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Flickering Horizontal lines on month old dv9700t

post #1 of 14
8/2/08 at 12:51pm
Thread Starter 
I hate to say it, but my month old dv9700t has this horizontal flickering problem. When I went to hp's support website, the only models affected by the nvidia gpu recall were the dv9000's and dv9500's. My laptop still works fine (for now at least), but I'm concerned that it may die on my at any time. My last laptop was a dell 1520 died this spring and the card was the culprit (8600m gt).

Here are my specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz
4GB DDR2 SDRAM
320GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive
Nvidia Geforce 8600M GS 512mb
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1

I bought it on June 20 2008.
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post #2 of 14
8/2/08 at 4:12pm
As far as I know, vendors and Nvidia are really trying to hide how bad their gpu problem really is. Imagine having to recall a million gpus * $150 per recall. I believe any 84xx or 86xx is probably vulnerable to the overheating defect. Since your system is still under warranty, you should just send it in and have them replace the mobo. $20 says it fixes the problem.
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post #3 of 14
8/14/08 at 1:04pm
Thread Starter 
I sent it in to HP last Friday. Before I sent it in, I remember using GPU-Z and it said that the Geforce 8600M GS revision was A2. Is revision A2 also affected by the defect? Once I get the laptop back I'm selling it on ebay and I will try getting either a Dell Studio 15 laptop (with an ATI card) or try an HP Pavilion dv4t. BTW, how does the Geforce 9200M GS compare with the 8400M GS?
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post #4 of 14
8/14/08 at 5:15pm
No one is exactly sure what GPUs are affected. But I wouldn't doubt you just happened to get a bad one.

I hope I'm not the one that gets that train-wreck in progress off ebay

The 9200m and 8400m are pretty much identical performers: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html

#69 and #73 That website needs to be stickied because it's just simplifies the task of comparing arbitrary gfx card numbering.
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post #5 of 14
8/14/08 at 6:46pm
Many failures these days with BGA chips is related to the lead free solder.
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post #6 of 14
8/20/08 at 11:51am
Thread Starter 
HP still has my laptop. I sent it to them on 8/8/08. They received it on 8/11/08. It is 8/20/08 today. I got a call yesterday from an HP case manager saying that a VGA fan was dead/defective. They said normally they wouldn't accept returns after 21 days, but if I still have the problem after repair, I could trade it in for another model of equal value. If that happens I will either get a dv5z or a desktop.
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post #7 of 14
8/20/08 at 11:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CP_You View Post
HP still has my laptop. I sent it to them on 8/8/08. They received it on 8/11/08. It is 8/20/08 today. I got a call yesterday from an HP case manager saying that a VGA fan was dead/defective. They said normally they wouldn't accept returns after 21 days, but if I still have the problem after repair, I could trade it in for another model of equal value. If that happens I will either get a dv5z or a desktop.
unless they have changed the design, there is only 1 fan inside a dv9000 series notebook.
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post #8 of 14
8/20/08 at 9:12pm
Well, that single fan is responsible for cooling both the cpu and gpu so he might be saying that that fan is broken?

Be careful about that "equal value" crap. 90% of the time they try to stiff you with suckier equipment.
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post #9 of 14
8/21/08 at 2:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr/owned View Post
Well, that single fan is responsible for cooling both the cpu and gpu so he might be saying that that fan is broken?

Be careful about that "equal value" crap. 90% of the time they try to stiff you with suckier equipment.
If the fan spins in the beginning when first powered on, then it is not the fan. the heatsink itself might be clogged...
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post #10 of 14
8/22/08 at 6:20pm
Thread Starter 
I just got the notebook back today. The flickering is gone, however, the darn video card still reaches 58*C according to GPU-Z 0.2.7
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post #11 of 14
8/22/08 at 8:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CP_You View Post
I just got the notebook back today. The flickering is gone, however, the darn video card still reaches 58*C according to GPU-Z 0.2.7
If you do some research on these models, you can also find that the heat issues are causing the left lcd hinge to weaken in strenght and when the user goes to close their screen, the hinge cracks and breaks and many times taking the rear bezel with it.

I would make sure the system has the latest bios update because I know HP had made the fan spin sooner then before with the update. It might help.

Otherwise your best bet is applying some artic silver 5 thermal grease on the cpu and gpu
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post #12 of 14
8/23/08 at 1:12pm
Thread Starter 
Oh no.... I just went to newegg.com to look at computers, and my dv9700t is flickering (again). Its very dull and it is doing that horizontal line alternating thing again. I'm gonna give hp an email.
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post #13 of 14
8/23/08 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
Update: I just off the phone with HP and they troubleshooted with me. It appears the flickering is a software issue as the screen does not flicker in BIOS. It only is a cosmetic annoyance. They are sending me new recovery dvds. I'll update this post if necessary.
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post #14 of 14
8/25/08 at 2:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CP_You View Post
Update: I just off the phone with HP and they troubleshooted with me. It appears the flickering is a software issue as the screen does not flicker in BIOS. It only is a cosmetic annoyance. They are sending me new recovery dvds. I'll update this post if necessary.
when the unit is sitting in the BIOS, the graphics will not fail because it is not being used at a high rate at all. So it will not get hot or begin to fail.

I doubt this is software related...
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