You wouldn't believe the numbers of these HP/Compaq units that come into our shop every week. Most of the units we see failing are failing sometime in the 1-2 year range. These laptop series are part of the largest notebook recall I can remember. Instead of calling it a recall they have been calling it a "Limited Warranty Service Enhancement".  In any case, if you have an affected unit you should check with HP because it may qualify for repair even if it is outside of the normal one-year warranty period (usually within two years you are OK). You used to be able to google "HP Limited Warranty Service Enhancement" and the first hit would take you to the section of their site dealing with this. However, they have removed the page so the link no longer works and I haven't been able to find a centralized page on their site dealing with the recall. You can still see a copy of the page here.

If your unit is listed there, you definitely should follow up with HP. Even if it isn't, I would recommend taking the time, since this list may not be up to date. If HP will take care of it for you, you should be good for a while longer, if not, you could bring your unit in to the shop and we can probably fix it for you. Cost for the repair is $120-180 if successful. If the unit is not worth spending the money on, don't throw it out, we can help you recoup some money out of it, by consigning parts for resale for you. Also, we can usually get your data back for you, either by pulling the hard drive and putting it in an enclosure (making it an external USB hard drive) or by backing up to some other media for you.