HP PAVILION ZD8000 CHECKERED DISPLAY PROBLEM

Hi, I have the ZD8369EA and now have 2 and a bit coloured lines on my screen. The laptop does run hot - I have it on a firm surface but it still is as hot as hell. I paid GBP1250.00 for this 14 months ago (just out of warranty) here in Southampton UK.

I have changed the display background to white which masks these irritating lines some of the time but my video and multimedia enjoyment are constantly hampered by my eyes being drawn to these goddam lines!

HP USA said the screen is shot after a minutes conflab - tantamount to an admission that this is a common problem. I honestly believe HP should stand by their products or be exposed to the fullest extent possible. I fully intend taking whatever action I can to remedy this.

Feel free to contact me if you are local to me and experiencing a similar problem, maybe we can present a joint front. Lets keep the blogs up so we get some attention from HP and keep the pressure on until this is resolved.

It may even be worth registering a cheap domain name about this and registering it with the search engines so it comes up near the top whenever anyone surfs for HP products - that will REALLY piss them off.

My previous Toshibas were cheap and crude in comparison to this machine, and never failed me. I am thoroughly disgusted and if I can’t get this resolved, will never buy HP again and will actively discourage anyone I can from doing so (I am an IT professional).

Regards,
***all advertising removed***

 

Hi Creaky - apologies - I just used my standard signature.
Cheers!
Bryn

 

Hi Creaky - sorry, I have fixed it now - I forgot I put it in my profile. Please remove it from my previous post.

 

ZD8181ea -

Laptop has run like a dream but what always worried me was the heat it generated.

Three fans which seem to be constantly on when no apps were running is a design flaw!!!

I can't believe I spent 1300 pounds on something that now after 2 years has vertical lines (currently 5 of them)

I am from surrey in the UK, pls help with suggestions

 

Read this thread. Not much for hope in it.

 

Hi, I made a stink with the High Street company I bought it from and just received a cheque to have it repaired.

A dicky screen after a mere 14 months having paid £1200 for what promised to be a robust machine, is outrageous.

Don't waste your time with Hewlett Packard - they don't even reply to your emails about this any more.

I have some sixty or seventy lines now - like looking through a blind when I work on my machine - a clear problem with the design of this model and yes, it runs HOT.

I think the only hope we may all have is for someones machine to overheat to such an extent it bursts into flames and we can then report the zd8000 as a fire hazard to the relevant authorities and it will be recalled.

The other alternative I have considered is starting a website called www.hp_sucks.com and letting disgruntled HP users post there, making sure the site uses the same keywords as HP so I can get it to a 'toppish' ranking when people search for HP.

In summary, try to get the store you bought it from to stand by their product - I did and it worked for me; and in the future, avoid all HP products and actively discourage others from even considering them - I am doing this in the business circles I move in and have already cost them a bundle - VERY satisfying!

There is no doubt that the few bucks (to them) it would have cost to fix my machine will continue to cost them dearly as I continue my campaign - innumerable customers lost to HP as a result of ignoring this dissatisfied one.

Good luck - don't take any sh*t!

 

As somebody who uses an HP laptop with no faults whatsoever after 2 years, that seems a little harsh. All companies make lemon models from time to time. Did it only carry a one year warranty? If so, you may be able to find a laptop repair specialist to fix the problem, but it won't be cheap.

 

Hi - no quibbles from me there - just they have recalled the ZD7000 which went up in smoke and should be doing the same with this.

The reason for my 'bad attitude' towards HP is their complete indifference to the problem.

A quick search on the net will reveal a litany of complaints (on various blogs) about the ZD8000. An investigation into the HP website will reveal they are not accepting any more postings about this model - because most of those there are derogatory and complaints!

As a small business owner myself in the manufacturing sector, I find it unacceptable that HP, with all its billions, are not prepared to stand by a product with an obvious design defect - a product priced at the upper end of the market and which in many instances just sneaks through the 1 year warranty period thus conveniently allowing them to abdicate responsibility for the repair thereof - disgraceful.

For those of you wanting to throw good money after bad, you can get your screen replaced for £267 including VAT and collection here : http://h41111.www4.hp.com/oow/uk/en/index.php?id=114740&sub=ntb&prod=U3260

For those prepared to risk the repair themselves, the screen is available for about £150 including P&P off of Ebay.

For me, I expect an item purchased from a (seemingly) reputable company, for which I invested £1200's worth of my hard-earned money, to last longer than the 12 month warranty period + 1 month - period.

As long as we consumers are happy to put up with crappy after-sales service and support, we will get it.

I can assure you I have cost HP a LOT more than the cost of this repair in lost revenue and reputation. A calculated and deliberate act of revenge and yes, very gratifying.

Stand up for your rights!

 

It's true of a lot of big companies, HP isn't a well managed company in my mind, and that's proof of it. Unfortunately you just have to expect that these days. I have to do a LOT of research before I buy anything these days, and I never buy a product that's brand new on the market. I didn't research my current motherboard enough and I paid the price for it, my original choice was far better.

