(Solved) Laptop only shows image on the screen if I boot without being connected to the power plug

joaopfidalgo7

Junior Member
Apr 26, 2017
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0
6
Hello Everyone,

I have a HP Elitebook W8560W with Win7 Pro x64 which is my work laptop. It was not given to me as new and it looked a bit beaten up. But it was working, really hot but working. So a few months back I disassembled and changed the thermal paste, cleaned and saw that there was a resistor that one of the welding points on the graphics card was looking burnt. But everything was still working fine.

System specs:
I7 2670Q 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Nvidia Quadro 2000m Samsung 850 PRO 256GB (this is the new one) HP Dockstation Win7 PRO x64 with server based user (when I need, I can use the desktop workstation in the office with all my "User" files already synced)

The situation now is, my work laptop on a cold boot, shows the Bios screen and the initial Win7 screen loading up. Once I am supposed to see the credentials to unlock, I hear the Win7 opening sound, but I get no image on the laptop screen.

Now 2 things can happen.
1 - CONNECTED ON DOCKSTATION (or with the power chord) If I am connected on the dockstation, The external screen shows the credentials screen and I can login and everything shows up except for: - Laptop keyboard does not work; - Laptop screen is not available; - Laptop touch pad also does not work.
2 - ON BATTERY If I'm only on the battery power, I can press the power button once for the laptop to sleep, and again to wake-up, and now I have the backlight up on a black screen. If I keep trying sleep/wake-up, I can get it to actually show the login screen and go into windows on the laptop screen. and now everything works. - Laptop screen works; - Keyboard/touchpad on the laptop works; - If I connect again to the docking station, I get external monitor on top of the laptop monitor and external mouse; - Basically everything works as normal.

So, as some extra info. As the cold boot is happening, everything works because I can get into Bios and do everything (with touchpad/laptop keyboard/external mouse/external keyboard).
Also, If I go to Win boot options with F8, and I pick any of the Safe Modes. The Laptop boots Safe Modes just fine on battery, OR If I'm in the dockstation, everything on the external interfaces.
In a short summary: - If using docstation/power chord -> everything works externally - If on battery -> after some sleep/wake-up cycles Everything works internally and externally, and even connecting again to dockstation/power chord.

I tried to understand the issue, but I can't fully relate the issues. If I boot from a Windows CD on the dockstation, I also get the image/input only on the external monitor/external peripherals. Also if the boot drive is Linux based. I do the same on battery, I get the image on the laptops screen and I can use onboard keyboard and touchpad (which by the way, does not happen with external booting source on the dockstation).

In a side note, this has been happening for a few months but I only needed to do office work, but now I have a little of free time so I'm trying to fix this. And if I have to go on the field, this is going to be a disaster. Just to add up, the ssd gave the chkdsk error 766f6c756d652e63 3f1. I managed to fix it with a new ssd. I created an image of the previous ssd with Yumi/Acronis, loaded the image in the new ssd with the same Yumi/Acronis. Then booted up, still had the chkdsk error, booted from Win7 CD, made a repair, and now it is back on where it was before.

What I tried so far:
1-Fresh drivers installation (original driver release for the laptop and most recent nvidia drivers);
2-Deactivating unnecessary services from starting and apps (VPN, G-DATA, dropbox and even some windows services) once these failed to give any result, I activated them again and the issue remained;
3- System restore, but as the hard drive was always full with server backups and working projects (running simulations uses a lot of disk space) the option was not activated and I had no restore points;
4-Windows startup repair, no option from the F8->Startup repair option gave any changes.

The only reason why I didn't try to do a fresh install so far, is because I have lots of software on this, and with server managed licenses and it would be an absolute pain to install everything again. Probably would take a few days to get it back on working condition again. I already have the backups, just in preparation for the worst case scenario.
So, any ideas? I'm sorry it this was too long, but I wanted to leave (what I think) is as much relevant information as possible.

Cheers.



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sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
8,172
137
106
You make it sound like a power issue, but it sounds like a display issue. Windows is only showing the login screen on one display, and it's not the one you want. You need to change your primary display to the one you want to use for login purposes.

You would think Microsoft would be smart enough to switch to mirror mode when at the lock screen, but alas what can you expect from a $530 billion company?
 

joaopfidalgo7

Junior Member
Apr 26, 2017
5
0
6
I can check but before this issue showed up, the laptop screen was set as the main display. Also I get no option to even show any other screen when I login on the external monitor. What made me put the emphasis on the power was the keyboard and touchpad also becoming useless.


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John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
618
121
You are using an external keyboard/mouse? Try not using those and see what happens.

Go to Command prompt (right click, run as Admin) and type in SFC /scannow. If there are missing critical Windows files it will replace them.

I have a funny felling the laptop is on the way out. Especially with that resistor issue. Could be power related in the MOBO.

Since you have a lot dedicated on the HDD. I would buy the same exact model laptop on eBay and just pop your HDD into that. I have done this and it will work. Make sure the vid card is the same though.
 

joaopfidalgo7

Junior Member
Apr 26, 2017
5
0
6
I tried not having anything plugged in. Then I just get no input at all.

I will try the command prompt SFC scan tomorrow morning.

And that idea of a used laptop sounds really good.

Thank you for the input, I'll report in as soon as I have the results.


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joaopfidalgo7

Junior Member
Apr 26, 2017
5
0
6
SFC scan showed no issues. Also, I get no additional screen to activate on windows to have the multiple display.

I had an idea. The Nvidia graphics is not looking in good condition due to the burnt resistor weld point. Would it work if I take the Nvidia graphics out (MCM card module) and try to run it from the Intel Graphics?

From what I remember, Intel is actually the responsible to output the image even when using the dedicated graphics on Optimus activated products... Am I right?
 

joaopfidalgo7

Junior Member
Apr 26, 2017
5
0
6
So I got it fixed, it is a software issue. Somehow I was missing a few firmware and updates that windows update did not get.

Easiest solution was to actually use the HP Softpack download manager.
It automatically picked up everything installed and highlighted critical missing software updates and firmware.
You can find it here https://ftp.hp.com/pub/caps-softpaq/HP_SDM_Setup.exe

After the installation it started working normally again.

Cheers.