[SOLVED] No display output on HP Pavilion g7-1167dx laptop ?

[SteveWonda]

I have an HP Pavilion g7-1167dx laptop that I purchased used a few years back. I updated it to Win 10, 8GB RAM and swapped out the HDD for an SSD. It has worked flawlessly and for an older model I was very happy with it's performance.

So a few nights ago I powered it off. The next day I pressed the power button and the screen stayed off. I powered it off and tried a few more times with the same result. I did notice that the caps & number locks lights were on which they usually aren't.

I can hear the CPU fan spinning and it's blowing warm air out. If I put a disc in the optical drive it starts spinning like it always has.

So far I've tried:

• Connecting it to an external monitor with HDMI and VGA - No video with either!
• Swapping the newer 4GBx2 RAM with the original 4GB single RAM - Didn't work.
• Removing all USB devices connected to it - No difference made.
• Disconnecting the SSD - I knew this wouldn't help but tried anyway.
• Removed the battery and held down the power button to drain power from system - When I powered it back on the caps & number locks lights were now off.
• I've tried all this stuff again multiple times with & without it plugged in with it's charger - No video on it's screen or external monitors.

I fear it has to be something with the video output but it showed absolutely no signs of having any issues.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'd love to get her back up and running! Thanks in advance!

 

[GeorgeIP]

Check the CMOS battery and, if that works, reset the BIOS.

 

[SteveWonda]

Check the CMOS battery and, if that works, reset the BIOS.

I think to get to it on this model you have to take the laptop apart. I looked for it in the HDD & RAM area but it's not there.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Its the infamous HP g6 or g7 series, nightmare fuel.

The cmos battery is on the other side of the motherboard :

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG7MT0bvW9E

You need to disassembly further (covered in black tape and has 2 pin connector).
Remove it and wait 10min and put it back.

Before disassemblying try to reprogram bios via usb (you need the right file for your laptop, watch this video closely) :

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkadkPyGjY4


75% its the gpu chip radeon 4250 but rule out these problems first.

 

[SteveWonda]

Its the infamous HP g6 or g7 series, nightmare fuel.

The cmos battery is on the other side of the motherboard :

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG7MT0bvW9E

You need to disassembly further (covered in black tape and has 2 pin connector).
Remove it and wait 10min and put it back.

Before disassemblying try to reprogram bios via usb (you need the right file for your laptop, watch this video closely) :

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkadkPyGjY4


75% its the gpu chip radeon 4250 but rule out these problems first.

Thanks for the reply. The CMOS battery was actually accessible from the HDD/RAM area, it was tucked under the casing. I was looking for the board mounted type battery holder the first time I got to work on this thing. I left it out for over and hour. Still no luck.

Now my problem is I can't create the BIOS USB drive. I've tried on 2 different PCs and keep getting these 2 errors:

• IHISI: Get support mode fail in SMI!
• BIOS did not support InsydeFlash!

I watched the reprogram BIOS video you posted in full and followed the one below exactly. I've actually done this years back on a friend's broken laptop and it worked. I am pretty good with getting computers up and running again if they're not actually fried.

I just tried a 3rd time on a different Win 10 PC and same errors. I really don't see what I'm doing wrong.
View: https://youtu.be/t3S3KgcT-Ao

 

[ilian359]

Radeon HD 4250 Graphics is the usual suspect for these symptoms.

 

[SteveWonda]

Radeon HD 4250 Graphics is the usual suspect for these symptoms.

So you think the chip just fried when shutting it down or the next time I went to turn it on? It never had any video issues prior to this failure.

 

[ilian359]

It has been degrading for years. The moment has just come

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Radeon HD 4250 Graphics is the usual suspect for these symptoms.

Thats why i said its a nightmare with this haunted gpu chip haha. Replacing it will cost too much for old laptop.

Follow the instructions on the last post if you want to try the BIOS recovery, its good to rule out : https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Noteb...il-in-smi-message-when-trying-to/td-p/6291680

 

[lga1156_ftw]

It has been degrading for years. The moment has just come

Ive actually used to replace this exact chip with a "new", if i remember right there was newer version which didnt fail that quickly. Replacing the chip usually failed since my rework station was cheap one.

 

[ilian359]

I do not have much experience with AMD based g6/g7, but on Intel based ones the discrete GPU can be easily removed. Just search for "g6 rework to UMA" on Youtube.
The problem with AMD platform is that the chipset is unreliable too. Throwing efforts on disabling the discrete Radeon may not extend latop's life much.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

I do not have much experience with AMD based g6/g7, but on Intel based ones the discrete GPU can be easily removed. Just search for "g6 rework to UMA" on Youtube.
The problem with AMD platform is that the chipset is unreliable too. Throwing efforts on disabling the discrete Radeon may not extend latop's life much.

On my end 99% of g6-g7 laptops where AMD so that was the main problem, bios corruption happened too rarely but that was main issue rendering most laptops just for spare screen or parts. Theres a "way" to reheat the gpu chip or northbridge and maybe give it few months tops but it is not a fix.

 

[SteveWonda]

Thats why i said its a nightmare with this haunted gpu chip haha. Replacing it will cost too much for old laptop.

Follow the instructions on the last post if you want to try the BIOS recovery, its good to rule out : https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Noteb...il-in-smi-message-when-trying-to/td-p/6291680

I do not have much experience with AMD based g6/g7, but on Intel based ones the discrete GPU can be easily removed. Just search for "g6 rework to UMA" on Youtube.
The problem with AMD platform is that the chipset is unreliable too. Throwing efforts on disabling the discrete Radeon may not extend latop's life much.

Thanks for all the help & suggestions guys! I will try the BIOS recovery method in the video @lga1156_ftw and tbh it's not the end of the world. This is a laptop I got very cheap at a yard sale so I don't have much into it. If I end up selling it on ebay for parts or repair I'll still be up a few bucks. But it was great while it worked.