Big Problems with Wireless in HP Pavilion Notebooks
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.
Update May 30, 2010
Comments for this article have been closed. This was done because people were using as a means of getting HP support. This article is not an official HP support channel for problems that may occur with the HP products. If you would like to contact HP for support, please visit HP Customer Care at support.hp.com, thank you.
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30 thoughts on “Big Problems with Wireless in HP Pavilion Notebooks”
I’m asking for their responsibility to fix my Pavilion tx1000 regardless of its wireless and stupid motherboard..
Lots of users already complained about this..
But it seems that no actual action from HP..
They even ask me for money to fix a mistake that they made !!
If anyone knows the fix please let me know. Thanks. HP support is not good at all.
I am in the process of filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office for the State of WA for fraud and unfair business practices by HP. HP is very aware of he problem with the dv2000/6000/9000 laptops, but has done little to fix it. I’m so tired of waiting for HP to do the right thing, that I am going to go at them. Pending the decision by the AG’s office, I plan to file a small claims suit seeking the return of money that I paid for the laptop. Only when HP realizes that cannot weasel out of doing what’s right by their consumers will they step up. Let your voice be heard and contact your AG office now. The more people that file a complaint, the more likely an AG will move forward with a lawsuit.
Any suggestions?
Now, you can go get a USB wireless but, the unit will most likely fail within a few weeks. Why you ask? Because HP and a lot of other manufacturers switched to lead free solder on their connectors. With these chips running as hot as they are, combined with dirty fans, inadequate air flow, and in my opionon, crap thermal pads, the solder starts to crack and connections become unreliable as the processors heat and cool causing expansion and contraction.
Thermal dynamics being what they are, the solder doesn’t shrink and expand as fast as the rest of the surrounding components thus causing breakage.
If you call HP’s crappy support and told that it can be repaired for $399 but they’ll cut you a break at $250, tell them you’ll take that $250 and go to another company.
However, if you have a heat gun, some Thermal Artic Silver 5 paste, some aluminum foil, and some patience, you could try to ‘Reflow’ the solder connections on the processor. Basically heating the surrounding connections to the point that the solder melts and closes the cracks. There is a Youtube video of someone doing it on an IBM. Same issue.
I have a dv6000 and this did the trick. Works on xbox 360’s with the rings of death as well so I’ve been told. The issue though is heat and air flow. If your laptop is already toast, it’s worth a shot if you’re going to buy a new unit anyway.
what do you expect when graphic GPU is almost on top of
wireless adapter and GPU can go to 130C heat.
So if laptop does not get hot adapter can be ok, if laptop is used to get hot more likely adapter will fall.
So logically thinking this problem should be more conman in hot climate regions and in summer times ;)
Wireless gone crazy on this . Blue light works but suggests “limited access to wirleless” …all other household PC’s work fine.
HP claim no reported issues, checked BIOS, drivers etc all fine. HP repair agents want £268.00 to remedy……probably best to invest that in a Dell.
This is for a client of mine. From now on, i will not repair any HP products. I haven’t had a good sleep since the night I accepted the laptop to fix.
I hope this helps.
When i called HP of course my warranty was expired but the guy did tell me that b/c they have been having this problem they had extended my warranty…until….two months ago..how convenient. When I asked why they don’t back the computers when there is a problem among many of these models..(sort of like car companies fix recalls even if your car is way out of warranty) he made some comment that if i had called about this problem before my warranty was out they would of fixed it then…even if was not working..am i supposed to surf the web for various recalls on my laptop on a daily basis?
I will NEVER buy anything HP again. Not that they care. tried the F10 thingy did not see where…to change from disable to enable…but oddly enough just hitting the f10 then restarting…i have a blue wireless light yay!! lets see how long it lasts.
I have an HP dv-6000, after the wireless died on me -and being on a budget – all i could do was to buy a USB wireless adaptor, even though it sticks out and takes one of the USB slots, it does the job, and i only paid 30 bucks .
