Paviliion tx 1000 Overheating Destroys Motherboard - Design Problem

[iPWNTU411]

This problem is easily fixed by replacing the thermal compound on both the processor and GPU.  I found the compound that came with the TX1000 didn't do the job, so I replaced it with Arctic Silver 5, which I picked up at RadioShack for about $10. (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2216879)  I haven't had a problem with overheating at all since I replaced the thermal paste.

I am sorry for posting a solution, as I can see this thread is for complaining about design flaws without a desire for solution. 

[RagsdaleLeetPea]

This is extremely interesting!  My tx1000 (1119us) died in May and was about 10 months past warranty at the time.  I went to HP management and talked them into replacing the unit.  They played it "no contest" without admitting the obvious design flaw and told me they'd never do me another favor.  The CRS manager actually racked me over the coals as if to make me feel guilty for asking them to fix the problem.  Lucky for me, there are hundreds of identical complaints about this unit spread all over the web.  

Well, heres the thing: they replaced it using the same flawed materials/design and now my problem is starting again.   I first noticed the power brick hot enough to fry an egg and then noticed the fan running on high with only a simply web page running.  I want to catch this problem before it fries the MB again.  

So after all this background blather, could you please tell me if thus sounds like your situation and also could you point me to some instrux on how to apply this radio shack goop?   

[bloodychaos]

I got my TX 1209AU free when I renewed my contract with my ISP around November 2007. Last year December, I notice the keyboard starts to feel really hot and the time taken to load programs are sickenly slow and my wifi starts to act funny. I mainly use this laptop as my main computer and not wanting to buy another one I did a simple google search, which indicated that there's thousands of complains regarding this. Many things were noted, such as design flaws or incompatibilty of chipsets. Calling HP didn't help even when I quoted complains from websites to them and a few other things. So I gave up and bought a desktop (not HP) around March this year, transferred all the data from my laptop to it. I still use it from time to time but I notice that once the processor starts to heat up, the notebook would simply stop. This usually happens after 30 minutes to 1 hour after it booted up (the boot itself takes about 15 minutes).

I decided to take things to my own hand a couple of days ago.

Since it's already out of warranty and it's free anyways, I decided to strip everything apart (that was fun). Guess what I found? There's sponges on the heatsink. I've been modding PCs and notebooks for a couple of years but this is the first time I've seen sponges on a heatsink. I think we all know sponges traps heat. I also notice that there's lots of dust on the fan and heatsink as well, which traps in more heat. But the amount looked like it wasn't cleaned for more than 3 years. The dust really sticked on to the heatsink and sponges. I rid the heatsink of dust, cleaned the fan, lose the sponges and added in some cooling paste on the processor. After reassembly, the laptap still loads for 15 minutes, but the temperature was tolerable (about 30 to 40 celcius degrees) and it seems to last longer, at least about 2 hours before shutting off again. I was simply letting it run windows update and it shuts off mid way when the download was still at 81%. Well, I'm too lazy to see if I can strip and fix anything else but my guess is the motherboard is going to kick the bucket soon. 

My first PC was a HP and it lasted with me for about 5 years before the processor died. My second computer was a HP notebook. It stopped working after 3 years. Then comes my TX 1209AU. I was quite disappointed that HP service has really gone down along with some of its products. I've decided not to buy another HP computer after this experience and decided to go with a MacBook for notebooks and a custom PC for desktops.

[GYC]

Our daughter's Pavillion laptop just burnt up and the screen went black and everyone at her school told her it was a known defect in HP Pavillion computers because HP used a defective NVIDIA video chip.  We took it to a repair place and they confirmed what everyone was saying - they told us as soon as we described the problem don't bother paying for anyone to even look at it because the answer will be you pay $400 for a new motherboard and the new motherboard will then have the same problem.  We then called HP support and they said pay $400 and send it in and they will then diagnose it.  When we informed them what we had been told, they only suggested we take it to our nearest HP Service Repair (which they wouldn't supply us with on the phone, only told us to look it up).  We have tried to find an HP Service Repair location anywhere in the SF Bay area, and could not find one, even using the HP website for this - another dead end!  We subsequently found the long threads of reports and the news articles of over a year ago when this became a widespread and well known issue.  It is clear this is a defective design and HP is not standing behind their product.

THEN TO TOP THIS OFF, I had the same thing happen to my Sony laptop just two weeks later, so I called Sony.  Sony informed me, without any hassle, that they will send someone out to my house to replace the motherboard for free!  My Sony laptop, with NVIDIA video chip, was long out of warranty, but Sony said their policy was to stand behind their products and this issue they will fix for free even though it is out-of-warranty.  Not only that, they are going to now give a three year warranty on the laptop after it is repaired.

We had bought HP (and Sony) because of name-brand trust that they would be reliable and stand behind their products.  We now have to replace our daughter's laptop and you can bet who we will not be buying from and who we will seek to continue to do business with!  HP and all prospective HP customers would be well advised to read the forums and complaints - people need to know to vote with their pocket-books and not buy from fly-by-night companies, which HP has now evidently become.

