Hp HDX16 Overheating Issues

[Addiebear]

So I've had my HDX 16 1040 for quite some time now, roughly a year and a half (not 100% on that time frame). I've always played gamed on it. I bought it for the SPECIFIC purpose in playing games and it worked fine for the first 9 months to a year.

Now, however. I cannot play any game for longer than 10 minutes without it getting up to 95+ degrees Celsius and shutting itself off. I would expect this issue if I was trying to play Crysis on full settings, being that playing on full settings on that specific game requires a monolith of a computer that costs your soul. Regardless, I cannot play any game such as Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Team Fortress 2, Portal, etc. for more than 10 minutes without it dieing on me.

I've been back and forth with Hp support technicians for months now and they cannot seem to find any solution besides to distract me long enough for my warranty to expire. So now I can't even send it in, e-mail them, call them, or recieve any support whatsoever to help in this continuing issue. I've reformatted, restored my system back to windows vista from windows 7, updated my bios, updated pretty much all drivers there are to update, cleaned the dust out of the vents, and even done a magic little dance in hopes to fix it. All to no avail.

As you can imagine this is a very frustrating event considering I paid quite a lump sum for this laptop to be able to play GAMES, however it seems that my money was for nothing and I am no longer allowed to play on my laptop. It now sits in a corner, dejected, and collecting dust.

To put it lightly, it is the most expensive dust collector I have ever bought. And this whole experience makes me glad that I chose not to spend any more money on any other HP computer in existance because of their inability to help with this issue in the span of a few months.

I'll stop ranting now. If anyone has any more suggestions or have the same problem, feel free to respond.

I'm quite willing to try anything at this point.

-Addiebear

[kickintenor]

I have had the hdx16 for almost 2 years now. i have had many issues with it overheating, but have come up with several different options in researching what other people have done, and also through some trial and error. Rather than using yours as a dust collector, I would suggest first propping a book under the back of the computer. This will allow the laptop to have some breathing room, and will help the computer to remain at a lower temperature. And don't wait until the computer is already hot, start using it this way from the beginning. Also- using some sort of cooling fan will help out immensely also. Using both these options will help you get at least a couple hours of good use out of it, and this includes playing games such as assassin's creed one and two, some of the games i frequently play on it. I've also recently found some other blogs about owners that will remove the battery, and this can help to prevent overheating, and also about purchasing the extended life battery, with the simple reasoning that it will raise the rear portion of the computer to give it more air. I don't have much experience with either of these solutions, but give them a shot if you wish. Just make sure that the computer is plugged in prior to removing the battery. If you DO hear of some other fix, please reply and let me know also. I'm looking for some sort of device that could strap to the bottom of the computer that could liquid cool it, but have been unsuccessful in finding one that i like thus far. And p.s. - if you're really planning on just using the hdx16 to collect dust, please feel free to mail it to me- i'd love to take it off your hands and use it myself as a heater when it gets really cold outside. 

Best wishes~

kt

[may91975]

i got the same problem , im a foreigner living in vietnam , you should demand them , what hp service center did to my laptop

is replace the whole mother sbother system.

luckly it was under warranty , but i am frustrated about it too, just like what you said , we pay a lot of money on it i bought mine almost

$ 1, 200 dolars here in vietnam ,, and take note my mouse pad too is not working too during that time and adaptor for battery , so if you imagine this , a lot of headache ,,,,,,,

someone give me advice on this , they say whenever you use the laptop you should useiNotebook Cooling fan as much as possible use it with the room with a aircoon ,

how inconvient it is ,, right

[jbfoley]

I have an HDX16 with the Nvidia mid-range graphics (the 512 meg 9600M GT card) with a 2.53 GHz processor (slightly hotter than the one on the 1040)  I use a Targus chill hub (linked below) with it to allow me to play games (fallout3, New Vegas, Starcraft 2, some other demanding ones) on high settings with no problems.  (I do turn off anti-aliasing, because it's not really needed on a laptop screen)  The chill hub that I have is -US1, and the fans sometimes get off-kilter which makes them very noisy until you bang on them, but newegg also carries a newer -US2 model of the same product that may have solved that problem.  As far as overheating, this has solved the problem for me. 

If that doesn't work, (or if you don't want to spend $50) I'd suggest opening the case and removing/remounting the heatsink on the video card with new arctic silver thermal paste.  This procedure is not for the faint of heart, but it's a relatively simple and cheap way that's likely to fix the problem, and a breakdown/dryup of the thermal paste is most likely the cause of your problem anyway.  This procedure is pretty easy on this computer as long as you have a small phillips screwdriver, and it sounds like the warranty is irrelevant to you anyway.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997581&cm_re=targus_cooler-_-34-997-581-_-P...

[looosecat]

Hi Folks, 

Thought I would chime in on the dissatisfaction I have with my sons HDX16 and some other helpful notes.  His laptop was purchased in August of 2009 and of course is out of warranty.  I will list a few of the problems I have and the things I have learned so far including the overheating problem.  

First of the battery has a very short shelf life and the charger eventually failed also.  Most battery have a number of full charge cycles that can occur and there is not much you can do about it short of replace the battery and hope it lasts as long as the first one which was 16 months for both (6-cell OE battery FYI) .

