

Hi, Sorry to hear of the problem with your laptop computer. The display issues in the majority of cases usually involve one of three issues. 1 An incorrect configuration...Fn+F5 or F6 or even use of the Alt key can toggle between external monitor or normal or extended. (see your user manual for the exact key combination) 2 A failed invertor (the device that takes the low voltage supply and boosts it sufficiently to run the backlight in the screen.(cheap at about £10 or so GBP ($20 or so USD) and fairly easy to replace.....but labour costs on laptops tend to be high. 3 Failure of the Back Light (the device that provides the light source for your in-built screen) these tend to differ widely in price but a reasonable guide would be £80 GBP or $160 USD, the labour costs tend to be considerably higher as the replacement can sometimes be a "fiddly" job Note these prices are those applying in the UK those in The USA or Brazil may be widely different......still it gives you a starting point for your research. As a fairly competent new laptop can be purchased for about £250 GBP, or $500 USD the decision to repair (if it turns out to be the Back light that need renewing is a finely judged one....... Your current workaround of using an external monitor is a good one Three further thoughts for you: 4 You can probably source a complete new screen unit (Ebay???) or similar.......might be worth checking on the prices. 5 On disassembling the computer screen to get at the important parts, its quite easy to break some of the plastic and retainers...especially if the workshop is not used to repairing your particular model of machine..........and plastic tends to become more brittle as it ages.......... 6 Let's look on the bright side, it could just be one of the wires come loose........but it needs disassembling to find out! Hope this helps. Good luck Regards paws

[Tallon41]

Hi,
Sorry to hear of the problem with your laptop computer.
The display issues in the majority of cases usually involve one of three issues.

1 An incorrect configuration...Fn+F5 or F6 or even use of the Alt key can toggle between external monitor or normal or extended. (see your user manual for the exact key combination)

not the problem here. Sorrycharlie, you could try pressing F8 as if entering "safe mode", instead chose "enable VGA mode" and see if the problem continues.

2 A failed invertor (the device that takes the low voltage supply and boosts it sufficiently to run the backlight in the screen.(cheap at about £10 or so GBP ($20 or so USD) and fairly easy to replace.....but labour costs on laptops tend to be high.

also not pertenant here. Inverter failure would result in a blank display.....as with a failed back-light APPEARS to be....not colored stripes.

3 Failure of the Back Light (the device that provides the light source for your in-built screen) these tend to differ widely in price but a reasonable guide would be £80 GBP or $160 USD, the labour costs tend to be considerably higher as the replacement can sometimes be a "fiddly" job

again not the problem here, though easily verified by shining a flashlight into your display. If you see your desktop Icons albiet dimly, then your backlight is bad, (though it may be LED and not so easy to replace anymore.) If you see nothing, then it's not the backlight.

Stripes often are the ribbon cable not making a good connection to the motherboard through one of the hinges. It could also be have been damaged.

Tallon41

[sorrycharlie]

Hey guys! Thanks for all the help so far, but I'm still using an external monitor to use my laptop. Here's an update on my progress, though: Well, I opened up my computer in hopes of finding the problem and fixing it, but all I found was a looooot of dust. I cleaned it all out but that didn't help the problem. I intended to find some loose wire or something, but I realized I had no idea what exactly I was looking for. Can anyone help me out as to what exactly I need to find inside my computer that relates to the display? I saw the graphics chip, but it was seated well in the board. Tallon, you mentioned checking the ribbon cable. Can you tell me more about how to check this? Are they any pictures you can show me of how it'll look?

[DanielD]

Well this is only confirming what Tallon said but I found this post in a topic about someone having the same problem as you.

Sounds to me like you have a connection issue with the ribbon connector. I had a laptop that only displayed the desktop when you opened it a small bit, when you opened it all the way the screen went all white anyway it was out of warranty so I re-seated the connector onto the mainboard and it seemed to solve it. incidentally the processor also needed regular re-seating, every now and then the laptop would just keel over and not even boot I found removing and reinserting the processor brought it back for a while. Strangest laptop I ever owned.

I have no idea how to check your ribbon connector but I'm sure someone else will post with helpful instructions. Just saying that you should definitely check it out.

[sorrycharlie]

Thanks Vectris! The next time I have a chance to open my computer, I'll definitely check out all that stuff if I know I can do it without damaging the computer.

[Tallon41]

Tallon, you mentioned checking the ribbon cable. Can you tell me more about how to check this? Are they any pictures you can show me of how it'll look?

sorry about that I missed seeing the notice of your reply !

Unfortunately, the "how" is different from Model to Model and Make to Make. What you do know for sure, is that in order for the display to work, there must be a connection to the mobo and thus to the GPU or directly to the GPU. The access point is through one of the hinges.

If you contact HP, they may be willing to email you a copy of the service manual for that model. You may be able to locate on on the web elsewhere.

You should know however, that I do not recommend that you take on this task lightly, I in fact would discourage it. Laptops have a large number of tiny parts and screws etc. They usually must be removed in a certain order, and re-built in the reverse order. The area you need to get to is fairly easy for some models, and not-so-much for others.

Good luck !

