Gray screen

I own an HP DV9000 series laptop. I was downloading some pictures from my mail and I looked up and the screen was all gray with some faded lines running horizontally. The only way I could turn off the PC was to use the off/on button. I tried to reboot numerous times with the same result.I then installed my system disks and brought it back to factory settings. After a few times it did come on and lasted a few days then the same old gray screen. I have not been able to get it rebooted. My laptop is around 3 years old and has anyone seen this type of problem and is there a fix. Thank you.

 

I think it's safe to assume that the video chip has failed. If you talk to HP, they'll say you need a new a motherboard for about $400. There are some companies out there that will perform board-level chip replacement, and they can probably replace the video chip (if that's the problem). I have done business with http://www.laptoprescuer.com/ in the past and have nothing but praise for their services. Check it out.

Have you tried hooking up the laptop to an external monitor? Like an LCD or CRT? If you still get a picture when using an external monitor, then you know the video chip is OK, and that the problem is either the backlight or the LCD screen itself.....

(I am in NO WAY affiliated with the above company and I'm not making any money by providing the link - you could have found it yourself - but I have had them fix several laptops and they have a 90% success rate with board level repairs - no fix, no pay)