Dead ZT1180 Pavilion laptop
 

hi all, i'm at my wits end here. My laptop will not power up, when it does actually stay on for more than 3 seconds the display is really dim and all you can see on the display is the hp logo whicj is barely visible. I brought it to a repair shop and they told me it needed a new mother board so i searched the web and found one, we replaced it and when we tried to power it up it did the exact same thing. now i doubt i bought a board that had the exact same problem so i'm guessing the board was good, well i tried replacing the ac adapter, thought maybe it was dying and couldn't send enough juice to power it up, wrong still the same thing, tried replacing the hard drive, the ram the sound card. arghhh..... what is causing this problem. i like this laptop and want to fix it not trash it, anyone know of any possible solutions for this problem i am in need od some serious help here and will take any advice i can get...other that trash the laptop

First off, NEVER go back to that place.
If the computer displays anything it is NOT the motherboard.
If it displaying dimly it is probably the monitor or screen itself. Try connecting it to an external monitor (should be possible without any drivers) and see what happens.

i trust the guy that switched the board but he had a third party check it out cause he couldn't figure it out, he was just going by what he was told. he swapped the board while i watched, the guy is a friend of mine so i have no reason to think he did me wrong. I think it might either be the lcd inverter or the hard drive. i say the hard drive because when i do get it to actually stay on the hard drive light flashes blue then goes off. i tried a hard drive out of my mp3 player and it didn't work but it also has 20 gigs of music on it and no OS. i've been doing some research on line and a few sites have mentioned the 1180's having a problem with the lcd inverter going bad. my problem is i don't want to keep spending money blindly on items for my laptop, it cost me $1700 5 years ago now i spent $200 on a replacement board and another $100 on a new ac adapter. I need to find a way to test the inverter or hard drive with out buying a new one first, neither piece is cheap, not when your already broke. I need to know if the inverter would keep the laptop from turning on and staying on. if so then i will buy the part. i can replace it my self. i am usually pretty good, with tearing things apart and i've done my laptop a few times already. A few sites stated it could be bad ram but i have no way of testing it with out powering it up.

Problem solved...I think. I removed the LCD Inverter board from the display and then added an external monitor and it did light up. windows didn't boot but that could be because of the mother board swap. now all i need to do is order the replacement board and hope for the best.

Hello,I have the same problem with ZT1180 LTop very similar,my LCD is too dim and it won't boot maybe I have to wait for the outcome of your system then I will follow what ever solution you make.By the way where did you order your Mobo.

well i would definitely check the lcd inverter, bring it to a shop if your not comfortable with taking it apart yourself. have them remove it and try using an external monitor. my screen just suddenly stopped working then you could make out the image then the laptop would shut off after a few seconds. if this sounds famliar then i would check on the part. you can find them on line fairly cheap. between 50 - 200 dollars us. i haven't replaced mine, money is tight and i have 2 other pc's to work on, so no rush to fix, but letme know if it works for you.

Well thanks for the feedback,will search to find where is this LCD inverter located then I will go for that as you recommend.Get in touch..

Maybe you can give some hint where is this inverter located at on the motherboard ...Thanks again

the inverter is located on the lcd side of the lid you need to remove the 4 screws holding the frame together and remove the frame, the inverter is located at the bottom in the middle, its about 3 inches long wrapped in clear plastic.

Thanks,will open the LCD and let you know what's the results.I will try to disconnect and attached my external monitor and will see if the inverter is giving me the problem.I already try to hooked up my external monitor and both monitor work for shortime only then system hung up and won't boot up again.My other question where is the video card located...will check incase inverter is good...thanks again for help.

the video card is integrated into the mother board you can't remove it. but until you detatch the inverter board you wont get the external monitor to work.

It seems it's very painful to removed the cover of LCD..but any way i will try.

Theres no luck when I tryto disconnect the inverterand hooked my external monitor,no improvement.Possible problem is the motherboard itself.

will the laptop power on? if so does it stay on or does it shut down? if it stays on is the problem just the display is dim? if this is the case it could also be the display dimmer switch which is connected to the motherboard? if its not that then it could be the motherboard itself, i was able to purchase a board on line from notebookparts.com for $200, replacing tha is no easy task if you've never done it before, i had a shop do mine while i watched and believe me it is not as easy as taking apart a pc. if you know any one whos ever worked on laptops ask for their help before trying it your self.

The power is always "ON" and some cases it will boot up and when WinXP Logo comes out it just stay there till you reset again your power (On/Off),once yo tryagain to turn it ON it will not boot up anymore and wait ..again.I thought before it's the processor maybe theres not enought ventilation and install a big fan on top of the heatsink and did not fix the problem..still hungs up...I will try to figure out how to removed the motherboard.

Decided not to removed my Mobo and just order the processor which is the simplest way,finally it arrive and install at initial start it wont boot up again,try to put a bigger fan to cooldown better the processor and it works .Exercise ON/OFF the system still working booting good and for an hour system hungs up ( back to same problem ).Wait for couple of minutes and restart again it works again and now I will just let it on until it stop.Any clue how come my system hungs up.I'm planning to install Norton System and scan my computer maybe it might help.

Does the machine hang after a certain period of time or does it vary? If it's variable, it sounds very much as though it is overheating. Most PC's these days are designed to power down if the CPU and/or motherboard chipset overheats and won't let you boot back up until the temperature falls, though machines without temperature monitoring facilities tend to just hang.

It may be worth running a full system scan to check for viruses, particularly if it hangs after a certain operation. However, the symptoms would seem to suggest hardware problems rather than software.

Thanks for the input,some period of time it just hung up..put a big fan again on top of the heatsink of processor which I think also it's a heat related issue.Install Norton and scan for virus (no virus detected)and used norton utilities to check my computer,let system on and about the following day system won't turn again...wait for acouple of hours to back again..then decided to check all the driver and first update the Video graphics (S3-Twister)..so far still running after updating the video..will just let it on again overnight..will update what will be the outcome...thnks again for the input

After turning On for overnight..and this morning it won't restart,reset a couple of times ..no avail.So I think this is really a motherbord issue and i have to replaced..possible something internal problem with the Mobo .