Causes of a Faulty HP Laptop Screen

There are many reasons your HP laptop display won’t turn on even though you can hear the computer working. It could be as simple as brightness or hibernation adjustment, or it could be something more challenging, like corrupted or outdated drivers or physical parts have worn out. Whatever the problem, you may be able to get it going again with a few troubleshooting steps.

How to Fix HP Laptop Screen That Won’t Turn On

If you can hear your HP laptop working (the hard drive spinning up, for example) and see the lights and indicators blinking, but the display remains black, then you can run through a few troubleshooting steps to see if you can get it working again.

Know When to Call In the Professionals

If you’ve tried the steps above and none of them worked, then it might be time to call in the professionals, or at the very least, someone who feels more confident about digging around inside your laptop’s case. If you’re unsure who to turn to next, read How Do I Get My Computer Fixed? for some quick tips on what to do next. Once your computer reboots, if it’s not displaying on the external monitor, you may need to press the F4 key (or another key with a rectangle box with vertical lines on the left and right—meant to indicate a monitor) on your keyboard. The external monitor key should tell your laptop to connect to the external display. If the computer displays on the external monitor, the LCD or internal LCD cable could be faulty. Replace the LCD cable. If that doesn’t work, the LCD screen needs to be replaced and should probably go to the repair shop since replacing the monitor can be delicate. If you have two RAM cards on your computer, you should also try removing them, one at a time, to see if one of the memory cards is not working. Take the first one out and restart the computer; if the display turns on, the RAM is bad. Otherwise, replace that RAM and take the other one out to test it. If you find you have a bad memory card, you can pick up and install a new stick of RAM to get your display going again.