And troutsqueezer and paceman This DV4 is still having a problem the sys starts to boot then stalls. A computer repairman tried to get to Safe Mode. Unable to advance put in a replacement HD and acts he same. Removed HD is good on his computer.
Now the next time turned on may work with out problems. and will be as good as had been then next turn on it stalls.
If it is as you suggest the black screen condition should sys just quit and on next reboot come up as normal ?
I am thinking it is the clocking toward the memory as cause. but being 19 years away from electronics and no test equip to follow this idea just hate to toss like suggested by the computer repairman.
Thanks for the suggestions ken
If yours comes back up normal after the second time, your lucky, so far.
There are hundreds of things folks have done, described on the net to get their unit going but it is usually temporary.
The real problems tend to be either the RAM is not properly seated, an easy fix, or the chip was not properly soldered to the motherboard. In normal operating position it is on the bottom of the board. The heat generated by the components and the short fan run time they had programmed into the BIOS caused the connections to separate. They later sent out a BIOS upgrade to make the fan run continuously but it was too late for most folks and may not have really avoided the problem in the first place. Just a save face gimmick.
They finally agreed to repair/replace the motherboards on many series but not till after the warranty ran out. Pressure from the
many that had the problem, and bad press, got them to even extend the warranty time on some, but what they did was replace the board with another of the same design or a repaired one and warranted them for 90 days. Then after 90 days the replacements started going bad. Next step was a $300-500 repair. So most folks gave up, particularly if they had purchased the pc for a purpose other than just to play around on it, and bought another brand.
There was a class action lawsuit filed. It may still be ongoing.
You can read all about this on the internet, even from the HP site forums and maybe find a fix to your problem. I tried the heat gun method after they denied fixing mine at no charge, and it worked for about a month.
Add to that the fact that I had a Deskjet printer and flatbed scanner that broke after very little use. The printer had the cartridges with the colored ink and printheads all in one and the black in another. I had spares so I bought another that would use the same cartridges but a newer model, an 882C. It still works but they decided to not put out any new drivers for it when Vista came out, so it only works as a basic printer with the windows driver.
Most of my printing is really only virtual .pdf these days with an occasional b&w form, so no big deal.
I have a fancy Epson Scanner and a Epson printer with individual color cartridges that does a fantastic job, but truthfully it is much cheaper to use an internet service with a pick up in an hour print service and get a real chemical print with a no fade life of supposedly 100 years.
HP has had many changes in management in the past few years, and is probably a fine company with fine products today.
But my past bad experiences just won't let me take a chance on them.
This is very analogous to the folks on this forum that had bad experiences with Windows in the past, switched to MAC, and won't look back. It is like learning not to rub your eyes with jalapeno pepper juice on your fingers.
