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I own an hp laptop, zv 5000 series (was new in 2005) that recently froze up and currently when I turn it on the display just shows a dim gray on the screen. So far, the battery is able to charge and the adapter works fine... my guess from my limited knowledge which is essentially based off only what I've read on the web is that either my HDD is broken, or there is a problem with the RAM... initially I figured I had maybe overloaded the videocard(but after reading some things online it seems like that would be a rare cause)
It all started out when I was queue-ing up a bunch of Epicmealtime videos on youtube which I had just found and was really excited to just watch them all, but suddenly the computer just froze, well partially.... I could still move the mouse. Like a complete fool I clicked rapidly and at that point it was completely frozen. Then the display basically just turned off (only showed a dim grayish black on the screen)
I have tried turning it on to see if it would work again, but all I get is this grayish black screen...and I even tried a bunch of other gimmicky sounding things(see spoilers) which I found on the web when looking for a solution to this:
+ Show Spoiler +"I had the same problem with my HP DV6599. On power on the screen would stay black, no POST, nothing at all on the display. The HDD would spin up but the HDD indicator would not come on and would not boot. The DVD drive would spin up and attempt to read a disc if one was in the tray but still would not boot. I found an answer on another forum. Unplug the power, remove the battery and then hold the power button for 30 to 60 seconds. Then reattach the power and attempt a boot. It worked for me! Just shutdown, put the battery back in you're good to go. Worked for me so definitely worth a try."
+ Show Spoiler +Remove the main battery and the AC adapter.
Re-seat the ram and the hard drive.
Restore power.
Try it.
The only thing that's semi-useful that I've done is removed all the dust and also opened up my laptop to get a better idea of how to take it apart and where things are/what they look like: I did this by using this site(and also by basically just unscrewing any screws I could find):
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/upgrading-memory-hp-pavilion-zv5000-series-laptops/
I'm really not sure what to do at this point since I don't think it's worth taking to a computer store or geek squad or whatever to fix, both time and money-wise. Has anyone ever experienced this with a laptop or does anyone have any advice to offer? Also, possibly, does anyone familiar with hp laptops and could maybe guess the source of the problem?
P.S. I thought about giving it a couple of love taps, but of course hitting things probably wouldn't solve the laptop issue even if it would make me feel better.
Edit made 5/1 6:21PM: For some reason I didn't include this but I'd also like to say that I'm pretty sure it is either only RAM or HDD issue, and not a power, motherboard, or other issue... and just to be absolutely clear, when I press the power button, the computer reacts and does 'come on'(I can hear it, the display appears to be on/brighter and the power light is also on) with only a grayish black screen. Nothing else happens, no windows xp startup, no bios or anything else, just a grayish black screen on the display.
Edit made 5/1 8:00PM: Okay So I highly doubt this is recommended, but I ended up turning on the computer while it was taken apart and I found out that one of the fans doesn't work, so I'll be looking up how to replace that possibly... I doubt it, but could this be a problem.
Just to reconfirm I turned on the computer where the heat sinks and fans are a wide open the keyboard can be lifted out(but attached by some ribonny wire) and also:
1) I took out the Hard drive,
2) reseated the RAM (I only have one stick located under the keyboard)
3) put the battery back in place
... and when I turned it on I got the same thing: just a grayish black screen
What I am guessing this means is that there is probably no problem with the Hard drive(or what's causing the problem is more than just the hard drive... I am also hopeful that maybe the RAM is "bad" and that getting new RAM will solve the problem.
I have a question for any mods: Would this post be better off in "Tech Support" or is it supposed to be in Blogs? Thanks.
TL;DR My laptop froze and then the display suddenly turned to only a grayish black and nothing else; Every time I turn it on all I get is a grayish-black display... Any suggestions on what the problem is or what I can do? Thanks.
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Is your only option for testing different parts buying new ones? For example, if you could boot off of an external hard drive, that would mean you can tell that the problem is your HD. If it was me, I'd be wondering if it's a graphics card issue. After all, it's your display that's going bonkers. I think you'd be better off PMing a mod and asking him to move it to the Tech Support section, because it's clearly not getting a lot of attention here. You also might as well try other internet forums if you haven't already.
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To be quite honest, I'm not tech savvy at all so I actually don't know what my options are.
You mentioned that it might be a graphics card issue... do you know if there is any way this can be fixed, or would I have to replace it; also, is there any way I could test for it? Thanks.
I don't have an external hard drive, and I also heard about some method of hooking up the laptop to another monitor to test something(presumably the video card I believe?), but I don't have any monitor/tv screen and I also lack any cables that I would likely need to hook it up.
Yeah, I think I'll try posting it in tech support, but just cleaning up some of the frivolous information... I'm pretty timid to post in other internet forums, it's weird and hard to explain... kind of like when you ask your family about things instead of going straight to "professionals/experts" in the area.
Thanks for your reply though
Edit: fixed a typo/error in grammar
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I'm not really tech savvy either, but there is a section for Tech Support
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Alright so here's what I've done so far:
1) connected laptop to external monitor and all I get is the same blank screen on the laptop (yes there is a signal though)... to me this means that it is probably the graphics card then, but I'm still not completely sure
2) tried booting it using an external hard drive, before doing 1, and no changes happened.
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can you go to the BIOS menu or is that broken aswell? should be like hitting del or f1, f2, f8 f10 or f12 probably.
If that does not work - does it do any beeping sounds when turning on? What's the beeping pattern?
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Nice, another reply, thanks MisterD.
No I cannot go to the BIOS menu; I guess I should have mentioned that earlier too. All I get is a dimly lit blank screen.
Nope, no beeping sounds at all, no abnormal sounds.
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no beeping and nothing else usually means your motherboard is fried.. at least that's the case for desktop computers, but i'd assume notebooks are not that different. But i'm no expert in notebooks, so don't throw it away on my say-so ;P
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The problem may be a bit different then what my friend had but basically he had the same issue with the dim screen. He took it to the computer shop and they replaced the motherboard and then it turned on and started working again o.o
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ya its deffinatly NOT your harddrive. It could be your ram but its most likley the motherboard is shot :/ sorry. I'm a computer technician, had a hp the other day that would just go black and dark grey. motherboard was bad so that sounds like it is your problem. there is no way it is your harddrive because if it was atleast your bios would show up. Usually if it was bad ram the computer wouldnt even start either. so it is either your processor or motherboard. either way IMO i would save the money it would cost to get a new mobo and or processor because you are looking at about 100-200 dollars to fix it and for a 6 year old computer you cant really expect it to last too much longer even if you fix the problem. I would just start looking for a new laptop
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If it was RAM or Hard drive it would show a failed POST screen instead of nothing. As long as it isn't something silly like a function key that controls screen brightness, I would say it is a fried motherboard or cpu especially if it was running without a fan.
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Thanks for all the replies guys and for confirming the suggestion that it is my motherboard. Luckily I had nothing important on the laptop, though I did use to play sc bw.
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your motherboard doesn't store any data btw. You can just pull out the harddisk and plug it into some other computer and all your data will still be there. It's like changing the engine in a car (or more like the steel frame around it) - the "inside" stays perfectly intact and nothing goes lost from there ;P
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EPT
