Raggle raggle! Black screen on laptop!!

[AriRashkae]

OK, here goes, before I break down and take it into the shop.

HP Pavillion dv9700

Husband brought it out of our bedroom last night to browse Hulu on the big TV. Comp worked fine. Disconnected, returned to bedroom, won't start up properly.

I get the HP logo screen with the "press this key for this option" that flashes too fast for me to connect key with option (whole 'nother rant). Get the "loading" bar. So far, so good.

Loads to a black screen, with that bit of backlight that shows that the monitor is getting power (obviously, since I saw all that other stuff).

We have tried the following:

Startup repair, which has a heart attack and says it can't fix. (I have the problem sig written down if someone wants it)

Restoring the system to several different backup points.

Hard reset.

Is there anything left to try before I nuke it back to factory original?

EDIT: Duh! Windows Vista, I forget which service pack (any way to check with this snafu?)

[Broomjockey]

Did you try hooking it back up to the TV, and switching from external monitor to regular screen?

[AriRashkae]

My husband says he tried (but then, he may have been blowing me off ) and I tried the fn+f4 that's supposed to swap displays to no avail. I've got a test running now, but when it's done I'll try your suggestion.

for breaking tech support rule #1: Always assume the user is an idiot (even if you married him and know he usually knows his $h!t).

[AriRashkae]

Information update: Husband says that he was watching a video (more Hulu ) after he got it back into the bedroom, and partway through it locked up, screen went all black (not "dead screen" black, if that makes sense). He forced a reboot, and we went into the stuff I've mentioned above.

[Broomjockey]

Could be the display driver screwed up. Tried to reinstall that yet?

[AriRashkae]

Tried that once, but I'll try it again. At this point, I'll take anything.

Broomjockey: I can't get to my desktop (the way I know). How would I reinstall the video drivers? (serious, not snarky )

[Broomjockey]

Broomjockey: I can't get to my desktop (the way I know). How would I reinstall the video drivers? (serious, not snarky )

I believe you said you got the splash screen? So if it posts okay, then try tapping F8 repeatedly during boot. That seems to be HP's default key to bring up the option to get to safe mode. If it *is* the driver, you should be able to get to safe mode fine, and then you'll need the driver on a USB stick, or CD, or some other media. If it's not the driver, then safe mode won't work any better than regular booting.

[AriRashkae]

I will give it a shot. ... Success! I got in!

I'd say that narrows it down to the drivers. Le sigh. Now to go through the reinstalling. But at least I know it's not the GPU problem I've been seeing online.

[AriRashkae]

I'm about ready to send this thing out a window.

Boots in Safe Mode fine. Windows Update claims I have the latest graphic drivers. Nvidia apparently released one today, so I tried that. Restart to BSOD (which is at least something)

"..problem detected...windows shut down... Attempt to reset display driver and recover from timeout failed. ... <how to boot in safe mode> ... Technical Information:

***STOP: 0x00000116 (0x8995B008m 0x8F015970, 0x00000000, 0x00000002)

*** nvlddmkm.sys - Address 8F015970 base at 8F009000, Datestamp 4a8c7308 "

Tried to run HP's Health Check, but that scan aborts less than a second in, no warning, no error, nothing. I click Scan, the progress bar pops up, it disappears after a tiny bit of progress, and health check claims my last scan was almost 2 weeks go still.

[AccountingDrone]

you are very lucky ... I have 2 that did some sort of update, then the first one -

I was working on it, just a basic spreadsheet and I got the infamous error message that something was incompatible and it was shutting down to savee the computer, I was across the room and couldnt gimp over fast enough to read the whole thing in detail. Nothing I ever did would change it from a $3000 paperweight back into a computer.

So I moved to my spare, luckily my work data always got backed up to an external drive. Damn thing updates, exact same thing happens.

This was back in april ....

Odd thing was about the same time, a buddy of mine had exactly the same thing happen with an ASUS instead of an HP ... and he is a computer geek, and he cant get it sorted out.

So I still have 2 very expensive paperweights hanging around waiting for a fix ... no matter what we tried, nothing worked. replaced battery with spare, run it plugged in, no battery, remove battery from the board inside and reset that way ... nada

Only saving grace is I was in the habit of frequent backups, so if I can get them working again, I can restore them to before they were updated and stop the auto updates from HP... just manually update on my option.

[Geek King]

Don't use windows update for this. Go into the System icon on the Control Panel and use the Hardware tab's Device Manager to forcibly remove the old video driver, then reinstall from a USB or disc. The old driver could be corrupt, but still reporting as good. I've seen it a few times.

[AriRashkae]

Manually deleted the driver this morning, and tried a clean install. Still having issues. Disabling the chip lets me boot normally. Oy. Windows tried to install a new driver for it on my last boot, which is a completely different version (several months newer) than what I've been seeing, so I'm going to see if that works after I take care of some other things.

Apparently, nVidia shipped a large batch of bad chips right around the right time for our laptop. HP will own up and fix some models with this chip but not others. Of course, mine is not one of them. So if this new driver doesn't work (disabling it and getting a good boot implies that it is the chip, from what I've read) off for repairs it goes. I rarely shell out for extended warranties, but I'm glad I went with my gut on this one. (Of course, having a cat and a 2 year old at the time influenced my decision somewhat. ) It may take time, but it beats having a giant paperweight.

Le sigh. No day without some drama here. Screw soap operas; I just need to wake up in the morning.

[AriRashkae]

One last thing: How to I keep Vista from re-installing the driver when I restart? I've changed every setting I could find to ask me before downloading and installing updates, but it keeps going after that Nvidia driver.

EDIT: Never mind. I found it.

[AriRashkae]

Just an update to thank those who helped and commiserate on help(less) desks.

Reformatted the computer, and i was fine until we got to those nVidia drivers. So I lug it up to the local BB and check it in. 2 days later they call and tell me there are 2 Trojans and they can't check the hardware unless I give them permission to wipe the computer and see if that fixes it.

Bwah? OK, there had been about a day since the reformat and the drive, and the antivirus was not up to date, so theoretically possible. Take it back home, scan, scan, scan some more, and find squat.

Go to "real" home (the one we're paying mortgage on) several towns away. Reformat 1 last time. Big shock the problem's still there, and I have no internet access, so no downloads of any kind.

Take lappy to the local BB there, and power it up in front of the tech there. I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head when I related what the other store told me. She could see just from trying to open the device manager that there were display issues. (On the factory installed drivers, you could see the screen, but it pixellated horribly if you tried to do anything). It got shipped out, (hopefully) repaired, and is awaiting shipment back. And the gloves are off if I ever have to go back to first BB (it is closer most of the week).

[AriRashkae]

I think that covers it.

Yet again the laptop is not working. My husband went to pick it up today, and refused to sign anything until he started up the computer and tested it.

"Oh, something was loose and the tech tightened it down."

Guess what! It was still broken!!! Wouldn't start (as usual) and to make it better, the agent at the desk managed to get it to lock up while trying to boot into Safe Mode. Naturally, DH refused it, and said to send it back and replace the damned graphics card like we've been asking for since June!

I called Geek Squad and got it escalated to the point where we are going to get a brand new laptop on Saturday, when we can go pick one out. And have the fun of hashing out what else we're getting. At the very least, I want the balance of the PSP on the new one, because this is getting replaced as a lemon, not an unrepairable.

Fun.

Sorry to resurrect a thread I hoped was dead, but I needed to vent.

(I was nice on the phone, and my husband controlled his temper in the store. I got to listen to him on the phone during the drive and after he got home. )