Black bar along the right side and the bottom of the screen- DV5-1007ca

Question

I have DV5 1007ca running Vista Home Premium 32-bit.My computer seems to suddenly think my monitor is a different size. I have a 3-inch black bar down the right side of the screen and about a 1/4 inch black bar along the bottom. My windows are still fully functional and completely fill the portion of the screen that is active. There is no loss of image, it's just framed by the black bars. If I do a Print screen and paste it into a document, the black bars are not there. It's as if the computer thinks the screen is a different physical size. This situation is present all the time, even when starting up. This is what I have done so far: -adjusted screen resolution settings = no change-rolled back my display drivers = no change-re-updated my display drivers = no change-rolled back my BIOS = no change-re-updated my BIOS = no change-System recovery = no change I searched posts here and elsewhere but the results were inconclusive. A couple of posters reported a virtually identical problem and were told they needed to replace either their screens or their graphics cards. Unfortunately, none of those posters ever reported back so it was unclear whether or not the issue was resolved. I doubt it is the screen since screen problem symptoms usually involve bits of screen not working and parts of the display being lost. My screen seems to be working fine, it just thinks it's smaller than it is. The graphics card is highly suspect. What's funny is that a little while ago, I started up my computer without changing anything and all was well for about a week and then it went back to the same old issue. Any helpful advice would be appreciated. This issue is driving me nuts!

Answer 1

I found a real solution that is hardware related. I was given a laptop with this exact same problem for free since my friend thought it wasn't worth paying to repair a 3 year old laptop, and was dead for almost a year (I think they manufactured these in 2008, but HP has almost no specs or info about them, specially ours; DV5T-1100) I have the solution to this problem, and is a solution not found almost anywhere using Google, and HP support doesn't want to tell you, simply don't know, or would make them look bad. I was able to fix it myself by using a rework station (basically a dedicated hot air gun) that I used to "reflow" the graphics chipset's connection to the board (keep reading, because this method may vary on result details). This simply means that I opened the laptop, removed the copper heatsink connected to the fan to expose both the micro-processor, and the faulty graphics chipset, and started cutting  soda cans, or thick tin foil to cover the areas AROUND the graphics chipset, and leave the graphics chipset exposed so that the really hot air would concentrate only on TOP of the graphics chipset. Then, I put the device on 220 degress, with the tip of the gun 2 inches over the chipset, and circled the gun around heating that sucker for 5 minutes, then I did a 3 minute rest to cool off, and a final 5 minutes reheat again. Luckily enough it WORKED!, and it has been working for almost 10 months with heavy use. HOWEVER... doing a "reflow" like this on a micro component isn't reallt a proper fix. Sure you may get lucky, and I read of instances where the fix lasted for years, but also just months. This is because the problem is the old solder that connects each "ball" point under the chip to the motherboard may have a micro ultra tiny imperfections and misconnections on a few or many of the connected points cause by a long period of overheat of the chip due to both, a very bad heatsink, and heatflow of heat inside the laptop, and also (and usually) really bad maintenance on the user's part by having a really dirty and dusty vents, overuse, and blocking the ventilation exhaust of the laptop itself over time. A proper fix of this chip issue is another process called "reballing", where they actually properly overheat that particular chipset so much using IR heat, and an expensive machine, to "loosen" the solder of all connections and remove the chip itself to both, clean the old solder on the chip, and the old solder left on the motherboard, and actually REPLACE all solder with new lead solder. However, this process has to be very precise (hence the machine), and it maybe costly, and there's also the fact that MANY scammers out there either never really do a true reballing, ans just do a reflow to scam you, or don't have the experience to do a proper reball of the chip. So whose at fault here? Uneducated users that neglect learning how to properly maintain a laptop off its main enemies (dust and heat) no matter how good the hardware heatsinks may be, or is it poor hardware design by the manufacturer, where other brands or even other families of series off the same brand have actually better noticeable hardware design than these DV series that are so notorious to overheat easier than others out there? Well, I don't know, but I do know that you should be VERY careful having these laptops repaired and be scammed, because hey! Even so called "refurbished" or even so called "brand new" entire motherboard out there on Ebay are just bad reflow jobs with little to no warranty on them on purpose, to only last a few months on purpose. So, watch out, and THINK! before spending money on a beat up poor donkey.