Armada 1700-Powers up..but black screen?

**1ladybug1** · May 28th, 2006, 11:49 AM

Powers on no problem, all lights are on but there is only a black screen. Downloaded the Softpac which didn't do anything. Is this a BIOS problem?
Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks very much

**street1** · May 28th, 2006, 12:18 PM

You could have a bad backlight or backlight inverter.

Loose connections are also a possibility.

If your move or shake the laptop "not ferociously"or gently tap on it's side , does the screen flicker?

**1ladybug1** · May 28th, 2006, 12:26 PM

No, a totally black screen, no flickering. The bin light constantly stays on like it's searching for something though.

**street1** · May 28th, 2006, 12:40 PM

If it is a bios problem may be the Cmos battery below site just for reference.

http://search.stores.ebay.com/1700-c...sPageNameZWD1S

http://impactcomputersmiami.stores.y...16272-001.html

In many cases your ram has jarred loose slightly and isn't making good contact.

If you know how to remove your ram...You can use a clean pencil eraser to gently rub the slot contacts on ram to clean away any tarnish.

**1ladybug1** · May 28th, 2006, 12:55 PM

Thanks Street1,
Ram seems to be fine, perhaps you're correct and it is the cmos battery. There seem to be a lot of problems with these computers from what i've researched.

**Damned Angel** · May 29th, 2006, 12:38 AM

does an external monitor work?

**1ladybug1** · May 29th, 2006, 07:41 AM

No, an external monitor doesn't work either.

**Damned Angel** · May 30th, 2006, 07:11 AM

Then it would most likley be a video board/Motherboard issue. I would suggest taking it into a shop to have checked out, but it would probably be cheaper to just replace the notebook.

http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/spi...ard&catsel=%3F

**3fingersalute** · May 30th, 2006, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by 1ladybug1

No, an external monitor doesn't work either.

Do you need to press any key combination on the laptop to change it to the external monitor (like FN-F5 or something similar) ??

**Damned Angel** · May 30th, 2006, 11:02 AM

if you have a monitor hooked up and then power it on it will automatically set the display to external.

**1ladybug1** · May 30th, 2006, 06:12 PM

Ugh, just our luck. My husband is the tech and we just recently aquired this very cheaply and then purchased the caddy for it on Ebay. So....he's been quite determined to make it work, lol.

~Yup, sounds like it's fried

.... Thanks very much for all of your suggestions

~Much appreciated!

**3fingersalute** · June 1st, 2006, 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by Damned Angel

if you have a monitor hooked up and then power it on it will automatically set the display to external.

That's what I figured, but thought it was worth a mention in case they were just plugging it in after it was already powered.

**1ladybug1** · June 1st, 2006, 12:23 PM

He took it totally apart yesterday, used some Chem Blast, and double checked all connections. A couple of pins were slightly out of place so he carefully fixed them. After putting it all back together again, he DID get a very brief flicker.
But that's it....nothing more.

**street1** · June 1st, 2006, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by Damned Angel

Then it would most likley be a video board/Motherboard issue. I would suggest taking it into a shop to have checked out, but it would probably be cheaper to just replace the notebook.

http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/spi...ard&catsel=%3F

If the backlight or backlight invertor are not bad....I agree.