NVIDIA chipset failures HP owners are being made to pay for...

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MorrisTheCat

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#219840 30-May-2009 15:11

FANTASTIC news. I have joined the DARKSIDE....

Had a longish discussion at NL yesterday about the state of my very sad HP Tablet and the fact it went unreliable within 1/2hr of me running it after it's return from a negotiated free repair by HP CET.

Of course, it took some very cool calm and reasoned negotiation with the Store Manager at NL of what my options were. He was initially cobbled with the only deal being the machine would have to revisit HP for further work.

That's where i explained it simply wasn't a good enough offer (considering i had spent $2500). My request it be replaced fell on deaf ears unitil i said what will it take for HP and NL to sort the issue and for Noel Lemming to keep me, my family and friends as returning future customers.

The Mgr phoned his boss and just like that i was offered any NEW MACHINE to value $2500, new guarantee and Flybys....

Here's where i actually ***PRAISE*** NOEL LEMMING because they could easily have told me to bugger off.... (and i'd be forced to take it to the next level ie small claims). Instead they know they need future customers and how to make one stay one.

It took a while to decide on something that had as much tech/geek as the Tablet had. There isn't anything like it but i had to face facts.

The new HP machines on offer are all sharp edge flimsey plastic but have lots of connectors, HiDef video, BluRay, HDMI etc etc.... BUT the machines are not "finished' well..... The rest in the NL stock list were all basic home, kid doing schoolwork units except the latest Sony at $3200.

So i chose a $2399 MACBOOK (because of the machined billet alloy case, .. i've the a verticall mill and lathe in my home workshop for car projects so this appealed to me) and my serious enjoyment i'm already having with my iPods. Here starts Pete's vertical learning curve in the realm of MAC, and apparently i can run Windows stuff on the MAC if need be...

Wish me luck.... (and yes i am proud that for once in my sorry assed life, if you standup, suck it up and don't back down, plus negotiate with maturity and not emotion then eventually the reward arrives)...

Now to open that new box.....

{MOD EDIT : SP : Removed derogatory term for Windows, read the FUG}

heavenlywild

5063 posts

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#219851 30-May-2009 15:38

Well done to both yourself and NL.

When there is a problem, keep calm and maintain a decent and respectful conversation.

When there is a problem, I wouldn't mind being at a NL store because they do understand that one customer can affect not only one future sale, but a whole bunch of sales by friends, family, etc.

Thinking back now, I had an Acer Gemstone notebook from NL and it kept failing - shutting itself off or not starting up at all. Not sure whether it was due to the video card - perhaps as it was a 8000 series card.

Anyway, after taking it back to the store, the manager said there was no stock of it for another 4 weeks. Of course I wasn't willing to wait 4 weeks but I had no choice as the other models on offer didn't match the Gemstone.

A day or so later, I receive a call from the manager to say that NL was offering the top-end model of the Acer Gemstone series to me - a cool $700 more than my purchase price for nada, nothing!

So it just goes to show that we should support the likes of Noel Leeming because they are run in NZ. Go to Harvey Norman and it is a different story - wouldn't want to return anything there, trust me!

AllNightNerding

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#220646 1-Jun-2009 22:36

Well, now my HP TX1001AU can join the list of failed HP Laptops...

What happened:

I had been using the laptop fo rseveral hours, I then closed the lid of the laptop (putting it into standby) and then put it beside my bed.

Then I went away for 10 minutes or so

On return I opened the laptop up and the battery charge light was flashing, thinking this was odd I googled it, at the same time as backing up my crucial data. (Fearing that this could happen)

THen I restarted the laptop, did a static restart etc etc and now it is in the state of when it turns on, fans run and everything, but screen does not turn on.

Angry.
Will call HP tomorrow...

-- Divett Enterprises -- The Power Of Tomorrow --

MorrisTheCat

84 posts

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#220656 1-Jun-2009 23:11

Not a good sign at all AllNightNerding. Were you doing some serious display tasking prior to putting the machine to standby beside the bed? The GPU device lives directly below your RH wrist when typing. I used to be impressed at how hot the area became, sometimes to the point it was uncomfortable trying to type. The heat exiting the fan area sometimes went terrifyingly hot to the point i wondered if it could set something on fire. Processes like running SuperC to convert ripped DVD VOBs into iPod really boiled things.

Here though is where the trouble lies. The CPU (top RH side of keyboard area) is well catered for with a reasonable heat sinking/ exhausting system and the fan included but there is zip-nada air flow for the GPU device way up there next the tough pad. No wonder the poor things are packing it in....

One thing to try is allow the machine to go really cold (3hrs off...which should be easy to do at the moment), with the HDD removed. This i did to transfer mission critical data off in a desktop SATA connect. With the drive back in the Lappie and a boot i had the screen back all for 1/2hr whereupon POOF.... gone... black and HDD activity ceased plus the WiFi gone. (This was AFTER the 1st repair ie a new MoBo). It's as if the unit went to sleep/hibernate but THAT is recovered from by flicking the on/off switch which had no effect.

