Several months back, I bought an HP Pavilion DV6000 and reviewed it here on PCMech. I gave it a pretty good review. I was happy with it. But, that review has garnered a LOT of traffic. So much, in fact, that it now finds itself as the ninth most popular article on the website according to the “Most Popular” list on the homepage. Now, why is that? Mainly because of all of the user comments complaining about various things failing on the unit. Most prevalent among them: wireless.
Then a reader by the name of David (not me, I promise) pointed over to the Berlind’s Testbed blog, by ZDNet. He talks about how he has seen a lot of complaints about failing wifi in the Pavilion notebooks and that the HP support forums are being flooded with such complaints. Take a look at this support thread at HP for the wifi problem on the DV6000. I caution you, the thread is PACKED with comments and may take a while to download if you are not on a fast internet connection.
The same blog from ZDNet asked HP about it and eventually got a response where HP admitted to the problem with the wifi on these Pavilion models. Apparently, HP posted a BIOS fix in the support forums to this problem, however it is said not to work very well and doesn’t solve the problem for most users. In fact, most users who have had this fixed ended up getting a motherboard replacement or a replacement system. This is a hardware problem, not something that can be fixed with a mere BIOS update.
Is HP Support Really Supportive?
There has been a lot of expressed disappointment and anger at HP over this. Not only because the problem exists in the first place, but because HP has been completely silent on the issue (up to very recently) even while their customers are flooding the support forums with this issue. The perception has been that HP does not monitor it’s own forum. And, quite frankly, recommending a BIOS update for a wireless card failure is practically laughable.
But, HP’s support is on the verge of laughable anyway. Just yesterday, I had to call HP because of a failing battery in – you guessed it – my DV6000. While the Indian guy I spoke to was quite nice, he ran me through diagnostic steps that were kind of stupid. I have also wrote in the past about my experience dealing with HP support on my laser printer. This is admittedly completely subjective on my part, but it seems as if HP technical support has a habit of grasping at straws and ignoring common sense when it comes to troubleshooting. Perhaps they need to use their heads more than the corporately written flow charts that their technicians no doubt use.
Reality Check
So, while I am writing this article based on other people’s observations, the volume of posts about this problem, both on PC Mechanic as well as on HP’s site, indicate that there is a fairly widespread issue of failing wireless cards in the HP Pavilion notebooks. I hope HP takes proper responsibility for this. If you have the problem, just make sure that you contact HP before your warranty expires. HP is really good at throwing hardware at the problem, so chances are you will get a free replacement.
The harsh truth is this: You can’t buy an all-in-one notebook computer with those kinds of specs for ~$800 and expect it to be the highest quality in the world. The attractive price tag given the specs is why so many people are buying these Pavilion notebooks. But, just buy it knowing that it will have a failure point.
David Risley is the founder of PCMech.com. He is the brains, the thinker, the writer, the nerd.
I spent hours on the phone this weekend with HP support and no resolution to the problem with my dv7. I have five calls on record now. First replaced bios and promised me a new mother board if the problem came back (American help desk). My next call took two hours and the Indian dude took over my PC and replaced my audio drivers, saying the problem was caused by my streaming audio (iTunes) to my home sound system. The third call (again in India) agreed that I had a hardware problem, but hung up on me when I refused to spend two hours on the phone to go through the same steps the first call did. Fourth call (again India) told me that it is a static electricity problem and each time it happens I should unplug it, take out the battery, hold the power button in for 60+ seconds and put it back together to start. She said the battery causes static to build up on the wifi card. My most recent call this morning (American help desk) told me that it is a Vista problem and I have to do a total system wipe and reload. What a joke. I the total of 6 plus hours I have spent on the phone I could have Craiglisted it and then bought a Dell! I have a Dell for work and NEVER have issues with it! Don’t buy HP folks! They build substandard products and then refuse to support them.
The big problem with this particular situation is that it may not be the Wireless Chip. In my case, it was the motherboard. I believe that the overheating problem broke the Mini-PCIE slot for the wireless chip. The Chip was fine, the motherboard just wouldn’t recognize it. I am currently using the old Chip in my new Compaq, and it works perfectly fine. The old laptop, unfortunately, was eventually rendered completely useless when the heat destroyed the graphics chip. The issue it not so much the durability of the hardware, but rather the efficiency of the cooling system. They try to pack powerful processors in these tiny laptops, and the cooling system just can’t handle it.
Over two years ago, I purchased a HP dv6000 series, and also helped my roommate and brother buy one within that same week, because they were on special for a Fry’s Electronics grand opening. Within the last 3 weeks, Windows reports that it cannot load the drivers for wireless notebook adapters on all 3 machines! Same issue as described above, with the light not changing from orange to blue.
On another forum, I found someone who may have a repair, and wondered what David Risley thinks of it, and if anyone in the know will please give this a try? It is for a Compac Presario.
Here is the link, and what the girl wrote:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?message.uid=28725
Well my problem now seems to have been solved this evening. First, I uninstalled and reinstalled an earlier version of the Broadcom Wireless Lan driver for Microsoft Windows (Version 6.00 E – dated October 2007 – sp36684.exe off the HP web page). I restarted my notebook PC and during the bootup pressed the F10 button. This brought up the system configuration menu. I changed the internal network adapter from disabled to enabled and then F9 to save the configuraton. I exited and and then restarted.
I just about fell off my chair when my notebook booted up and the Broadcom driver was detected. The wireless light had turned blue and I was able to connect wireless to my home network. Now the real test will come when I turn off my PC and see if everything has taken.
Thanks!
I have to start by saying that I don’t know much about computers, just use it for working at home once in a while. But I am terribly disappointed in HP and will never buy any HP product again!!! Just about a year and a half ago I bought an HP pavilion laptop on the recommendation of my dad, who bought one about six months before me. Just after my one year guarantee expired, it started giving problems. The computer wouldn’t start up, just kept saying: “Configuring updates: Step 3 of 3″ and then just shut down. It just carried on in this loop, and couldn’t do anything. So I took it to the place I bought it, they said they couldn’t fix it and sent me to the HP service centre. There they told me that my motherboard is broken and that I might as well throw the whole computer away! I couldn’t believe that they could care so little about their customers, as to have a giggle about it being just out of guarantee. And how can they sell a product that’s only supposed to last one year, I’m sure they can’t think that I’ll buy another HP computer!
The more upsetting thing is… Just this morning my dad’s computer started doing exactly the same as mine did! So now it’s 2 for 2, and from what I’ve just seen on this, and so many other websites, there’s a lot of other people out there who feel the same way about HP as I do!
This really sucks because i have had this laptop for a little over 2 years and sadly my warranty is no longer valid. I wish I had known about this problem sooner, if I had known I would’ve waited a little longer and saved up a little more and bought a Mac. Also, to add insult to injury my internal CD/DVD burner has stopped working and is totally useless, I could look past that but Internet access is a MUST and I no longer have that.
I am very upset! This is the main computer I do my school work with and some of my classes are online line. Is there a way to diagnose the problem?
I feel as though HP has to own up to this problem and those unfortunate few who’s warranty has run out should be reimbursed was well. They are the ones that created the product and their miscalculation shouldn’t be burdening the consumers.
ANY ADVICE?