Among other adventures that I have had this week, my HP Pavilion DV6700 laptop up and went out on Sunday. There was no warning or anything, one minute it is working the next it will not. This being the day that I threw out my back, I didn’t bother with it until just this past Tuesday.
The computer will power on for what it is worth. The fans run the lights come on… but that is it. There are no visuals on screen, and hooking it up to another screen grants me what I imagine to be, another view of the vast expanses inside a cave at night.
It also tells me the problem lies with the motherboard.
A few clicks later online I found that this was a known issue; HP is fully aware of the problem and has issued a recall of HP Pavilion laptops. Score! I thought to myself. This problem is known, there is warrantee coverage for my just under two year old computer, I can totally take advantage of this! But lo and behold, the extended warrantee does not cover my specific laptop. The same problem that is affecting other laptops suddenly didn’t apply to mine?
In my complete naiveté I called HP. If it was an oversight I wanted to know. If their web information was wrong, I was going to find out, and if there was an at home fix, well I was going to be darned sure I got the information that I needed!
To be clear, I have been a loyal HP customer for over five years. My last three computers have been HP (Since my E-Machines blew up… yeah, that was fun.) not to mention the various printers and other peripherals that I have purchased from them over the years. I have dealt with HP Total Care on several occasions, and found answers to my questions no matter what the time of day and what deadline was looming. This instance of course was to be nothing like my past encounters.
The warrantee only covers the AMD processors, as they are clearly the only ones who are having failure issues, my Intel chipset must be fine. The problem, though identical, is entirely unrelated and thus, out of their hands. The CSR I was speaking to even admitted that the problem was a problem for my model, it ‘simply did not happen enough with my model for HP to look into’. I was issued a ticket number (803-686-1924) and told that if I paid $99 I could be walked through troubleshooting with them on the phone. (Or you know totally do it on their website for free.) I of course declined. I know what the problem is. I need to fix it.
There have been reports of mixed success with bullying HP into fixing the defective out of warranty laptops. One man got HP to completely pay for his 2 year old laptop, even though it was far out of warranty. While a student managed to win a class action lawsuit for more than double what the laptop was purchased for. The difference between them and myself? They had pre existing problems. My laptop died out of the blue. There were no older tickets, no repairs under warrantee, no warning. I have no case to push, because my computer, up before last Sunday was in perfect working order.
So where does this leave me? Well I can try for out of pocket repairs, I have seen a few websites detail how to fix it, and outline the exact problem. (Surprise surprise it is the heatsink.) But short of shipping my laptop to Florida, I am not entirely sure I can get a fix that will assure my laptop lasts at least another year.
Thankfully the helpful folks who are also in my boat told me how to do a power drain and start. Somehow against all odds, this worked! I managed to get all of the important files off the laptop and onto my pocket drive, with an eventual restore onto my desktop system.
To get my voice heard, I have signed up to be part of a class action lawsuit. I don’t expect profits off this, in fact, I don’t expect anything to come from this at all if it wins, the problem is too wide spread, but I demand that my voice be heard. I bought a product with confidence because of the reputation of HP. At the time, it was an amazing reputation and I was thrilled to get such a great ‘deal’. Now I see that even getting it fixed is a crap shoot.
I will not pretend that HP will hurt with the loss of my business, (and believe me, it is gone!) but I know that I am not alone, and that if everyone who got burned by them with their laptop purchase stopped buying, they will have to take notice. Maybe then they will stop playing the blame game and own up to the fact that their computers are faulty.
Hard mode 
Aug 22, 2010 @ 16:36:53
Same thing here… i always reccomend HP products, but not after the brutal treatment of it’s customers. and the blame games it’s been playing.
i would like to know where the class action stuff can be found so i can join the hunt.
Sep 26, 2010 @ 18:48:57
There is a link to the class action lawsuit in the post, but so far I have received very little information about the case.
Sep 17, 2010 @ 15:47:23
I have the exact same model and this just happened to me last week, I also contact hp and all they told me was to buy a new motherboard….I am extremly dissapointed since all we have is HP as well…at home and for business and like you said not just desktops and laptops but printers and scanners ect. There must be something we can do…If enough people complained that this happened to maybe they will recall it…
Sep 17, 2010 @ 16:21:24
I also have an HP Pavillion 6700, I have had over heating problems within my first year, was told how to avoid them, bought a chill mat, problem seemed to go away. I had an extended warranty with Office Depot – what a joke. When the computer did get too hot and shut down, they would do nothing, said it had a preexisting condition – go figure. My husband finally was able to get Office Depot to repair the fan. 6 months later it breaks down. Now it is out of the 2 year warranty, which evidentally started from day one, not from the time the HP’s warranty ended. I have a $900 computer that I had sold a car for so that I could begin a new business. I feel taken advantage of. Each time I speak with someone in Customer Service, they are located in the Phillipines, not in the U.S. I live in Colorado, near HP, do you think I could get anything accomplished here in the U.S.? I am extremely frustrated with the “Lack” of Customer Service.
