The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi all and WOW, interesting reading!

I bought 3 HP laptops from Comet Christchurch, Dorset on December 18th, 2008 (2X G60-119ea and 1X DV6910ea) at a cost of about £1400.

Over the last 12 months and especially the 3/4 weeks I have been having several issues with my HP lappy (DV6910ea). Now, this machine sits on a tabletop (after me getting my upper leg burnt its never on my lap anymore!) with the lid open and runs from 5pm to about 1am and doesnt work too hard.

The longest serving problem is that it disconnects from the Internet, usually when I am in the middle of a COD4 online tournament match. The fan is at 100% all the time and only seems to slow up when the lappy is doing nothing at all i.e., when all programmes, except email, are closed.

The more recent problem Ive been having is, unsuccessful start ups where the hard drive light stays on and once I have logged on the lappy does nothing or takes an absolute age to do anything!

I just assumed that I needed to be a little more efficient at 'housekeeping' so I backed up all music/photos bla bla bla to my external drive and did the Windows 'One Care' tune up, scan, defrag etc. However, I encountered the same problems so I decided to back up completely and restore the system to factory settings. I did this and reloaded a small quantity of programmes, essential files and COD4 so as to maintain a good speed, and was reasonably happy until Tuesday (26/10/10).

Switched on the lappy and the screen had loads of pink in the white areas when different windows are opened and all the characters are fuzzy with white shadows. The HP desktop image is flickering and if the screen is completely blank (i.e during startup) there are dots moving all over it.

Contacted HP (India) and they have told me its out of its warranty period so they can't help, but did offer to put me through to technical - COST £15.99??????, or they could give me a HP web address for freee - whoppeeee! so off she went to get the URL and managed to transfer me to sales (UK, she was useful but somehow managed to transfer me to another department (UK via USA) she wouldnt help and transfered me back to India again (USELESS).

I then called the Comet store again who told me to write to head office, detailing the issue and that it was out of 1 year warranty but still within the 2 year period??

SO, after all that babbling...........heres the questions.

1. Is the disconnecting from the web an early symptom of the nvidia problem? (The router is still connected during connection interrupt)
2. Do you recognise this pink screen/fuzzyness/spotting thing? Is it likely to be the GPU (NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS)
3. What did they mean by "out of the warranty but still within the 2 year period"

I would like to say that you could have made hundreds of people very happy through your forum and thank you in advance of me being another one of these people for any help or advice you may offer.

McFish

Sorry, I forgot to mention that if I plug in an external LCD monitor (Samsung P2270) the images are perfect?!

Hope this helps.

McF

Hello Mcfish and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear of the problem you are experiencing with your laptop.

The problems you have detailed are manifestations of the defect so I would say that this, along with the fact that your laptop contains an 8400 GPU, which is one of the more prolific of the defective GPU's, then I would say that it is almost a certainty that your laptop is indeed inherently defective.

I did a quick search on the HP website to see if I could find anything relating to your model of laptop and found the following.

On the 25th March 2008 HP released a BIOS update for your model of laptop. Evidence can be found here:- http://tinyurl.com/24j7uu9

The purpose of this update, according to the HP website, is:-



Looking further into the HP website it also states:-



This means that as early as 25th March 2008 HP were well aware of the potential for the premature faulire of your laptop due to overheating - hence the need to switch the fans on 24/7 in order to keep the laptop cool, though to the detriment of the battery.

What I find scandalous is that this update was released BEFORE you purchased the laptop. You purchased in December 2008 a full nine months since HP realised that there was something seriously wrong in your model of laptop.

Why did they allow the continued sale of your model of laptop is anyone's guess but I would say that it would have cost HP too much to have performed a recall.

As far as this laptop is concerned you are not going to have to try too hard to prove the defect and it is there on HP's website for all to see.

I would contact Comet and would inform them that your laptop is inherently defective due to the Nvidia GPU.

They will probably tell you that you are out of warranty. You should tell them that the warranty status is irrelevant as you have six years to take action when the goods in question are inherently defective.

They may tell you to contact HP. You should tell them that your contract is with Comet and not HP so it is Comet that should resolve the situation.

There is a step by step guide 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.

Please find below answers to your questions:-



When you say it disconnects from the web does the wireless card still appear in the Device Manager?



Yes, that is certainly something I recognise and have seen on numerous occasions when inspecting these laptops. It is more than likely to be the 8400 GPU.



I think that the 2 years that was mention relates to European Law, but you should disregard that as you get better protection using the Sale Of Goods Act instead.

