HP 2500t, what is going on? Screen is screwed up.

Let me preface this by saying I'm a former software developer, I've built desktops, and fix the computers of everyone I know forever. Does this make me special? Not at all. But I'm also not clueless. Just keep in mind while reading.

I was running Vista Home Premium, 32 bit.

I have a dv2500t with the nVidia 8400GS. It'd been working fine overall, but had its days where it'd freeze randomly. It's Windows, no surprise.

So anyway, all of a sudden about a month ago my battery just dies. I go from getting 2.5 hours to 10-15 minutes overnight. I didn't have time to deal with it at the time or the money to buy a new one, so I just made sure I was plugged in. (This is possibly irrelevant.)

Last week I'm using the dv2500t and the screen starts going crazy (like artifacts show up everywhere) and the computer restarts. It continued to happen after a few minutes of use. My initial thought was the video drivers, so I uninstalled and reinstalled in Safe Mode. Sure enough, the problems continued. Now I thought overheating. I downloaded HWMonitor, the temps looked a bit high for the CPU perhaps, but nothing crazy (54* C CPU, 60* C video card). In any event, I bought a Targus cooling pad, which did nothing.

So, I decided to reformat in hopes it would cure my problems -- it'd been a while anyway. I reformat from the recovery partition, and the computer won't load Windows. Rather the screen after the progress bar was just a lot of shaking green lines.

Fair enough, I tried again with the recovery DVD. All seemed well. Nope, apparently it didn't install properly. No idea why, it ran smoothly.

Now, everytime I turn the computer on, there are random lines moving on the screen. If I go into BIOS, I see red, blue, and white squares all over. If I run the Windows installer, anywhere I move the mouse, artifacts show up and don't go away. If I just try to boot Windows, it says it is not properly installed.

Now, the only thing I wonder is if my Sceptre 23" LCD TV is the culprit. I say this because my friend who has a dv2000 which was recently returned to him from HP Support since it apparently died on him, lent it to me for a few days. Well, I plugged it into my 23" LCD TV (assuming it's fine - it works with my iBook and I had used it with my dv2500t 100 times). Well, immediately it freezes. I restart. It freezes within seconds. I unplug from external TV. I use it regularly and after 15-20 mins of IE use, it freezes. I needed it solely to run my law school final exam software, so I decided I'll just test it out for that purpose. It runs the software for an hour without fail. Great. I shut down and don't turn it on until my exam this morning. Sure enough, after the BIOS screen, I get a Windows loading screen with shaky green lines all over. I shut down and boot back up. Nothing on the screen. Rinse and repeat. Same deal. Now it won't turn the screen on (I also think the graphics card has died, I hear less fan noise.)

Any ideas?!

I'm out of warranty and have found HP's support to be useless in the past anyway.

Any and all input is appreciated.

 

Definitely seems like a GPU issue. Which will be alot of money to replace if you are out of warranty. If you get artifacts in the boot screen/BIOs, it is a hardware issue for sure.

 

Thanks. Is there any way to do this myself?

 

If you can fix PC's as you say, it must be a given that you can replace the motherboard.

 

here just had the same problem with an out of warrenty dv2500 with the 8400
got it fixed for free heres the thread to the whole ordeal. just got it back last week

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=320982

i had the same symptoms. first artifacts everywhere then after a week a completely black screen. no picture at all.


call hp, your going to get bs'd by the tech support guys, they will tell you they dont know about any defective cards. ask for a manager. he probably wont know about it either. so make sure you get a case manager they are the only ones who will actually say they know about it. then they will send you a box and a free fix.

hp doesn't care that you build pc's, we do over here too, and when we told the tech guy we have our own pc company we build pc and all the trouble shooting we did all he told us was that we needed to pay 400 bucks for a fix.

the second time we called i researched the defective 8400 and told them about it and that how we got our case manager and got the fix.

what ever you do dont cave, that card is defective and you can get a free fix. go into my thread i posted a article from nvidia saying they released defective cards. we had to fax it to them so they could see it for them selves, but it worked.

 

Wow...HP hasn't owned up to the faulty nvidia GPUs yet? This is only an INDUSTRY wide problem. Sorry to hear about all your guys troubles I had mine replaced a couple months ago, but I was still under warranty.

