Freezing / Locking up of Pavilion DV6-2106ea

Hi All,

I'd appreciate some opinion on what may be wrong with my DV6-2106ea.

The specs are:
Description/Details: Notebook / Series: HP Pavilion dv6 / Processor: Intel Core i7 720QM / Clock Speed: 1,600 Mhz / RAM: 4,096 MB / Hard Disk Memory: 320 GB / Display: 15.6 Inch / Display Resolution: HD ready (1366 x 768) / Optical Disc Drives:/ DVD±RW / Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

When I first got it I went for a clean install so I didn't really test it in it's factory condition. Very soon after it started freezing in games. Proper hard crash with looping sound etc. The only thing to do was to switch it off to reset. A few days later it would lock up in windows. No BSOD, just frozen and a power off was the only option. After talking to hp the tech support guy told me that because I used a set of retail installation discs this could case crashes. HP sent me some restoration discs and during the process of using these the screen froze, but all the business was still going on behind. I left it for about 2hrs changing discs over when the DVD tray popped open and after it wouldn't take any more I restarted it. It tried to do the old "running windows for the first time" and the screen froze when it was sorting out drivers etc. I kinda gave up after that.

I should mention that the screen has frozen in safe mode, during windows repair and initial loading of the set up and even during the hp bios hard disk test. It is back with them for repair but as I say I'd like to hear your ideas or if this sort of thing has happened to others. I did have a look at the temps while all this was ongoing, if I remember correctly 60C for CPU and maybe 70-80 for GPU under load.

I reckon it is a GPU issue but as I say I wouldn't mind some opinions. Also if anyone has experience of UK service repair I would mind hearing about your thoughts on that.

Many thanks.