Lost of screen

Mayfly · 13 Feb 2014

Sorry for the title but I can't think what else to call it.

HP ProBook 4740s 8mths old Windows 7 Professional.

5 times in the last 3 days I have lost vision on my screen, it goes all multi coloured in very thin horizontal lines that dance like static. I can't do any thing with it and have to use the main button to shut down and have had to do a fair but of work again. So far it's always started again ok. Nothing shows in the event log other then Kernel power event ID 41 which indicates the system hasn't shut down properly which it hasn't because I had to shut it down.

I have 13 windows updates to do but today I had just selected them and clicked ok to download them when the screen went again so now I'm bothered that the screen will do it whilst they are installing so am running a bit scared of them.

It is under warranty and I will ring them tomorrow, tbh I'm thinking of telling them it's not for for purpose, it's already had a new hard drive, and I want a different laptop - however we'll see how far I get with that.

I just wondered if anyone had come across this before and the best way to describe it to them.

ibshaw · 13 Feb 2014

There could be a number of things causing what you describe but since its under warranty I'd be inclined to let them find out what is the cause and fix it, you could also mention the Sale of Goods Act whereby the item is not fit for purpose and you may get a replacement but since it is 8 months old you may only be offered a repair under warranty.

Sale of Goods Act....
Sale of Goods Act 1979

Good luck.

ProstarComputer · 13 Feb 2014

It sounds like display adapter failure. Since this system has a Radeon 7650M, that's probably the component in question if the laptop is not utilizing switcheable graphics.

Mayfly · 14 Feb 2014

Thanks. I'll see how far I get, as it's a business machine having it away for repair not to mention the loss of work when it happens is a tad distressing.

Mayfly · 14 Feb 2014

Quick update HP believe it's a driver problem and sent 3 links to install,

BIOS - which it told me was 'the version I had installed'.
Chipset - says it 'may not have installed correctly, try using settings that are compatible'.
Graphics -'PC does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software'.

They are ringing me back this afternoon so will see where we go from there.

ProstarComputer · 14 Feb 2014

Mayfly said:

Quick update HP believe it's a driver problem and sent 3 links to install,

BIOS - which it told me was 'the version I had installed'.
Chipset - says it 'may not have installed correctly, try using settings that are compatible'.
Graphics -'PC does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software'.

They are ringing me back this afternoon so will see where we go from there.

Doubtful it's a driver malfunction but if that's all it is, then that's much better news than hardware failure. Let us know what happens!

Mayfly · 21 Feb 2014

It appears somehow that the on board graphics driver was conflicting with the stand alone graphics driver and stopping it from working correctly. After deleting drivers and reinstalling [amongst other things] every thing appears to be working fine, tho' I have requested HP make a note there is no proof as yet the problem is fixed as it was intermittent but hasn't happened again since last Friday. Again I can not fault their tech help, they have phoned me every day for a week to check on the pc.