HP Lists Notebooks with Defective GPUs, Releases New BIOS

Hewlett-Packard has listed 24 laptop models that are affected by a reported Nvidia graphics card problem.

The list of potentially affected systems includes select HP Pavilion dv2000, dv6000, and dv9000 models and select HP Compaq Presario V3000 and V6000 laptops.

Symptoms include no video on the computer LCD screen, no power and no active LEDs, and “the notebook does not start.” If you experience some of the listed issues, you should contact HP during the duration of the HP Limited Warranty Service Enhancement to determine whether your laptop is eligible for a free repair.

Users that have some of the listed laptops and experience none of these problems should update notebooks’ BIOS to the latest version.

“The new BIOS release for your notebook PC is preventive in nature to reduce the likelihood of future system issues. The BIOS updates the fan control algorithm of the system, and turns the fan on at low volume while your notebook PC is operational,” the PC maker says.

Along with HP, Dell has recently made a statement regarding the same Nvidia GPU issue.

Source | Via

My union is supporting a consumer recall of affected Nvidia chips. See recallnvidia.org for more info about the chip problem and our recall effort.

I have been repairing laptop computers for 8+ years and can 100% say there is something wrong with the unit itself. It is always either no video, bad video, laptop won’t power on, inverter, and a lot of times the video card GPU overheats due to little to no thermal grease on the heatsink.

I usually do not get a chance to upgrade the BIOS as the machine is already in a failed state mode so just getting it to turn on can be a project. I am going to suggest this to people on my free laptop motherboard guide site hoping to prevent this from happening to someone.

For anyone intrested, my Laptop Motherboard Guide website is http://www.laptopmotherboard.org

Thanks for the great information and keep it up.