The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi Everyone,
I'm another person who's been alerted to this forum by the MSE forum.
I have an HP G6031EA laptop which was experiencing wireless problems (couldn't detect wireless - brown light by wireless indicator wouldn't turn on). This was temporarily rectified by installing a USB wireless adapter but now the machine won't even post. The machine has always run very hot so it may be an overheating issue.
Can anyone give me advice as to where to go from here?
Thanks,

BarryT

Specs:

- Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK53 @ 1.7Ghz (stock)
- Memory: 2Gb
- HDD: 120Gb (SATA)
- Graphics: Integrated (Nvidia Shared Graphics)
- Sound: Integrated
- OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

(This is all I have been able to get from the internet and manuals I have, will update if I gain any more updated information)

Hello Barry and welcome to our forums.

Sorry to hear of the problems you have been experiencing.

Ok, the first thing you should do is to download the 2 programs from the download section of our forums.

They are available here:-

tools-to-test-to-see-if-your-nvidia-gpu-is-about-to-fail-t57.html

One is a nifty little program called GPU-Z.

This program will give you some information on your Nvidia GPU, but more importantly will tell you the temperature that your video card is running at.

Once you know the temperature that your laptop runs at when idle you should run a stress-tester that will put your video card through it's paces and see it rise under load.

An excellent program for doing just that is called Rthdribl.

This program is a real-time, high dynamic range, image-based lighting demo.

Using this software will increase the temperature of your GPU.

Run these then please let me know the results and i will advise you further.

If you have any questions or queries then please let me know.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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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 prompt response. The issue I have at the moment is that I cannot get the laptop to power up at all. Contacting HP during the week they have said it may be a problem with the battery (as there was a recall on the battery for this particular model) and I should log on to the HP site for instructuions as to how to get a free replacement. On phoning the number given I have been told that this model was not included in the recall and therefore no free battery. What is your best advice? The problems with the wireless and hot running of the machine were obviously experienced prior to the 'failure'.
Thanks
BarryT

Hello Barry,

Battery charging issues are one of the manifestations of the defect and HP should know this.

A question, did you purchase direct from HP or from a retailer?

If you purchased from a retailer then it is them who you should chase.

If you purchased from HP directly then you should contact them and ask for the address where you can send legal documents.

You should then send them a "letter before action".

The same would apply if you purchased from a retailer.

Once you have sent the letter before action you should give them a minimum of seven days to respond.

If they fail to respond in that time then you should proceed to get an engineers report on your laptop that will prove that it is inherently defective.

Please let me know when you need a report as that is a service we provide.

Once you have that you should send them a copy giving them a minimum of 7 days to respond.

If they fail to respond in the positive then you should pop on over to www.moneyclaim.gov.uk and file a small claims action against them.

That is not as daunting as it sounds so please do not be put off by it.

If you need any help or advice along the way then please let me know.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

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 Again thanks for your prompt response. The laptop was bought from Comet on 16th December 2007 for £399.99
A number of questions first:
Is it correct that this particular model (G6031EA) is one of the sort that has the NVidia problem?
As for chasing the retailer, do I need to take the Laptop into them or just get an address/department/individual for me to send a 'letter before action'?
Is there a standard format for a 'letter before action' that I can download from somewhere? (I need to make sure I am saying the right things in a letter which I assume will have some legal standing and import to the claim)
I am doing this on behalf of a family friend (single parent female with 4 kids so not much time to be doing this sort of thing and certainly not well off enough to buy a new laptop after only 2 years use and experiencing problems after only 12 months use!) I have the laptop and will be doing all the work on her behalf (including getting the report done). Do you know if I would be able to do it all on her behalf or should I address all correspondence from her? It was her credit card that paid for the laptop.
Thanks again for your assistance.
Regards

BarryT

Not to sure as to if you can do this on your friends behalf ..... I would suggest you right letters out and she signs them to play safe -----

any one ????-- ciderboy has done some work in a county court and may be able to advise

Paul will be able to tell you if the laptop is one of the suspect ones , but it does sound like .......

I have coppied one of Pauls earlier posts that will explain the right course of action ( just to save him having to type it out all again ) ......

read through the many posts on here and you will see success stories to build up your confidence

Ralph


(Pauls advice)

Here is what you need to do.

