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Before merging with HP, Compaq manufactured a full range of laptop computers. Now they are manufactured by HP mostly with basic features.

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Why won't my laptop screen turn on?

Whenever I try to turn on my Compaq/HP Presario CQ62 (a relatively old laptop), the screen doesn't turn on with the rest of the laptop. You can hear the fan running and the keyboard LEDs light up correctly, but the screen shows absolutely no signs of life. This happened to me a couple of days ago, and I googled a few fixes for it, and turning it on at a thirty degree angle worked that time and I didn't have a problem with it until today.

Here's a list of things I've tried that have failed:

Turning on the laptop at a thirty degree angle

Turning the laptop off, taking the battery out, unplugging it, and then pressing the power button for 30 seconds, 1 min, and then 2 minutes.

Various key operations.

Removing the RAM sticks and moving them around.

I've tried just about everything, and I fear my trusty laptop might be finished. Help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Hi @wilburytwist ,

1. Connect an external monitor to your laptop and check that its' display is OK when the laptop is turned on with the lid open.

2. If the external monitor shows a display and the laptop's LCD screen doesn't, shine a torch at an angle close to the LCD screen and see if you can detect an image on the screen at all. It will be very faint, so doing this in a darkened room may be an advantage.

If you can see an image (the same that is on the external monitor) then you have a backlight problem. This could be caused by a faulty backlight or a faulty backlight cable.

Here is a link to the service manual for your laptop, which may be of some help, if it is the backlight (or cables ) that is the problem. It describes how to access them for removal etc.

3. If the external monitor also shows no display then you have a GPU problem on the system board

Hopefully this is of some help

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Just fixed a Compaq CQ61 with a problem where Backlight came on, usually, at boot up but then flickered and went out.

Found issue was the magnet that switches backlight inverter on/off when lid is closed. It had fallen out of its slot on bottom frame of LCD panel and was magneticaly held in place over Inverter coil. Rather than put it back in slot, I just removed it permenantly. Backlight now fine.

How to get at it . I guess my laptop had been taken apart befor I got it as the 2 screws at either bottom front edge of LCD frame were missing. So I just levered off the LCD surrond, pulled it away and the bottom fron LCD cover comes away with the frame. Behind this cover is the LCD inverter, a sliver magnet was just lying on top of the inverter coil. I just removed it. If you find same and want to replace it there is a small slot in the bottom of the LCD front frame. Suggest you glue it in to prevent it coming out again, but remember it is NOT needed if you do not care if backlight stays on when closing laptop lid.

If the 2 screws are in place, possibly behind small rubber plugs you may still be able to get at them at an angle. Else searching the net there are instructions on stripping down a CQ61 laptop.

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my guess is that the connection from the screen to the lower half is loose, hence you were having to use the laptop at an angle because it wasn't completely loose. I would recommend you trying to connect the laptop to a monitor, or tv via the vga port as a temp solution and to make sure that it entirely is the monitor; i would recommend you take the laptop apart from the bottom and look for a connector around the big circuit board that looks like it came from the monitor portion of the laptop

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Micah Williams will be eternally grateful.
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