[ThnxxfrthMmrs]

Hello! I have an HP Pavilion tx1000 (model TX1215NR) Entertainment PC laptop. I use Windows Vista. It is a little over a year old. I had some work done on it before I left for college at the beginning of August. Geek Squad at Best Buy did a general tuneup and added some more RAM(?) memory. About a month later I began to have issues. Once in a while when I would go to turn on my computer the actual computer would turn on (lights, noises, ect), but the screen itself was black. If I played with it for a bit it would eventually turn on, but I ended up leaving it on 24/7. I took it to my local Best Buy and they tried a few things (reseated RAM and hard drive), but that didn't work. They told me it was probably a loose wire or something and I would have to send it out. Which would take a month. Smack in the middle of the semester, this was not going to happen so I took it home. It got a little better, but then I went home for Thanksgiving. This, of course, required shutting off my computer in order to get on a plane. After several hundred attempts to turn it on at home it finally turned on. I also took it to my home Best Buy and they told me the same thing the first told me. I then had to shut it off the return to college. I came back this past Sunday and my computer has yet to turn on. I have two weeks left in the semester and with finals and projects and whatnot I am willing to kill somebody if my computer would just turn on. I plan to send it out when I get home for Xmas break since I will be home for over a month, but until then is there ANYTHING I can try? Safe mode? Throwing it against the wall? Thank you!

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Hello! I have an HP Pavilion tx1000 (model TX1215NR) Entertainment PC laptop. I use Windows Vista. It is a little over a year old. I had some work done on it before I left for college at the beginning of August. Geek Squad at Best Buy did a general tuneup and added some more RAM(?) memory. About a month later I began to have issues. Once in a while when I would go to turn on my computer the actual computer would turn on (lights, noises, ect), but the screen itself was black. If I played with it for a bit it would eventually turn on, but I ended up leaving it on 24/7. I took it to my local Best Buy and they tried a few things (reseated RAM and hard drive), but that didn't work. They told me it was probably a loose wire or something and I would have to send it out. Which would take a month. Smack in the middle of the semester, this was not going to happen so I took it home. It got a little better, but then I went home for Thanksgiving. This, of course, required shutting off my computer in order to get on a plane. After several hundred attempts to turn it on at home it finally turned on. I also took it to my home Best Buy and they told me the same thing the first told me. I then had to shut it off the return to college. I came back this past Sunday and my computer has yet to turn on. I have two weeks left in the semester and with finals and projects and whatnot I am willing to kill somebody if my computer would just turn on. I plan to send it out when I get home for Xmas break since I will be home for over a month, but until then is there ANYTHING I can try? Safe mode? Throwing it against the wall? Thank you!

Umm do you hear it beep (one single beep when it turns on). Also, do you have a flashlight? When it turns on, shine the flashlight on the screen, you should look for faint images on the screen. Sometimes backlights or their inverters start going out. This will make the screen not light up, which will appear as if the computer did not turn on, but the fans will turn on, the hard drive will spin up etc. If it is just your backlight, borrow someones monitor and hook it up to your laptop and you should see everything you need on the monitor. Pain in the behind I know but I did this for a tablet in my fathers dental office that had a backlight die. It works well enough to get you through the next few weeks.

This is the only thing that comes to mind off the top of my head that you can do yourself. Otherwise if you need your documents, you can remove your hard drive, put it in an external USB enclosure and get them from there (a temporary solution until your device can be fixed). One thing is for certain, as long as it starts up (even if it has stopped now, it atleast used to) your data is not lost. I feel you on the death at the end of the semester, been there done that, about pulled my hair out tring to get it to work.

[PedroDaGR8]

Hello! I have an HP Pavilion tx1000 (model TX1215NR) Entertainment PC laptop. I use Windows Vista. It is a little over a year old. I had some work done on it before I left for college at the beginning of August. Geek Squad at Best Buy did a general tuneup and added some more RAM(?) memory. About a month later I began to have issues. Once in a while when I would go to turn on my computer the actual computer would turn on (lights, noises, ect), but the screen itself was black. If I played with it for a bit it would eventually turn on, but I ended up leaving it on 24/7. I took it to my local Best Buy and they tried a few things (reseated RAM and hard drive), but that didn't work. They told me it was probably a loose wire or something and I would have to send it out. Which would take a month. Smack in the middle of the semester, this was not going to happen so I took it home. It got a little better, but then I went home for Thanksgiving. This, of course, required shutting off my computer in order to get on a plane. After several hundred attempts to turn it on at home it finally turned on. I also took it to my home Best Buy and they told me the same thing the first told me. I then had to shut it off the return to college. I came back this past Sunday and my computer has yet to turn on. I have two weeks left in the semester and with finals and projects and whatnot I am willing to kill somebody if my computer would just turn on. I plan to send it out when I get home for Xmas break since I will be home for over a month, but until then is there ANYTHING I can try? Safe mode? Throwing it against the wall? Thank you!

Umm do you hear it beep (one single beep when it turns on). Also, do you have a flashlight? When it turns on, shine the flashlight on the screen, you should look for faint images on the screen. Sometimes backlights or their inverters start going out. This will make the screen not light up, which will appear as if the computer did not turn on, but the fans will turn on, the hard drive will spin up etc. If it is just your backlight, borrow someones monitor and hook it up to your laptop and you should see everything you need on the monitor. Pain in the behind I know but I did this for a tablet in my fathers dental office that had a backlight die. It works well enough to get you through the next few weeks.

This is the only thing that comes to mind off the top of my head that you can do yourself. Otherwise if you need your documents, you can remove your hard drive, put it in an external USB enclosure and get them from there (a temporary solution until your device can be fixed). One thing is for certain, as long as it starts up (even if it has stopped now, it atleast used to) your data is not lost. I feel you on the death at the end of the semester, been there done that, about pulled my hair out tring to get it to work.

[ThnxxfrthMmrs]

I forgot to add, at Best Buy both times they tried to hook it up to a different monitor. No luck. Also no beeping when it turns on.

Edited by ThnxxfrthMmrs, 02 December 2008 - 02:11 PM.

[PedroDaGR8]

I forgot to add, at Best Buy both times they tried to hook it up to a different monitor. No luck. Also no beeping when it turns on.

Hmm, I would say for the time being your best option is just to get yoru files off of it. Just get an external enclosure and put the hard drive in that and you will have access to the file from another computer. Maybe someone else can chime in and help you out. As for me, I am just smack out of ideas. Sorry.

[gclipse02]

Ah... maybe I missed this suggestion... but the video connection should be suspect. And I wouldn't rely on GS to have checked that because I don't believe they get very deep with problems. If it's worth it, I'd get a cheap video card (online) and have it installed on the computer. I'm pretty sure a card purchased for less than $30 can be installed and work just fine. Worst case scenario its not the video, in which case there are larger problems at play.

[ThnxxfrthMmrs]

It probably is the video connection, however I don't have time to get a new video card and get it installed. By then I'll be home and getting it shipped out. Should I open it up and reseat something? Or restart something? This would void my precious three year warranty though.

[gclipse02]

IF it definitely is the video card, you have to make a decision: Remove the internal hard drive to use it with an external hard drive enclosure on another computer... OR send your computer off to take advantage of the free warranty work. The fact that your school stuff is on that computer would definitely speak for taking out the hard drive.

But that's IF it's definitely the video card... and in my opinion, it is.