Help - HP Pavillion dv9655ea (computer freezes/screen problems)...

Mshellster

Hi all,

Very sorry if I'm posting this in the incorrect place I just wasn't sure if exactly where to post this. Having major problems with my laptop (HP Pavillion DV9655ea). It's never caused me trouble before (had it for 2years) and out of the blue the screen just frozen, I turned laptop back on and the screen was all strange colours (green and pick lines) and just not working properly at all. I tried a few things with it like downloading software updates on hp website (don't really know much about computers) but no luck. I checked the device manager and it has that yellow exclamation mark beside some Nvidia thing and bluetooth/infrared port? Wondering is my laptop a gonner or if it can be fixed (either by me doing stuff) or getting a professional to look at it?

Many thanks in advance, any help/advice would be much appreciated as have exams next week and really need laptop to be working.

Lu Tze

Mshellster wrote: »

Hi all,

Very sorry if I'm posting this in the incorrect place I just wasn't sure if exactly where to post this. Having major problems with my laptop (HP Pavillion DV9655ea). It's never caused me trouble before (had it for 2years) and out of the blue the screen just frozen, I turned laptop back on and the screen was all strange colours (green and pick lines) and just not working properly at all. I tried a few things with it like downloading software updates on hp website (don't really know much about computers) but no luck. I checked the device manager and it has that yellow exclamation mark beside some Nvidia thing and bluetooth/infrared port? Wondering is my laptop a gonner or if it can be fixed (either by me doing stuff) or getting a professional to look at it?

Many thanks in advance, any help/advice would be much appreciated as have exams next week and really need laptop to be working.

Try downloading the drivers for your graphics card

Mshellster

Thanks for the response. I think I tried doing that on hp website but they just wouldn't install on my computer for some reason or didn't fix the problem. It's weird I mean the laptop works fine for about half an hour then freezes again and screen goes weird and I might get it to work normal again for few minutes but same thing happens again. I kept doing the old turn it on and off again idiot trick and praying it would just fix itself but no luck:(

Overheal

Nvidia is the Graphics card and may I presume its something like an Nvidia 8400M GS?

These cards were manufactured defectively. However due to a Class Action and lots of media attention in 08/09, Nvidia made agreements specifically with vendors like Dell and HP to extend all laptop warranties with these shipsets by an additional 2 years.

The defect has to do with the cards not being soldered/cast at a high enough temperature. A fix to the problem exists but is completely unworkable for a Laptop version of the chip as it requires literally baking the card in the oven at over 200 degrees celsius. I dont need to tell you how much plastic your Pavillion is made from!

Contact HP, its a well known problem. You can google around for it too: eg, Nvidia defective laptop

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/nvidia-says-significant-quantities-of-laptop-gpus-are-defectiv/

Getting HP to agree to replace the motherboard should not be too difficult, though they may try to get you to extend your warranty - I dont think its necessary however. They should still honor this fix as nvidia fronts the money for the replacement in this case.

I got mine replaced a month before I slipped out of warranty all the same. fortunately ive had no problems with the replacement. But the original heated up like crazy and would go AWOL if I was playing certain games for long enough periods.

Mshellster

Overheal wrote: »

Nvidia is the Graphics card and may I presume its something like an Nvidia 8400M GS?

These cards were manufactured defectively. However due to a Class Action and lots of media attention in 08/09, Nvidia made agreements specifically with vendors like Dell and HP to extend all laptop warranties with these shipsets by an additional 2 years.

The defect has to do with the cards not being soldered/cast at a high enough temperature. A fix to the problem exists but is completely unworkable for a Laptop version of the chip as it requires literally baking the card in the oven at over 200 degrees celsius. I dont need to tell you how much plastic your Pavillion is made from!

Contact HP, its a well known problem. You can google around for it too: eg, Nvidia defective laptop

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/nvidia-says-significant-quantities-of-laptop-gpus-are-defectiv/

Getting HP to agree to replace the motherboard should not be too difficult, though they may try to get you to extend your warranty - I dont think its necessary however. They should still honor this fix as nvidia fronts the money for the replacement in this case.

It's that Nvidia card you mentioned that's coming up as the problem! Thanks a mill for the info and help, just wondering though I bought the laptop off dabs.ie two years ago and I don't think I have warranty etc just an e-mail receipt - would I need to go through them or would ringing HP customer service in Ireland be the best way to go?

CrinkElite

Overheal wrote: »

Nvidia is the Graphics card and may I presume its something like an Nvidia 8400M GS?

These cards were manufactured defectively. However due to a Class Action and lots of media attention in 08/09, Nvidia made agreements specifically with vendors like Dell and HP to extend all laptop warranties with these shipsets by an additional 2 years.

The defect has to do with the cards not being soldered/cast at a high enough temperature. A fix to the problem exists but is completely unworkable for a Laptop version of the chip as it requires literally baking the card in the oven at over 200 degrees celsius. I dont need to tell you how much plastic your Pavillion is made from!