[dimitriosart]

I am really dissapointed. I've always had an issue with this laptop tx1000. First it was the integrated webcam, never worked. The drivers on the site did not solve the problem, I remember that I went to Dell and downloaded the right driver.

ANYHOW.

This laptop has always amazed me how hot it gets compared to my other laptops. It actually is a nuisance to use, and I am not kidding, it is literaly burning my legs to 2nd degree (it's hot, but you know, you are surfing the net for hours, you're not paying attention to the gradually increasing heat, and before you know it, you have like a serious sunburn that hurts when you are done. I don't think I should be getting this from using a product that was actually made to put on my lap. 

I just found out about this thread and it's very interesting to read. Now I understand why sometimes the internet goes off (it doesn't), instead of resetting my router in the hope of solving it all the time, now I know it's the starting symptom of this laptop going bad. Worst thing now is that recently, the laptop just freezes, and the letters on the screen fade, then the entire screen fades and magenta or blue lines start to fill up the screen. If I try to reboot, it would reboot just after the windows welcome and freeze again, in other words: you've been surfing to much, it's time to go sleep.... thank you very much HP..... This laptop has also been very slow in starting up (from the beginning)

What is left for me to do?  It does not make sense to: buy a motherboard and fix it, or buy thesame laptop. I really think HP should offer me something, this is not normal. I would want an equivalent laptop that does not overheat. HP i hope you are listening. Maybe we should start a class action suit since we are with this many people, there's a great chance to succeed with this.

[HP_Fail]

I too had this problem and after contacting HP numerous times, they told me that my only option was to pay $450. This is ridiculous and if I get it fixed, it will DEFINITELY not be through HP. Thinking about just going with a different brand or building a desktop.

Anyone know of anyone that will replace a motherboard for half that price? Haha, $450 is absurd.

[leesahly]

I agree that we should consider joining together with a class action lawsuit. HP must know about this issue and has done nothing, as far as I know, to resolve this issue. These computers should be recalled and customers should be reimbursed.

[IzAaKvAc]

Add my case to this ridiculous issue. Seriously, i am so pissed. I've shiped my computer twice, and it is still overheating. My wireless stopped working for 4 months, and miraculously  started working yesterday after "downloading" updates automatically.  On the other hand, I've run this computer in  power saver mode since the 6th month after I bought it to avoid overheating; so, technically i have a  computer with worse capabilities than a computer from the early 2000's... LAME...

Why don't we just get together and sue the company. They might hear us after a formal claim.

[alex548]

Another one bites the dust. Co-worker's daughter brought it to me this afternoon. Hit the power button and all lights come on for a second, then nothing.

Quick google search found the problem. Quick search through HP's support site brought me to this thread. The notebook is out of warranty so It's definitely not being sent to HP for a TEMPORARY REPAIR. I found a company who advertises on ebay which will do the repair (using IR reflow station), then will add a solid copper shim and thermal paste on the GPU which they say can prevent the same issue from happening again. That's probably the route I'l ltake with this thing especially since it's $150 + shipping (compared to $400 - $450 from HP).

[Augieguy06]

I too purchased the tx1000 series (tx1419 to be exact).  The wireless driver began disappearing a few weeks ago, nicely after my warranty ended.  Additionally it does become VERY VERY hot.  I contacted HP and was informed that because my warranty was expired, they would not give any diagnostic advice over the phone unless I paid the $49.99 for 14 days or $99.99 for 1 year.  I then attempted the online chat and followed all possible instructions there (ie removing the battery, removing the wireless card and then reconnecting it, updating to the newest Broadcom driver, using system restore to restore to an earlier date, and reverting to the original Broadcom driver) none of which worked. 

Needless to say, I spoke with multiple people at HP.  I advised them that the issue was most likely a hardware issue and asked if I could simply have the machine sent in to be fixed.  They advised that it would cost approx $300 to do that (even without me telling them the issue yet).  I was then told that I could talk to a tech and pay the $49.99, however if they were unable to solve my issue, I would not be refunded the 49.99 and would still have to pay approx. $300 to send in the machine.  I expressed my displeasure at the idea of getting technical assistance which didn't solve my problem and STILL paying for that "assistance" however I was forwarded to another person who refused to budge from that position.  I then was told that I may need a new wireless card for the issue.  If I purchased the card and THAT did not solve the problem, however, HP will not accept a return the wireless card and will not issue a refund either.

As if this were not enough fun, I asked each technician if they had experienced calls pertaining to this issue from other HP customers and they denied that this had happened.  I told them that there were recalls for computers in the DV series for this same problem and upon looking at their records they suddenly agreed with me however related that they have not experienced issues with the TX series.... I do not know what else to do. This lap top is under 2 years old and I feel very ripped off that the company will not stand behind the product or at least be reasonable in terms ofdiagnosing and fixing the problem.

Any suggestions?