HP Pavilion DV2000 is dead

[BUGNUT]

I have a HP Pavilion DV2000 that won't boot up. The light at the power connector comes on as well as the power indicator on the key board. I sent the laptop out to a tech and he said it needs a new motherboard, but told me to check with HP before repairing it myself as there is supposed to be an extended warranty due to the high numbers of failures of this unit.

I called HP and the polite Indian customer rep told me I was out of luck as my laptop was not included in the "good will repair" but they could repair it for me for $300. This laptop has a build date of 18 March 2008, its not even 2 years old.

I did a lot of research on the net and found a repair that can be done at home. Its called a "reflow" You heat up the graphics chip to remelt the solder under the chip. Has anyone attempted this repair? If anyone has any other info on getting this laptop going again please post it here. Thanks.

HP DV2000, Product # DV2500, P/N KP005UA#ABC, Motherboard P/N 462535-001

[tmathews]

Can't say that I've tried it, but if you're convinced it's the motherboard you don't have much to lose. You'll have to take the motherboard out and if it doesn't work then putting back a new one won't be any different than putting the repaired one back. A quick Google shows replacements in the US$150 range should worst come to worst.

[Panama Red]

I had one "reflowed" at a mobo repair place and it lasted for one boot cycle. Ended up buying a new mobo. Shoulda done that in the first place and it would have saved me taking it apart and putting together an extra time. It's not too difficult to change a mobo in a laptop and HP/Compaq units even have a repair manual available for download that will show you how. Here's a link for yours:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01035657.pdf

[BUGNUT]

Thanks for the link and info. As for replacing the motherboard, thats out of the question. I refuse to put anymore money into HP's pocket. When a manufacturer refuses to repair an item with a well known highly documented issue it tells me they are to big to care. I picked up the DV2000 to replace my HP Omnibook 4150 that is 10 years old. With the exception of a dead battery its been completely trouble free and still going strong.

I'm going to try a home reflow in the next couple of days and will post the results. If it does'nt work I'll pull the ram and HD and trash the rest.

[BUGNUT]

ITS ALIVE......ITS ALIVE I did a reflow of the GPU and after reassembling it it booted up as usual. Its been running for the last day and no issues. I used a heat gun, the type used for stripping paint to heat up the GPU. Lets see how long it will last. I got the reflow info off of Youtube and other web sources.

[Panama Red]

Good feedback, BUGNUT. Might have to try that one in the future.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by BUGNUT I have a HP Pavilion DV2000 that won't boot up. The light at the power connector comes on as well as the power indicator on the key board. I sent the laptop out to a tech and he said it needs a new motherboard, but told me to check with HP before repairing it myself as there is supposed to be an extended warranty due to the high numbers of failures of this unit. I called HP and the polite Indian customer rep told me I was out of luck as my laptop was not included in the "good will repair" but they could repair it for me for $300. This laptop has a build date of 18 March 2008, its not even 2 years old. I did a lot of research on the net and found a repair that can be done at home. Its called a "reflow" You heat up the graphics chip to remelt the solder under the chip. Has anyone attempted this repair? If anyone has any other info on getting this laptop going again please post it here. Thanks. HP DV2000, Product # DV2500, P/N KP005UA#ABC, Motherboard P/N 462535-001

That is why I do not recommend HP to anyone. They are total garbage, you are lucky you got 2 years out of it. The heat gun trick may work but it won't last, they are defective from the start, poor fans, poor video, poor memory, poor solder. Sell it on ebay for parts, someone will buy it. You can take the hard drive out of it and use it to back up and transfer large files.

[bailey]

reflow works great if you do it corectly.
I use a smal embossing tool, its much smaller than a heat gun, and you can contril the heat to a small area, been doing surface mounted chips remove and replace for the past few years and no problems yet.

do be very carful on the amount of air flow, as when the solder is melted, too much air will blow the chip to never never land across the room.
been there and done that.