HP Pavilion dv7 freezes while gaming (black screen)

[enkerro16]

Ok, I'll post some specs of my laptop for starters:

OS - Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit Professional

Processor - AMD Turion(tm) X2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-75, 2200 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

Memory - 4GB (2x2GB)

Graphics card - Ati Mobility Radeon 4650 HD

BIOS Version/Date - Hewlett-Packard F.13, 11.5.2009

SMBIOS Version 2.4

Now to the problem.

When I'm playing any game my screen just turns black (or somehow "mushy" before it goes all black) and after that the computer wont respond to any commands (keycombinations etc.). When this happens I have to shut down my computer by holding down the power button. After I've shut down the computer it won't start (when I hit the power button the computer starts and shuts down between 0.5-2 seconds), it will start normaly after I have taken the battery out and pressed the power button for about 15secs, so all the remains of electricity has worn out from the system.

So this problem appears only while I'm playing games, if I'm using the laptop for anything else it runs just fine.  

The time it takes for this to happen is completely random (but usually never more than one hour)

So far I've taken several procedures trying to solve this problem:

-check the graphics card from any dust/dirt (it was completely clean, so that should rule out overheating)

-tested both memories separately on both memorygates

-monitored my CPU temp (between 65-86C, it has allways been pretty high so no change in that either)

-ran primary- and secondary hard drive diagnostics from BIOS (this made the computer crash every time, but it didn't make the screen go black, the computer just simly shut it self down all the sudden and it would boot up normally)

-re-installed video drivers several times

Please help me! I'm desperate!!

Thank you!

[genovdan]

I thing it is quite possible the problem to be in your hard disk, if you cannot complete the hard dist test. Also is possible

, if your video card is with dedicate memory,  the problem to be in your video memory.

In general you can try this:

1. The bios memory test is quite inaccurate, I had problem with my RAM memory and the bios test passed without errors, but my laptop still crashed with blue screen. Then I performed the memory test with the program memtest86 on both memory modules and one of them did not passed the test, I removed it and everything was fine then.

2. You can try to defragment yout hard disk

3. Go on My Computer (right button click on the icon)/Manage/Event Viewer and to check the log about the black screen.

[enkerro16]

---

genovdan wrote:

I thing it is quite possible the problem to be in your hard disk, if you cannot complete the hard dist test. Also is possible

, if your video card is with dedicate memory,  the problem to be in your video memory.

In general you can try this:

1. The bios memory test is quite inaccurate, I had problem with my RAM memory and the bios test passed without errors, but my laptop still crashed with blue screen. Then I performed the memory test with the program memtest86 on both memory modules and one of them did not passed the test, I removed it and everything was fine then.

2. You can try to defragment yout hard disk

3. Go on My Computer (right button click on the icon)/Manage/Event Viewer and to check the log about the black screen.

---

Ok I tried defragmenting my hard disks (theres two of them) and it didn't help. One reason why I don't think why my RAM memories would be damaged, because in this case they both would have broken down at the same time (which is quite rare I think, not completely impossible tho'). I can't see any logs from event viewer either, because the computer doesn't "crash", the screen only goes black and it keeps on running and the only thing I can find related to this is the sudden powering down of the computer which I have to do every time the screen goes black.

So the remaining problem from your list is the video memory. How can I test it to find out if the problem is related to that?

[dallen5343]

Have the same problem. Geek squad couldn't solve it. Had them send it out November 19th. Got a call from Geek at 2: 20pm today. The motherboard is the problem, or the problem NOW. I'm hoping that this fixes all the problems. The laptop was working fine but crashed during gaming exactly as you described your experience. So anyway It is costing me $310.00, and i should have my laptop in 10 days. Hope this was helpful. Saving for a Dv8

[Scott46016]

I have the same problem with my DV7-3156dx laptop. It has been getting progressively worse. Mine only does it when playing games too. However, mine started with Lord of the Rings Online, and as it got worse, it started doing it with other games. I made a cooling rig with a 20"box fan, and it stopped for almost a month. That didn't last though, and started doing it again even with the cooling rig. I can't prove it, (as mine only has the temp sensor diode for the cpu, but none for the gpu), but I believe even though my cpu hasn't overheated, I believe the gpu has, and it was likely damaged in the process.

[RiyuGaigun]

I've got the same problem with my HP dv7 pavilion dv7 3060us entertainment notebook. When gaming, even on simple games like minecraft or terraria, the comp screen blacks out after some time (was originally about an hour, and only on graphically intense games, now down to minutes). I can't get the screen to recover. after powering it down, it won't boot up again for a few minutes. If I put it in front of a fan or air conditioner for a while, it does recover a little faster. Temperature readings on the core with AMD's overclock software (which I am using for diagnostic purposes) indicates that both core temperatures slowly climb to temperatures around 80* celcius just before it crashes.

This is most likely a heating issue, but why it cropped up now I have no idea. Whats worse is I can't even figure out for sure if its the CPU, GPU or northbridge thats overheating. And since the warranty is up of course, I can't send it in or contact technical support. Reapplying thermal paste also DID NOT WORK. I am going to try a copper shim next time I have the time to delve into it.

I cleaned the fan out completely, and successfully ran those BIOS tests, though after the tests it experianced the "won't restart" bit as if it had crashed. I even drilled some extra holes around the fan unit intake to try to improve cooling to no avail.

My comp still has the same hardware it had since it left the factory, and I'm running windows 7 on it.

**Update** begining to think it may be some sort of power short. Even when running it on top of a fan, or without any graphics, it now locks up. Was in the middle of laptop harddrive tests (the ones that are stickied) during the latest crash, and it didn't boot for the rest of the day. Will try working on it again later, but first finishing those tests through a different computer. After that, going to try to complete the part where you submit info to hp, but I got the feeling that isn't going to help me free of charge.

[Nandez]

Hi,

First excuse my poor english,  I'm still learning =)

I have same problem with my DV7.. I got both my motherboard and screen changed and now, the screen goes black after a few minutes using the laptop... sometimes it takes about half an hour. 

As I got my hardware changed, I thought it was an software level issue.. like drivers.. SO.. 

so I tried several things and I found this...

* Screen goes black in several WIN 7 distros...

* Sometimes screen goes black while playing games, and sometimes just by surfing the net or using light weight apps.

* Both HD and Memory test shows nothing wrong, and I use laptop over a 3 fan deck.. maybe is a heat problem.. but dunno.

but what i find really weird is that..

* Works fine under several LINUX distros (Kubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva and Gentoo)

* Using VBox under linux, i could ran a virtual machine with WinXP and screen works fine! even on games!

i think if the hardware is the main problem.. shouldn't fail under linux also??