The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi
First of all, thanks for this forum; it's been very helpful to me for advising friends who have brought me 'dead' laptops - 2 HPs & one Sony. I've now registered, as opposed to just reading all the advice, as I could do with finding out whether a particular DV2535ea has the defective chip. Comet say - & I've seen this elsewhere - that the DV2535ea isn't on HP's list of affected models, but the spec on their site says NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M, which I thought was an affected GPU.

The Serial no is 2CE72910ZX, and the part no is GJ032EA#ABU - can you say whether it's affected?

Carly Garmston - who seemed unaware of her fame here - is doing her best to find out whether it is, and whether the replacement mobo the service centre is proposing getting is free from the defect; at the moment they're wanting to charge £168 for replacing it, so I'm waiting to hear back from Carly (who says she has sources . . .), but I'd appreciate your input.

Good grief - at that moment the phone rang, & it was Carly; unfortunately confirming that HP are definite that that particular model number isn't affected, which doesn't explain why the screen has split into the classic six identical copies. She's been kind enough to say she doesn't mindif I get another opinion . . .

Any ideas?

Thanks
Pete

Hello Pete and welcome to our forum.

Sorry too hear that your laptop has failed.

It never ceases to amaze me why Comet and HP do not wake up and smell the coffee regarding these laptops.

If you take a look at this link:- http://tinyurl.com/34gykjj you will see the BIOS update page for your laptop.

On the 8th April 2008 HP released a BIOS update for your laptop named F.2A. The purpose of this update is:-



Basically, this update switches the fans on constantly to the detriment of the battery.

It is well known that, on the advice of Nvidia, some manufacturers released a BIOS update that tried to work-around the overheating problem. This was only a band aid fix though and did not remove the defect, only prolonged its manifestation.

Looking at your serial number I can see that your laptop was manufactured in week 29 of 2007 - slap bang when all the defective GPU's were being used.

The manifestations that you are experiencing are symptomatic of the Nvidia defect so how they can deny your laptop is affected is beyond me.

You now need to ramp things up a little.

The first thing I would say is that it is irrelevant that HP do not admit to the defect in your laptop. What is important is that any engineers report that you obtain states categorically that your laptop is indeed inherently defective.

Once you have that then you will be able to pursue Comet further.

If you take a look here:- http://tinyurl.com/3m9bwcd you will see the search results from this forum of members with your model of laptop purchased from Comet.

There is a step by step guide on this forum that will help you reach a positive resolution and that is here:- post13.html#p13

If you follow my advice in that guide then you will be successful.

I hope the above helps.

If you have any questions or if you need any advice then please let me know.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

Hi Paul

Thanks for your quick response, and the points you've made, which I may recommend to Carly when I speak to her on Monday; I've promised to ring her after I've discussed what she said to me earlier with the laptop's owners. Comet have the laptop at the moment, for the second time; they took it in last year and said it needed a new mobo - I would be interested to know - and will ask - if the report from that inspection specified what the actual fault was. Presumably it is easy for someone who knows what they're doing to see whether the GPU is a problem one? Obviously if we have to have it examined by an independent engineer like yourself that causes more delay & expense, but may be worth it in the end.

I'll keep you posted . . .

Pete

Hi again
Quick question; I didn't get to speak to Carly today, but when I do tomorrow - if she can find out the part no/ser no/any other detail of the failed mobo, would you be able to say whether it's an affected one? I'm assuming if HP are saying it's not an affected one, that's the best/only info she's got to go on.

Cheers
Pete

Hello Pete,

I will need the part number of the mainboard in order to be able to check its credentials and will indeed be able to check whether it is an affected board.

Once you have that I will be able to advise further.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

You're a star - thanks

OK - we have a number for the mainboard, courtesy of the service centre, via Carly; it's REEL44859001.

Hope that makes sense

All the best
Pete

Hello Pete,

That is not a proper part number that they have given you. It could be their internal number but it certainly is not a recognised HP spare part number.

The old board in your laptop has a part number of 448596-001.

If you notice the numbers after the word REEL, (44859001) they are almost identical to the the part number of your current board, except for the fact that there is a digit missing.

I would get back onto Carly and would ask her for the correct part number which should be 9 numeric characters in length and I will take another look.

I have to say though the number they have given is ominously like yours.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

Hi Paul

Sorry - I obviously didn't make myself clear. It was in fact the old board that I was wanting details of from Comet, so that I could verify their (or rather HP's) claim that the fault was not caused by an nVidia-affected board. Their approach to my friend's claim will I hope be different if HP can be shown to be in the wrong.

So - am I right in thinking then, that the original board was definitely from the faulty batch?

Thanks
Pete
PS - the replacement board hasn't arrived at the service centre yet, as far as I know, so I can't ask you to check that!

Hello Pete,

Sorry for the confusion.

Yes, the part number I quoted, 448596-001 is indeed affected by the defect and was one of the boards that had the BIOS "tweak" to switch the fans on continuously.

I hope the above helps, though I doubt that HP will capitulate and admit to the defect in your friends model of laptop.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.