Contact Comet head office and tell them that your laptop is faulty with what you believe to be the Nvidia defect.

Their telephone number is 01482 320681 ask to be put through to Customer services.

When they answer tell them about the problems you have with your laptop.

Tell them that you believe that your laptop is inherently defective and that you want either a refund or a replacement laptop.

They will probably tell you that you are out of warranty or that you should contact HP.

This is wrong. You have no contract with HP and Comet have to sort the problem out themselves.

They may also tell you that they will inspect the laptop for £49.99.

You should not allow this and instead you should get an independent engineers report.

In the first instance you will need to send them a letter before action.

You can download a copy here:-http://www.nvidiadefect.com/letter-to-send-to-retailers-head-office-prior-to-action-t134.html

letter-to-send-to-retailers-head-office-prior-to-action-t134.html

This gives them seven days to provide you with a satisfactory resolution.

If they fail to respond you should then proceed with an engineers report - we can help you with that.

You can claim the cost of the report back from the retailer.

Once you have the report you should send Comet a copy and then invite them to inspect the laptop at their own cost.

They cannot charge you for inspecting your laptop.

If they still fail to provide a satisfactory resolution after this then you should pop on over to moneyclaim.gov.uk https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp and launch a small claims action against Comet.

Don't worry, this is not as daunting as it may sound.

If you need any help or advice then please let me know.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

Hello Barry,

Please find below answers to your questions.



Yes, that model of laptop is indeed inflicted with the Nvidia defect.

I have provided a large number of reports for that particular model and have also worked on dozens more.

The Nvidia defect is not model specific, it is manifesting itself across all makes and models of laptop.

[quote[As for chasing the retailer, do I need to take the Laptop into them or just get an address/department/individual for me to send a 'letter before action'? [/quote]

You need to send the letter before action first. Do let let them have the latop before it has been independently examined.

Furthermore, they may want to charge you for an inspection. You should refuse this.

They can insect the laptop after a report has been produced, but they cannot charge you for this and it has to be done at their cost.




These is a template available from this forum. That is available here:-

letter-to-send-to-retailers-head-office-prior-to-action-t134.html

You should edit this letter with your details and send this to the head office of the retailer.



You can get a letter from her that authorises you to act on her behalf

Contact the retailers head office and ask them what format that letter should be in.

They cannot refuse this request as long as the purchaser grants you permission.



That is excellent news as the credit card company is as responsible as the retailer that sold you the laptop.

Have you contacted the card company yet?

You should call them and let them know your position.

They can call the retailer and apply pressure.

Don't let them fob you off as the laptop is inherently defective and they have a responsibility for that.

If you have any queries or need any help then please let me know.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

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.

Just to add a little bit - if it gets to the stage of issuing a County Court action then it would be advisable to issue the claim in her name. However, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

Good luck.

_________________
Please note: I am not legally qualified and therefore any postings I make are just my own personal opinion based on my experience of working for a number of years at a busy County Court.

Hi Guys
Thanks very much to all of your for your valuable and appreciated input. I shall be implementing all you have suggested and will no doubt be contacting you Paul for an independent report.
Happy Christmas to you all and I will keep you informed of my progress.

Best wishes

BarryT

Hi All

Hope you have all had a good Christmas/New Year break.
To update you with my progress:
I have spoken today with Comet Head Office (very professional and courteous lady called Carole).
Explained the problem with the Laptop and asked for her advice as to how we could best resolve this situation.
Although I had told her that the laptop was purchased over 2 years ago without an extended warranty she made no attempt to say it was out of warranty or that it was HP's problem.
Her suggestion was that I took it to the local Comet where it had been bought for them to do an engineers inspection and then for them to decide what they would do according to the results of the inspection.
I said that my advice was to have an independent inspection done.
She said that would be fine and once I had the results of the inspection to send them the results and again they would then decide what to do about it. She then gave me their Head Office address and Fax number.
So it looks like I need to get an inspection done - can you send me the necessary please Paul?
Also a question does occur to me - do I still need to send a 'letter before action' to Comet HO or does the manner in which this appears to have been handled to date obviate the need for this? I must admit from some of the other postings I had expected a bit of a 'rougher ride' and so was pleasantly surprised at the way it was handled.
Once again please let me have your thoughts (much appreciated)
Thanks again for all your assistance.
Best regards

BarryT