HP ZD8000 i bought for $25 but one problem HELP

[northcarolinagal]

i live in a small county here in NC and have gotten to know some of the people. Well today one of my old customers calls me and ask me am i still taking computers and fixing them. I said all I was working with was laptops anymore. Well she said great I got one for ya and I only want $25 dollars for it. Also have the docking station and the digital tuner like tivo that goes with it. So I asked what it was and she told me and of course I said yeah i want it please. Machine is in great condition has a 100 gb hard drive, 1 gb of ram a cdrw/dvdrw built in card reader and has a place for a remote for it and some kind of usb digital drive. One problem with it the screen has lines in it. The more i reboot the machine it is getting a little better but still having to run it on a external monitor. Wondered if some of you guys with more experience than me would look at it and let me know what you think. thanks
laurie

here are the pics

Link 1

Link 2

MOD EDIT: Long links shortened for better scrolling.

[aaa]

Looks like a broken LCD. Probably cracked, if you look closely and poke at it you should see the crack yourself and know for sure.

[rkawakami]

My guesses would be in this order:

- a break in the ribbon cable going to the LCD panel; usually requires replacement, as opposed to trying to fix it yourself
- loose connection at one end (or both) of the ribbon cable; just open up the system and re-seat the cable ends
- a graphics chip problem similar as to what is seen by some T4x systems; requires a hot-air reflow of the motherboard
- broken electronics inside the LCD panel itself; another replacement scenario

A cracked LCD normally displays a noticeable spider-web pattern or obvious discoloration (like this) on the surface of the screen when it's off. When powered up, a cracked screen generally exhibits "splotches" of color (something like this one). Since your display is essentially half working (the right half) and shows an obvious vertical or horizontal striping elsewhere, I'm more inclined to say it's an electrical issue with a broken wire or connection that's causing the problem.

[northcarolinagal]

not a crack one other than the lines the lcd has no scratches or nothing

[northcarolinagal]

ray now that is what my husband was leaning to that maybe one of the cables had been pinched or broken. The lady that had it would extend it out fully when in the docking station. So if it is pinched do we have to get a whole new lcd unit or just the cable that is pinched. sorry still too much of a rookie when it comes to laptops.

[rkawakami]

I've never opened up an HP laptop but most likely there's the same type of arrangement that I've seen inside Thinkpads. One end of the ribbon cable is inserted into a socket on the motherboard or a smaller "sub board" (which in turn is still connected to the motherboard). The other end slides into the back of the LCD panel. The path that it takes from one end to the other varies greatly. Some, like what's in my T23, basically just comes up out of the base and is threaded into the lid through a slot in the plastic bezel. Other systems have the ribbon cable coiled up in a spool in the hinge, which then passes into the lid. I don't know if HP publishes anything akin to a Hardware Maintenance Manual. That type of document would tell you the part number of the cable and the steps required to remove and replace it.

Best course of action (and the cheapest) would be to take the system apart, closely inspect the entire length of the cable, paying particular attention to any areas which are subject to bending and/or flexing when in operation (portion where the cable exits the base), then re-seat the connectors back into their respective sockets and see if that makes any difference. If not, then you start replacing hardware. Start with the ribbon cable (assuming you can find an exact replacement that's known to be good). It's probably fairly cheap (~$20). If the new cable doesn't work, then you are probably looking at replacing the panel or the motherboard. That's when you need to decide if pouring any more money into it makes sense. Good luck!

[northcarolinagal]

thanks ray will let hubby read this so he can figure it out.

[northcarolinagal]

ray from what little i read on one of the places that hubby had found it said that if the picture on the external monitor looked good that more than likely the motherboard wasnt affected is this correct. when i have it on the external monitor it shows a great pic.

thanks again
laurie

[BeeJayEmm]

I don't know if HP publishes anything akin to a Hardware Maintenance Manual.

Lookie what I found (I assume your HP is actually the ZD8000; I couldn't find a ZD800). Best of luck!

Brian

[northcarolinagal]

thanks brian for finding this thing i really appreciate it alot.

