[alicom]

Hello,

My HP Pavillion 9016TX serial no is CNF70920YD and product no is RL566PAR#UUF.

My laptop screen shows gray, white and black vertical ribbons in the screen, which disappears corresponding to the time (as seen by a side monitor) it shifts from the WinXP black loading screen to blue welcome screen (side screen picture also turns off abruptly at that point). The WinXP black loading screen als shows broken on a side screen when attached.

What is the problem an how can I solve it?

I hear about HP tech support nightmare all the time. They wouldn't reply me although I filled an E-mail form stating my problem at their site. Moreover, I don't have anyone to rely on regarding the issue. I'm a physician by profession and this issue is hampering with keeping my patient records as well as my academic activities.

I have no one else to turn to. Please help me.

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This sounds like either a broken screen (which if the same thing happens on an external monitor, isn't broken), a graphics memory corruption problem, or the infamous Nvidia graphics problem, which is most likely since that model has Nvidia graphics.

The problem with the nVidia graphics chips has only become apparent in the last three years or so, and the basic problem is a flaw in the design of the graphics, meaning that it gets too hot, the solder around the chip melts and the chip literally cooks itself. When the machine is switched off, the solder cools and sets in the wrong place, and on some laptops this can be fatal. This is not a unique problem to HP machines, it affects all laptops with nVidia graphics at some point, though it's predominately HP machines that have failed.

Unless you're incredibly happy and/or handy a) taking the laptop to pieces and b) using soldering irons and c) know exactly what you're doing, the best advice would be to contact a decent repair shop, because the ultimate fix for this problem depends on how far gone the problem is. Yours sounds like it's just beginning to go.

[Neil Jones]

This sounds like either a broken screen (which if the same thing happens on an external monitor, isn't broken), a graphics memory corruption problem, or the infamous Nvidia graphics problem, which is most likely since that model has Nvidia graphics.

The problem with the nVidia graphics chips has only become apparent in the last three years or so, and the basic problem is a flaw in the design of the graphics, meaning that it gets too hot, the solder around the chip melts and the chip literally cooks itself. When the machine is switched off, the solder cools and sets in the wrong place, and on some laptops this can be fatal. This is not a unique problem to HP machines, it affects all laptops with nVidia graphics at some point, though it's predominately HP machines that have failed.

Unless you're incredibly happy and/or handy a) taking the laptop to pieces and b) using soldering irons and c) know exactly what you're doing, the best advice would be to contact a decent repair shop, because the ultimate fix for this problem depends on how far gone the problem is. Yours sounds like it's just beginning to go.

[alicom]

Dear Neil,

Thanks for your early reply.

I followed a youtube video tutorial regarding taking the motherboard out, cleaned it, checked the connections, and put it back together only to find the same problem persisting. Here are few more points that I noticed:

1. When I select VGA mode from winxp boot screen (you know, after pressing F8), it only views extremely poor quality image broken al over and probably 16 color depth only on the side (or external) screen, and the bars in the main screen changesto more frequent colored bars from monochromatic bars.
2. Right before the screen went, I was preparing a report in the laptop and the screen suddenly went out. I hard reseted the machine and started facing this problem. It also occurred to me there is something wrong with my keyboard as the machine kept beeping at boot.

3. I don't think the winxp progresses beyond its black boot screen to welcome screen as the keyboard remains unresponsive (I can't blindly shut the machine down) and the screen goes and remains blank right after the said screen.

Does these shed any more light on diagnosing the problem? Please let me know.

Again, thank you brother for your time.

Sincerely,

Ali.

[alicom]

And also, when I opened it up, I did not notice any blackening in the soldering around the nvidia chip and the soldering appeared regular.

Unfortunately, I don't have a descent place to go regarding the issue. HP doesn't have even a single service centre in my country and ones here is a complete ripoff.

[Neil Jones]

Unfortunately unless the laptop is under warranty (which by the fact it's an XP model, it isn't), HP won't be interested.
You either have a board problem, a graphics memory problem or a problem with the nVidia graphic chip in the laptop.

If it's a board problem, it'll be a write-off. If it's a graphics memory problem, it's potentially a write off. The situation with the overheating graphics chip can be fixed, however they can only be a temporary fix because it's a hardware failure of the original design, so in that case to keep having it done only to fail again a couple of months down the line is realistically not feasible.

Sorry to to be the bearer of bad news, but from what you're saying, I think the laptop's had it.

[alicom]

Thanks for your reply.

So the graphics chips cannot be replaced, is that it? I'm so disappointed. I also read aboutthe fault of 7600 chip on net, but the posts are like a year old. Do you know whether hp has recalled the intel based dv9000 for the gpu problem?

[deggitt]

Hi, some info. on the graphics chip problem in this ebay advert.....



http://cgi.ebay.co.u...=item43a1bbbaf7