Sep 26, 2010 @ 18:45:40
I know if you have a history of tickets you can fight HP on this, but if you don’t, and it happened out of the blue then you are stuck. They pretty much ignore you because they can.
I have read about several people winning in small claims court, but again, these people had the past tickets to back up their claims. Mine broke out of the blue so I have nothing.
Oct 14, 2010 @ 13:07:29
Same problems here. I think it is disgusting when a company won’t back their own products and then ask for more money to help you fix it. I will no longer be buying anything HP has to sell. I hope more people feel the same. Strength comes with the masses.
Nov 02, 2010 @ 00:28:34
My dv6700 crashed about a week ago. I didnt bother contacting HP just because I knew my warranty had expired. I took the thing apart and put it back together and it worked for a couple of hours then crashed again. I went to Office depot to look at new ones and told the guy about my problem and he said to throw it away its not worth the trouble of trying to fix it. Well I didnt like that advice cause the was working fine and just quit (wont power up). So I took it to a local computer shop and the laptop tech said the motherboard is trash and HP wont stand behind their products. I guess we all have learned a 600.00-900.00 lesson but this 10 year loyal HP customer wont be buying another of their CHINESE peices of crap. But I am going to try replacing the motherboard for 150.00 just cause Im cheap.
Nov 04, 2010 @ 17:59:19
My motherboard crashed on my computer as well. I have always taken great care of it. They told me I could spend a lot of money and have them replace. No thanks. I just ordered a motherboard offline and had my father replace it for me.
Guess what? I’ve had 2 hard disks crash as well, and my charger no longer works. I will never buy an HP again.
Nov 20, 2010 @ 00:09:26
I bought a HP6700 in 2008 and without warning–it died. I had a diagnostic test ran and was told that it was the “motherboard” and to just buy a new one! I was told by the tester’s that this was a common problem and they have seen many of them come through their store. HELP! how do I get HP to replace my Laptop? Please contact me at “wanda_waits4u@yahoo.com”
Thank you.
Nov 20, 2010 @ 05:14:05
I had a HP DV6715tx laptop (purchased for 2400 SGD) that had the same problem. Apparently some genius at HP decided that it will be a fine idea to put your CPU, graphics chip and your hard disk all in the same location. The area under my left palm, where it rests on the keyboard, tends to get burned from all the heat. After having one harddisk friend, I finally got a cooling fan pad… which is too big to lug around and kind of defeats the purpose of having a laptop.
My laptop still went on the fritz(as described above) regardless. Being out of warranty, I finally got the fried nvidia graphics chip replaced from a local repair shop.
Till HP starts working on the heating problem present in most of their laptop models, I am never buying another laptop from HP ever again.
Dec 12, 2010 @ 00:10:36
I bought my HP 6700 after i graduated HS in 2008. less than 2 years later it did the same thing! I’m a college student and don’t have money to fix this or buy a new computer! my roommate had the same computer as i did, a week after mine went out so did her’s! the computer has been sitting on my shelf for a while now till i figure out what to do with HP, if anyone knows anything more, please let me know!
Jan 04, 2011 @ 00:24:38
My HP dv6700 just died on me a few days ago. I tried calling support and spoke to some guy I could barely understand. He told me in order to give me advice I had to but a $99 package or a $49 package. They worked on my laptop about 8 months ago and now the thing dies on me. What can I do?
I have no idea. Do I try yo repair it locally or send it to HP? I think they should first hire people that we can understand when we call! A lot of work info is on my computer. This really stinks!!!
Jan 26, 2011 @ 13:50:46
There is a settlement regarding the NVIDIA products within computers. Go to http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/affectedmodels.html and see if your # is there.
I looked for my p/n (product number) from my HP Pavilion dv6700 on the back of this Notebook and then searched for it in the website from the NVIDIA Settlement above.
Feb 01, 2011 @ 20:01:14
I too have a HP Pavillion 6700. Same thing–overheating, blank screen. Mine started having problems 6 months after we bought it–I thought I did something wrong. Then in Oct/Nov. it started doing a weird thing when I tried to turn it on–it would turn on, fan start, turn off, turn on, fan, turn off–over and over for hours and days if I let it. It started up one time and the start up music was warped. I finally called HP and got scammed. They told me it would be $99 and I knew-after reading online that this type of help would not solve my problem so I kept saying “no”. He then said he would refund my money if it didn’t work. SO, I thought I had nothing to lose. When it didn’t work and it came time for my refund he said he would only refund my money if I sent it in for the $398 replacement. He said it would be like “brand new” for only $398. I was so angry at this scam because I repeated myself at least 3 times: “the $99 will be refunded if it doesn’ work right?”. He always said “yes”. Anyway, $398 isn’t bad for a new computer but I refuse to give HP one more cent of my money. So I bought a new computer $700. This is purely Terrible customer service and I hope HP goes down the tubes because of it.
