Laptop screen died!!

[frazhm]

Here we go again - laptop problems - only this time I suspect hardware not software.
I have a HP DV2000 Pavilion - I downloaded the latest Windows security up date from MS - It then rebooted and all was well.
Then this morning I switched on and the screen refused to light up, the OS worked and I could see, very faintly, the desktop. I tried brightening the screen up with the keyboard function button but to no avail.
Initial internet perusal of the problem suggested playing around with the battery and rebooting.
An interesting suggestion was to connect a monitor to the laptop and attempt a system restore to an earlier date. When I connected the monitor to my other laptop it quickly showed the laptop image, but when I connect my HP the monitor goes into sleep mode!!
My son, whose eyesight is considerably better than mine, managed to get into system restore and reset the laptop to three days ago - pre-dating the latest updates. Still no joy

So boys and girls what do you think???

Many thanks
Frazhm

[jimtherev]

Could be a coincidence that this lack of illumination happened after the security update. Sounds like a ribbon cable or screen backlight inverter failure to me - esp as you can actually see the desktop faintly by 'frontlight'.

But then again... sleep mode - why should it do that?

IF it's the cable, you could try a little hinge wiggling - open the screen wide, then almost shut it, repeat a few times. I recently repaired a Lenovo which would only work if the screen was only open ten degrees. Difficult to compute with that... tho the owner sometimes managed for a couple of weeks. :)

How do you fancy taking off the bezel & checking for any obvious break or bad connections?

Good luck!

[cessnapuppy]

theres a FN-button combination that toggles the different laptop/external screen modes. the sleep button is nearby. could just be a fat finger at work !(or so they said when Oprah was smiling)

[mustpost]

Very often screen inverter board, not dear, bit of work, this might help
Laptop Repair Help Screen inverter replacement. Fixing laptop backlight problem. (http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/01/31/replace-screen-inverter-fix-backlight/)

[SyllogismCheck]

On my HP laptop, Fn and F4 toggles screen mode. If you're in laptop LCD mode an external monitor will go to sleep mode as there's no signal being sent to the monitor. Try plugging in the external monitor again, booting and hitting Fn and F4, or whichever is the screen toggle F button on your machine.

If the screen still shows an image, the issue is with the back lighting. Remove the screen bezel and check it out. If no cables are loose, you should be able to pick a complete screen unit or entire laptop with, say, a smashed LCD or liquid damage for next to nothing to swap an inverter out from.

Probably best not to bother with HP for spares. My NC4010 broke a 50 pence LCD hinge. Only way HP could supply a replacement was in a pair... attached to a screen! Found a pair of hinges in the end. Pricey for what they are at £15 but better than £300 for the complete LCD.

Good luck.