Contact HP, its a well known problem. You can google around for it too: eg, Nvidia defective laptop

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/nvidia-says-significant-quantities-of-laptop-gpus-are-defectiv/

Getting HP to agree to replace the motherboard should not be too difficult, though they may try to get you to extend your warranty - I dont think its necessary however. They should still honor this fix as nvidia fronts the money for the replacement in this case.

+1, You're laptop is most likely destined for the grave. The good news is that HP(so I've heard) should replace your laptop without too much grief.
A friend of mine is in a similar situation at the moment with a sony Vaio 8400m.

If you want to use your laptop (without bluescreening) and minimize damage I would recommend disabling your Graphics adapter in
control panel > Hardware manager.
You can do this in safe mode if the laptop is refusing to boot into normal windows.

Mshellster

CrinkElite wrote: »

+1, You're laptop is most likely destined for the grave. The good news is that HP(so I've heard) should replace your laptop without too much grief.
A friend of mine is in a similar situation at the moment with a sony Vaio 8400m.

If you want to use your laptop (without bluescreening) and minimize damage I would recommend disabling your Graphics adapter in
control panel > Hardware manager.
You can do this in safe mode if the laptop is refusing to boot into normal windows.

Aw damn wish it could be salvaged...sometimes it will boot in safe mode or with the weird colored screen. There's one or two things on it I want to try and save on my external hard drive. If I transfer stuff over do you know if it would effect or corrupt my external in any way or would it be ok to do?

Thanks again for all the responses I really appreciate it

CrinkElite

If you can get it to boot and stay booted, you should be ok. You may have a problem if the computer crashed during transfer but it would be no more dangerous than unplugging it without "safely removing" If i were you I'd chance it.

Otherwise, you can always take your internal HDD out and install it in a desktop PC, that should enable you to get any files you need.

You need to get on to HP and see if they'll replace your laptop. From what I've heard they may help even though it's out of warranty.

Overheal

Oh no, its salvageable. Mind, they have to swap out the whole motherboard, and with it I believe the CPU. About the only thing you would need to keep is the hard disk and that is probably working fine. Replacing the GPU means replacing virtually all of the faulting components: so win

Mshellster

Hi all,

Thanks again for all your help thus far. Not sure exactly where to post this here as I've already mentioned it somewhere else but I figured I'd just let you know what's happened since. I emailed dabs.com and hp and they've both since replied. HP said product is no longer covered by hp warranty and said if it's still within one year manufacturer warranty (which it isn't as I've had it for 2 years) then send on proof of purchase to them.

Dabs.com e-mailed me back and said it's outside warranty but they do accept as supplier they are liable if product develops a fault within a reasonable period. The said:

"In your particular case we do accept that taking all relevant factors
into consideration, the product that you bought from us should have
lasted longer without developing any fault(s).

However, as you have already been in possession of the product for
some considerable time now, and had considerable benefit and use out
of the product for over 24 months, then we are not obliged to provide
you with a full refund. We are however willing to offer you a partial refund of 381.97 plus VAT euros but please note that the faulty product must be returned to us before we can pay you the aforementioned partial refund."

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts/ideas on this? Apologies if I've posted this in the incorrect place not entirely sure where to go with this or if partial refund is reasonable (figure seems a bit random - don't know how it was calculated?) and I would prefer to have it fixed/replaced as 381euro isn't going to get me a laptop of similar quality?

Thanks again

Overheal

Mshellster wrote: »

Hi all,

Thanks again for all your help thus far. Not sure exactly where to post this here as I've already mentioned it somewhere else but I figured I'd just let you know what's happened since. I emailed dabs.com and hp and they've both since replied. HP said product is no longer covered by hp warranty and said if it's still within one year manufacturer warranty (which it isn't as I've had it for 2 years) then send on proof of purchase to them.

Dabs.com e-mailed me back and said it's outside warranty but they do accept as supplier they are liable if product develops a fault within a reasonable period. The said:

"In your particular case we do accept that taking all relevant factors
into consideration, the product that you bought from us should have
lasted longer without developing any fault(s).

However, as you have already been in possession of the product for
some considerable time now, and had considerable benefit and use out
of the product for over 24 months, then we are not obliged to provide
you with a full refund. We are however willing to offer you a partial refund of 381.97 plus VAT euros but please note that the faulty product must be returned to us before we can pay you the aforementioned partial refund."

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts/ideas on this? Apologies if I've posted this in the incorrect place not entirely sure where to go with this or if partial refund is reasonable (figure seems a bit random - don't know how it was calculated?) and I would prefer to have it fixed/replaced as 381euro isn't going to get me a laptop of similar quality?

Thanks again

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/10/15/hp-extends-warranties-for-nvidia-flaw/1

Although the company has stopped short of recalling the product outright – asking customers with the models featured in the affected units list that aren't experiencing problems to hang on to them – any listed system which exhibits problems with the Nvidia graphics chip will be eligible for “a motherboard replacement at no charge for 12 months from the date your one-year Hardware Limited Warranty expires or until December 31, 2009, whichever is sooner.”

At best they extended all warranties to 24 months. If you werent experiencing problems until after this point, Im not sure theres a leg to stand on. Even the EU Statutory rights only give you 24 months afaik.