Overseas Bought Hp Computer Repair

[Digitalbanana]

One of our computers is an overseas purchased (US) laptop that needs service repair (replace the video chip). Slightly out of warranty at 15 months old.

If it was you would you a). ship it back to US for repair using Fedex and shipping agents, b.) take a trip to HP service center in Bangkok or c) fix it at Pantip etc?

All suggestions welcome!

Edited September 15, 2011 by Digitalbanana

[ShopBoy]

Buy new

[Darrel]

"replace the video chip"

If the video functionality is embedded in the motherboard then it cant replaced except by replacing the motherboard. This may be quite expensive (depending on what board it is, and where you can get one) but can be done by anyone competent.

If the video function is a separate card then it can easily be changed by anyone, at very minimal cost.

No point sending it further than the nearest competent repair shop, as at least they will be able to tell you in seconds whether you need a video card or a motherboard, and how readily available the part is.

[samtam]

HP Service Centre is in U Chu Liang Building, (same as HSBC), Rama IV.

[floridaguy]

Were you told by someone that it was the video card? I had the same problem with my US purchased HP laptop. Out of warranty. Would not boot, just kept rebooting. Took it to several shops in Pantip and was told it was the graphics card, without even looking at the machine. So I took it to the HP service center, and they had it for over 3 weeks and couldn't find what the problem was, and still wanted to charge me 2000 baht. So, I took it back to Pantip (without paying HP) and had to hold someone's hand to make them actually watch the thing boot up, and it turns out it was the internal power supply connector. They changed that for 2000 baht and all was well, except it took 2 more weeks to fix.

So I guess, take it to Pantip but make them boot it up with you. Every shop said it was the VGA card, but they were all wrong.

[Gregory Morozov]

To Darrel: please do not mislead people and google for "BGA rework".

There are places where video chip replacement can be done in Bangkok, but: they must have the chip and the decent BGA rework station - there are ways to do without it but then the repair do not last long. Should cost about 4000-6000 and it only makes sense if it is an expensive laptop. If the analogous laptop can be bought for ~15000 baht by all means buy new.

[Darrel]

To Darrel: please do not mislead people and google for "BGA rework".

Absolute insanity.

No one is his right mind would think about replacing a chip on a board. Even the manufacturers would give out a new board or new PC rather than attempt a component level repair. Madness.

[Gregory Morozov]

To Darrel: please do not mislead people and google for "BGA rework".

Absolute insanity.

No one is his right mind would think about replacing a chip on a board. Even the manufacturers would give out a new board or new PC rather than attempt a component level repair. Madness.

Aha, tell it to the people who are making good money off it

London:

http://www.e14tech.com/gpu-reballing.html

NY:

http://www.avonpcpitstop.com/Reball-Info.html

etc. etc.

Hundreds of shops doing only this all over the world...

If I would only find a way to get chips cheap and quick I would buy the rework station (which is quite expensive) for my shop in Phuket and we will be doing 10-15 notebooks a month right away...

Edited September 15, 2011 by Gregory Morozov

[Lannig]

Agree with Floridaguy. Failure of the GPU (aka. VGA chip) normally isn't likely unless it has severely overheated because of heavy gaming with the notebook not properly cooled for some reason. Having a dark screen doesn't necessarily mean GPU failure. It could be the LCD display itself, and on notebooks another likely culprit is the cable that runs from the mainboard to the lid.

However there are some specific notebook models infamous for failing GPUs: among them the HP Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 series with NVIDIA GPUs. I had one in my hands that worked only in 256 color mode. Anything beyond that gave a completely white screen.

Is yours one of these?

What's the exact symptom you're seeing?

Anyway, if it's out of warranty, there's one place where it could make sense economically speaking to repair it and it's Thailand. In the western world repair costs are prohibitive.

But if it really is the GPU... well, that machine's future looks grim I'd say.

[Darrel]

Aha, tell it to the people who are making good money off it

Just because someone makes a lot of money doing something doesn't mean that it is worth doing.

