HP 9373 Pavilion- black screen coma state

[Chrigel]

Hi,

I seem to have the same problem as many others with a black screen and not much else. My hard drives work fine.

Like others my product serial number is not listed in the Limited Liability series that is published on HP.

Customer service here in Switzerland also gives me the standard line, 'its not in the list and so your computer should be fine'.

I requested my case to be escalated, no one phoned me back within 48 hours, and when i tried to get in touch with customer service I was put on hold and hung up on!!!

I am going to keep calling back even though HP's line is that the motherboard is the problem and not the chip-I have to admit they kind of got me there as I do not know so much about the interior of computers, but it cant be that 'everything is fine' while everyone else with an NVIDIA chip (mine GeForce 7600) of a certain make has a problem. My laptop is about a year and a half old. I have no money for another computer. They need to own up.

Any other 9373ers out there?

[gilmor]

yes Chrigel.....same thing has happened to me on a rarely used, well protected, software-lite 9373uk pavillion elite....(800GBP for tower alone!)

I am anxiously waiting to hear from HP. I know it is hardware, battery and cmos jumper does nothing to change black monitor...same monitor just tested with my LG laptop....working fine.....

I wonder who else has had this same issue...?

have sent you a direct email chrigel...let me know if you get it...

[dgodfather2k5]

If you want to know how many of us have this problem that HP refuses to acknowledge go here http://www.H P L I E S.com just remove the spaces, coz they delete the link (look how far they go) you will be surprised at how many of us have been ripped off...

[gilmor]

thats for posting....

just followed link and about to call them....

[Farard]

I have the same problem with my HP DV9000, which I bought on 2007 in NY. I was tald that there is mother board problem.
When I press F8 during starting. It gave me the following information. Can someone advise what's the acctual problem?

Thanks

PHonixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.1
Copyright 1985-2005 Phoenix Technology Ltd
All Rights Reserved

BIOS version F.3D
CPU Stepping+ Unknown 1600MHz  BSP Info, 2 CPUs Detected
2048 System Ram passed
1024 KB L2 RAM Passed
System BIOS Shadowed
Video BIOS Shadowed
ATAPI CD-ROM MATHITADUD-RAM UJ-851S
Fixed Disk 0: FUJITSU MNW2120BH
MOUSE INITIALIZED
ERROR
0271: CHECK date and time settings
WARNING
0251: SYSTEM CMOS checksum bad-Default configuration used

[jimkola]

The actual problem? Hhmm.. getting the truth seems to be tough with this one. Maybe we can't handle the truth.

The solder that was used to secure the GPU(graphics processor unit) is "enviromentally friendly". Which that alone means very little, but the reality is it can't handle the heat. Eventually the solder connections start cracking-and now you have a blank screen. This is why one of the cheap repairs is to take your motherboard out and hit it with a heatgun and remelt the solder.

Have been told it's "officially" isolated to DV5###, DV6###, and some DV9###.  But failure at the solder on the DV2, DV8, and TX line have been documented outside the "official" list. I personally had to reflow my DV8.

Have been told only AMD boards had this problem. Again numerous failures with Intel boards have been documented. Personally, I think AMD only has the lead because at the store AMD units have the greater presence due to lower price. I'm not sure if the motherboard manufacturers are to blame-they can't really be held responsible for what another company does to their board once it leaves their factory.

The one consistant factor seems to be the Nividia GPU. I'm not personally aware of Raedon/ATI GPUs failing.

  But here's the great unknown. What specs did HP supply Nividia?  What temps was Nividia told they had to deal with?

  Which company actually installed the GPU to the board?

  Who tested and approved the "new" solder for this application?

  Are they still using that same solder today? If not, when did they pull it?

The reps have talked in circles, contradicted themselves, and in some situations relayed information I don't think they personally believe(tried to word this last one nicely) I'm fed up with,  "you're the only one...", "not on the list...", "no known issues...." etc.

And the bottom line is none of the above matters. You didn't buy a service contract so it's all your fault.

[gilmor]

jimkola....thanks so for posting.....and informing....it all seems to make sense.....

when i look at the enhanced warranty list...I can only see that this applies tonotebooks, and certainly no mention of my poor m9373 Pavillion Elite desktop.....

however, I am stillunder the years warranty until 27712/09....

is it viable that a repair shop could resolder the board succesfully? Are HP using a different solder now in their repairs....surely they have a corporate insurance for this eventuality?

Ah well, they have asked to pick it up....so the story goes on.....I have to remain positive....what's the alternative....?

any further info or inks would be appreciated....

Has anyone taken them to court over this....? Or attempted to....

[Farard]

My HP laptop DV9000 had a black screen, after switching ON/OFF I pressed F8 during start, It's working now, but after watching movies or other videos, it will work maximium 10 minutes then it stucks and the screen shows many lines on blue screen. So when restarting it again it will become normal. I was tald that I have to change the Mother Board. I have updated the BIOS but the problem is not solved.

1) Do I need to replcae the Mother Board?

2) How can find the Motehr Board P/N if it's not written on it? Is it possible to find the mother Board P/N with the Model & S/N of my laptop?

3) What do you think?I f I change the mother board, will it solve the problem?

Thank you Kudos for your reply on my previos masage.

[jimkola]

A new motherboard for your notebook will have the same inherent design issues-which is why many try the reflow first. I doubt a repair center would do the reflow. They can't offer any warranty, and I don't think many consumers would willingly pay the tech for the 2-3 hours of time if the outcome was bad. So it's easier for them to just slam a new board in.

Whether or not new laptops being sold right now have the same issue has been hard to dtermine. HP customer service reps tend to talk in circles and give different versions. Their answers are probably scripted-but each interpets their own way, which makes their responses seem inconsistant.

HP has assumed very little responsibility. There's been a few units that they have acknowledged-but compared to the number of people affected it appears to be a small fraction. HP could contest this, and maybe rightfully so, but no data or info is being offered by either HP or Nividia to clarify anything, so consumers are forced to draw their own conclusions. The reps have told SO many people that they have an isolated problem that they have very little credibility anymore.

There are websites dedicated to this concern that have been started. But If I list them my post will be deleted. 

If you decide to reflow you can get a good 8:14 clip off youtube. Use "reflow" and "Ibm" as keywords and look for the 8:14 long one.

It does assume you've already got the motherboard out. Its not bad to remove-you just need patience.

[koolzar]

I was online searching for answeres to the same problem, paid 2500 for a hp dv9335nr and cant use it 2 yrs later. how did you make out?