So recently I figured out how to repair broken HP laptops from ~ 2008/09. These models include the dv6000, dv2000 and tx2000. They all have a common defect that causes the video to cut out permanently after a year or two. Here are pictures of these laptops:





HP decided to ignore this and move on to the next line rather than do a recall. The defect is caused by the GPU getting too hot and essentially desoldering itself from the board - hence no more video processing and no more video at all. This is because some dipshit at HP decided putting a thermal sponge (which doesn't transfer heat well at all) between the GPU and heat-sink rather than a copper-plate was a good idea.

Anyway, I ordered some copper plates to fix a friends computer and ended up with 10 extras. I can resolder the GPUs with a heat gun and install the copper plate, which makes it run a lot cooler (no more burning a hole in your leg :o).

I remember in my first and second year, almost everyone who didn't have a macbook or Dell had one of these three HP models.

Figured probably lots of people on here have broken ones, and it would be a shame to see them go to the dump when they're still fairly decent machines.

Anyone need one fixed? lol

My dad has an HP G61 laptop and has been having problems with over heating and the battery length... do you think it'll have the problems you're talking about?

I actually owned an HP Pavillion dv6660se. Cant remember if i got it in 2007or 8. The thing died on the first week of exam month for December 2011, when I had to write a huge paper. I was told the motherboard was fried. I was thinking of taking out the brand new 500 GB hard drive and use it in a USB inclosure for memory. But now, I am thinking of whether to have it fixed or not. I might ask Ownagatintios to watch him fixed it since I am going into Comp Eng

Originally Posted by RyanC

My dad has an HP G61 laptop and has been having problems with over heating and the battery length... do you think it'll have the problems you're talking about?

I'm not sure. I checked, and there aren't any copper plates available for that specific model... which means it probably hasn't been identified as having that issue.

It does use an AMD Turion II processor though, so that may explain why it overheats and has a short battery life. AMD turion processors basically work on the 'brute force' principle to be reasonably fast, but horribly inefficient.

EDIT: Apparently people have tried putting copper plates in and got the temperature down a bit. So... might help?

Originally Posted by lgdynasty

I actually owned an HP Pavillion dv6660se. Cant remember if i got it in 2007or 8. The thing died on the first week of exam month for December 2011, when I had to write a huge paper. I was told the motherboard was fried. I was thinking of taking out the brand new 500 GB hard drive and use it in a USB inclosure for memory. But now, I am thinking of whether to have it fixed or not. I might ask Ownagatintios to watch him fixed it since I am going into Comp Eng

Sure I don't mind if you want to attempt to fix it, lol. One of my other friends had a very similar model that I was unable to fix... it wouldn't post or anything :/... which may have something to do with the fact that he punched it lol.

Does yours make any beeps when you try to turn it on, or does it just sit there and do nothing with every LED on the computer illuminated?

@Ownaginatios
It does make beeps when i hit the power button to turn it own. The screen would still be black and the beep stops. Same result when I took out the battery and it had power through a plug off the wall. It was a pain when this all happened a 1am in the morning :(

Originally Posted by lgdynasty

@Ownaginatios
It does make beeps when i hit the power button to turn it own. The screen would still be black and the beep stops. Same result when I took out the battery and it had power through a plug off the wall. It was a pain when this all happened a 1am in the morning :(

That's good, it means it's repairable (especially if it's bursts of 3 beeps at a time). The absence of the beeps would be bad.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

EDIT: Apparently people have tried putting copper plates in and got the temperature down a bit. So... might help?

So you just pop a copper plate in, and it dissipates the heat? I'm assuming this would be separated/insulated from the CPU

Can you install just the copper plate on my DV6-1134ca? My display still works fine, but I'm getting an overheating issues.

What happens if I can hear the fan as soon as I turn on my laptop??

Originally Posted by Rayine

Can you install just the copper plate on my DV6-1134ca? My display still works fine, but I'm getting an overheating issues.

I checked and yes, this should work on the DV6 as well. Make sure it's out of warranty first though, because doing this definitely voids it lol.

Originally Posted by thuks0251

What happens if I can hear the fan as soon as I turn on my laptop??

That's normal. Usually the computer starts the fan at full-speed before all the hardware has been initialized and then slows it down once it can get temperature readings.

If your fan is constantly at max speed right from start-up though, that might be a problem.

Originally Posted by RyanC

So you just pop a copper plate in, and it dissipates the heat? I'm assuming this would be separated/insulated from the CPU

You stick it in between the GPU and the heatsink. The CPU and the GPU share the same heatsink, but the CPU is usually given significantly more area and uses a direct connection rather than a thermal sponge. So 99% of the time, it's the GPU that needs the copper plate.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

If your fan is constantly at max speed right from start-up though, that might be a problem.

Any idea what I can do then?

Originally Posted by thuks0251

Any idea what I can do then?

I have a friend who has an HP and it was always hot, the fan was always blowing and it was very loud. Then one day her mom sprayed compressed air into it (she may have opened it up a bit to spry in there) and then her HP was silent!! I guess the fan being cleaned helped it run more efficiently.

I would suggest trying this before spending any money on repairs or diagnostics tests etc

Originally Posted by Melanieee

I have a friend who has an HP and it was always hot, the fan was always blowing and it was very loud. Then one day her mom sprayed compressed air into it (she may have opened it up a bit to spry in there) and then her HP was silent!! I guess the fan being cleaned helped it run more efficiently.

I would suggest trying this before spending any money on repairs or diagnostics tests etc

This makes a huge difference, but depending on what you use your laptop for, the defect the OP is talking about is a defect due to their incompetence. Even if it is hot, if you use it a lot it could just stop working, so he has a way to fix it

This has been such an old problem but HP does nothing to fix it.