DV 9605 EA Problems

Hi guys, my close to 2 yr old HP DV 9605 EA has been giving me problems recently. Hoping you guys can help me out.

1. Firstly I have a problem while starting it up after it has been shut down for a while. I have to power up and power down a few times before anything comes up on the screen.

When something does come up on screen, it offers me an option to repair start-up. But if I choose it, it eventually gives up and says it can't be repaired.

2. Also, I've been having problems with my DVD RW drive. Windows basically seems to fail to recognise it.

I read somewhere that I should try and re-install drivers by deleting the driver for the DVD drive in devide manager, which causes Windows to automatically find drivers for the drive and reinstall them.

On trying this, I was able to play an audio CD on it for a while. But after say 5 mins. it stopped recognising the drive again.

Any thoughts?

 

Pavilion dv9605ea specifications

Normally when I see such weirdness I think that the NVIDIA chipset is failing:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us
But I'm not certain in your case.

Optical drives have a relatively high failure rate so I wouldn't be surprised if it's flaking out. They're trivial to replace. You need to figure out why the notebook isn't starting up reliably first though.

 

I am with Brian on your first problem. Hopefully HP will let you send your notebook in for repair free of charge. Do drop them a call.

For your second problem, there is a fix-it tool on microsoft's website:

Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

Try downloading and running the fix-it tool and see how it will work.

 

Thanks for your responses guys.

I gave the Fit-It thing a go. Windows seems to recognise the DVD drive for now, but it won't play two of my audio CDs.

Also in response to brian, I'd like to say, I don't have much of a problem with buying a new DVD drive if required. I simply want to make sure its a problem with the drive itself and not Vista/drivers or the like just so that I don't end up buying a drive and find it is just as useless as the current one.

Regarding the start-up problem I emailed HP about it and am now waiting to hear what they have to say. I tried finding the phone number for HP UK support but couldnt find it. I'll have another look later.

In case it is a chipset problem however, have HP been known to offer free repairs beyond the warranty period?

EDIT: @ Brian - Checked the link you gave me. The series to which my laptop belongs i.e. dv 96xx doesn't seem to be covered by the extended warranty.

 

It's the same problem, HP just won't officially cover all of their notebooks with defective NVIDIA GPUs. Some people get lucky and HP helps them.

The general weirdness that happens when the NVIDIA chipset starts failing can cause all sorts of problems. Flaky optical drive access would be a new one but you never know?

If it is the chipset, it is repairable. Not easy but I've fixed 3 motherboards so far. LordWalrus has instructions here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4792475&postcount=15

 

Thanks for the responses guys. Is the problem known to occur with the G7150M? From what i read it seems to affect those with the Geforce 8 series.

 

It definitely effects the GeForce 6100 through 7150 integrated graphics chipsets in addition to the GeForce 8 dedicated GPU series. HP has sent a LOT of business to ATI since this fiasco.

 

Wow !.. thanks for the information brian. I hope HP would be willing to take a look at my laptop beyond warranty. I have a pre-order for a Compaq, perhaps I can try use thatas leverage.

 

Ok, sent HP an email. Got a response asking me to try among other things reseating the hard-drive.

Now, I'm a bit worried about static electricity while handling the HDD. Is this something I should be worried about or is it not usually a problem with hard drives? If it is, how can I protect the hard drive? Would a wireless wrist strap do. Ok was just joking with that... More seriously, would a discharge wrist-strap and mat do or would the mat be over-kill?

Thanks again for your help guys.

 

Sorry to jump in, but I'm having a very similar problem on an identical laptop.

My d9605ea stopped recognising the cd drive about 3 weeks ago, completely gone. Not in Device Manager, when I try to install the new firmware it says target drive cannot be detected. Tried Microsoft Fix-It, tried going through regedit and deleting the upper and lower limits in some registry entry as suggested. Tried reseating the optical drive. Tried speaking to a HP support chat assistant who suggested all the above things and then pretty much shrugged his shoulders and asked if there was anything else he could help with.

The problem seemed to occur when I un-installed Nero 8 about the same time, but I can't be entirely sure that's when it happened.

The drive still has power running to it. Opens and closes. But it has vanished as far as the laptop is concerned.

Sigh.

 

Quick and dirty way to find out if your drive is faulty:

Boot from any dvd/cd, such as Windows installation disc.

If that works, then it's pretty good possibility that hardware is working and it's the Windows that's lost the drive. If nothing else, OS reinstall should fix that.

And if that doesn't work, then you have a hardware problem

 

Unfortunately my DVD-Rom isn't working either. I suppose something like a Linux Live-USB might do the trick instead.

 

Ok, just a quick update for anyone reading.

I went to HP's website and installed the latest Nvidia GeForce graphics driver, restarted and boom there was my cd-drive, working fine. Closed the lid, did a victory dance, finished the movie I was watching, opened it again and.... gone.. Sigh..

 

@gavster - That's what seems to happen with my DVD-ROM too. I try something, it works for a little while, then 5 minutes later same thing. If you managed to watch a full movie that was much more impressive than anything I've managed to date.

BTW a little update from my side guys. I ran the RAM and Hard-drive diagnostics. The RAM test came out fine. The quick Hard-Drive test was the same, but the comprehensive Hard-Drive test suggested I'd need to replace the Hard-Drive. I guess this means I'd have to in fact mess about with trying to reseat the drive just to make sure it not a problem simply with the connection before I invest in a new drive.