Pavilion dv6885se Laptop Has a Blank Screen

Question

Hello,
Having a problem woth my laptop.  First the PC specs.
HP Pavilion dv6885se laptop
Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 @2.10Ghz 
Vista Home Premium 32-bit
250GB HD
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS Video
Starting yesterday (1/8), the laptop would not boot up.  It shows a blue screen (not Blue Screen of Death) that gives the option to repair or restore the system.  I chose to repair because the restore was going to wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall the base system (factory specs).
I did this numerous times until finally at startup, I pressed the ESC key.  Then there was only a black screen.  Powering off and back on left the system in the same state:  It was on, but no video.  I connected the laptop to an external monitor, but still no video.  Then after power off/power on a few more times, the screen came up all white.  I watched the screen a few minutes and noticed that it was slowly “drawing” multiple colored lines vertically on the screen.
I went to hp.com to search for help.  I did see one bit of help.  The thread stated something about “crashing the BIOS”.  To reset it, power off the laptop. press and hold the ESC key before powering back on.  This restored the video somewhat.  I was able to see the screen on the external monitor.  I was back to the blue screen with options.  I did the repair option numerous times and rebooted numerous times until finally the system was up and running.
While the laptop was still connected to the external monitor, tried changing some of the display settings.  During all of this time while the laptop was plugged into the monitor, the laptop lid was closed.  I just happened to open the lid, and the laptop screen came on.  The laptop screen would never come on after power on, but would come on after changing display options and opening the lid.
Today, that no longer works the laptop is on, but the only video is using the external monitor.
Any ideas on what this could be?  Also, if it is the laptop screen, would it be better to get it fixed or replace the laptop?  Thank you.
Warmest regards,
Fred Tolan

Answer 1

Hello fredtolan.  
This sounds like you may be experiencing a GPU issue or a larger motherboard issue.  The fact that you're having display issues on both the integrated and external monitors would point to this.  
Had you experienced any other problems prior to this?  BSODs or freezes?  
I would like you to perform a hard reset first.  This reinitializes the hardware and can solve a wide range of issues.  Try the following.
Shut down the notebook.
Remove battery and AC power.
Press and hold power button for 15-20 seconds three times.
Replace battery and AC power.
Attempt to boot notebook and post the result.
I would also like you to test the RAM and hard drive using the built in diagnostics.  You may not be able to do this as I'm not sure if the pre-Windows loading screens will display on the external monitor.  Follow the steps in this document and make sure to post the results if you're able to run the tests.
I hope you have a great weekend!
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