The Nvidia Defect Forum

I bought a HP DV9646em laptop for my wife on the 7/12/07 from pc world. Everything was fine until earlier this month and the video display pixelated and the computer rebooted with a blank screen, but the back light still worked. I tried the external video ports and got no video.

I sent it to a local IT shop and they claimed they managed to get it working by tightening a screw, the laptop lasted 15 minutes and the same problem occured, i sent the laptop back to them and they looked at it again and stated that it needed a motherboard and was not an economical repair as it would cost £250, the owner also made it clear to me that he would not recommend buying a hP laptop as he had, had many in for repair with the same issue and had the same conversation with those unhappy owners. Having spent £600 just over 3 years ago i did not feel that it was an acceptable situation, hence i find myself at your web site and i have found my original receipt.

1. My laptop appears to have the Nvidia video issue - could you confirm this model would have been prone to this problem. It has the part number GQ237EA#ABV

2. As the laptop is 3 years old, how do i work out how much i should accept from PC world to put towards a new laptop.

3. Using your experience, which laptop manufacturer would you buy.

Thanks

Hello Adrianma and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.

I am glad that you have found us though as we will help you reach a positive resolution.

Please find below answers to your questions.



Well, your laptop contains an Nvidia 8400 GPU which is one of the more prolific of the defective GPU's. I have produced a large number of reports for your model of laptop. Your GPU (REV G86-770-A2) is prone to failure and it is highly likely that your laptop is indeed inherently defective.



Based on the information that you have given, which is a purchase date of December 2007, a failure date of
January 2011 and a purchase price of £599, then I calculate that the minimum offer they should be making is £230.

This is based on the fact that the life expectancy of a laptop is five years.



I would always recommend Toshiba as I find them to be the most reliable of all the brands. Next to Toshiba I would recommend Asus. I would leave the other brands alone as I see far, far too many failures.

I hope the above helps.

Any questions please let me know.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
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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.

I thought i would provide an update as this site is really useful.

I spoke with customer service at PC World and explained my situation with the laptop and relayed the fact that there was a know issue with the nvidia chip on these HP laptops.

There was no fuss, no delaying tactics, i was not asked to take the faulty laptop to one of their stores to verify the fault. I was called back within 2 days and made an offer of £254. PC World even agreed to pay the money into my bank account rather than a credit note. The first time in a very long time i have dealt with a company that actually provided customer service - so well done PC World.

I have also sold the faulty laptop on E-bay for £110 - so at least i got over 50% of my original outlay back - now to buy a toshiba.

Hello Adrianma

Well done on your success

I am really pleased that you have reached this positive resolution without the need for a battle so well done to PC World for that.

I am pleased that we were able to help you.

Good luck and best wishes for the future.

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.

Thanks Paul and all the best.