[krag]

A friend gave me his laptop to fix, he said it had a virus. I said, sure I'll fix it (thinking it would be a easy virus removal) but it is worse than that. The lappy won't power on, the fans & HD spin up and the lights flash twice and then no boot. I did some google research and found out it is a common problem with this modle. The GPU has a crappy blue rubber block for a heatsink and it causes a overheat which in turn leads to boot failure. Here is a nice thread with pics

Youtube has quite a few vids on the topic with this nice tutorial on how to disassemble the laptop. The fix is to replace the blue rubber block with a sanded penny and TIM. I think I am going to give it a shot

[jameseboy]

let me know if this works out well, i have the dv6000, slightly different model, mines has a full amd layout in it. but it overheats like nothing on earth.

Looking back, I wish i got the cheaper intel and nvidia setup.

[jameseboy]

Its just disassembly instructions for the dv6000.

[krag]

Originally Posted by Diggrr

Awww, come on! This is overclocker's. At least use and old penny and lap it.


can't view video on my slow intarwebz...

Yeah bro, thats the plan. Penny lap action..heh!

there is another youtube vid where they guy claims the BGA solder needs to be re-heated. He makes a little tinfoil shroud with te GPU square cutt out in the middle and heats up the GPU with a pen torch in a circular motion to re-melt the BGA solder. Seems kinda risky.

[krag]

This is the link I linked too in my OP. Check it to see the penny lap.

GPU penny trick

[Diggrr]

Followed the link, deleted my post.

Glad they're filing it at least. Lapping would have been better, cause it's super easy to get it uneven with a file.
But yeah, cool trick.
My DV6000 had a bad ram stick that caused similar problems with failed startups. It's an older model that had a separate vid card.

[madhatter256]

Yeh. Fixed a compaq equivalent that had the same gpu/northbridge by nVidia. I know this is mainly due to the nVidia chip overheating, but I've noticed that AMD laptops don't last very long.

My old one gave me overheating problems twice and then I worked on a friends HP which was younger and it crapped out from overheating too. I guess the fact that they were all HP laptops that I've experienced this on also means something. Hence, I'm staying clear from HP and AMD laptops.

[jameseboy]

I would have got the intel/nvidia version of this laptop over the amd one anyday, My parents decided to get me a laptop for going to uni, i picked one and they went and bought it. But they didn't realize that just because it was a "dv6000" and had the red digital effect finish, that it was a completely different laptop.

[GoD_tattoo]

Originally Posted by madhatter256

Yeh. Fixed a compaq equivalent that had the same gpu/northbridge by nVidia. I know this is mainly due to the nVidia chip overheating, but I've noticed that AMD laptops don't last very long.

My old one gave me overheating problems twice and then I worked on a friends HP which was younger and it crapped out from overheating too. I guess the fact that they were all HP laptops that I've experienced this on also means something. Hence, I'm staying clear fromHP and AMD laptops.

Advice I give all my customers and friends. I have to say about 60-70% of my repairs are HP laptops. Every age, type etc... They are not well designed or built in my opinion.

[CompuTamer]

Originally Posted by GoD_tattoo

Advice I give all my customers and friends. I have to say about 60-70% of my repairs are HP laptops. Every age, type etc... They are not well designed or built in my opinion.

Yeah, their consumer crap is... well... crap. My 6910p Business Class notebook has held up great though. Got it on a limb a year ago, with it being 3 years old at the time, and it's still going strong. The chassis is starting to show some wear now (scratches on the lid, mainly from my notebooks grinding against it in my bookbag) and most of the rubber on the bottom is missing, but the mainboard, chipset, GPU, and CPU all are solid. Haven't had any thermal issues of any kind, battery life is decent, and it's quiet, despite staying under 110F on the CPU core most of the time. (This IS with some MX2 TIM though, it wasn't much worse stock though)


Moral of the story: Just because a certain very very popular cheap line sucks (Such as the DV 9000 line) doesn't mean everything of that manufacturer is crap. That being said, my 6910p is Intel based, and i've had bad luck with AMD of all brands.

[myststix]

Remember, pennies aren't made of copper anymore...it's mostly zinc....which isn't as good a conductor...find some old pennies..

I have a DV6000 that's dead as brick right now...every time I think about working on it, I groan.....I traded in my pile of dead DV9000's in for new , ultra-low end AMD compaq machines.....can't beat $14 for a new laptop, that's what it costs me to send them in.

[krag]

Yep, the thread I inked to said use pre 1982 pennies. I have a 1972 penny ready to have its face sanded off..heh! I started to disassemble the lappy tonight. I'll take some pics tomorrow and post them. Might take me a few days due to I start 12hr graveyard shifts on Wed. But I will be updating this thread with progress pics. What would suck badly would be that I do the penny trick and get it back to gether with no good results. I hope it works.

BTW, I need to make a trip to Harbor Frieght and get some sand paper and a magnet to magnetize my small screw drivers. I stopped the disassemble due to the little screws slipping off the tip of my screw driver.

[nightelph]

Lol, those pennies have a melt value of about 2.5 cents.

I want to say I can't believe that HP would use some kind of heat conducting (presumable) rubber pad, but then again I used to work for them and nothing they do really surprises me. Still an extra 2.5 cents could have fixed a lot of peoples problems.

[krag]

Originally Posted by nightelph

Lol, those pennies have a melt value of about 2.5 cents.

I want to say I can't believe that HP would use some kind of heat conducting (presumable) rubber pad, but then again I used to work for them and nothing they do really surprises me. Still an extra 2.5 cents could have fixed a lot of peoples problems.

Yep, they sure did. Here is a shot of the Ol' rubber pad.

[krag]

Today is my day off and I have made some progress. Seems like the hardest part of this project is sanding the penny down. I don't have any power tools so I am doing it old school with my fingers and a sheet of sand paper.

I hope this works. I am on the fence about heating up the GPU with a pen torch, which is supposed to re-melt the solder that "might" have come off due to overheating.

[TiZakit]

I did this as well last winter. I'm happy to report no overheating issues since fixing. I had to replace the motherboard in mine, and even upgraded to one with discreet video. (My reflow attempt didn't do anything)

Changing the board, required an additional heatsink (thanks ebay!) and modding the fan unit with a dremel.

Very happy with the results. Not happy with doing it. Also not happy with HP.

[krag]

Originally Posted by TiZakit

I did this as well last winter. I'm happy to report no overheating issues since fixing. I had to replace the motherboard in mine, and even upgraded to one with discreet video. (My reflow attempt didn't do anything)

Changing the board, required an additional heatsink (thanks ebay!) and modding the fan unit with a dremel.

Very happy with the results. Not happy with doing it. Also not happy with HP.

Did you use a pen torch to re-melt the GPU solder or just do the penny trick?

[krag]

Finally finished sanding the penny. Wheeew! In the process I sanded off half my thumb nail, heh! I think this is gonna work just fine.

[TiZakit]

Originally Posted by krag

Did you use a pen torch to re-melt the GPU solder or just do the penny trick?

Pen torch.

[krag]

Originally Posted by TiZakit

Pen torch.

Hmm, OK, I guess I'll get a pen torch then. I installed the lapped penny, but I will take it apart to do the pen torch. Since I have went this far I am gonna go all the way. It will be several days before I update this thread, since I will be starting my 12hr shifts on Wed.