Hi

My laptop crashed and restarted last week for no apparent reason. I had just installed Java v6.13. The pixels then seemed to collapse - that's the only way I could describe it.

I've posted here first to see if its a software problem. Its only 17mth old and I am hoping its not hardware as my warrenty was only for 12mths

I did a system restore and all seemed well until it had been running for about half an hour. Then the screen started pixelating again but not the same as before. When this happens the screen freezes then goes blank. If I reboot I get a message saying Display driver nvlddmkm.sys stopped responding and has recovered.

Since then I keep getting the blue screen of death with the following information.





The first thing I did was check the monitor by connecting my desktop one to the laptop.

I have tried updating the driver, but it crashed right afterwards and gave me the same error message.

I cannot find any information about the code error 0x00000116 but the nvlddmkm seems to be the problem. No sure the best thing to do now.

I have tried taking it back to last know good configuration but it doesn't seem to solve the problem.

At the moment I have got it in safe mode and it has been like that for a couple of hours, and seems OK

Jeany
PS its got a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 display adapter

Hi
Sorry about this but I decided to take it back to its factory settings to see if it was software or hardware.

So now I have to reinstall everything.

Is it best to start with windows updates, before I install antivirus, its going to need the service pack.

Jeany

I was going to suggest doing a clean install, just to discount any software conflict. As it could be a faulty graphics chip if you still have the same problem.

As for your question, I would install your anti virus first if possible before browsing on the net.

Although it's fixed these days, the windows update site could be subject to virus hits, so it's always better to have some kind of protection in place first.

Thanks Mart

All seems to be working OK for now so it does look like a software issue - fingers crossed.

I've downloaded all the available windows updates - but I cannot find Vista service pack 1, will it show as a KB number. I thought it showed as SP1 on the old instal.

Jeany

You can download sp1 from HERE. This is a standalone download which is meant for updating multiple pc's. Which in turn makes it a bigger download than the one that comes through the update site.

You can use it, but you should get sp1 through auto updates eventualy though, if you don't mind waiting a bit.

Really thought I had sorted it when I went back to the factory settings, but it started again.

I have done some research and guess what I found

Post on HP support forum going on for 36 pages

News report

It all seems to be going on in America - so has anyone on this forum had any problems?

Jeany

I think the best thing you can try and do is get in touch with hp and plead your case.

Otherwise as it's a laptop you are stuck with the graphics, you can't change it like you can with a desktop pc.
The mothboard would have to be changed, and you'd have to weigh up the price of the repair whether it's worth it or not.

hello,
also check the BIOS setting for shared memory for graphic card and st it to Maximum allowed.
some times when the BIOS battery runs out.
all settings go to default and they need adjusting and saving.
Ben

Hi

Well it finally died on me this morning. I have been through technical support at HP and been escalated to a case manager - who is going to ring me back. So wish me luck. I will let you know how I get on

Jeany

Hope you can get something sorted Jeany, let us know how you get on.

Hi

This probably should be posted in the hardware section - but as I've already started it here, I will carry on.

As you can see from previous posts, I am having problems with graphics card.

Screen deteriorates after about five minutes and then screen goes blank. Last time I posted I could not get machine to turn on at all (same day).

I have left machine for a couple of days and I can now get into safe mode - which has been running for about an hour with no problems. mind you it isn't doing much.

My question - If I am having a hardware problem with a graphics card in my laptop, would the same problem still occur if I was in safe mode. I'm thinking it might be a heat issue, but not certain. Need to get my head around this before the case manager rings me up.

Jeany

If I was to stick my neck out, I would still say it's faulty graphics.

Safe mode gives you a picture, but it's very basic, which doesn't need much graphics processing power.

Suppose it's possible the heat sink which keeps the graphics cool might have an issue, but either way its hardware which is the problem.

Overheating problems in general would normaly shut the computer down as the cpu would probably over heat as well.

Just to agree with Mart - I have a graphics card in my cupboard taken from a customer's PC which works perfectly in safe mode but as soon as you load the full drivers in normal mode, it falls over. So yes, a faulty graphics chip can certainly behave in that way.

Thanks Mart and Grasshopper

I feel better about that now. I will let you know if there are any developments

Jeany

Hi

I thought I would let you all know how I got on with my laptop. It finally became unusable and it was only 17 months old. The HP manager I spoke to was very nice but in the end they would not do anything because it was out of warranty.

They put me in touch with a firm in Warrington called Flextronics who do repairs for HP. They quoted £261 no matter what the problem, that included picking it up from my house.

I then contacted Consumer Direct (the old trading standards) and they informed me that under the sale of goods act of 1979, it is the retailer, NOT the manufacturer that is responsible.

The Sale of Goods act states:
Goods must be of a satisfactory quality. This means the goods must be fit for their purpose and meet the standards that any reasonable person would expect.

I then wrote to the retailer (MicroDirect). At first they completely ignored me, then when they realized I wasn’t going away, wrote to say that I needed to prove that the laptop was faulty when I bought it. After quite a lot of correspondence, when I was getting nowhere, I decided my only option was to get it fixed and see what the engineers report said. I informed the retailer and stated the repair bill would be their responsibly.

The laptop is now fixed and working fine. They replaced the system board, Heat-sink and Fan.

The retailer refused to pay the repair bill as they stated that I still hadn’t proved it was faulty. I maintained that in no way had I misused the laptop and that it had not been used in an industrial situation and should not have been that dusty that it failed after 17 months. I was going to take them to the small claims court when I decided I would try my credit card company.

I wrote to them including all the correspondence, and they wrote back within the week stating that they thought I DID have a case against the retailer, and they would therefore refund the repair bill, which they duly did. I was very impressed with my credit card company.

It certainly was an exercise in perseverance, and I learned a lot, especially to be very very careful whom you buy from in the first place.

Jeany

Mmmmm. Well I'm glad as a consumer that you got a result and certainly all credit to the card company.

But as someone who buys in laptops and sells them on to customers, I cannot but have sympathy with MicroDirect. Because all they've done is buy it in, in a sealed brown box & sell it on. Yet they are liable when HP who manufactured it, and who are the only people in a position to control its quality, can sidestep the whole issue.

Truly is the law an ass.

The reality is that lots of laptops fail as early as this. Very few make it to their third birthday. This was always the case and when they were a business tool, not much of an issue because companies replaced them on such a cycle. But now that they've come down in price, consumers are buying them and expecting them to last like a desktop PC. They never will because you have a lot of hot components crammed in a small space. And heat kills computers. I give this talk to every customer before they buy a laptop. They never listen of course.

I stress I'm not having a go at you. Just asking for sympathy for the devil.