Feb 11, 2011 @ 00:48:39
http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/index.html
go here to get replacement
Apr 05, 2011 @ 13:25:48
My dv6700 died about 9 months ago, it was just over a year old! I had someone to recover my files, but told me the motherboard was gone. He also told me that this is a known problem with HP, it’s a heating problem of some sort. I will NEVER buy an HP product again!
May 10, 2011 @ 17:18:42
If you don’t want to buy another motherboard….I have seen a reflow work on two dv6700’s……remove the motherboard (youtube)………..bake the board in the oven and it will reflow…………..Works…………..
A cheap way to get a piece of crap to work again………………
Jul 05, 2011 @ 01:17:29
DV6700 series here. Out the blue, white screen of death. 😦
Aug 12, 2011 @ 11:24:28
I have had a computer guy fix this same problem 3 times now paying him average 60.00 each time. I guess what it is is the connect to the motherboard wear the weld is not good and heats up, it can destroy the mother board but usually just loosens the connection when it gets hot. Then the connection has to be cleaned somehow and it will work for a while supposably as long as you keep it cool. I got up set with it this time and the guy I bring it too keeps wanting me to sell him the computer for 60.00. He said that he was gonna buyt somestuff that would correct the weld but has yet to do so. I again forgot to get info off hard drive and tried to do myself unsuccessfully. The computer would be great I love it when it is up and running. Oh yeh HP did replace motherboard once to but only guaranteed it for 30 days it lasted 32.
Aug 15, 2011 @ 18:01:15
Victoe,
Im having the same issue with a friends. I have repair these before by applying heat to the graphics card. Its a real pain to fix. Im currectly in talks with HP now. I will let everyone know the results. Its, of course, out of warranty but I did send this in a year ago for the same issue. Im tired of fixing these when HP should be fixing.
For your data, you can pull out your HD and hook it up to a computer to get all your data off. lookup IDE/sata to usb converters. Your HD is prolly already Sata.
GL
Dec 30, 2011 @ 02:31:43
I bought the H/P 6700 in Spring of 2008. about 2 to 2 in a half years later the motherboard went out. I also heard that my battery was recalled back in 2009. I was wondering why I had to keep recharging every half hour. I finally got a chance to call some number I found for H/P. Of course the call went to India. I was telling him about my situation. He gave the longest speech I have every heard, leaving me speechless and he kept saying, “are u still there?” He said they would send me a Fed Ex box to return and they will look at it and fix it for free and give me a 3 month warranty on it. So for almost 15 mins. he kept using the word “free.” Then he finally said, I need to pay almost 400.00 when returning it so it can be looked at and sent back fixed to me. I told him, I thought it was free as u said. I told him for that money I might as well buy a new one. Then he was trying to sell me one on the phone. Damn nerve this HP company has as they advertise that number on their web site. I told him I wouldn’t even pay a penny and that the company has a nerve selling these products that brake down and they won’t repair. I kept rattling on about the company, when he said i should give him the model and serial number and my name and he will try to help. As I gave him my name, I was reading to him all the negative replies consumers have left about HP, and about 3 mins. I said, hello, but I never got a response back from him and I waited 3 more mins. I am going to try to call the other number I found online at HP and try to get things resolved otherwise I will contact BBB.org or see if I can sue them.
Jan 04, 2012 @ 17:48:19
For what its worth, my dv6700 followed suit and gave it up 2 days ago, after working great for 2 yrs and 7 months (7 months beyond the Costco extended warranty). At first HP said they could repair it for $400. But after looking into model number etc, they decided they cant do anything as they dont have any parts to repair those OLD computers. After customer loyalty – 6 HPs for our family since 2001, I am not a happy camper. It sure looks like this is a known issue and has been for some time. Sad that these companies get away with not caring about customers. My family is leaning toward Apple now, and so far they are very happy with the switch. I dont want to invest in another HP only to have the same thing happen. FR
Mar 12, 2012 @ 03:33:58
HP has no care of its customers, to back up a terrible product they put together and for this I truly hope they continue to lose more market share!! And what a horrible way to provide customer support by talking to someone not US based and barley understand them!!
Apr 26, 2012 @ 15:07:29
I think Rebootit.biz that you posted in your post is awesome. I just got mine back and it works perfect now. They are in Florida but ship all around the USA. The price was right and now my laptop is like new. I cant recommend them enough.
The guy I talked to over there was Pete he is the one that does the Youtube videos on how to fix it. If you have you have an HP DV series laptop I would call the guys at Reboot and get it fixed right. Their office number is 321-332-0710
J