Tallon41

here's a pic




This is a peek under the keyboard of a laptop. The orange ribbon near the top is the Display ribbon cable. This would travel up to the display protected by the hinge cover closest to it. and into a connector in the display.

Edited by Tallon41, 17 September 2008 - 12:10 AM.

[Jkc73]

These pictures are from a notebook and should only be used for a basic guide not a factual one.

checking the ribbon cable. Can you tell me more about how to check this? Are they any pictures you can show me of how it'll look?

this is an actual picture of a HP Pavilion monitor cable
this cable cost about 15 US Dollars,I believe it is for your model or the one after, so the cost of yours shouldn't be much different.


The 1st Image shows the 'ribbon cable' on the left side near the hinge of this notebook computer.
The 2nd shows the 'ribbon cable' connector being properly removed.
Your computer may have a different type connector, it is most likely.
To make sure that your cable is working you 1st need to make sure it has no dust in any of the connections at all places where your cable connects.
The best way to do this is to remove the cable making sure that you are aware of the polarity and if it has multiple connectors take a note of where each of them came from.
After the cable is removed a simple visual inspection can 1st be done to see if there is any dirt or dust in or on the connectors.
Cleaning agents are not advisable though are able to be purchased at some computer and electronics stores.(always check with a professional before using)
I recommend using a soft anti-static cloth to clean as much as you can taking care not to push dust into connectors.
Connect all 'ribbon cables' and completely assemble your machine before powering up.
Good Luck




"Windows: A thirty-two bit extension and graphical shell to a
sixteen-bit patch to an eight-bit operating system originally coded
for a four-bit microprocessor which was written by a two-bit company
that cant stand one bit of competition."

Edited by jkc73, 17 September 2008 - 01:16 AM.

[sorrycharlie]

Wow, you guys are awesome! I posted on two other forums when I first started having this problem and I still haven't received any replies there. I really really appreciate the genuine, helpful information you all have been posting. As soon as I try this out (very carefully) I'll let you know my progress on the matter. Furthermore, it looks like I'll be sticking with WhatTheTech for all my troubleshooting needs from now on!

[Jkc73]

Hope you are successful with your fix, though I had 1 more thought,
Something you will need to check up with through HP is whether or not
your laptop has a different set of chips controlling the onboard display compared to the
other monitor,I realize 1 uses more power though this doesn't mean it has a seperate
array of chips that control it, if you can find this out your closer to finding where the problem
may be.Please feel free to post any and all information you can find about this issue back
in this string.







Always Positive

[sorrycharlie]

Hey all! Well, it's been a while so here's a complete update. After many weeks without a screwdriver small enough to get the screws out, I finally got one and opened it up again. I found and unplugged the display cable, cleaned the area, then put it all back together. It still didn't work. Finally, I decided to take it to a shop. The guy said the monitor's processor was damaged. It would be too expensive to have a new monitor imported from the United States to Brazil, so I'm just gonna keep using an external monitor with it until my wife and I go back to the United States where laptops are much much much cheaper. So I guess we can consider this issue resolved now. Thanks for all the help, everyone! May you all be sincerely rewarded for your hard work.

Peace, Love & Happiness to all!

Charlie

Edited by sorrycharlie, 23 October 2008 - 07:30 PM.

[paws]

The guy said the monitor's processor was damaged

This may be an instance of a "translation" problem...but a monitor doesn't have a processor......
It might be time to take it to a different shop....
Regards
paws

[sorrycharlie]

The guy said the monitor's processor was damaged

This may be an instance of a "translation" problem...but a monitor doesn't have a processor......
It might be time to take it to a different shop....
Regards
paws

Then it's whatever is inside the monitor - some kind of chip or something. The guy at the shop talked to my wife and then my wife talked to me. All I know is it's something in the monitor that's fixed in and can't be removed and replaced.

[sorrycharlie]

The guy said the monitor's processor was damaged

This may be an instance of a "translation" problem...but a monitor doesn't have a processor......
It might be time to take it to a different shop....
Regards
paws

Then it's whatever is inside the monitor - some kind of chip or something. The guy at the shop talked to my wife and then my wife talked to me. All I know is it's something in the monitor that's fixed in and can't be removed and replaced.

So does anyone know what it is, if it's not called a processor?

[paws]

Hi, just to repeat ...........the screen does not have a processor in it!
the trpical screen includes the case, the invertor, the backlight, the screen itself and the associated wiring...it will also include the wifi attennae .

Changing tack, if your lappy works Ok with an extenal monitor then may be its time to buy a new screen for it ??
Have a look here there is one on ebay that may fit (but check it out first) for USD $69.99...you will need to pay some postage/insurance as well
http://cgi.ebay.com/...221111006r24291

If you want to delve around inside the housing of the screen then there is some good information here;
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
It is not for your specific machine but will provide an overview.
I would reinforce Tallon 41's advice on opening and trying to fix your screen yourself.........this work is usually best left to an experienced technician, so if you do get a new screen ask said experienced technician to fit it for you!
The invertor will boost voltage to around 120v............that's a serious amount and will do you no good at all if you get it wrong!
Regards
paws