HP Spectre still not working 100% since purchase naerly a year ago. Massive GPU performance issues.

[Dreko]

Hi HP Community & Team,

My HP Laptop has been having GPU performance issues since the day I bought it.

Here is where I have already previously looked for help on this issue:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Spectre-waits-until-performanc...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Video-Display-and-Touch/GPU-issues-since-day-i-bought-lack-of...

None of these answers have helped. If you need me to do the HP Hardware diagnostics (UEFI)  test again, please let me know. However at this point, I can't help but feel the most helpful thing would be to be actually able to talk to someone from HP or the ACCC.

Long story short: Laptop, despite having a 1050ti, cannot even handle genuinely  light gaming. MASSIVE frame rate drops are more common than the fps working well. The fan doesn't turn on until the laptop is physically hot to touch, and then when it turns on, this actually fixes my frame rate problem. Unfortunately, as per the threads attached above, there is no way to make the computer always run the fans on (trust me, a lot of people of tried).

Please please please read the attached links above as MUCH troubleshooting has already been performed, it will save us all time as you won't bother typing out something that has already been tried multiple times 😉

I feel like such a sucker buying this expensive HP laptop which has given me nothing but issues. Has anyone had any experience going through the ACCC for GPU issues before? I kind of just want a refund and to forget I ever made this purchase.

Anywho, looking forward to some help, i will try my best to monitor this thread for any responses and get back to you promptly (i know i was too slow with the latest one i posted and it locked out on me due to inactivity... having said that, we had already tried those recommendations anyway).

Cheers,

Dreko

[Dreko]

BUMP

Issue ongoing. Computer's GPU still has unusual performance issues. Basic troubleshooting has been tried many times. Drivers all updated, then also completely reinstalled. Happens in basically any game or application that uses the GPU so tweaking individual game settings is pointless (although, I have tried of course).

Is this fixable or does it sound like I should send the computer back?

[WAWood]

@Dreko 

I can not say for sure that it is NOT fixable -- but you've already done a LOT more work than most folks would do to try and solve the problems, apparently without success.

My own personal view with issues like this, is there comes a time when you just say enough is enough!  You are in a time box (I presume) for returning it and that time is running out.  Your decision depends on how much more time you want to invest in trying to get this to work.

One alternative would be to contact the regional HP support and see if they will accept this for diagnostics and repair under the warranty.  The problem with that, as I see it, is that will take a while to make happen -- and if they can not fix it, then you run the risk of exceeding the return period and then could be stuck with the PC.

If you want to contact HP, here is the info: https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp?openCLC=true

That said, if this were mine, I would do the return and look for something else.

But, it's your PC, so it's your choice.

[Dreko]

Thanks WAWood, I think i just have a dud computer and will have to live with it. Warranty is expired, even though issue has been there since day one, i took too long to get it fixed. I'm so disappointed with this purchase, it's the most expensive computer i've ever bought and also the worst. I've really lost my confidence is these big companies. 😞

The official HP staff keep emailing me with obvious troubleshooting like, "make sure your resolution is set correctly", "Try setting you computer to performance mode" and other useless advise. I don't think any qualified staff ever looked into it for me, just your basic receptionist type people.

I've now done a full reinstall of the Nvidea drivers for a 3rd time in SAFE mode, fully removing all old display drivers and doing a fresh install with the drivers released on the 26th Jan 2021, still no luck. 

So now i've done 3 restores, 2 complete driver reinstallations, 1 quick driver reinstall through the Nvidea wizard, a windows reinstalltion, and all the usual settings tweaks. I will give hp a call tomorrow during business hours but at this point it is very unlikely I will get any help from them.

Thanks again for your post.

Cheers

[Dreko]

Adding in this reply to HP support here as i'm hoping they will jump over to this thread to try and further assist:

""

No, sorry it wasn't helpful.

All that basic trouble shooting has been tried many times.

You can see the latest post here:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Video-Display-and-Touch/HP-Spectre-still-not-working-100-sinc...

This issue is beyond basic GPU, game and windows settings tweaks.

I have already reinstalled windows once, done multiple restores, restored GPU several times, reinstalled nvidea drivers with the wizard once, done a full uninstall and reinstall of nvidea drivers in SAFE mode twice.

Still the exact same issue persists.

It's like the computer just doesn't want to use the GPU for graphics processing and is trying to push all the rendering through the CPU. That's not a diagnosis, just how it feels to give some understanding.

Games run at under 5 fps, meanwhile, friends with older laptops running previous generation graphics cards can run the same games at over 60 fps. Ever now and then i can hear my gpu fans spooling up, when this happens i will actually get a few minutes to play the game with perfect fps, no lag and can have game settings turned right up to high. But it's always short lived, the fans will stop after a couple of minutes and the lag immediately returns.

Still hoping i could get some help.

Cheers.

""

[Dreko]

FYI

I have also tried under clocking my CPU and GPU to reduce temperatures. I actually have successfully reduced temperatures by 20-30 degrees, still have the EXACT same performance issue 😞

[Dreko]

I would also like to advise that i have actually checked and my computer is infact using the GPU not the intel. Just was trying to describe what it feels like.

Also, i have several programs installed which could be useful to diagnose and fix this, for example, i have afterburner.

I can confirm that this is not one of those "oh my game is unplayable, i only get 40 fps" kind of issues. I literally get 2-9 fps in games where the 1050ti should be getting close to 100 with medium settings and 1080p.

I have read that the CPU's installed on these laptops (I7-8750H ) are infamous at having thermal issues, hence why i've tried to under-clock it.

I don't get why such an expensive laptop wouldn't go through better quality assurance so it works off the shelf 😞

/ranting aside, still really keen for some help.

Please, someone, be my hero!!

[Echo_Lake]

@Dreko
Thank you for posting on HP Support Community.
 

I appreciate your efforts to try and resolve the issue. this sounds like hardware related issue with the computer and in order to fix this issue, your computer needs to be serviced.  As we have limited support boundaries in the support community as of now. 

I would request you to reach out to our Support and our Support Engineers should be able to check the available service options in order to diagnose the computer physically.  HP Support can be reached by clicking on the following link:  www.hp.com/contacthp/

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance. Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[Dreko]

Thanks for your post,

I've tried calling the HP support center on the following numbers:

13 10 47

+61 2 8278-1039

I go through the machine lady and select the "laptop" menu option. It then goes blank and no-one answers.

I've tried twice now, on both occasions the line goes blank, I waited for over 10 minutes each time just in case i was on hold, but to no avail.

Is there perhaps an international number i can call? Not sure if the Australian Service Centre still exists 😞

[Echo_Lake]

@Dreko

Thank you for posting back. 

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, in order to bring your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. I am sending you a private message. Please check the mailbox icon in the top-right corner of this screen.