I hope the above helps.

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

Please keep us updated on your progress.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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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.

Thanks for that information Paul, simply amazing reading again.

I have now compiled my letter to Comet HO and will be posting it out on Monday, recorded post.

Whilst I am at it, I have a friend who has a HP G60-116EM and has had MAJOR overheating problems with hers too.

Her laptop has the Nvidia GS8200 GPU and recently it was sent for repair where they had to scrape off the hardened thermal paste and apply a new film to the main processor chip.
It also suffers from random connection interrupts and she has an almost permanent discolouring of her upper leg skin from having the machine on her lap.

Should we proceed with the same course of action? Her machine was bought from Staples on 13/03/2009.

Best wishes and once again thank you.

McF

Hello McFish,

Unfortunately there are also problems with the G60 range of laptops and with the 8200 GPU.

These tend to have problems with the BGA grid underneath the GPU and have seen this on literally dozens of laptops.

There are 2 utilities in the downloads section of this forum. You should download those and run them on your laptop. The first, GPU-Z is a temperature monitoring program and the other, Rthdribl, is a GPU stress tester. Run the stress test in full screen mode (Press F5) and bring the GPU-Z to the foreground.

If you let me know the temperatures at idle and under load I will advise further.

Any questions please let me know.

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.

Paul,

I have done as you requested and the image of the test is below (whilst in progress after only 6/7mins) with the laptop sitting on the kitchen worktop.

I have checked the BIOS version/date after running msinfo32 and the version states Hewlett Packard F.25, 03/10/08



I await your further instructions.
McF

Hello McFish,

That temperature is not good and you should advise your friend not to use it on her lap or on a table as it could damage polished surfaces.

Before you do anything I would invest in a can of compressed air. You can buy one of these for about £5 or if you have anything that can blow dry air then that would do as well.

Give the laptop a good blast through the vents at the rear and then see it that makes any difference to the temperature.

If it doesn't then you are good so start a claim against the retailer on the basis that the laptop is unsafe to use and could potentially pose a risk to your health and safety and also that it has an inherent defect in the BGA grid under the GPU.

If you follow by advice in the step by step guide then you will be successful.

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.

The machine has recently been serviced and new thermal paste applied to the CPU so no need for the compressed air process, its VERY clean. lol

Will see if there is still marking to her leg to back up these claims, a picture always counts towards success and will advise her to use an undertray of some sort.

I will proceed straight to Staples H.O as I have spoken to the store and they cant help, obviously?!

The guy at the store did actually ask me to keep him updated as he is keen to know what happens in this instance....I guess this is common for them but he doesnt really get advised the full story! He did say that his brother-in-law had these problems after 18mths but they repaired that one - Hehe look out mate!

Wiull be in touch as soon as there is more news Paul.
Thanks
McF

Paul

Have now had instructions from Comet to obtain an engineers report, so I shall be sending you the unit for inspection.

Also, I have been instructed by Staples to obtain an engineers report too. So this will be coming to you at the same time for inspection.

Whilst writing, can you help with this......

2 out of 3 Samsung P2270 monitors I bought (31-10-09 to 18-12-09) from Comet are switching themselves off intermittently. My local Comet said speak to Samsung, who are now making a hash of it, so I complained to Comet as my contract is with them. They took advice from Samsung and the best they can do is send replacements on a swap basis, which I am OK with but it has to be Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and I have to take a day off and I am self employed (therefore loss of wages). Comet say the carriers will email early in the morning on the day of delivery with a 1hr timeslot to limit the time off, but obviously I cant book any work in on that basis either, and still have to take a day off.

This is not suitable to me but Comet say that is it as far as Samsung are concerned and will not even agree to a timed (i.e. pre 10am) slot.

Any advice? Comet wont pass my complaint up the chain, they wont agree to a store replacement, and Samsungs delivery option is totally unacceptable for me.

McF

Hello Mcfish,

In order to reach a compromise is there an alternative address they can deliver/collect from?

I deal with couriers on a daily basis and believe me, it can be a nightmare at times to get them to do anything to a timed delivery without having to pay them a fortune for the privilege.



Well that is not acceptable as you would really need the email at least the day before so you can make arrangements. Besides, what do they call "early in the morning"? Is this 8:00? - 9:00? - 10:00? It is ridiculous to email on the morning of delivery if you ask me.

An alternative solution could be to get them to deliver to the Comet store. Do you think Comet would be prepared to do this?

Other than the above there is not a lot that can be done and I don't feel that complaining will be very fruitful for you.

What do you think?

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.