Pages

Sunday, November 28, 2010

How To Replace the Dual CCFL Backlights on an HP DV9000 17" LCD Laptop


While I was watching a web video on my TV using the HDMI from my HP DV9000 laptop, my LCD screen blinked out a few times and then stayed out. The TV still showed a picture so I knew it wasn't my graphic chip. After some web research, I looked closely at the LCD screen to see if a faint image of the operation system existed, which it did. That indicated that nothing was wrong with the LCD screen and that the problem was either the CCFL inverter or the CCFL lamps.

Friday, July 2, 2010

How I Fixed My Overheating HP DV9000 Computer


NOTE: This article provides several hardware and software suggestions that others have found useful in an effort to increase airflow and reduce heat of their HP DV9000 computers. The ACPI DSDT patch has been found to work on both Windows 7 and Windows 8 for both 32 bit and 64 bit versions. Make sure to have an image backup of your system before attempting this patch in case you brick your computer. Use these suggestions at your own risk.

I have an HP Pavilion DV9000T CTO Notebook PC (EZ379AV) with the Intel processor (not AMD) on a Quanta 30BD Motherboard (very similar to DV6000). This DV9000T model was one of the earliest models that had 3 separate BGA (Ball Grid Array) chip assemblies mounted to 2 heatsinks (1. Intel CPU and Northbridge, 2. NVIDIA GPU). It came with Windows XP but I have updated to Windows 7 32 bit.
This was my dream laptop 3 years ago and for $2000, it should have been. Unfortunately there have been some overheating problems that could easily have been avoided. The computer GPU temperature was well over 70C which is the maximum it should reach. The following is a summary of what I discovered and how I fixed my HP DV9000 computer to the dream machine I always new it could be.

1. Separated Display Panel
2. Burned Out NVIDIA Graphic Chip
3. Poor Air Flow
3.1 Restricted Air Flow Through The NVIDIA Heatsink Air Vent
3.2 Restricted Air Flow Through The Bottom Cover Air Vents
3.3 Interior Components Exposed To Heatsink Exhaust 3.4 Increase Fan Speed
3.4.1 Hardware Solution: Remove 2 wires from the fan connector
3.4.2 Software Solution: Patching the DSDT
3.4.2.1 DSTS Patch Instructions
3.4.2.2 Microsoft’s ASL decompile bug
3.4.2.3 DSDT Windows Support Patch