Pavilion dv8000 series (dv8339us) spontaneously shutting down

[mhconley]

My wife's dv8339us has begun spontaneously shutting down.  Upon reboot there is no indication of any problem.  Windows boots as though it had been properly shut down and there are no errors in the event logs.  This has been occurring 5-20 times a day for the last several days.  We keep the vents and heatsinks clear with canned air.  I installed Rightmark and have noted CPU temperatures in the 96 C range when she is playing her Ultima Online, otherwisze it is in the high 70 C range.  Is this normal?

What is causing these shut downs?  What are my next troubleshooting steps?

I am a computer science graduate and have no issues tearing the system apart.  I replaced a broken hinge.

Thanks,

Martin

[Huffer]

Those are very high temps. I would get in there and clean out the area around the heatsink and fan and apply new Arctic Silver between the heatsink and processor core. 

Here is the Service Manual:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00554540.pdf

[ClintonTam · Accepted solution]

http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent/NACSC/SML/results.htm?SID=7900379&MEID=69E2929C-DBC5-4051-B053-...

This is the HP Service Media Library for the dv8000 ( Intel base ) series of notebook.

Select Fan/heat sink assembly at the left, it should provide you both the text and video ( with sound ) to perform a step by step procedure for you to access to the Fan/heat sink assembly if you really want to do it yourself.

Since this operation requires you to remove the motherboard from its housing, it is a MAJOR operation. If this notebook is still under warranty, I think you should send this back to HP and ask their service department to check the overheating issue for you.

Problem with overheating or thermal shut down are due to the following reasons ( not in any order )

1. Inlet or outlet for the Fan/Heat Sink assembly are blocked by dirt or lint.

2. The thermal grease or paste is not functioning to its optimal heat transfer rate and needed to be replaced.

3. Defective Heat Sink Assembly.

4. Graphics controller does not support some gaming 3D functions and the CPU is spending too much time in emulating the hardware functions in software.

[mhconley]

Thanks for the responses, the service manual and especially that video.  As I said I am very comfortable with computers having built several PCs, replaced the mobo of a friend's Toshiba laptop, and the hinges on my wife's.  The Pavilion is well outside of its warranty.  I plan to pull it apart tomorrow, put in new thermal grease, and see if that corrects the problem.  I'll report back.

Martin

[mhconley]

I pulled the PC apart this weekend - the videos were great - and the heatsink was loose.  I cleaned it off, put on a new dab or arctic silver and put it back together.  No shutdowns since.  The PC is running 5-15 degrees cooler according to Rightmark.

Thanks!

Martin 

[mhconley]

I found the PC was still running hot and occasionally shutting down after I replaced the heat sink.  I purchased a new fan assembly on eBay and that cured the problem.  It is now running a full 20 degrees C lower and has not restarted once.  It seems the bearing went out in the old fan.  Just thought I would post this in case others are having problems with their dv8000’s overheating.

Martin

[PowerSparks]

my hp dv8000 has been a great laptop, just recently, I noticed the fan speed would pick up and then without notice the computer would shut down.. I have used it most everyday for 3 years in Honolulu. so, even though heat can be an issue, operation in a warm climate is not a problem.

Like many of the posters, I started tracking my system temperature using RightMark.  Fan noise is not a problem, and when the fan speed did pickup, and would be happy to hear it if it would cool down but not shutdown.  It seemed like the system core temperature would get to 120 F/ 49 C then shut down. however, that doesn't seem all that warm.  

Most everyone has pointed out the remedy is related to a malfunction of the heat sink, the fan, or the thermal conductive paste. Heat sinks, as long as they are clean and not damaged, don't really go bad; and the fan operates and unless I could find an rpm rate to compare to, it's okay. but paste! that was new for me.  The paste is made up of oil, silica, zinc oxide... as much as I can tell. However, our local electrical store, Honolulu Electrical Inc., carries the thermal conductive paste for just $3.  

So I could pay someone to do this, however, I need it done now... 

 Taking the computer apart was easy, for the most part. the manual is pretty good about tearing it down, but putting back together is a little difficult and the manual is not really that clear about some of the assembly issues. clear diagrams for wiring, and design changes in similar models are not covered well. Also, it is easy to over torque screws and damage it. which i did on one of the expansion port's knob like screws. Also, while I had it apart, I do wish i could have replaced the fan, since these are pretty cheap, but hope the old fan will be okay.  

Once apart, the fan assembly is a heat sink and has a copper heat sink attached with two surfaces that contact the processor.. oh, there is a fabric material which felt like it had some thermal conductive paste... or oil. okay, that was another surprise.. but clearly, this is part of the assembly. on these I put a generous amount of paste

There is also a larger heat sink which is situated with the fan assembly so air blows through it. This heat sink rest directly on the processor. it still had some white thermal conductive paste on it, so cleaned all of the processor faces before applying more paste. However, the manual said, the heat sink would require some moving about to release from the paste. that wasn't the case, the paste wasn't really sticky enough.  Because assembly wasn't too easy, I had to redo the install at this point, but the new paste did require a little moving about to free the heat sink. So, maybe that was a good sign.

What was nice was there was sheets of black and clear plastic on the board and chips, which protect these from the paste or just general touching.

Finally assembled...with just two extra screws and slightly damaged  expansion port screw.  I am sure I won't need the screws as there are numerous screws holding down multiple components.. but I will hold on to them in case i need to go back in latter and install a new fan.

Fired it up and started running videos and a defrag to heat it up and see what happens. The temperature was up to 130f/54.4c, however it didn't shut down or start acting up. I could feel the heat coming out the back vent...which, by the way wasn't the case when the hp was shutting down. the temp. slowly stabilized at about 90f/ 32c.; the ambient air temperature is 80f/26.6c 

I do wish HP would provide more on board sensor and fan controls either on the key board or as a utility.   

Thanks for all the forum entries. 

Message Edited by PowerSparks on 10-24-2009 08:40 AM

[bobrack]

HP laptops and their service sucks.  Do a search for hot power cords, hot laptops, failure to boot up etc.  They know they have bad mother boards and yet they don't care.  If it is not under waranty, they could care less about the terrible quality of their product.  They want to charge me $259 for a mother board which likely will not last.  Pass, time for a different brand who might care more about service and the fact that their product doesn't suck like HP.

[pinkyshelac]

The link has changed to the video:

http://h20181.www2.hp.com/results.htm?SID=7900379&MEID=69E2929C-DBC5-4051-B053-B8325FC3340B

[kbj0423]

The link to the video was the greatest set of documentation I've ever used to work on any computer (and I've been doing it for 15 years). I started on it this just before lunch where I took the laptop apart, cleaned off the heat-sink and CPU, applied the Thermal grease, reassembled the laptop and it's now running. So far it has been running for over 30 minutes (I wasn't able to keep it running for more than 10 minutes before - I think this was the fix).