BleepingComputer.com: HP PAVILION NOTEBOOK PC DV9208NR

I have a RP114UA , HP PAVILION NOTEBOOK PC DV9208NR. The hinge was broke and had no video on the lcd or external monitor. I called hp they told me the hinge and video problem we both covered under warranty so i sent it in. After about 1 week they called me and told me it would cost $315.00 to fix cause the particular problem was not under warranty. I asked them what the problem was they told me the exhaust system had to be replaced and the parts are no longer produced so had to be special made. I figured i could fix it myself and maybe find used parts for sale somewhere so i asked what needed to be replaced and they said they didn't know only their engineering dept does but i cant talk to them.

So my question is what part of the exhaust system would cost $315.00 to fix and can a bad fan trip something in the laptop to prevent the lcd from working, and shouldn't hp be able to tell me whats wrong with it? They must know if they know how much they are charging me. I'm just at a loss where to go from here

everything for laptops can be expensive, especially if it has to be custom made. Theres not a lot of room inside a laptop case so the heast sink and exhaust system has to fit in a tight compact area along with a lot of other computer components-which is why a lot of laptops have cooling issues, it is a difficult thing to do to keep a laptop cool because of space requirements. you cant just buy any heatsink that matches ur socket type you have to have one that fits inside your case around all the other components. So yes an exhaust system for a laptop can be pricey, especially if it is no longer made and has to be custom manufactured. on top of that its probably not the entire problem, if the video wasnt working it means that the laptop was overheating from the bad exhaust sytem and could have damaged the video card. you may be able to find the same model laptop on ebay being sold for parts and pirate the exhaust system off of that for less, but hope the heat didnt damage anything else. and as for the person on the phone who didnt know the problem, she probably didnt-their different departments, they have a customer service department where people just take care of calling people and handling the paperwork, a lot of these people couldnt tell the difference between a PCI video card or a PCI express video card if they were right in front of them, they just go by what the engineers tell them. HP normally does have good customer service in my experience, if it were me Id call them back and press the issue, say you paid this much for it and it is still under warranty, theres no reason why you should have to fork out 300 bucks for it when you can go to wally world and almost buy a new computer for that. no garentee it will work but they might, you never know.

The graphics on this computer is integrated, there isn't a card, but that doesn't mean that it can't be overheating as well. I don't understand what they are talking about when they tell you that they would have to have the cooling system specially made, you can purchase replacement CPU fans at this site.

Have you looked to see if the CPU fan is spinning? Without the CPU fan it will overheat and shut down the computer.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a accumulation of dust can cause it to overheat as well, blowing the insides out with canned air usually will help with this.

Thanks for the reply. The lcd or external monitor will not work even with the computer cold. Is there some sort of fail safe that prevents the display from running if the fan is not working? The computer lights all come on and appears to be running just without the display.

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Now there's a technical term. Does it come with a new muffler as well?
In all seriousness, it is a cooling assembly (heatsink & fan) and looks like the image below from a 9000 series service manual:

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In other words, they are going to take a different cooling assembly they have on hand, probably from a 9000 series and "modify" it to work.
Your notebook is covered due to the problems you describe. It's documented at HP here and is as clear as mud as to what the actual problem really is. All that is stated is to keep your bios updated to avoid future issues. Kind of makes you think it may be a motherboard\bios chip issue. If there has been a motherboard .ver upgrade or some sort of redesign with it, your existing cooling assembly may not work. Of course, all speculation here.
Wether or not this particular repair is required or they are just trying to pick up some bucks is debateable though.
One things for sure, they are hiding something.

This post has been edited by HitSquad: 12 February 2009 - 10:54 AM

I couldn't understand the first person i talked to at hp so i had to call back. When i called back they told me it was not under warranty could the fan being broken void any warranty repair they might have done? I kept questioning the order status guy asking what exactly was my money going to repair and he said the only notes on my account were about a faulty exhaust system and the engineering dept knows the rest but i cant talk to them. He also stated that if the problem was the motherboard it would have been covered which led to my confusion about why there is no display just from a broken fan.

there could be a fail safe, but you should have seen something-theres something wrong with the mobo/video is my guess, and HPs jerking your chain. which is odd, they have always given me really good customer service (ive had HP computers and had to have warranty work done on them, with older HPs as well) but I do think their wrong about the warranty issue, hitsquad gave u the documentation, it should be covered by warranty HP is just trying to save a few pennies by making up a reason not to fix ur computer.

Well i got the laptop back today in full working condition fan and everything works. I cant help but feel i almost got taken for money. the work order that was in the package said they replaced the systemboard nothing about the fan. Is this something i should report to hp management? I trust hp and think they would like to clear this up. Thanks for everyones help even though they fixed it.

if they didnt charge you for anything I would not worry about it. if the documentation is vague, and your not sure if they billed you or not, call them to double check so you dont get sent to claims, but I would just call and ask if you were billed, dont mention anything about them claiming you would be billed. if they say no your not billed, just take it thats what I would do, after all you did have a warranty.