I've got a HP Pavilion laptop that will not start-up. After pushing the power buttom, the screen remains blank and the other lights come on for about 2 seconds along with the fan. After 2 seconds, it dies again.

I got a computer tech to look at it and he says the motherboard is probably fried. Do you guys have any other potential solutions? Should I get a new laptop or replace the motherboard? Suggestions?

11/23/2010 2:43:33 PM

mobo is fried.

get a new laptop.

11/23/2010 4:10:17 PM

exact same thing happened with my HP about a year ago. took it to the geeks and they confirmed it was the motherboard... it was cheaper to buy a new computer than fix it.

11/23/2010 4:32:11 PM

wtf? My friend just called me with a DV6000 with this exact problem this morning.

Motherboards are like $60 on eBay or do the real deal and get a new laptop.

11/23/2010 11:22:59 PM

i will never buy hp laptops again, after i had this happen to my dv9000. i was lucky enough to get it working again, but it was as good as dead like 2 months later. then again, i only fixed half the problem.

dv series is notorious for this problem. dv3000, 5000, 6000, 9000 (i believe those are the main 4).

there is what a lot of people consider to be a design flaw, and there is not much of a heatsink (if any, depending on model) on the GPU... so it basically gets so hot that the GPU becomes unsoldered from the mainboard. one of the first signs yours is going is if your internal wireless dies from time to time

if you don't care about the risk of fucking it up (ha ha), you can always shield the GPU with the bottom of a coke can, or some foil... and go to town on it with a pencil torch . if you manage to pull off a jackleg reball, get a copper shim off ebay to cover the unprotected parts from heat... and you may be able to get more time out of it.

hp issued a recall for all this stuff, but it seems like they didn't tell anyone who owned them. either that, or people have been selling them like crazy used knowing they were about to die.

11/24/2010 1:36:06 AM

Rumor has it, HP blames Voldemort.

11/24/2010 3:43:57 AM