Hp laptops - don't do it!!!

tomematthews

Hi all,

Just a warning for you about HP Pavilion laptops...

I bought a Pavilion about 3 years ago now. When it was about 10 months old (so LUCKILY still in warranty), I switched it on one day and was confronted with a black screen. I phoned HP who, after shifting me around between various departments, told me that as the laptop was still in warranty, they would send a courier to get it. Apparently, the Motherboard had fried (technical term there ) The laptop was repaired and back to me within a week or so. They also gave me an extended warranty on the work they had done.

So far, so good, what's he complaining about I hear you say?!

Well, it was lucky they gave me that extended warranty. About 2 months later, the same problem occurred. Again, HP repaired the laptop.

Another month or so....yep - same problem! The Motherboard had gone for a third time! Again, HP repaired the laptop. However, by this time I was getting frustrated...as a student I rely on my laptop, and to have to keep sending it off was getting annoying, especially when I had essay deadlines etc.

About 2 months went by and then...BLACK SCREEN! The motherboard had gone for a FOURTH time! I phoned HP and made a bit of a fuss, went to the head of Customer Service etc, and said it was unacceptable that an £800 laptop should go wrong four times within 2 years. They agreed, and amazingly said they would replace the laptop (their policy is apparently not to repair a unit more than 3 times).

GREAT - NEW LAPTOP!

Worked fine for 13 months (yes, 1 month out of warranty - they hadn't offered me the chance to buy an extended warranty when they sent me the new laptop) and then....OH GOD...BLACK SCREEN!

This is when things really started to go wrong. I phoned HP, and spoke to their 'Out of Warranty Repairs' line (after being transferred to 5 different departments on 5 separate telephone numbers). The woman there could not have been less helpful. Sadly I did not get her name, but she told me that HP have a flat rate for all repairs - £260 - no matter what the problem! Basically, then, it could cost HP £3 or £300 to repair your unit and they will charge you £260 (I bet more often than not it costs them about £10 and probably 10 minutes' labour!). the woman was rude, obnoxious, and reminded me of the 'Computer Says No' person off 'Little Britain' in terms of her attitude to customers. No exaggeration!

I phoned 'Customer Service' and spoke to another uncaring lady, stating that this was the fifth time the motherboard had gone on an HP laptop for me in less than 3 years, and that therefore there was clearly a problem with their units, and that I wanted the unit repaired for free. She told me that they would not be able to offer this service. Again, she was very rude and nonchalant. I said I would be contacting BBC Watchdog, and also letting any potential buyers know about my problems in any way possible, and she could not have cared less...what are 2 or 3 customers to HP I suppose!

I have now gone for a Mac in the hope I won't get the same problems again...

DO NOT BUY AN HP PAVILION LAPTOP! Their customer care at first was acceptable (although the laptop should not have had the same problem 4 times within 2 years), but the second my product was out of warranty, they did not care one tiny bit.

I did a search on the internet and turned up literally thousands of people with the same issue.

I then spoke to my local PC technician whilst he was transferring my data across to my Mac, and when I told him I had an HP Pavilion with a problem his words were 'Don't tell me - the Motherboard has gone?!'. He says out of all the HP Pavilions he sees in a month, around 90-95% of them have got fried motherboards! According to him, the way HP go about repairing laptops with this problem only makes matters worse: when they manufacture new laptops, they also manufacture a number of 'spare parts' units which they then use to repair broken units. This means that they replace the faulty motherboards with, yep, you guessed it - MORE FAULTY MOTHERBOARDS!

Hope this helps you if you are considering an HP laptop!

Sorry I've gone on a bit!!!

tomematthews

Examples of other people with the same problem are available on the internet widely - just try searching for something like 'HP Pavilion motherboard overheating' or something similar and you will see what I mean. I cannot post any of the links I have, as I'm a New User on this forum.

Also, HP are aware of the problem, as in the US they have issued a Warranty Extension to anybody experiencing these problems... Why are they not doing the same in the UK??

AND IF YOU HAVE HAD THE SAME PROBLEMS, PLEASE POST BELOW!! If I can get enough people behind me, I am going to try and take HP to Watchdog and possibly the Small Claims Court

Together we can beat them!

bribri_2

Have you tried the following. For me it is something to do with the sleep mode.

I found this solution on the internet for a black screen.

I turned off the computer unplugged the power and took my battery out. Pressed and held down the power on button (with battery still out and power off) and then plugged it back in and it restarted.

There are lots and lots of mentions of this when you do a search with other suggestions and solutions.


Good luck.

ladymarmalade222

Hi

I too have had 2 HP Pavillion Laptops which have had the dreaded black screen and wireless failing amongst other problems. The problem i believe is due to a fault with the Nvidia graphics chip. The laptop gets extremely hot and causes various things to fail. I am currently getting refunds from staples for both of my laptops and one is nearly 3 yrs old.

If you google Nvidia defects and also search for a forum called nvidia defect you will find some very friendly and helpful people who will help you get refunds from your supplier.

Hope this helps

Lady M

Get_Rich_Slow_2

I had 2 macs, both logic boards (MB) failed due to bad soldering/heat, Apple were not interested in repair even though it was a known issue with that particular logic board.

Good luck

tomematthews wrote: »

I have now gone for a Mac in the hope I won't get the same problems again...

ses6jwg

I've had a HP Pavillion DV5201 since August 2006.

I have had one hard drive fail.

Other than that its been fine.

It does get EXTREMELY hot recently though - I am talking 94C at normal temp.

LeeSouthEast

Can't remember where I saw it now, but the failure rate of HP laptops is 25% in the first year (or was it 3 years?). Either way, quite shocking. Dell fell at around 13%, as did most others.

Moral of the story was basically don't buy HP. I'll try and find a source for that.. it's bugging me now.

gaming_guy

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Can't remember where I saw it now, but the failure rate of HP laptops is 25% in the first year (or was it 3 years?). Either way, quite shocking. Dell fell at around 13%, as did most others.

Moral of the story was basically don't buy HP. I'll try and find a source for that.. it's bugging me now.

is this it?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2103855

LeeSouthEast

Wasn't precisely that report, but it's the same data. Ta

lapcure_2

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Can't remember where I saw it now, but the failure rate of HP laptops is 25% in the first year (or was it 3 years?). Either way, quite shocking. Dell fell at around 13%, as did most others.

Moral of the story was basically don't buy HP. I'll try and find a source for that.. it's bugging me now.

I think this is what you were referring to:-

w ww.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

HP's failure rate is 25.6% - that's 256 in every thousand.

Absolutely shocking.

If you are the owner of an inherently defective laptop (which includes all those affected by the Nvidia defect) then let us help you secure a refund from the retailer.

All our help and advice is free.

We are available at ww w.nvidiadefect.com

Best wishes

Paul
Nvidiadefect.com

thestribb

As a man who works with these laptops every day, sadly there is not an awful lot you can do.

HP and Compaq laptops are great up to a point, usually around 2 years down the line.

The problem is exactly what someone has already mentioned, the graphics card.

Laptops do not use the same graphics cards and motherboards that desktop PC's do, and thus, the graphics chip is physically soldered onto the motherboard. What happens with the affected models is that the graphics card overheats and literally melts, this in turn causes the motherboard's circuit to fail.

Tell tale signs of this fault likely to imminently happen on your machine is firstly the wireless will stop working, then the speakers will start to go funny.

If you're experiencing your laptop getting considerably hot, or the fans just don't stop whirring at full speed, get in contact with either HP or your retailer as you're likely to have the dreaded faulty motherboard.

Best bet is to buy a Mac, an Acer or a Toshiba. The three most reliable machines.