The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi there,

I'm new to forums so I hope i'm doing this right....

Basically my 2 year old and hardly used HP Pavilion DV5-1213em is showing the signs and symptoms of the Nvidia defect outlined in this exceptional forum of yours.
I've had the blank screen, High CPU, my wireless no longer works and it overheats massively. Having searched online to try and enable the wireless i have discovered so many other people having problems and has lead me to your forum.
Today, i went to PCworld where i perchased the laptop, I have proof of perchase and explained my problem to the tech guys, to be fair they were spot on and said to ring there head office after I mentioned the Sales of goods Act, after mulitple phone call back and forth, and to HP themselves all "passing the buck", PCworld have finally offered me an Out of warrenty repair on the laptop, providing I pay an initial £60.00 that would be refunded once it was determined it was not intentional damaged caused by myself. They will ring back tomorrow to arrnage this, however, having read all your advice and guidence on here, I'll refuse this offer and start the process of following your step to step guide, i have all the information documented from todays phone calls.
Its so disappointing after spending £600.00 on a laptop, which is used minimally and only for Itunes and browsing, that its useage life is to be so short, its bang out of order and i'm vexed enough to happily go all the way to court.

Thank you for all your information and I'll update you when I have anymore news.

All the best,

jacko.

Hello Jacko and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear of the problems you experiencing with your laptop.

Your laptop contains an ATI Mobility HG 3450 GPU rather than an Nvidia GPU so it cannot be classified as the Nvidia defect.

Instead it is quite possibly the BGA defect that is raising its head in a number of different models of laptop.

Just to give you a little background, manufacturers are having to become ROHS compliant. ROHS stands for Reduction Of Harmful Substances and involves the removal of certain metals from products. These metals include mercury, cadmium and, more importantly, lead. More information on the ROHS Directive can be found here:- http://www.bis.gov.uk/nmo/enforcement/rohs-home

As a result of the removal of the lead from the lead based solder the solder that is used on BGA type components cannot withstand the thermal conditions that the previous lead based solder could. As a result you get glassification of the solder balls and they fracture and break causing the problems you are experiencing.

When speaking to the retailer I would not mention the Nvidia defect as this will confuse them when they realise that your laptop does not contain an Nvidia GPU.

Instead I would tell them that you believe that the BGA grid underneath the ATI GPU is at fault which is still an inherent/manufacturing defect. The defect in your laptop is identical to the defect in the HP 6735s range of laptops.

Good luck with your claim and if you need any help along the way then please let me know.

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.

Paul,

Once again, thank you for your help and I appriciate all the information, I'll take your advice and it is productive for myself to learn and know exactly what is causing the problems.

With my laptop having a possible ROHS defect, would you advise me to continue with the complaint steps, as it is a inherent/manufacturing defect, and get an independant survey completed on my machine, or should I take PCworld up on there offer of an Out of Warrenty repair?

I fear that even if it is repaired by PC WORLD, it is not fixing main problem at hand which is causing the defects in the first place and may prolong the life but not totally sort it,and i'll be back to square one in "X" amount of time.

Many kind regards,

Jacko.

Hello Jacko,



Well, this is the million dollar question. Can they fix the problem?

In my opinion the only way to circumvent a repetition of the failure would be to go back to using lead based solder. At the end of the day nobody has every suffered from lead poisoning as a result of using their laptop so quite why this cannot be used is beyond me.

If they can give you a written guarantee stating that the parts that are being used will not fail again with the same problem then great.

If they cannot give you that guarantee then it is really up to you whether or not you choose to accept their offer of a repair.



When you speak to the retailer you should refer to the failure as a BGA defect and not an ROHS defect. Hope you don't mind me pointing that out.

I would also tell PC World that as per your rights under the Sale Of Goods Act, the "reverse burden of proof" means that it is up to you, the customer, to prove that your laptop is inherently defective. As a result you would like to submit your own report.

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

Whilst the guide refers to the Nvidia defect the claims process is still the same for the failure in your laptop.

If you follow my advice in that 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.

Thanks Paul, I'll speak with them tomorrow, either they'll be intouch or I'll ring myself. I think that if companies are no longer using lead based solder, then I unable to see how they can guarantee to fix the problem. I'll see what they have to say.

I appriciate you pointing out the correct terminology and that its a BGA defect!

Thanks again, and i'll be intouch.

Your advice is much appriciated pal, if I could buy you a pint or two, I would.

Jacko.