6 month old HP dv7-2170us laptop locks up randomly....very bizarre.

[mrvickery]

I wonder if you have a similar issue to mine:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Lockups-Freezes-Hangs/bd-p/Laptop-Freeze

Do programs suddenly stop running and show "not responding?" Does the system eventually reboot and indicate there's no hard drive installed?

[AlexAlgo]

My laptop didnt eventualy reboot, but I was not waiting for more then few minutes.

Just got follow-up email from HP support. Here is my response to them

Unfortunately HP support were unable to identify the issue and provide a fix.
Accompanying letter said that BIOS was upgraded, which turned out to be not true, since the BIOS version did not change.
Also letter said that some "configuration changes" have been made, which is a vague statement which can not be verified.
I concluded that HP techincal support is not capable of identifying problems in laptops manufactured by HP, which is very dissapointing.

I believe that problem with my laptop was caused by incompatibility with some Windows update. However when HP support reinstalled Windows
they did not apply any of the updates suggested by Microsoft (there were about 70 updates available at that time), so they were testing the unit
with outdated version of OS, which does not make much sence to me, unless it was done in order to get rid of the unit as soon as possible.

I ended up running Windows wihout any updates issued after the mid of February (when the issue happened for the first time).
Issue hasnt reappeared since then, but I am obviously at risk since my OS now lacks lots of security patches.

[quikky]

Ok, looks like my laptop has been fixed. I have not had a single lock-up since the motherboard and thermal pad have been replaced. The system as a whole seems a lot more stable, no BSODs, or anything else that I used to experience along with the lock-ups.

AlexAlgo: I did not request the laptop to be sent to a higher level tech, HP did that themselves. Basically, I called them to ask about the status of my laptop, they said that the tech was unable to reproduce the problem, and so the laptop was moved to higher level tech support.

One thing I would recommend in cases like this, is to contact HP daily and ask about the status. If they want to send the laptop back because they cannot reproduce the problem, insist they keep looking or they move the laptop to a higher level tech.

[Shirleylox]

DV7-4070

I have been getting the lock up problem also. Sent back once and it is still doing it.

I have noted that mine will work just fine without the AC adapter plugged into the laptop. It will run fine on the battery until the battery gets low. It will boot OK running on just the battery. All battery operation (without the AC adapter) seems OK.

When I get the "hang/freeze" the hard drive lamp goes amber (indicating it is in the "Park" mode. Have others noted this?

Have also noted that it has trouble doing a restart with the AC adapter plugged in.

Hopefully someone will try unplugging the AC adapter for me and see if operation continues in a good manner

[Ruslan_M]

I had pretty same trouble with my 2-years dv7 3110er as described by TS (random freezes happening more and more often).

Tried tons of software tricks, replaced RAM, HDD, disabled all unused devices, upgraded BIOS - didn't help.

Finally brought the laptop to a local service center (not just HP) - they said the thermal grease on the CPU was completely dry, so they refreshed it and also cleaned some dust.

Now it works stable for hours under heavy load and when gaming.
So for me the reason was overheating (as I suspected actually).

HTH

[Shirleylox]

My DV7-4070

Went back to HP 3 times for this fix and three times they failed to fix it. The laptop ran out of Warranty time so it now became my problem. A web search turned up the following as a fix for several varying but similar problems. It seems that several people had success by installing SP47845. My laptop was useless as it was so just went ahead and installed 47845. The laptop has been working like a gem since then.

The odd thing about this is that the SP came from a HP site. I had wasted many, many hours online with HP Tech Support people, with them telling me to do all sorts of tests and procedures.

Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver

VERSION: 9.5.6.1001
SP47845 Instructions/Information

      ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp47501-48000/sp47845.html
SP47845 File Download
      ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp47501-48000/sp47845.exe

File saved at (on laptop) c:\swsetup\sp47845 and executed from there.