Interesting. This is the first post I've read about HP's lasting more than a year, or making it a day out of warranty. Usually the rants I read are people complaining about the the video cards causing the motherboard to overheat, conicidentally, just after the warranty expired (yes, almost as if it was somehow planned).
In my research, I did come across a thread that had a lot of positive marks. The explanation was about fixing a "black screen" (no display) problem.
If I remember correctly, it went like this:
Edit: found the thread. Here is a copy/paste of what the "fix" was. It didn't work for me, but give it shot, what've you got to lose?
Thread:
http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-54306-hp-pavilion-has-black-screen-problem
-remove battery pack(if you can romove memory ram aswell) and wait 10 mins
-now start charging laptop without battery pack for 2 mins
-unplUg the power AND press and hold the power button for 45 seconds
-REPLUG THE POWER CABLE BUT DONT PUT THE BATTERY PACK YET
NOW OPEN THE LID WIDER YOU CAN PRESS POWER BUTTON YOU WILL SEE YOUR SYSTEM WILL START ONCE YOUR SYSTEM BE READY SHUT IT DOWN PUT THE BATTERY PACK BACK AND CONTUNUE TO USE YOUR LAPTOP