[rkawakami]

Poked around the net and if you actually have a zd8000, then the manual for it is here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/suppo ... 383095.pdf

A quick scan of it seems to say that it's similar to IBM's HMM. I can't seem to find a specific part number for the display cable. Disassembly of the display starts on page 5-26, although there does not seem to be any instructions for removing the cable from the back of the LCD panel. The parts list has the display assembly as including the wireless antenna boards and cables. It's possible that the entire lid is sold as one piece .

edit: Ack! Beaten by Brian as I was reading the .PDF !

And to answer your question about external vs. internal video... It's possible that some motherboard connection problems with the graphics chip could allow the analog signal appearing at the VGA port on the back of the system to be unaffected by something which disturbs only the digital signals going to the LCD. From my understanding of the T4x issues, this has been the case for some people; external video looks great while the LCD is dead or scrambled. Applying some pressure on top of the graphics chip can temporarily "fix" the LCD.

[rkawakami]

And there's this from eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0062175605

Supposed to be an LCD cable for the zd8000. I don't know if there is a specific cable required for any particular display option. You might want to contact that seller and ask about it if your poking around doesn't fix the display problem.

[BeeJayEmm]

thanks brian for finding this thing i really appreciate it alot.

You're very welcome!

edit: Ack! Beaten by Brian as I was reading the .PDF !

After all the times I've been beaten to the punch by a mod, turnabout is fair play!

Brian

[northcarolinagal]

looks like pinched wires guys. close to the left hinge there is a spot where it looks like the cable has been pinched. when hubby messed with it part of the lines and all that colored part to the left turned back to black with lines. so guess we are looking at a new lcd screen.

[northcarolinagal]

got it on watch so hubby can see it and he will know. that looks just like the part we just inspected and right where the hinge and it meet is where it looks like it has been pinched and the wrapping is trying to come off. thanks ray for finding this for us.

[northcarolinagal]

Brian yeah it is nice to beat one of the mods to the punch :-h Smile Ray!!

[BeeJayEmm]

I plugged the part number from the cable on eBay (374723-001) into HP's parts lookup and it is the part number for the WSXGA+ panel itself. I can't find a separate listing for the cable. There also are two WXGA+ screens (374722-001 and 374721-001), I'm not sure which you have. As Ray mentioned, the cables may or may not be different. You may want to call or email HP to find out.

Brian

[northcarolinagal]

will go to their site and email them about it. thanks again guys i really appreciate yall's help

[BeeJayEmm]

ncgal,
I don't want to sprinkle salt on your ice cream, but while I was looking for info on the cable I ran across multiple pages related to the "HP ZD8000 green vertical line" syndrome (too tired last night to post about it then). Apparently this is not uncommon. Some seem to have problems only with their LCD, others have problems with both internal and external displays. I took it that your external display is fine but am not sure. From the pictures/descriptions it sounds like what's in your picture (Link 2; I can't get Link 1 to open). Here are three pages you can look at if you wish:
1.
2.
3.
Hopefully, your only issue is the cable. You can search with your favorite engine for more info. Good luck!

Brian

[northcarolinagal]

well looks like that was a bummer choice only good thing that could come out of it looks like it a good 100 gb ide hard drive and two sticks of 512 ddr memory. oh well maybe someday i will get a newer laptop but that just aint gonna be any time soon.

thanks brian i really appreciate it.

laurie

[BeeJayEmm]

Laurie,
Forum member catscam has an HP zd7000 with display issues. In looking for info about that model, I came across this link. It seems to say that HP has now settled with zd owners to repair their computers for free. I didn't read all 45 pages (!!?!), but maybe you can find help there to get your zd8000 fixed. Best of luck!

Brian

[northcarolinagal]

Hi Brian

It is for the zd7000 owners still i read the lawsuit filing. gonna keep track of those threads though sooner or later i think that the zd8000 owners are gonna do the same thing from what little i have read that they have posted. My zd8000 so far is not showing major damage other than the lines and the half black screen. my brother works on them alot and said to get the new screen. so it is on its way just waiting for it to arrive now. I am beginning to think it is a problem with all their newer model laptops. Just my honest opnion.