Familiar Story - tx2000 - lights and fan on, but black screen at boot up

[boodi_eid]

here is my side of the problem ihave tx2 1000 's series and it it's been 1.5 yeares and ofcourse i am out of warranty i have this problem when my hp is on the power cable plugged in and i start gaming ( big games) the hp freez after 5-10 minutes or should i say it display nothing just a black screen with the fan on but no audio,vedio and no respond to keyboard commands but the weird thing that i can play these games with no such problem while putting the hp on battery

[dian_mustika84]

I have the same tx2 series with ATI radeon card, also hv the same problem....

I think the NVidia is not the main problem...but the interface between motherboard, vga, and design of air circulating system

HP should recall this product!

[imagesbykelly]

You need to turn it off, flip it over and blow dry through the vents for about a minute.  Then wait and turn it back on again.  It works for my tx2000.

[RayForCom]

same problem her on my TX2500, all lights on but black screen, I have this for 14 months, get defective right after the warranty ended. well. no more HP.

[ascovan]

I have the same problem with you, just posted my complaint and here in Hawaii I found out a lot of people had the same problem. Unfortunately HP is denying and I don' think will do anything at this time. If you know how we can complain to where until HP hears us let me know. I'm doing some leg work already.

[S_Rouault]

I have a TX2 that's about a year and a half old. After about 3 months the screen went black and a replacement was given. About 2 months ago the same thing happened but I was out of warranty so I paid for a replacement motherboard.

I just read at tousmartdev.com forums that others were blowdrying their gpus to get them working again, and now I'm annoyed because so many people are now saying this is the solution to the problem. If this is the case, which seems impossible to deny, all TX2s are affected by this problem and they need to be recalled.

I hope HP does this peaceably because I think TX2 owners deserve working computers and shouldn't have to blow dry their GPUs every time the soldering comes undone. Really the heatsink shouldn't have been painted and a pad should not have been used between the heatsink and the gpu.

From what I read on touchsmartdev.com forums putting a metal shim in place of the gpu's pad and stripping the paint from the heatsink seems to be the only working solution as it keeps temps down enough that the soldering isn't bothered.

HP should redesign the heatsink and properly treat the GPU's soldering for all TX2s. That wouldn't cost too much, and it would fix everyones problem...

[S_Rouault]

I just called HP about this and they won't do anything if there is no warranty left (expected), but I didn't coax the tech into excalating the matter and had them put this thread in the notes along with a brief explanation the solder problem and the blowdrying to fix.

I'm supposed to hear back from them in 7-9 business days, but I don't expect much more than some official response saying it isn't HP's problem. Perhaps Consumer Affairs might do something.

[IrvingQuester]

Hi,

I got the same problem with my 18 months old TX2 1027. I applied the fix described in the following video and you know what ? It works!! Instead of the bulb light, I used a hot air gun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctHTF3oNdxI

However, be aware that you must be carefull if you are not confortable when disassembling a computer.

Good luck everybody.

PS: I will never buy HP again. So long...

[S_Rouault]

With the nvidia based TX laptop it is supposedly the tiny balls of solder (called 'bumps') that join the die (small glassy part of the chip on top of the chip) to the chip itself. But I wonder if it is really those small 'bumps' on Nvidias chips or if it is the solder between the entire chip and the motherboard. Perhaps Nvidia was sued for something that wasn't their fault seeing the ATI/AMD graphics chip is cured the same way.

If it really is the interfeace between the board and the chip that is the problem this is HP's fault. And interestingly, this problem isn't specific to HP, I've found some instances of these same sort of problems happening in other laptops and console game systems (the notorious red ring of death and yellow light of death XBOX360/PS3).

The only explantion I've come across is that lead free solder is more 'brittle' and therefore doesnt take thermal cycles as well. If this is the case system with less robust cooling are more likly to exhibit the problem (TX series.. and some others).

HP hasn't contacted me as they said they would. I'm wondering when my third motherboard is going to fial. Had I known this problem is widespread (because the stock cooling isn't sufficient partly because of ths new lead free eco solder that is being used) I would have never paid for another system board for the TX2z.

There are numerous youtube videos and thread about this. I feel like tipping off the press about this issue, and I probably will If I don't get any results dealing with HP directly.

[hack_product]

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/TX-TM-Series-Notebooks/hp-tx2z-battery-and-overheat-question/td-p/79572...

Just in case, my posting is removed or missed by others with the same problem.