There are people who make a lot of money out of selling time-shares and herbal heal-all medicines, but I wouldnt buy either. Would you?

Paying 10000B to repair a motherboard at component level is silly, as you just end up with a repaired motherboard that will probably go wrong again quite soon. If the repair cost 500B it would be worth trying.

[Digitalbanana]

Thanks for replies guys... I haven't had much time to follow up this month, but basically I took it to a local repair shop (outside Bangkok) and booted it up. The guy said VGA chip but he didn't want to open it. The screen looks normal until it gets to the Windows Log On and then into Windows itself. There is a lot of flickering images and artifacts on screen making it barely usable...just before it happened the laptop was running very hot.. It's a high end HP ENVY model so not easy to find in Thailand....

Thinking of ordering a new main board and getting that put in by a local shop.. not cheap but cheaper than the 70,000THB it cost to buy and farting around at an HP service center.

[Gregory Morozov]

Aha, tell it to the people who are making good money off it

Paying 10000B to repair a motherboard at component level is silly

The market is driven by demand, right? So quite a few people are happy to repair the motherboard for 5000 baht if the motherboard costs 12000 baht new if they are given 6 month warranty on this repair...

[Darrel]

The screen looks normal until it gets to the Windows Log On and then into Windows itself. There is a lot of flickering images and artifacts on screen making it barely usable...

Hmm.

Before doing anything else, try booting the machine with a Linux Live CD. This has the advantage of being completely free, simple, and will not modify your machine in any way.

You may find that the display is fine under Linux, in which case you need to look at the Windows video drivers, or indeed perhaps a Windows reinstall.

[Lannig]

It's a high end HP ENVY model so not easy to find in Thailand....

Oh... HP Envy

Another ill-fated notebook model from HP I'm afraid.

The launch model went "this item is no longer available" from HP's online store within weeks after being announced. Not "out of stock". I smell something wrong here. I hope yours isn't one of the first batches.

Found this on Youtube:

Does it look like what you're seeing?

Geez... I used to be a big fan of HP hardware but as of lately the quality of their notebooks especially has been going down the drain. The Elitebook 8530p given by my employer (a kind of high-end model also) is falling apart after just over one year of very careful use. My own Probook 4515s has failed twice in one year (LCD panel and DVD drive - covered by the warranty, but not comforting).

Edited September 16, 2011 by Lannig

[Digitalbanana]

The screen looks normal until it gets to the Windows Log On and then into Windows itself. There is a lot of flickering images and artifacts on screen making it barely usable...

Hmm.

Before doing anything else, try booting the machine with a Linux Live CD. This has the advantage of being completely free, simple, and will not modify your machine in any way.

You may find that the display is fine under Linux, in which case you need to look at the Windows video drivers, or indeed perhaps a Windows reinstall.

I haven't tried this, but the laptop comes with ""Splashtop" which is a simple o/s that can be be used before booting up Windows to run built in aps like email, web browser, Skype etc at power on without Windows. Whilst the screen flicker is not as bad it is still there with Splashtop running - especially as I scroll down web pages, on a web site so I think it's hardware related rather than Windows. The flicker isn't like the YouTube post above, but more a general heavy pixelation of noise over the Windows desktop and external displays it connects to along with larger areas usually large areas of triangular shaped distortions across the windows screen.

[Lannig]

I haven't tried this, but the laptop comes with ""Splashtop" which is a simple o/s that can be be used before booting up Windows to run built in aps like email, web browser, Skype etc at power on without Windows. Whilst the screen flicker is not as bad it is still there with Splashtop running - especially as I scroll down web pages, on a web site so I think it's hardware related rather than Windows. The flicker isn't like the YouTube post above, but more a general heavy pixelation of noise over the Windows desktop and external displays it connects to along with larger areas usually large areas of triangular shaped distortions across the windows screen.

Hmmm, I have to say, this sounds awfully like a failed GPU indeed.

Hope you'll be able to buy a bare remplacement motherboard, don't know if HP sells these to end users.

Good luck and welcome to the club of frustrated HP customers.