Cooling fan sounds like a race car at times.  This is what I believe is an attempt by the computer to clear the debris from the inside of the cooling fan housing.  Sounds like a good idea if the pieces are small enough to pass through but I find that cat hair and other assorted bits make a great basis for the pieces of felt that I have removed from several laptops now blocking the air flow from the cooling fins.  This occurred in my sons HDX and required almost complete dis assembly of the laptop to access !

With that said the heat sink problem is well documented on other HP laptops and will eventually lead to the failure of the solder joints on the graphics chip the is part of a major c;ass action lawsuit at this time but does not cover the HDX products - go figure. Poke around on You Tube if you want to see the repairs that I am attempting.  

I currently have my sons laptop in pieces (a lot of them by the way) in order get to the motherboard to attempt to re-solder on the graphics chip which has failed on his HDX16. His problem is the the back lighting circuit has died and will not illuminate the LCD screen. It does work fine when connected to an external monitor. I believe this the same problem that others are fighting with the CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.  I will post my result of this repair when it occurs. 

With that all said I have learned a few things about HP and laptops.  

1. I think it would be wise to fabricate a small filter and attach it to the air inlets on any laptop from day one if you don't want to pull it apart every few years to clean it. 

2. The faster it is the hotter it gets. The cooling systems are not designed to handle overheating very well and the chip sets are being secured with smaller and smaller bits of solder these days.  A little less speed may mean it lasts a little longer.

3. By an extended warranty for the useful life of the laptop - 3 years is all you will get these days without a major failure. 

4. Backup, Backup, Backup,

5. Its much faster to wipe a drive and rebuild it than it is to pay someone to repair it or to repair it your self. Keep it simple or maintain a duplicate drive that can be swapped as needed. with the basic essentials that will get you going again.  

By the way I have an HP printer that has given many hours of grief also but that a story for another day. 

Remember the squeaky wheel will eventually get the grease. Sometimes only after the bearings fails.

Cheers

Capt Ron          

[HaggisCat]

See post 5 in this thread that may be of some use here.

 http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware/HP-HDX-18-keyboard/m-p/526115#M41148

[teamofna]

I have the same issue (obvious design flaw). I use a pad with a fan underneath the laptop, and it still overheats and shuts down.

To any HP employee who cares, do you think any of us are going to buy an HP for our next PC (when the current PC is sure to burn out due to over heating issues).

[dwong4555]

just came across this thread when looking for how to dissemble my laptop to clean for dust. but in terms of cooling pads i got a cooler master notepal U3 and my laptop has never over heated. ive found that my laptop is hottest by the heat sink, hard drive, and video card. most cooling pads have fixed fans. but this pad has fans that you can move around. so i placed one under each of the hottest areas and my laptop is always cool even with games such as sc2 and crysis. also, i took out the remote in the card slot to allow more breathing room and air flow. its lasted me about 2 years so far and has not given me many problems.

U3 cool master:

http://proclockers.com/cooling/1602--coolermaster-notepal-u3-laptop-cooler.html

theres a U2 version but i would highly suggest the U3 since the hdx gets most hot in 3 places

[HP_NIGHTMARES]

ok to people having the restarting issue. try disabling ur wireless cards on ur laptop and take a go at it. clean  ur comps with an air duster can and elevate the laptops intake by at least 2 inches and have nothing blocking it. have the same issue with my laptop its only a DV7. but so far after 6 trips to a repair center not a single one cud fix my problem. so simply put this is what they told me to do. disable ur wireless and use ethernet cables to connect ur laptop to the internet if u cant then sry cant help. 

[laamieparfaite]

I have had all the same issues with overheating as you guys have talked about.

I took my HDX16 to Geek Squad in September 2011 and found basically no dust buildup.  I bought the computer in December 2008, I believe, so I was really hoping that that was the problem due to age, but nope.

I also bought this laptop for college and gaming since it was the top of the line HP laptop at the time that I bought it (except for the 18 inch, blu-ray step up).

Up until this summer I was able to play Sims 3 for HOURS without ever heating up. However, this summer after not using my laptop much it would play for about 30 minutes and get super hot. Then after a few trials of this, it would shut down after an hour, then 45 minutes, and now if I do not play without a cooling pad, it shuts down after 15 minutes on medium settings with Sims 3. It shuts down after only 10 minutes of play on high settings. Pathetic.

I bought a Cooler Master Storm cooling pad because my warranty is up and HP screwed me out of $99 for customer support that did not fix my computer. I made them give me a refund because I was so p***ed. Needless to say, it runs flawlessly with the mat, but I'm covered under a Geek Squad warranty to have them fix the heatsink if at all possible. Anyways, the link for the cooling pad is at the bottom through Best Buy's website. Although, check around for better pricing.

I have concluded that the apparent problem is due to the graphics card (nVidia GeForce 9600M GT, aka P.O.S). It is smoldered the computer so it can't even be replaced! Very annoying. I have done all the updates to both computer and graphics card, with no avail. Rule of thumb, stay away from HP laptops if they have a nVidia graphics card!

I am convinced that HP is aware of this little problem, and so is the nVidia company, and they need to provide some kind of support to their customers. As some of you have mentioned, there is a class action lawsuit for such problems, and people WILL NOT buy their products anymore. I love my laptop, but I will not be buying another HP when this one goes.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Cooler+Master+-+Storm+SF-19+USB+2.0+Cooling+Stand/2305398.p?id=121832007... master&cp=2&lp=1