HP laptop freezes with garbled screen for no apparent reason

Hi,

I have a HP pavilion DV9000 series (DV9502AU) 17" screen laptop running windows XP SP2. Since the last 2 days every now and then my notebook freezes with the screen showing a weird slanted pattern (see the attached image).

Its an AMD Turion 64 X2 mobile
2 GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 7150M graphic card

I have a feeling this is hardware related. Can anyone please advise what could be causing this. The occurrence is totally random, does not seem to be triggered by any action on my part.

Thanks.

 

Have you updated your video drivers lately? If so try rolling them back, if not try to upgrade/reinstall them if possible...

 

I was just getting ready to post the same question. I have a 9610 and it has just begun to do the same thing. Only happens once in a great while but still, it happens and only when I shut down.

 

This has happened to me(back in Aug '06) the computer didn't boot up at all after the freeze. Of course my system was within the 21 day return period so I was able to return it and claim a refund. But I have since experienced this problem with the replacement notebook as well and typically updating the video driver seems to take care but it still does happen once every 3 - 4 months. This happened in both Vista and XP, so I'm not quite sure what triggers this corruption, maybe hardware fault or a driver issue.

 

Even I am facing the same problem lately. I think it could probably be due to overheating but I am not sure... I have an HP dv2416us with 2 Gigs of RAM and an nVidia GForce Go 6150.. Could someone tell the reason?

 

lately.. to more than one video card...something's fishy.

 

I would suggest this is an overheating issue. I have seen quite a few posts reporting the display corruption issues on the HP forum at HP site.

Did you guys update to the latest HP BIOS which keep the fan spinning constantly.

I did the update and my machine is now running a lot cooler. Before the BIOS update it was pretty hot to the touch.

 

Could it be RAM issues?

 

Ive seen this phenomenon in a movie before..except a scary long haired girl comes out of the screen and kills you.

the ring lol jks

If you ask me it sounds like a faulty video card. Ive had similar experiences

 

Here in America we don't have the bandwidth for anything like that. AT&T: your world delivered, eventually...

Make sure you have the latest BIOS flashed in and have MemTest86+ test your RAM. A faulty or loose LCD cable is another possibility but let's not crack open notebooks unless we have to.

 

Same problem here. I suspect not a heating issue as it has happened within 1 minute from a cold start. I have HP Pavilion 9010 installed with XP from day 1 with Nvidia GeForce GO 6150 card and AMD Turon Tl-56 processor that has worked flawlessly for over 1 year - then about a month ago it started freezing with a diagonal pattern on the screen. It happens randomly but seems to be getting more frequent as time goes on so I'm beginning to back things up and look for a solution.
Question: can the video card in these laptops be replaced or is is a motherboard swap? Could this be due to a Windows update automatically installed (doubtful since it happens on Vista and XP)?
Any more inputs would be helpful.

 

question:
are these all amd's or both amd and intel's?

 

I've seen this problem on a couple different forums and I believe all reports were with AMD processors.

 

swingbopper: The Go 6150 is integrated into the northbridge chip. If it's failing you need a motherboard swap.

When you say freezing, is it just the display that's freezing or is it the entire notebook? Hook up an external display to find out. If it's just the internal display then its LCD cable might have just come loose or be damaged. This isn't likely but it's good to rule out.

If you didn't update to the newer BIOS that keeps the fan running 24x7 then your notebook might have been cooked and you'll want to see if it's on the HP dv6000/dv9000 list.

 

Thanks Brian for this info. The entire notebook freezes. I have to cycle power to get back up. I have not upgraded any bios so maybe you're right about the cooking scenario. I'll look into it; but it seems the damage has been done. Any suggestions about acquiring a new motherboard...is it a DYI job? I've done desktop builds before but haven't probed around inside a laptop yet.

 

You could replace the motherboard yourself but it'll take a lot longer than with a desktop. Hopefully your notebook is on that list, in which case HP will fix it for free. If it's not on the list, it should be so talk with HP regardless.

 

Just FYI,

If you send in your laptop, prepare to wait A LOOOOOOONG time. My hp laptop experienced the same symptoms yours exhibits before eventually dying within 2 weeks. The DV2000 series also has the same defect and my motherboard was fried. HP has had my notebook exactly 30 days with 2 more weeks before expected delivery.

Of course, they always call on the supposed delivery date and say it will be another two weeks so I'm not holding my breath and I'd suggest you do the same. Plan to be without a laptop for quite a while. Other people are reporting the same thing on hp's forum(s).

 

I don't have an external monitor to test that, but I have the same problem with the "screen turns white" issue. An Google search indicates others share the problem, but reveals no clear solutions.

I cannot tell whether the laptop freezes or just the screen. Without seeing the screen, I know of no way to tell.

We also explore the problem in more detail in this thread, http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=34&threadid=93673 . My sense is it is heat issue based on CPU load as oppose to a video issue, but that doesn't come from deep wisdom. It's just that I only get it when my system tries something brain intensive and the fan runs on high for over 4 minutes.

 

I had the same problem......I have already sent it into HP three times to get repaired and now it's getting really hot again...I just don't understand why they just cant fix them or replace them....

 

This happened with my DV2300 intermittently before finally becoming a paperweight. It was due to overheating caused by a defect in the design of the motherboard/internal components. If your wireless starts going out too, then it's a sure sign your laptop is on it's way to laptop hell (i.e. HP service centers).

 

well put....

 

I'm sending in my HP dv9205 in for this exact problem in a day or two. Had to haggle with HP over my warranty -- they had my purchase date wrong and said it expired 6 weeks too soon! This is on top of a wi-fi that didn't work in December. They replaced the motherboard for that too.

As sappy as it sounds, I'm relieved to find I'm not alone....

 

Got my HP back in 4 days. can't complain on that. they replaced the systemboard, re-imaged the hard drive, the cooling system, and (for some reason) a hinge. Seems to be OK so far. My guess is too much heat fried it. Bad design.