okay guys, well i have read every above post from previous threads relating to this topic as my daughters Compaq laptop was working 3 nights ago and when she went to reboot it the following morning it gave the black screen.. she could just barely see some writing on screen in the background and we can hear the pings and everything as it loads, all lights ect just nothing visible on screen.. have tried every day for last 2 days to turn it on, nothing still, and have also tried to suggestions above, ie: remove battery, unplug power chord, hold power button for 60secs ect and nothing...any other suggestions guys?? cheers betty
betty.a.barnes 0 Newbie Poster
Ewald Horn 26 Newbie Poster
Ah.
It seems you've tried most of the "easy" remedies.
First question - have you connected it to an external screen just to check if it's not the videocard? And you've double-checked there are no sliders / dials / switches to adjust the brightness, right?
If it's none of the above, it could be the backlight, I've seen this in a vast number of HP and Compaq laptops.
Look at the top-left section of your laptop keyboard, is there a little pin that sticks out? If you press this down with your finger (it's safe to do!), do you see the screen light up for a split second or not? If you can't find it, or nothing happens, don't worry.
At the bottom of your screen, right in the middle, on most Compaq screens, there's a component that controls the backlight - it's called an inverter. This or the actual backlight could be broken. If the laptop is no longer under warranty, I'd suggest you take this to a reputable repairer, it can be tricky to open a laptop screen without damaging the housing.
If you are brave and comfortable opening electronic devices, you could open the monitor yourself. The screws are hidden under the little rubber tabs that prevent the monitor from pressing directly on the keyboard. I would, however, advise against this as it's very easy to damage some of the wiring in a few of these laptops.
The good news is that inverters are available from HP and are not that expensive. Backlight prices vary, but again, are not as expensive as a new laptop. Do your numbers carefully though, if it costs more than a third of a new laptop to repair one, I'd rather buy a new one if I could.
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