Hello,
Recently, I ran into a problem with a small black screw falling out of the bottom right corner of my laptop, closest to the hinge for the display. I tried to screw it back in, but the screw only spun in the slot without catching. It's not stripped.
As a result, the metal upper and platic lower contract from eachother as I open and close the display below the charging port, and I also hear something small clanking around that area when I pick up the laptop. The hinge doesn't seat correctly when I close the laptop either. I called HP and they are sending me a box to send this problem in to be looked at. The whole time this happened, the computer worked fine.
Now, in preparation for the repair, I bought a 1TB external HD to backup my important files/programs. I used the Backup feature, and then I took a System Image. I looked away for a few minutes and picked my head up to see that my monitor was lit, but black. I waited about 4 hours, and screen didnt change, so I reset the laptop. Now, it turns on and gives me the HP boot screen, but after that, no display. LEDs, fans, and sounds but no image. Sometimes, the screen won't even be lit, it will just be off...usually after I close/open it again. External monitors won't work. I'm afraid that the system image didnt finish and that it may have messed up the computer. The largest files on the External HD are VHDX files...one being ~186 million KB and the others ~200,000KB. What are these and will they completely restore my computer when it's returned? Anything to try before I send this in so I know I have all of my files?
Worst part is I haven't owned this laptop for more than 6 months, good thing is the warranty (IF it covers the damage).
Thanks