 

Yup - research has become my watchword as well irrespective of size of company, advertising spend and supposed reputation.

There are several sites where reviews can be found - I shall be making a lot more use of them in future.

 

Indeed, Tom's Hardware Guide and 3DGameMan are good places to look.

 

A potential (at least temporary) work around:

My ZD8000 began showing a thin line down the right center. At the same time or shortly thereafter artifacts began to appear on the screen, some of which seemed to be related to mouse movements. On occasion the entire screen would pixelate into small horizontal strips or go completely blank, the only way out of which was to force a shut down by holding down the power key.

Anyway, similar problems to those reported here... which eventually became alarmingly more frequent. I decided to try disabling the video adapter entirely. I accomplished that by right clicking on the desktop (XP), choosing Properties, then Settings, then the Advanced Button. Then selected the Adapter tab and clicked on the Properties button. Down at the bottom there is an option to disable the adapter. I did so which required a reboot.

Upon reboot the vertical line was still present but the artifacts were gone. The screen resolution defaulted to 800x600 but I found I was able to successfully change it to 1024x768. At that setting the wide screen causes some stretching but is very usable. So far the horizontal pixelation and/or screen blanking has not re-occurred.

Note: I was lucky to be able to disable the adapter quickly before the screen went haywire on me. I had planned to try booting in Safe Mode to accomplish the same if I couldn't get it done in time. That's what you can try if your screen has become completely unusable.

I hope this helps!

Rob

 

Hmm, that'd be a fault of the graphics card then, not the screen.

 

Unfortunately my experience was a single line for a few days followed by a sudden almost daily increase to the mess it is currently (60, 70, 80 lines?). This over a period of about 2 and a half months.

No choice now but to send it in as it is becoming increasingly difficult to literally 'read between the lines'!

It sounds like the graphics card is shot as well - a not uncommon combination of problems my Blog research has revealed.

Interestingly I have also seen postings where ZD8000 owners have had 2 or 3 full mother-board replacements in the first 6 to 9 months, and others with the same number of graphics card and screen replacements over the same duration. Not good.

 

Understatement alert! lol
that is pretty terrible. Usually when you're in that position you can demand hp give you a different model.

 

You know, despite being at my wits' end with the problems I've had with my ZD8301ea it seems that I'm not alone with the problem of overheating!

I've decided to contact Watchdog (BBC consumer programme) about HP and their shoddy "aftercare". At first I thought my power supply was faulty when my laptop kept cutting out so I bought a universal one (which won't work cos you can't use non-HP power supplies), so after a little investigation which included downloading a little program that determines the core temperatures etc and talking to a friend of mine who used to work for Agilent (an HP company) we deduced that the laptop is overheating. The good thing is that although the Pentium 4 isn't really built for laptop use, when it gets too hot it simply shuts down. An AMD chip would simply blow up, as most of us know! HP customer service weren't interested as the laptop was out of warranty which is frankly disgusting.

I'd also like to say thank you to the people in this thread who have posted a lot of useful links etc. It's helped me discover the design flaw of these laptops and I can use this stuff as ammunition *grins evilly*

 

Hi again - long time no post.

I resolved my screen issue as follows: I bought a screen from an Ebay vendor 'SmartMicro' (laptopservicecenter) for £120 including shipping from the USA and installed it myself - not difficult at all, just be methodical and keep the little bits safe as there are quite a few small screws to be removed. I am sure you could get it installed for a few quid if you don't want to do it yourself.

There is a UK vendor on Ebay offering some photos of the screen replacement procedure - print it off as it is useful although not strictly accurate.

I have also invested £10 in a 'cooling platform' off Ebay - quite snazzy with its blue lcd's and making a HUGE difference to the overall temperature of the laptop.

The underneath of my laptop used to get blistering hot - it now barely even gets warm - a vast improvement.

The middle fan also conveniently sits under the cooling grid over the memory module so there is a constant stream of air being blown into the body of the laptop as well. I am hoping this additional cooling will preserve the life of my new screen - only time will tell I guess.

So I managed to replace the screen and improve the cooling for £130.00 - cheaper than a new laptop and half the price of an HP repair which wouldn't have included the cooling station.

With the money I saved I upgraded the memory to 2GB which has resulted in a very nice performance improvement.

I must say I was sorely tempted to buy something else but am glad I didn't. Despite how I will NEVER buy HP again, for the money I spent on the repair, I am hoping to get another 18 months or so out of my zd8000 as I will then feel it has done its time for the money I have invested in total.

 

I upgraded my memory to 1GB a year ago and other than improved performance it didn't really do much for the temperature. I've only just heard of cooling platforms after investigating the laptop's overheating, I must admit! They sound like a good idea though and if it means I can buy more time with my laptop til I can afford another one then so be it