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araknee · Sep 4, 2011, 03:06 PM

Yeah, I know, HP laptops are the worst. Please bear with me

I had a problem with my laptop some months ago (it worked brilliantly till then): whenever I stressed it too much, it froze/shut down. I needed to wait 15-30 minutes before turning it on again, because it would shut down if I wouldn't let it cool off or something (it's overheating but.. It isn't? ). But the fan and heatsink were totally clean because I took good care of it blowing compressed air into it (while turned off, of course) but it still overheated frequently since the cooling system on the HP laptops suck so much. So it was weird because I even opened it and cleaned it thoroughly and replace the thermal compound on the gpu and processor.

So one day it finally gave up (died), and the guys from a service said it's the motherboard. I replaced it (found one ~130$), put it on and applied new thermal compound. I opened it and it worked again but after a little time it froze again while playing an 1080p vid on YouTube (I was testing it). So here again I was with the same problem from 3 months ago.

I thought it was the processor now, so I replaced it with a second-hand one. Same thing. I borrowed the ram and hdd from my brother's computer, and it still froze while stressing it with everest.
Before I changed the motherboard it would freeze even at ~50C cpu and 35C gpu, now it freezes at something like ~75C cpu and 50-55C gpu.

So now I'm broke, with a broken laptop, and asking desperately for help. I basically changed the whole hardware of the damn laptop and the problem persists. I can't afford buying a new one, and I already spent ~170$ which was all I had.

I can specify that I used AS5 as a thermal compound and I worked very gently with it, and that I know a little about computers so I didn't mess anything up... I guess.

I'm starting to think that the whole assembly of heatsink and fan is faulty and that it's not cooling properly. I can't think of anything anymore.

Model: 1.5 year old HP Pavilion dv6-1212sl, Microsoft Windows 7/Ubuntu (but the laptop freezes/suddenly shuts down even in bios or with hiren's boot cd so it can't be software-related)

Sorry for the long read and for my bad english, and I hope someone can help me some way.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Stratmando · Sep 4, 2011, 03:31 PM

I didn't see mention of the cooling Fan?
I don't know if you could have a vacuum at the vents to force air to move(cool).
If it runs better/longer, it may be a cooling problem.

araknee · Sep 4, 2011, 03:33 PM

I already said above that I cleaned the fan and heatsink with compressed air from time to time.

Stratmando · Sep 4, 2011, 03:37 PM

And the fan blows air? It probably works, but if you don't say, I will have to ask? Did you try the vacuum?

araknee · Sep 4, 2011, 03:39 PM

Oh sorry. And of course the fan works. Though I noticed that it doesn't work at full capacity like in the past. Now it's like constant rpm, while in the past the rpm would go up and down.

ScottGem · Sep 4, 2011, 03:43 PM

Since HP is now and has been the top selling brand of computer for more than 5 years, there is ample evidence that HP laptops or any HP computer product does not "suck".

Every manufacturer has its lemons. It is possible that you got one. It's also possible that you didn't take proper care of it.

Have you contacted HP tech support?

araknee · Sep 4, 2011, 03:47 PM

Yes, I 've got myself a rotten lemon. Bad luck for me.
The warranty is off (1 year) and I'm pretty sure I don't have hp support in my country.

Stratmando · Sep 4, 2011, 03:47 PM

If you have had it apart and changing fan is not too bad, I would maybe try that?
I had to change one in My VIAO, it did as yours was acting?

Stratmando · Sep 4, 2011, 03:49 PM

hp laptop cooling fan | eBay

araknee · Sep 4, 2011, 03:51 PM

I was actually thinking of changing the whole assembly (fan + heatsink + heatpipes and stuff) because I found one second-hand here from an hp dv7. It's the same so it fits and it's about 25$ so I might give it a last try before going mad and burning it all.

araknee · Sep 4, 2011, 03:55 PM

Oh and you say your fan on the vaio acted like mine? Hmm.. I'll order it asap then :)

ScottGem · Sep 4, 2011, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by araknee

yes, i 've got myself a rotten lemon. bad luck for me.
the warranty is off (1 year) and i'm pretty sure i don't have hp support in my country.

Not sure about your country, but HPs come with life of product e-mail and IM support. So you can try logging in to HP.com and go to the support area and get into a chat with a tech or send an e-mail.

Stratmando · Sep 4, 2011, 04:10 PM

Yes, I may have gotten lucky? If you do buy it, I hope it solves your problem, there is the posibilty it won't work, I think I paid $10 for from eBay and has lasted about the last 2 years?
Good Luck, Luck won't hurt in this case.

Stratmando · Sep 4, 2011, 04:28 PM

Actually I think mine had the heat sink and was the same price as without? You can get lucky.