HP DV9730NR w/ GeForce 8600M GS dead GPU - need suggestions

Hi all.

Long time lurker - and I need some help fast.

I have an HP DV9730NR with a GeForce 8600M GS. The GPU failed last night, and I need to replace the notebook ASAP. (Yes I am aware of the issues that HP and Dell are having with these. Mine is *47* days out of warranty, and HP refuses to do anything about it.)

I need suggestions for a laptop with a 17" screen. Must have integrated numeric keypad, and when I'm not working, I want to be able to play Sims2 (and later this summer) Sims3.

What do you all suggest? I don't have a lot of time to spend looking around. I need to get something fairly quickly.

Thanks in advance for any/all suggestions!

 

Wow, my life story.

Same thing happend to me, except I had a LG. My LG R500 died a little after the LG warranty expried. But I still had extended warranty, LG wasnt co-operative. Now i have a 1500$ Paperweight.

I needed a new PC fast too. I didn't have time to order, but I got a MSI GT735 Barebones/Custom. And its fantastic, so you might wanna look at the MSIs, very nice build quality imo.

I don't know what your pricerange is but Sager/Clevo has some great stuff as well, ASUS is good. Look around.

You probably want at last something with a:
Core 2 Duo TXXX + or AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM+
4GB RAM
200+GB HD
Geforce 9600M+ or ATI 3670/4570+

 

...You are covered in the Extended Warranty Service. They should repair it. Be Persistent, and tell them its a failed Graphics Card. And that you are covered in the Service Enhancement on their website.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us

As for another notebook, make another thread in the What Notebook Should I buy Section, and fill out the Faq.

 

If they don't fix, I suggest the HP HDX16 or 18. Both can run sims2 fine and both have the numbers pad. However, considering your HP just died, you might want to consider other brands. However, note that the GPU issue isn't limited to HP only.

 

Monkey - I feel your pain. At least we have pretty doorstops!

ahl395 - I have spent ALL DAY on the phone with HP. They refuse to include my lappy in the "Limited Warranty Service Enhancement"; they claim that my model number isn't included, so this can't be related!!!

:::deep, slow breathing... trying to bring blood pressure down again:::

I will head over to the other section , and do that FAQ.

Thanks!

 

Opti - I noticed that Dell got pinched by the Nvidia bug too. I think what makes me the most frustrated about this is HP's attitude. I know that they are (in some ways) as much a "victim" as I am, but I'm willing to be everyone at HP's corporate office has a working computer today, and they aren't trying to work using an old PIII...

 

It sucks big time. I even had extended warranty, and they give me these unreal, pathetic conditions that might not come true. They already made me spend 100+$ with no reimbursement, so I sent one final proposal with visa's support and if they deny it then the notebook is gonna be pieced out and sold. And so far its been no response and about 2.5 weeks.

I really think these companies should have had better attitude and be responsible for their product. Or why isn't Nvidia sending out a sub-recall, I have been a strong nvidia supporter for a while, but because of this incident im moving on to ATI and I haven't looked back.

At least Dell is replacing peoples laptops/gpu.

 

If you buy with VISA can't you get an even longer warranty?

 

You can buy an extended warrenty through HP as long as its not 255 days out of standard warrenty and have them fix it.

 

HP is no victim ! Nvidia payed them millions of dollars to address the issue !

I too................have an HP paperweight and will NEVER go mainstream again !

Love my new Sager though !

 

No, its not just HP. All nVidia 8400 and 8600's are defective. Has nothing to do with brands...

When you make your new thread, post a linky here to it.

...Im just praying mine will survive. Will be replacing it in a year or so. Hopefully it will last at least that. It was replaced a couple months ago, so it is newer at least and the lifespan started over again.

 

Lucky, you can get yours replaced. LG wanted me to pay for shipping, labour, and the part and then submit a form to them for reimbursement.

However I would only get reimbursement for the part (if it fitted the correct criteria, Visa reccomended me not to go along because they have seen people who pay and then it doesent follow the criteria and they end up getting lost in mumbo jumbo and end up paying 80% of it out their own pocket), and labour/shipping is all my costs, and then they said the warranty would be reset then too. So If it died again, there would be no chance in getting it replaced again.

Stupid if you ask me, my last claim i sent in was I give them my laptop or I keep my laptop whatever they want, and they reimburse me $600-$1200. Visa approved it and im waiting to hear from LG, but so far LG + Visa have not got along.

Its funny how far they will go to save a quick buck. Telling me, the nvidias are not faulty. And that those articles are not proven. lol... **** me.

 

Monkey - I hope you have a better outcome than me!

Clutch - I think that depends on your VISA/MasterCard policy.

Tippey - I *could* have, but they assigned a "case number" today, so that unit is not eligible for extended warranty until *after* the "one-time repair" has been completed. In other words, I have to spend $300 to fix the problem, and then I will be ALLOWED to spend ANOTHER $150 for the extended warranty!

rdalev - congrats on your new Sager! Nice!

ahl395 - we put two cooling fans (sitting side by side on a cookie sheet!) under our other (currently functioning) dv9730nr. I'm going to keep it as cool as I can. Considering buying the extended warranty at $150 for this unit, as that is half the cost of the repair. At least I can use it now...

Spent the rest of the day pulling my drives, and backing up my data. Luckily, nothing was lost. Went to Best Buy and got me one of these little monsters. Pulled all of my data over to an external USB drive so that I can work on any computer that is available around here. Probably should have done that years ago...

Also posted my "help wanted" over in "What Notebook Should I Buy" forum. Any and all input is appreciated! I'm so frazzled over this, I can't think straight.

This is the first time in over 20 years of dealing with HP that I have been treated so poorly. I have to say, I am really very disappointed in how they are handling this. I realize that Nvidia is the villain here, but HP continued to sell equipment with the defective GPUs even after they knew about them. Then they tried to cover up the problem with a sleazy little BIOS fix, to force the fans to run more.

I have always happily paid a premium price for HP products, because in the past, they had such good customer service, and good, solid products. I'm really going to have to re-evaluate my purchasing habits after this.

 

Cool. Mine runs cool, and normal. But that doesnt have much to do with it always. It doesnt have to overheat to fail.
Mine doesnt get usually any hotter than 75C while gaming. Usually hovers between 68-73C. My last one (before GPU replacement) usually was around 85C. SO im hoping that means something...
I do have a cooler though, ill use sometimes, to keep it even lower. JUst keeping my fingers crossed. Until I can buy another. Saving money now... I want something like an NP5793/NP5797 next time. With a higher end GPU. But that measn more $$$ and more time to save.
Yep, ive owned 2 HP's now, and i love them both, their Support was always excellent for me, and others i know.

 

Wow I never know HP laptops were so unreliable! My 8600M GT always runs to around 80C while gaming and that is with holes in bottom and a notebookcooler. Who knows it might die at some point...

 

Hope my 9600m gt is not affected.