HP Spectre x360 unusable due to arcing, burning smell, and not loading issues

[OlegB]

My HP Spectre x360 laptop is unusable. Some time ago, when I connected AC cord to charge the battery, it arced with electrical discharge and with a burning smell. Computer stopped working for a while, but after few hours it came back on and was working mostly OK with only intermediate crashes. Unfortunately, I didn't follow up with HP. At that time I didn't know what to report since it was working again. However, few weeks ago it crashed with blue screen and not booting up. After confirming, under HP support supervision, that all hardware components were OK, I re-installed the entire Windows 10 OS. It worked for a while, but recently it crashed again with the same issue of not booting up. This computer is out of warranty, but was only lightly used. It also doesn't make sense that this top of  the line computer has so many issue and my almost $1000 investment is a waste. I called HP and they are asking over $400 to repair. This prompted me to conduct some research on the topic.

According to multiple online reports, including publications in this forum, it appears that the HP Spectre x360 laptops have common issue with the motherboard failure. Below are just few examples. Common to these reports are burning smells, burn spots on the motherboard, and not booting up. This issue seems to be very common to laptops made around 2015.

Yes, the computer is out of warranty, but this issue seems to be a flaw in the original design or with built components. Not only it is the waste of time and investment, it also creates a fire hazard. This makes me very upset with the situation. If HP knew of the problem, why they don't issue a recall or replace faulty components free of charge? I have been using HP products for a long time, as a matter of fact, all my other computers are HP. But I don't intend to buy HP again due to this issue and HP's lack of initiative to address it.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Spectre-x360-Dead-with-Burning...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Archive-Read-Only/Spectre-x360-13-Dead-Without-Warning-Won-t...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Spectre-x360-Convertible-13-40...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-System-and-Recovery/HP-Spectre-x360-Haywire-RIP/td-...

[rick-s]

@OlegB

]I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (serial numbers and case details).

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