My Computer is nuts! HP Pavilion dv2500 CTO, vista

[shisan]

I bought one time phone support from HP and they tried helping me...had me do several tests like HD test etc.We did recovery but that didnt help also.  The computer lights are on but nothing on the display.  They ruled out screen problem.  They think motherboard needs to be replaced now...it may cost $399+tax.

I cant believe it has not even been 1 1/2 yr and and the laptop is already dead!!  It wasnt cheap either paid $1400.

[Mscoles]

Wouldn't it be awesome if someone at HP was reading this and realized they had to do something about it? Like issue a service alert and recall the pos.

[useless_hp2500]

My Hp pavillion dv2500 (Nvidia graphics card) which is an year old and warranty expired in dec 2008. After 2 months out of warranty I am facing the same problem with the display card. There was nothing on the display eventhough I could hear windows booting up at the background. I just used see vertical colored lines.Sometimes I used to see six small screens of my desktop. I did try restarting several times. When I called HP support they say I have to extend the warranty for $99.99 for phone tech support(Which is useless as I know the problem) + $49.99 for hardware support to determine if its the hardware problem and tax me with the hardware issue which I have to buy later.

I somehow figured out the issue is with heat sinks, I have provided a cooling pad (NON-HP) having three fans($20-$40), now the laptop is normally working. I hope it should fix the problem. Just allow the laptop to cool down completely before you provide the pad. Is been two days after its running on cooling pad now. But I will let you guys know if I face the same problem.

BUT IN FUTURE I AM NEVER GOING TO BUY ANOTHER HP PRODUCT.

[HPdv2500t]

I also have a HP dv2500t with nVidia M8 graphics card. About 3 months after the 1-year warranty expiration, it started to have display problems.  Although things are in the right place, colors are totally messed up beyond recognition. It appears that difference color layers are shifted out of order.  But external displays are working fine. I’m not sure if it’s due to the same overheating problem of the others.  Any comments are appreciated.

[useless_hp2500]

Now I see the same problem what you have, I see difference color layers which are shifted out of order now. I never tried connecting to external display thou.  But I tried updating the driver from HP downloads and support site, I thought the problem got fixed with this, but once the desktop loaded, error message pops up showing "Display driver stopped working and has successfully recovered", well this happened every 10 mins or so. After about 10-15 times crashing and recovering in the row the system finally crashed with a blue screen. But now its working fine. 

Well you could try updating the display driver for nvidia. It might fix your issue. Seems like you have driver problem.

[HPdv2500t]

Updating driver failed to solve the problem. I believe the problem is still related to heating issues. If I turn on the computer from a completly cold state, the display will work initially, but will quickly run into problems after a couple of minutes. If I restart from a warm state, it's bad from the very begining. That indicates the problem is heating related. But I do not know exactly which part of the computer is having the problem. Again, all external displays are working fine. I can also remotly access the computer from another laptop of mine and it works fine too.

[useless_hp2500]

As a matter of fact, its a major heating issue with the GPU. I am facing the problem of bluescreen restarts. 

I have tried everything now updating the driver, providing the cooling pad, starting from cold state. Still the problems persists. I have even tried some solutions from this forum topic too , nothing was helpful.  Also, I have even contacted customer support they insist on selling thier extended service plans (99.99+49.99) and later probably tell me to purchase the hardware thats giving the problem, you know its not the best idea which adds upto $150 + $299 (for new mother board from hp) for this price you get a new notebook.

I dont know whether its possible to install another OEM graphics card hardware by removing the older one if its not soldered to motherboard. Other than that the only solution is buying a new one which is not HP.  

[Sticky1981]

My understanding is that HP contract Nvidia and some motherboard producing company to design a motherboard which has a GPU built in. ie motherboard and graphics card are one in the same.  Therefore if one fails the whole unit needs to be replaced.  Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

[smui]

ahh so i found the forum of the same model as my laptop the dv2500 i been only seeing the dv9500 with these problems but at last every1 should post as much as they can so hp can recall the dv2500. i have the same problem as everyone else with the 6 screens and 2 half screens on the bottom which i think is just an infinite loop of screens with the video card nvidia 8400gs. This sucks cuz i bought this for school and it died so fast and now im without a laptop so i paid 1400 for this piece of junk which i truely loved this laptop until it broke.

[woody75]

Hi,

I would like an update from everyone who has contributed to this forum, in particular in reference to the 

DV2500.

Im in the U.K, and am generally very technical and can resolve most computer problems.

I must admit, with my experience in the industry i would never consider buying an HP

laptop already, when they came onto the scene in a computing sense by buying Compaq

they were previously a printer company, and Compaq was a company who made

good enterprise level desktops and servers but were never known for their laptops.

Laptops do seem to have hardware problems far more then desktops because quality

im sure has to be compromised for size, sleekness etc.

ANyway by chance im helping my flatmate with an dv2535ea which has the exact problems you describe here.

the screens segments to 6 to 8 seperate screen area, has also had a memory parity error once, and

at times it just reboots at random.

Always after 5-10 minutes use, e.g if let it rest its Okay for a short period.

However the complication is that it fails a hard drive test (press F2 at boot for diagnostics)

Can anyone confirm if they had these same screen symptoms, and if they ran the hard disk

test.  

Had a brilliant chat session with someone from HP support, i raised these forums to them and the reply was 

"HP do not support forums".  Classic!!!....Well this is an Hp website right??  Perhaps he should rephrase

"we only condone good things to be said about HP".

anothr great one liner from my new friendwhen i asked which city he was in "I am notpermitted to give

policy information about my location or any other information".

His responses were very robotic, which i really hate about I.T support in these big companies,

come on!  someone show that you are flesh and blood and have a personality....

In the end atleast this person tried.   And unfortunately he has a point, the hard drive

test failed and it points to a faulty hard disk.  

This raises the following questions:

1.  Could there be two problems with my friends laptop, as the screen problem occurs exact as you descrive

here (though also it happens like this from external source too, one person said here that did not happen)

2.  Are your problems also hard drive problems?  Do Hp have a release of faulty hard drives during the period

of mid to end of 2007??

3.  Why is the 2500 specifically NOT included on this article?  http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us

Could it simply be that they sold many more 2500s and it comes down to costs?  

The chat help person was ADAMENT nearing to the point of denial that there are no such problems with the 2500 series,

and when i suggested maybe these have a faulty batch of hard drives, again the same robotic response.

I get the feeling it would cost HP too much t o do the sensible thing and offer the free repair for the 2500 series.

Can any body comment further on experiences with dealing with HP support with 2500 series in particular please, and advise

what the faulty part turned out to be.....need as many people as possible in order to prove HP wrong and show there is

a fault with the 2500 also....cheers people. 

we will try to call Uk support tomorrow.

PS - if anyone in the Uk needs any future support im happy to help brwoodnz@gmail.com gets me.  i have over ten years

experience in the industry.  im in London.

Brendan