laptop freezes when moved (tilted)

[m_smith1695]

My laptop freezes when I lift it (tilt it) to move to a new location.  I've checked with Geek Squad and they indicated a software issue, but couldn't resolve the issue.  Any ideas to help resolve the issue?

[Huffer]

If you lift it by grabbing where the hard drive is, you can collapse the hard drive case and stop the spinning platters which will freeze it right up. It can also mean that there is a problem with a chip on the motherboard and moving it causes the board to flex and the chip to come disconnected. If you are picking it up use both hands and don't grab it by a corner. 

[m_smith1695]

I have tried all different locations of where to grab it, and it doesn't matter where on the laptop I pick it up from, nor how gently I do so- it freezes regardless

[m_smith1695]

Perhaps I spoke to soon. I played around with it a little bit, and I think I've isolated the freezing to when pressure is placed on a certain area on the bottom of my machine (it has been sporadic in the past, so I can't be 100% sure). However, that area covers a significant portion of the bottom and it's difficult to carry/move the laptop while staying clear of that area. How would I go about fixing this solution? I'm assuming you're right in that something is physically happening to the hard drive or motherboard and causing the freeze. It seems like some extra reinforcement is needed around it to prevent it from freezing so easily. Is this something I could send to HP and have them fix? If not, what would be my best option from here?

[Huffer]

That sounds like the motherboard issue I spoke of. Is the laptop under warranty? HP would replace the motherboard if my diagnosis is right but not likely until it fails completely. 

[m_smith1695]

No, unfortunately it's long past the warranty. Anything I can still do? Having a lot of issues even just trying to find how to contact HP about what to do since the warranty is expired

[Huffer]

Honestly, HP will charge you for out of warranty support and an out of warranty motherboard replacment by HP is going to be crazy expensive. If you want to keep the laptop it is going to require motherboard replacement, which means taking it to a shop or buying the motherboard and trying to do it yourself. 

[m_smith1695]

Thanks for the help with all of this. Final questions for now- Any idea what sort of price range I should be expecting to get out of warranty HP repair, or to have the motherboard replaced elsewhere? It sounds like a pricey job, so trying to consider if I should just be looking at a new laptop entirely instead. I've had this one for 3 years, so it's not that old, and still works great other than this issue. Certinaly doesn't need a replacement yet, but if a new one will only cost a bit more than fixing this one, it might make more sense to do that

[Huffer]

Prices are all over the board but one thing you can be sure of is that out of warranty by HP will maximize the expense. The motherboard part itself would run from $150-250 roughly and labor about the same so if you have to hire someone to do it you are not going to come out of it for less than $300 and could be $500 or even a little higher. Very few people actually have laptop motherboards replaced out of warranty by technicians. Geek Squad at Best Buy, for example, is really just an order taker for the warranty repair shops they pack the warranted ones off to or salesmen who explain that a new laptop is only a few more bucks than having the screen or motherboard replaced so they make a sale. If you do have them do the work they mark up the part and charge you labor. In all fairness that is a bit of an exaggeration but not far off the mark. 

[Kurella]

Hi Huffer, 

I have a HP envy 15t K000 laptop which has a similar issue, when lifted off the desk, the pressure applied on the case seems to disturb some internal connection and freezes the system. I wonder if it has something to do with the motherboard. I have concluded that its not because of some software issue. Another alternate reason could be because of the heat sink (but my cooling fan does not blow out loud all the time), I have seen a post of someone whose system with similar problem got fixed when applied coolant gel on the processor. 
This model is out of warranty and its products parts manufacturing has been stopped last December. It works great as long as its stationary (on a desk undisturbed), having replaced its HDD with SSD. Probably I will have to keep using it this way and buy a new one for mobile applications.

But I would like your suggestion on if it would be wise in investing time debugging  what's causing the pressure sensitiveness? or should I ignore it and move on?