Hey guys, I'm new to the forums. Was hoping for some hardware help and advice
So I have an HP Pavilion Dv7 1103ea laptop with 4gb RAM, upgraded from 3, and running windows 8 pro.
Everything worked fine until a couple hours ago when I turned the computer off. On restart the num lock and caps lock keys flashed 4 times, stopped. Then again 4 times. Etc etc.
There's a black screen and the computer won't go past the flashing. It won't boot up.
I checked HP's website and found that four flashes means that the graphics controller isn't functioning. I reinserted the RAM and rebooted several times to no avail. My questions are;
1. Can the graphics card for my model be re-soldered or replaced without replacing the motherboard? If so, roughly at what cost? I should state that the computer has no warranty so I won't use HP for repairs, I'll use a local repair shop. Much cheaper
2. If the above solutions cannot be carried out, I won't be replacing the motherboard. It's too expensive. So my second question is, is there any way I can use the PCMCIA slot, or any other slot on this computer, to use an external graphics device? And if I can, will that external device take precedence over the internal one that isn't working?
Just looking for a solution.
The laptop is in great shape, I've kept the interior clean and dust free, the fans work well and run quietly. It isn't overheating and everything was working great until a few hours ago.
The only upgrades, as I say, are an extra 1GB ram and a windows 8 clean install.
I would get a new computer if I could afford one but I'm a student, and all my music work happens to be on this laptop. Although I have most of it backed up, there are recording files and parts of tracks that i've created that are far too numerous and bulky for me to back up. Hundreds of gigabytes. I don't really *need* them per se but it would be nice to have them for future ideas.
It would also be nice to have a working laptop.
The specs for my computer can be found here;
Product information HP Pavilion dv7-1103ea Entertainment Notebook PC | HP® Support
Thanks.
So I have an HP Pavilion Dv7 1103ea laptop with 4gb RAM, upgraded from 3, and running windows 8 pro.
Everything worked fine until a couple hours ago when I turned the computer off. On restart the num lock and caps lock keys flashed 4 times, stopped. Then again 4 times. Etc etc.
There's a black screen and the computer won't go past the flashing. It won't boot up.
I checked HP's website and found that four flashes means that the graphics controller isn't functioning. I reinserted the RAM and rebooted several times to no avail. My questions are;
1. Can the graphics card for my model be re-soldered or replaced without replacing the motherboard? If so, roughly at what cost? I should state that the computer has no warranty so I won't use HP for repairs, I'll use a local repair shop. Much cheaper
2. If the above solutions cannot be carried out, I won't be replacing the motherboard. It's too expensive. So my second question is, is there any way I can use the PCMCIA slot, or any other slot on this computer, to use an external graphics device? And if I can, will that external device take precedence over the internal one that isn't working?
Just looking for a solution.
The laptop is in great shape, I've kept the interior clean and dust free, the fans work well and run quietly. It isn't overheating and everything was working great until a few hours ago.
The only upgrades, as I say, are an extra 1GB ram and a windows 8 clean install.
I would get a new computer if I could afford one but I'm a student, and all my music work happens to be on this laptop. Although I have most of it backed up, there are recording files and parts of tracks that i've created that are far too numerous and bulky for me to back up. Hundreds of gigabytes. I don't really *need* them per se but it would be nice to have them for future ideas.
It would also be nice to have a working laptop.
The specs for my computer can be found here;
Product information HP Pavilion dv7-1103ea Entertainment Notebook PC | HP® Support
Thanks.