Best of luck chasing down the situation. Stick to your guns if the machine is young. See if you can deal with things via HP CET. The 1st call to the HP Helpdesk will be a Bangalore phone jock. Tell him you are aware of a GPU NVIDIA failure issue and ask to be transfered to HP New Zealand CET (which he should do).... It might route via Australia though....

Hang in there....

AllNightNerding

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#220661 1-Jun-2009 23:22

Was doing some really intensive stuff on it before I standbyed it (facebook)...

Just had an online chat to one of the outsourced HP supprot guys, tomorrow I will call HP and see what they can do. I mentioned that it is a known problem to everyone bt HP has not recognised this to him which he then ignored.

Will let you know how tomorrow goes...

The unit came out of warranty in June 2008 so the unit is comign up at being 2 years old. A laptop should definitly last longer than that, particularly referencing to that consumer article posted a few posts back on this thread...

Particularly annoying considering I use this laptop for school every day in every subject! Not sure how well this is going to work...

-- Divett Enterprises -- The Power Of Tomorrow --

MorrisTheCat

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#220667 1-Jun-2009 23:46

Hmmm, 2yrs. That may put a different angle on things but still you can argue the CGA. My previous posts have links to important info on the whole situation with this failure in similar HP series model machines and that HP have chosen to walk away from responsibility of repair or product recall and chose to make YOU shell out for repair when it's their bad design that caused the problem. Of course they are in total denial.

It's wrong and currently the subject of a Class Action Lawsuit in the USA to the tune of $5million...

Slowly the whole thing is coming out Worldwide and it could be a sticky next 2yrs for HP. They are relying on the machines getting old and people just springing their hard earned $ for the next better spec model when faced with the news their 2yr old machine is going to cost $660 +gst to fix....

It's not a good way to keep future customers and i for one won't be supporting them for a while now. I used to buy HP gear, (test gear such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, hand-held comps, and awesome calculators etc in my work) because it was the best of TEch and quality at the time but with Laptops/Notebooks they are pretty roughly finished now.

That's put me into this MacBook for home use (Gawd forbid)!....

AllNightNerding

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#221818 4-Jun-2009 22:06

Things are progressing...

I called up HP, and asked to speek to the guys supervisor, once discussing what the issue was, the guy had said that obviously I would be looking for a free repair or a upgrade (I hadnt done much persusion, just on what the situation was) he then said that the Manager of HP New Zealand would give me a call today, however that hasnt happened. So I will make a call tomorrow afternoon again.

I will definitly be looking to be getting a replacement (of a different model) from HP because I simply cant have a laptop that I know will have this fault again in the future.

-- Divett Enterprises -- The Power Of Tomorrow --

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rphenix

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#221975 5-Jun-2009 13:02

Yep, I think if anyone with a faulty Dell XPS-M1530 or similar has a premature GPU death they should easily with at disputes tribunal quoting articles like this

rphenix

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#221977 5-Jun-2009 13:04

MorrisTheCat:
How long should a Notebook last? I say 4 to 5yrs provided it isn't mistreated.

I guess it depends on expectations? Really I think once you get to Three years you should be happy I tend to not build as expensive systems now instead replace more often and that works well for me :)

MorrisTheCat

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#221985 5-Jun-2009 13:30

rphenix:
MorrisTheCat:
How long should a Notebook last? I say 4 to 5yrs provided it isn't mistreated.

I guess it depends on expectations? Really I think once you get to Three years you should be happy I tend to not build as expensive systems now instead replace more often and that works well for me :)

Surely, that applies to Desktop systems. It's a bit different with Notebook/Laptops where what you buy is unlikely to be ever modified in it's useable life except maybe more memory or larger HDD.

The real issue here has been HP's choice to sit and hope MOST machines with the badly located NVIDIA GPU (so it overheats and fails) make it to (say) 3yrs and then the luckless owner buys new when faced with the cost of a replacement motherboard plus labour.

I have heard as comparion that when ASUS Notebook owners began suffering a failure of the FireWire connector (that broke off the MoBo due to bad soldering) they simply did a full recall and the owner had the option of a newer model unit or their money back.

HP haven't really done the 'good thing' here. I have owned quite a bit of HP gear over the years as i've said and been really pleased with it but oh boy the Notebook product i have had experience with has really put a dampner on things for future purchases let alone the fact i'm now using a MacBook....

rphenix

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#222077 5-Jun-2009 19:15

MorrisTheCat:

Surely, that applies to Desktop systems. It's a bit different with Notebook/Laptops where what you buy is unlikely to be ever modified in it's useable life except maybe more memory or larger HDD.

I understand your philosophy but mine is laptop parts are always more fragile. The profit margin in a laptop has gone down significantly they are made to a much lower price point and they certainly get a beating by certain users in their day to day life. In our office we nolonger buy the expensive Toshiba models with extended warranties instead we get the cheaper models no extended warranty and dont cry a tear much if someone destroys one because we paid little over a 1/3rd of what we would have at one stage for the laptop.

Regarding HP. I've always found them to be troublesome in the laptop arena power supplies fail completely just outside of warranty that kind of thing. Other models this never happens.

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