HP DV9000 no video.

[David Farber]

This HP DV9000 boots up fine but there is no display video. I did some
checking and found out this is a very common problem.
http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/2011/03/the-nvidia-clas.php The GPU
overheats and then the video stops functioning. I disassembled it and found
the heat sink vents clogged with dust. I used my new, economical, 852D
rework station to try and reflow the solder on the GPU though I don't think
it got hot enough to melt the solder. I should have tested the external
video before disassembling the entire thing but now with just the power
adapter and RAM plugged in, the external video is working but the laptop
screen flashes dimly once and that's it. My question is, since the external
video is working, (it displays "No OS found,") does that mean the GPU is
working fine and there is a problem with the laptop screen? Before
disassembling it I tried using the special function key to switch the
display output to the external monitor without the external monitor plugged
in to see if it had inadvertently been switched to the external monitor only
setting. That didn't work but now I'm wondering if with all the key pressing
when there was no video, perhaps I left it in the state where it's now
switched to external video only. In the interim, the CMOS battery was
removed and I was wondering if that would reset the video to enable the
laptop display.

Let me summarize.

1. Unit came on. You could hear the Windows logon wav file. No display on
screen.
2. Disassembled unit. Cleaned fan and heat sinks. Used rework station in
attempt to reflow solder to GPU.
3. Reconnected the RAM and power supply with the motherboard attached to the
case with a couple of screws.
4. Powered on, no laptop video but video works to external monitor.
5. Is the GPU good?
6. How to proceed next?

Thanks for your reply.
--
David Farber
Los Osos, CA

[Ken]

I dealt with the same model computer over the Christmas holiday. It is
hard for me to imagine the video chip being a problem if the external
video works. That being said, you are correct about MANY such computers
having a video problem. I did the blow torch/ shield from the heat
method, and the computer worked for about a day. Long enough to take
all the data off the hard drive for the owner.

To tell you the truth, I would not put too much labor into this model
computer. Especially with it's history. You could be making a career
choice.

[David Farber]

Hi Ken,

For $80 I can send the motherboard in to have the GPU reflowed and have a
modified heat sink installed to keep it from overheating again. It comes
with a 60 day warranty. The gentleman that fixes it says he's had a very
high success rate and if he can't fix it, there's no charge and free return
shipping. I'm curious enough to see if that will fix it for good. If this
all works out, I'll let you know.

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:30:30 -0700, "David Farber"
<farberbe...@aol.com> wrote:

>For $80 I can send the motherboard in to have the GPU reflowed and have a
>modified heat sink installed to keep it from overheating again. It comes
>with a 60 day warranty. The gentleman that fixes it says he's had a very
>high success rate and if he can't fix it, there's no charge and free return
>shipping. I'm curious enough to see if that will fix it for good. If this
>all works out, I'll let you know.

I also send out the boards for repair. I have the same hot air SMT
desolding station, but have had lousy luck with reflowing the video
chips. Of the various HP and Dell laptops with the alleged Nvidia
problem, I've only successfully (long term) repaired 2 out of 7
attempts. The big problem is that I can't easily operate the
motherboard outside of the case to see if I've succeeded. If I wanted
to continue doing these repairs, I would need to build a fixture.

There are three types of repairs for this problem. The cheap and easy
fix is to reflow the BGA video chip and hope that it hold. It usually
will if you don't bend the motherboard when you reinstall it. That's
probably why both yours and my reflow jobs were failing after a few
days. The not so cheap solution is to remove the chip, clean up the
pads, and reflow solder a new chip in it's place. That's much more
work, more expensive, but far more reliable. There are also those
that will remove the chip, clean off both the chip and the PCB, and
reball the motherboard. I've only had one of those done, and it
worked just fine, proving that there's probably nothing wrong with the
Nvidia video chips. It's possible that the vendors that replace the
chips are using recycled chips in this manner.

Some people have made a business out of replacing the chips, so prices
have fallen.
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/230491379295>

Ask your vendor if they replace and/or reball the video chip. If so,
they're probably ok. If they only reflow the existing chip with a
heat gun or oven, you may have problems.

Incidentally, I had no luck when I tried to reflow the motherboard in
a toast oven. I only did one and it was totally dead when I was done.
Oops. However, these JetDirect cards worked 100%. However, LJ2300
controller cards had only one success out of three:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/repair/BGA%20reflow/>


--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

[David Farber]

Hi Jeff,

I just sent an e-mail to the eBay vendor you linked and directly quoted your
question about whether or not they do just a reflow or replace and/or reball
the chip.

It turns out the guy that I was going to send my board to for an $80 repair
needs the entire laptop so I nixed that idea.

[Jeff Liebermann]

That's odd. In order to reflow or replace the video chip, he would
need to remove the motherboard from the case. I guess he wants the
whole machine so he can check the results of his work. I don't know
if that's a good or bad thing. Anyway, it takes me about 30 minutes
to get to the point where I can reflow the board, and about 45-60
minutes to put it back together sufficiently to test the laptop. All
that for $80 is a bargain.

This one looks interesting:
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/230491379295>
On his workorder form, there's a check box for:
[ ] Check box if ok to attempt Reball if reflow fails
**If successful I will create a invoice thru paypal and send
to your email for $30
which brings the price up to $70.
He has a different listing for fixing the entire laptop for $120.
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/230685305682>

[David Farber]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Jul 2015 08:55:41 -0700, "David Farber"
> <farberbe...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> I just sent an e-mail to the eBay vendor you linked and directly
>> quoted your question about whether or not they do just a reflow or
>> replace and/or reball the chip.
>>
>> It turns out the guy that I was going to send my board to for an $80
>> repair needs the entire laptop so I nixed that idea.
>
> That's odd. In order to reflow or replace the video chip, he would
> need to remove the motherboard from the case. I guess he wants the
> whole machine so he can check the results of his work. I don't know
> if that's a good or bad thing. Anyway, it takes me about 30 minutes
> to get to the point where I can reflow the board, and about 45-60
> minutes to put it back together sufficiently to test the laptop. All
> that for $80 is a bargain.
>
> This one looks interesting:
> <http://www.ebay.com/itm/230491379295>
> On his workorder form, there's a check box for:
> [ ] Check box if ok to attempt Reball if reflow fails
> **If successful I will create a invoice thru paypal and send
> to your email for $30
> which brings the price up to $70.
> He has a different listing for fixing the entire laptop for $120.
> <http://www.ebay.com/itm/230685305682>

Hi Jeff,



I saw the service order form with the various choices for repair which made
me wonder at what point do you have to replace the chip? Does he spend the
time to reflow, then reball, then if those fail, then replace the chip? That
seems very time consuming.



Here's the reply I got from my original question regarding whether or not he
can replace the chip:

[begin quote]

Hi. Yes I can replace the chip with a new one. That is the best way to get
it fixed. If sending me the board only it would be 65 plus the cost of the
chip. Or 120 if you want to send the whole unit. Chips usually run in the
30-50 range. If you have any other questions let me know.

James

[endquote]



I replied basically asking, "How do you determine if the chip needs to be
replaced?" My thought being is it just to make sure the problem never occurs
again?



The gentleman that offered the $80 repair is here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEV43byTP9I

and www.fixmyvideogpu.com