HP ENVY 17 (1050ea) overheats and shuts down.

[ErdyGerd]

I have had my HP Envy 17 for 7 months, and I have had the overheating problem from day 1. It has become worse and worse, and it now shuts down alomst every day (after app 2 hours light use) due to overheating. Nothing is blocking the air vents and the fan is working fine. It is just a crap piece of a laptop which I wouldnt recommend my worst enimy. A complete waste of GBP 1,100.

In fact this is the second HP laptop I have had within the last 3 years, and we also suffered the same problem with that laptop however "only" after 1,5 year of normal usage.

It is a disgrace HP has put these machines onto the market.

Will scrap it, and buy a quality laptop instead, i.e. not a HP laptop.

[marcos12lis]

How much did it cost?

[sdw10]

Hi, mine is 6 months old and shut down twice yesterday due to overheating. I think the bios message said 97 degrees. No warning, all air vents open, fan running, in a cool room. And only running a spreadsheet.

The heat is such that it burns fingers - I have never had a laptop of notbook that got so hot.

Is there a bigger problem here? it gets hotter when playing audio or video.

Is the Envy17 safe? And will I lose work if it shuts down again?

This is not a cheap computer! Over £900.

[Zepplin1160]

I've been running into the same lockup/shutdown and overheat issue.  My Envy17 was purchase in 09/2010 and since day one it's run hot, but it didn't lockup or shut down until about 8 months in.  At that point, I started using compressed air to clean the vents.  The cleaning doesn't seem to help.  The Envy17 still runs approximately 94 deg Celcius (per CPUID) on the CPU and 101 deg Celcius on the GPU when playing games.  At times, I've witnessed the temps running just as high while working on spreadsheets and word documents.  Over the course of the past few months, the heat has become so intense on the left side of the laptop, that i've resorted to using an external keyboard.  

I'm curious to know if it's worth opening a support case with HP regarding the heat being generated by this laptop.  As an example, just browsing YouTube and the Laptop Forums this evening, my Envy 17 is operating at approximately 80 deg Celcius on the CPU and approximately 85 deg Celcius on the GPU with the fan spinning pretty loudly.

Any advise the community is able to provide will be greatly appreciated.

[MikhailV]

I have absolutely the same issue. After an hour of work laptop becomes extremely hot. It shuts down because of overheating twice a week. I beleive HP should recall this model, it's just unsafe to use it.

[sdw10]

It also scorched the top of my dining table, which really annoys me. Just the air through the side fan!

I have had to buy a cooling stand (USB fan) for home, and I have to jack it up on 4 post-it pads in the office. And I'm still only using MS Excel, not games of video.

If you are unawares of the heat issue, and you put it on a soft surface, like a duvet, it gets red hot. Isn't that a fire hazzard?

[GimpsUnlimited]

You ought to contact HP support for a repair if you can not even run simple games or video.  Something is wrong.

Also, I think the design is flawed.  In copying the MacBook Pro, they also inherited MacBook Pro's massive heat issue.  To make it worse, they put in a more powerful CPU/GPU combo.  This is a disaster.  HP needs to learn from Asus to redesign air intake from the top and direct the hot air out from the back.  The old suck the air from bottom and out from the side is no longer suitable for powerful DTR like these.

My mode is Env17-2xxx.  The only time I get thermal shut down is when I play intensive 3D games likes Diablo  3.  I am sending mine in for repair soon.  

[stabstab]

im pretty dissappointed i spend 2k$ on a 3d hp envy 17 and as soon as i take it out of the box it freezed on my 1st game download about 4 minutes into the download. so hey i send it back 2 days later due to waiting for the box to get shipped to me to send it back in. well a week later i get it back in the exact same condition i sent it. they said they "reset the ram" which intalis just un plugging and replugging the ram back in like i couldnt do something to simple myself. welllllll as it turns out recently i found out that up intil just recently the bois was faulty (thanks for the wasted yr of  warantee and frustration) anyhows i got it to stop freezing everytime i try to download anything over 100 mbs. However now that my cpu doesnt FREEZE every 3 minutes im faced with it constantly shutting off due to overheating. i run a ossolating fan underneath the cpu blowing directly into the vents and it still fails. Ive about had it with hp 3 hp cpus in less than a year and this is only 1 that works and thats pushing it to say it works, im going to send it in yet again for repair, some how i get the impression it will be another waste of my time and postage and handling. since i cant do anything but to stew over it and learn from my mistake, i learned i can get a real (functioning) cpu from alienware or any other competitors for alot less and have it work alot more. im really dissapointed in hp, if any1 in hp reads this i want you to know ill NEVER buy another hp product even if its a 3$ printer from a thrift store. you are screwing your clients over and it shouldnt be surprising that your clients take their business elsewheres since obviously the merchandise you sell is shotty and incredibly faulty. 

[adriang1960]

This is the same problem I have.  I use my laptop on a clear, wood, non-obstructed surface and after a period of time the laptop locks up (keyboard).  The laptop bottom is hot.

I will run much longer if I boost part of the laptop up onto something therefore improving the airflow under it.

I will call and to have my laptop fixed too.  Sad.

[sdw10]

I've had a CEO level (we know what that means - a "tag" only and auro-response from the COE's name) and HP Support level case open for 3 weeks now against a 'complaint' that includes specific and recorded evidence - two cases. I just received a "customer satisfaction survey" request for one or the other case, implying they closed down one or other support request. I have complained back, a third time. Hoping for an engagement on the escalated case. The irony is, the Support guy I talked to acknowledged all of the problems, even talked to his "mentor". I think this implies 'nothing will happen'.

To be clear, as an average consumer, I will not interfere with the internal or external components of the E17. All I do is vacuum already clear and clean ventilation grills.

My allegation is that this product is and was sold knowingly as unfit for purpose and durability. It complies, every day, on both points, as unfit for purpose and more especially with respect to how it was and is marketed. It simply doesn't work.

Next steps are to report HP and the product to UK Trading Standards and similar overseers of consumer rights in the UK. I am giving HP one more fair chance for one week.