Laptop repair recommendations

[wolfie]

It's my understanding that at least one person here works/worked in HP tech support.

My brother's laptop (out-of-warranty HP) has suffered a screen failure. Initially, white areas would show up as cyan (i.e. not getting any red) but other colours were unaffected. It progressed to the point that the screen is completely dead.

Any recommendations for a good place to go for repairs on an HP laptop near Livonia, Michigan? Thanks.

[EricKei]

Not HP, but -- In my experience, LCD screens are often MORE expensive to repair than to replace -- though, they may sell the screen "half" of the notebook as its own item. Depending on how old the unit is, it may even cost less to replace the entire machine with another one. If you have data on the old comp that you wish to transfer to a new one, external HDD adapters can be had for as little as $15.

According to their site, mail-in service is available as a last resort (tho I'm sure it'll cost ya, as you said it's out of warranty), and to do that thru here: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/contact.html -- I checked their store finder, with no luck (which may have been my browser mucking up the works)

[KuariKaydrith]

Screens are definitely more expensive...during my time with HP a replacement screen ran about $1049, usually way more than it cost for the laptop in the first place (and according to a friend of mine it hasn't gone down either).

It sounds like the cable between the screen and the motherboard crapped out, and that is usually way cheaper to replace...if you can find a place that will just replace that (some places will replace the screen and the cable all together). Of course it may be more than the cable/screen - does the unit power up at all? If you can power it up, what happens when you shine a flashlight on the screen? If there is any image there at all that indicates that the backlight is gone and the entire screen would need to be replaced anyway. If there is nothing on the screen at all, the first thing I'd recommend is replacing the cable. I'd also try an external monitor as well to make sure it's not a video card issue at all.

As your laptop is out of warranty you should be able to take the laptop to a local computer repair shop to have them at least take a look at if and possibly repair it as well. Mail-in service for out of warranty units is usually a little crazy when it comes to pricing, but they would definitely diagnose the issue and contact you before doing any repairs (they'd be calling to ask for authorization to repair and to bill the cost to a credit card). You'd also be entirely responsible for the cost of packaging and shipping to the service center, and they do not guarantee that they would not wipe the hard drive at all because, depending on the issue, they restore the laptop to its factory state. It's all in the service script that you would need to agree to prior to shipping it in.

[SmivMoc]

It could also be a GPU failure, which in a laptop means a motherboard replacement. At that point it's usually cheaper to replace the machine.

[prjkt]

It's my understanding that at least one person here works/worked in HP tech support.

My brother's laptop (out-of-warranty HP) has suffered a screen failure. Initially, white areas would show up as cyan (i.e. not getting any red) but other colours were unaffected. It progressed to the point that the screen is completely dead.

Any recommendations for a good place to go for repairs on an HP laptop near Livonia, Michigan? Thanks.

I've seen that sort of thing happen on a desktop when the VGA cable starts to go bad, one or more of the colour channels stops (hence the cyan "whites.")

To narrow down whether it's the display/flex cable or a faulty GPU, does the laptop have a VGA/DVI/DP etc. connector you can plug another monitor in to test?

And, if you're not afraid to pull the thing apart (photograph each step, so you know what goes where) if it's just the flex cable coming loose it could be an easy fix - ie plugging it back in. I've had to do that a couple of times with my Macbook Airs.

If neither of the above fix the problem, then you've at least (probably) narrowed it down to the monitor, so you can consider the cost of replace vs. repair.

[Nunavut Pants]

I spelunked around Youtube for a while and found some how-tos on replacing the LCD displays on a couple of my wife's laptop computers. (She can be a bit hard on the equipment. ) You may have to buy a little tiny screwdriver or two, but those aren't usually that expensive.

Definitely see if you can plug an external monitor in to try to isolate where the problem is before you buy stuff, though.

[It's me]

You may be able to find a donor 'parts only' machine on eBay. Then you can just swap the the whole lid assembly as a unit...

[draggar]

You may be able to find a donor 'parts only' machine on eBay. Then you can just swap the the whole lid assembly as a unit...

In my previous job that's what HP did for warranty parts - they just sent the lid (with screen, camera, and WiFi antenna). It was just tedious to get all the little wires where they needed to go.