why should I buy a separate $49 SmartFriend Plan when my gaming laptop PC is still under warranty?

[coonhoundmom]

i find it RIDICULOUS that if i'm having freezing and slow FPS with my Pavilion Gaming Laptop PC the only option available to me is that I must buy a $49 SmartFriend plan just so they can remotely "check" my laptop.  When I contacted HP SmartFriend today, thats what I'm told by the tech.  I paid $800 for this laptop plus an additional Asurion protection plan once the HP one year warranty runs out.  I expect HP warranty to cover the software part of this laptop, its what i paid for when i purchased the laptop.  Has anyone here run into this and are there other options for me?  I dont have $49 laying around just so that someone can remotely look at my computer and diagnose the problem.  I thats total BS!!!!!

[Echo_Lake]

@coonhoundmom

Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.
 

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, however, to provide an accurate resolution, I need a few more details:

• Did this happen after a recent window or software update?
• Did you make any changes on the settings of your PC prior to the issue?
• When was the last time it worked fine?
• What are the troubleshooting steps you have tried so far?

Keep me posted for further assistance.

[coonhoundmom]

Dear EchoLake,

answers to your questions:

1. no

2. no

3. it worked fine the week I got it then once I loaded my games and started playing them, I noticed the freezing when characters move, slow FPS and battery charger getting extremely hot to the touch. 

4.  the troubleshooting steps we did was contact HP Warranty department Saturday 4/24/2021, had them do a BIOS reset and it seemed to work fine all Sunday, but then Monday, it went right back to the freezing and slow FPS. 

[Echo_Lake]

@coonhoundmom

Thank you for posting back.

Let's try few more steps: 

• Update the graphics driver.

  Go to HP Customer Support - Software and Driver Downloads, enter your PC model, then select the driver for your graphics card.

• Most games allow you to change the graphics settings. Using a lower graphic quality often improves FPS.

• Close any applications or programs that are not being used.

• Turn on Game Mode. Game Mode is a new feature in Windows 10 Creators Update that improves gaming performance by limiting background processes and programs from using system resources while a game is running.

  1. Press the Windows key and G to open the Game bar.

  2. In the game bar, click Settings.

  3. Click the check box next to the game title to enable Game Mode for that game.

     Plug notebook PCs into an AC adapter to give the graphics card more power.

• Plug notebook PCs into an AC adapter to give the graphics card more power.

If you would like to thank us for our efforts to help you, go to the public post & give us a virtual high-five by clicking the "Thumbs Up" icon below, followed by clicking on the "Accept as solution" on my public post.