Hewlett Packard - HP
Defective NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 in the HP Pavilion dv9230us Notebook not identified for extended warranty or free repairs

HP is well aware that my HP Pavilion dv9230us Notebook PC with Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5500 and NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 has stopped working due to a known manufacturing defect of the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics card. Nvidia publically released information in 2008 describing this defect as a weak die/packaging material used in their graphics processors and that replacement chips now utilize Hitachi underfill packaging materials that improves product quality and enhances operating life by improved thermal cycling reliability. HP knew about this back in 2007 and later provided firmware updates to increase fan use.

My Notebook became very, very hot to the touch, and would not reboot. During startup, the display initially shows vertical green-checkered lines on a black background. Then the display locks up in a blank black screen before completing the start-up process. The only way to get the computer on is to reboot in safe mode and disable the NVIDIA driver and use the laptop in VGA mode which provides a screen that is heavily pixilated (unreadable). These are the same symptoms described by many, many other customers who have had their computers repaired and confirmed that the problem was the defective overheating Nvidia graphics processor.

My Rejected Request: I have asked HP to repair my Notebook (at no cost to me) by replacing the defective Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 chip with a non-defective equivalent performance graphics processor and repair any other damage the defective video chip overheating caused to my computer.

I have talked to HP Total Care, case manager, executive case manager, Corporate Office, and Executive Customer Relations Office, I sent Email to Board of Directors and corporate compliance office. It is ridiculous to claim that customers got what they paid for as long as the computer made it past the 12 month warranty period (24 months for a few lucky models). Wow, is that the position HP wants to take with their competitors (HP Notebooks have a 12 month shelf life)?

The number of people reporting NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 defect failure in notebook models that are not in the extended warranty list is growing larger every day (any internet search digs up huge amounts of information). Requiring that customers pay to repair a defect in light of this clear and growing body of evidence is quickly showing that HP has not shown good faith to correct a known manufacture defect and intends to double charge customers for the same product. This clearly tells everyone that we should not trust HP! If they are not going to acknowledge and resolve a well known manufacture defect right now, then how can people trust that there is no defect in the new models on the market right now?

I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection for non-compliance with a known defect. It appears some executive has decided that the cost of a potential lawsuit is less damaging than repairing all these defective notebooks. What about the cost of sending us to buy a competitor's product? What will legitimate proven customer complaints sent to various consumer protection and product review agencies do to the reputation of the HP product quality and customer service? How much money is all that going to cost HP in the long run? How can they get away with selling computers that self destruct in 24-26 months?

Company: Hewlett Packard - HP
Country: USA
State: California
City: Palo Alto
Address: 3000 Hanover Street
Phone: 6508571501

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