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Question

Mystery Dull Display

May 9, 2019 4:09PM PDT

Hi all,

My first post. I hope this is in the right section.



I have a new (2nd hand) HP Elitebook 8440p. It has a very dim display. When I cycle through the 0%, 25%, 50 % etc. brightness setting, it makes little difference. It is brighter on 100% and dimmer on 0%, but the intermediate options do nothing.



I already have another 8440p and I can tell that the full brightness on this new one is closer to 50% on the old one.



I have tried the following:



Updated all the drivers

Uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers

Tried tweaking display settings as recommended online (although some of those settings don't appear on this laptop)

I have removed the screen from the good laptop and installed it on the new machine

I have switched all the display cables /connectors from the good latop to the new machine.

The older machine still works fine, with the hardware from the new machine, but I still have the same problem with a dull display on the new machine.



Also the dim screen seems to have a slightly blue / purple tinge to it.



Is there some other hardware or software option that I have missed? It's really baffling me!



Any advice would be appreciated as I am out of ideas and as I have bad eyesight, I'm unable to use this machine at the minute.



TIA



Johnners

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Try this.
May 9, 2019 4:33PM PDT

Swap the drives from working to non-working. If they are identical it will work. If there is a hardware failure it won't. As to repair, these are beyond the time where shops and HP will offer repair.

I see these for about $150 on Groupon and Amazon. Here the minimum counter fee is 150 which gets you a full replacement on the web.

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And the 8460p on Amazon.
May 9, 2019 4:56PM PDT
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Answer
Those Are Really Old Computers...
May 9, 2019 4:43PM PDT

...and as such, even if they're refurbished, the monitor or the video card are likely to be failing. Unfortunately, depending on the specific 8440p model you have, a new internal graphics card may not be an option simply because it's integrated in the motherboard. As such, replacing the motherboard is one option. But if you don't have the skill to do it yourself, the cost is more than a new laptop might be.

If you're available to use an external monitor, try plugging in a different monitor to the external VGA/display port. See if the screen is still faulty. If so, for some, using an external USB graphics adapter connected to an external monitor may be a possibility. But if using an external monitor isn't an option, then we would purchase a new computer.

It's your choice.

Hope this helps.

Grif