Help!

Showman619

Hey,

I have agreed to fix a friends hp pavilion m9652uk elite. The problem is that after 5 minutes or so the screen goes blank, the PC is still on and clearly running but the display stops. I have tested this on a few different monitors and it still happens, Then I tried my pc on his screen to test and mine was fine. The big problem is my friend deleted windows and was trying to re install (he thought it was a virus) So now im trying to re install windows bt the display is still knocking off!!

Any ideas?

bhickey

How exactly are you doing the reinstall? HP's normally have an excelllent system restore utility which you can load on boot to restore the machine to its original state.

chin_grin

Showman619 wrote: »

Hey,

I have agreed to fix a friends hp pavilion m9652uk elite. The problem is that after 5 minutes or so the screen goes blank, the PC is still on and clearly running but the display stops. I have tested this on a few different monitors and it still happens, Then I tried my pc on his screen to test and mine was fine. The big problem is my friend deleted windows and was trying to re install (he thought it was a virus) So now im trying to re install windows bt the display is still knocking off!!

Any ideas?

Yeah, there's your problem. What was deleted? Do you have a system restore disk you can use?

billymitchell

If its not an integrated video card, heck that the video card is seated properly. Could be something as easy as that. Or else, see if you can put another video card into the HP and see if that works. The video card might also be f*cked and need to be replaced.

Showman619

I have tried the system restore disks but half way through doing it the screen goes off! I havnt tried the video card yet.

bhickey

Showman619 wrote: »

I have tried the system restore disks but half way through doing it the screen goes off! I havnt tried the video card yet.

Was there a problem with the screen before your friend started deleting stuff or has it only started since you tried to reinstall? Does it always happen at the same time during the reinstall? Also for the sytem restore, I don't think you need the disks - you can just do it from the system recovery partition. Watch the screen when booting up and it'll show you what key to press (F11 or F12 I think).

Showman619

Apparently it just happened one day so he thought it was a virus and deletetd windows and was gonna start from scratch. The problem was happning before deleting and is still there. I tried system restore but the screen went off during it and I couldnt see what i was doing! The problem isnt to do with windows i dont think its oing it regardless so maybe the hardware?

bhickey

Showman619 wrote: »

Apparently it just happened one day so he thought it was a virus and deletetd windows and was gonna start from scratch. The problem was happning before deleting and is still there. I tried system restore but the screen went off during it and I couldnt see what i was doing! The problem isnt to do with windows i dont think its oing it regardless so maybe the hardware?

Does it always happen at the same time during the system restore? What I'm trying to estabish is whether or not there's any pattern to when the screen goes blank.

Showman619

no its random, the monitor stays on but the amber light turns on instead of green and display goes

bhickey

Showman619 wrote: »

no its random, the monitor stays on but the amber light turns on instead of green and display goes

Okay so if it goes off at different points during the system restore then it's unlikely that the problem is caused by anything software related. That would point towards maybe overheating. Would the screen stay on longer say if it had been switched off for a while? Open up the case and check for dust, blow or hoover away any heavy stuff.

Showman619

yeah just did that when its off for a while it stays on longer, was dusty but blew the air on it then took out the graphics card. The fan on it must be overheating. Ill go and get a new graphics card, Cheers

bhickey

Showman619 wrote: »

yeah just did that when its off for a while it stays on longer, was dusty but blew the air on it then took out the graphics card. The fan on it must be overheating. Ill go and get a new graphics card, Cheers

Good stuff. Is there no onboard graphics that you can check it with first (or a basic graphics card that you can borrow from another computer) beofre you go buying anything?

Showman619

i had a look already but nothing! ill see what harvey norman have to say!

bhickey

Showman619 wrote: »

i had a look already but nothing! ill see what harvey norman have to say!

Okay well it's just not certain that it's the graphics card so be careful about spending any serious money. It could also possibly be a motherboard overheating problem causing the graphics card to fail. All you need for now is the cheapest nastiest graphics card available so that you can verify that the rest of the computer is okay.

BMF Plint

bhickey wrote: »

Okay well it's just not certain that it's the graphics card so be careful about spending any serious money. It could also possibly be a motherboard overheating problem causing the graphics card to fail. All you need for now is the cheapest nastiest graphics card available so that you can verify that the rest of the computer is okay.

totally agree it sounds like a overheating problem and it's affecting the gpu a cheap gfx card should tell all

Showman619

Cheers lads!