 

Basically nvidia is covering the costs for their failed 8xx gpu's and warranties have been extended. You will no doubt need a new MOBO. They used the wrong materials and heat/cold expansion basically breaks the solder connection. Nvidia has never really disclosed which models were affected but IMO it was all models for a period of time shipping all 8XX gpus.. Smaller form factor lap tops usually run hotter and will fail first.. Dells m1330m's failed allot with the 8400m. The 2500 runs hotter then the 6500 and there you go.

 

yea here are the links

http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1215037160521.html

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1045810/000119312508145974/d8k.htm


what hp and dell are basically doing is giving you a bios update that makes your fans run more to prevent the heat build up. but its not a real fix, it just helps

 

I noticed the new nvidia graphics driver also made my fan run fast for 5 minutes when booting a cold system or from sleep. The HP graphics driver did not do that. Usually a graphics driver won't change the fan patterns but it did on mine.. but only like I said for the first 5 minutes and then it would settle down.

But a bios update won't fix a fried MOBO.. The OP will have to have it swapped out.

 

i didn't mean that's how hp would fix it. I already made a post telling him what he had to do to get it fixed because i had the same problem, i was just saying that hp's fix to prevent the cards from frying is a bios update.

i just updated my card from the nvidia website and my fans going faster as well. i did the bios update and the card update and my laptop can work a wind tunnel now

 

Thats interesting. Its good to get some confirmation that the stupid graphics driver is actually tweaking the fan management.. Are you using the f58 bios? I am using the f53. I did briefly use the f58 and it seemed to run the fan too much. But I was not sure.. Do you feel the f58 runs the fan more? But your running a dv2500 as well? I know those run hotter... being a smaller form factor and shoving a 8400 into it. So on those the fan may run more. I would not say the driver made it a wind tunnel on my dv6500 but it ran noticeably more.

 

yea I'm running the dv2500 with the newest bios on hp's site f.2D. Right now my 8400 is idling at 56c, i think that's pretty normal correct me if I'm wrong tho lol

 

My dv6500 runs about the same between 50-55c but the firmware is different then yours... f58. Probably does not run the fan quite like a wind tunnel as you say, but the form factor is bigger and there is more air to breath on the 6500. I believe there are more reported gpu failures on the smaller 2000 form factor. From what I have read/heard you do not want it to get near 70c. At that temp the nvidia bogus solder starts to crack and fail. I'm still worried about it long term. I'm thinking these bios fixes are only going to keep the majority of failures out of the waranty/extension periods for gpu failures. I'm personally never going to buy nvidia again after seeing how they handled this mess and how they tried to blame their suppliers at fault when it was clearly an enginneering defect.

Basicially, there were many failures in the field early on and it just cascaded for too long before nvidia reacted. Look at the nightmare Dell had with the m1330. Those were failing like crazy before nvidia reacted. The problem should have been isolated early on with a recall. Instead they built millions of gpus and now they feel they can't survive as a company if they had to recall all of the defective units.

 

SDYanksFan: if you want to go the DIY route without replacing the system board, here is a pretty cool way to do it.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=57021

Not for the faint hearted and no guarantees.

I believe a guy on this board by the handle of 'rief' has sucessfully done this as well as others elsewhere.

 

yea i know what your saying. hp should have released a HP Limited Warranty Service Enhancement for all models that have the 8400. there is no reason i should of had to fight them to get my laptop fixed for free when it was defective from day one.

im not really sure what happened to sdyanksfan as he never replied wonder if he ever called.

 

Hey, been a hectic few days. I have been reading the thread though, just haven't had time to read your full thread yet. I really do appreciate the input. After the holidays I will call them and see what I can do. In any event, HP has forever lost me as a customer. I already bought a new Macbook and would like to have my dv2500t fixed for no reason other than to hopefully help lessen the blow of having to shell out $1300 for a new computer. I'll give an update as soon as I call.

 

yea i mean the 2500 is only a little over a year old. have them fix it for free and sell it

 

The DV2500 are not part of the notebooks that are being recalled. HP screw us over.