The $250.00 repair fee is just an estimate, once they get it in the may charge you twice as much, if the problem is related to the motherboard, that is what happened to mine.
To keep this from happening, once I get it started, I go into limewire and download large files. Even if the comp goes into powersave mode, the wireless won’t shut down. This way, when I wake up the next morning, the thing still works. Obviously, this isn’t very convenient, but it’s a trick that works for me.
Register a complaint with the BBB:
http://www.hpvictim.com/default.asp
Register with the Nvidia class action suit:
http://www.milberg.biz/nvidia.html
And register a complaint with the Atty Gen’s office in your state.
A few years ago I had the same problem with a Dell. Loosing randomly the wireless connection. I did not call Dell, I called the ISP provider. The guy told me to shut the computer then cut the power to the wireless box. Wait for a few minutes (I mean one or two), then restore power to the wireless box, then to the computer. The problem was fixed….until a couple of weeks later it started again. The procedure worked each time. The guy had mumbled something about something getting too hot. And I realised that I was keeping the wireless box on 24/24. So I shut it at night. Then I never lost the connection again.
So, about a year and a half after I bought this HP pavillion, I had the same lost connection problem, which arrived at very inopportune moments, particularly when I was going to win this to the poker world champiosnship:). Anyway that pissed me off lost a lot of time until I rememebered the problem with the Dell. I tried it and I have ben a few days without any connection lost. I am going to wait a bit longer before declaring victory though. But I would be interested in having feedback on this, has anyone tried it?
Cheers
They work for many but with the wireless device problem, I’ve learned it’s a much more complicated case. What is most sly about the issue is that I would come upon a “fix,” but the connection wouldn’t last (so far no more than 2 straight days). And the previous fixes wouldn’t work any further. Then, I would have tweak the laptop (Compaq Presario FU572US, BTW) with other tricks.
So what tricks have worked – albeit temporarily? Initially security scans not only revealed the missing wireless device (Broadcom), but also connected – only until the scan was finished. This lead me to believe there was some kind of suspicious object in a running process that lost the wireless device. Then, the scans didn’t work at all for a connection except just bringing out a missing wireless device, which couldn’t connect.
I’ve used Super AntiSpyware’s repair utilities for restoring System File Checker, Safeboot key and Network Connection. That, too, was temporary. I’ve tweaked with wireless zero configuration in services.
The constant is I have to reboot into safe mode nearly always if a normal boot results in a missing wireless device. The connections following a safe mode boot back into normal is inconsistent.
So far, I’ve had lingering wireless device, even in a normal boot, after one session of stopping wireless zero configuration during a connection. I did learn that after 10 minutes or so, pages won’t display even though the connection was still good. I would have to start WZC and then the pages would load as a normal connection. (Keep in mind, I got that connection after coming out of safe mode to normal mode.) Since that session, I’ve been able to shut down and start up in normal mode without going to safe mode first to produce not only a detected wireless device but a stable connection. But I’ve also been following an advice about holding the power button for 3 seconds for starting up. I think I misread that advice, though, since a second read, it was more about dealing with a possible static electricity build-up with the wifi card from the battery. I leave the battery out and use the AC adapter for the power source.
So, maybe it’s the wireless zero configuration. With my series of temporary fixes, I’m thinking more about getting another laptop that is not HP – maybe Toshiba or ASUS, which was recommended by one of the afflicted HP owners. It seems from the comments from various forums, the motherboard will eventually die. But I will keep checking these forums for someone else’s solution.
One ~3 YO HP desktop had problems I repaired and it necessitated a reinstall of Windows from the 8-disk set.
After having the installation hang 3 times at the same point, I checked all of the original CDs and found two with unreadable sectors.
I called HP and found the only option was a replacement set for ~$80 which I consequently ordered.
The new set of 8 had a disk with bad sectors.
I again called HP and was told there is no warranty on CDs at all but they would send me a second set for $25.
This set too had TWO bad CDs but out of the 24 total, I finally managed to restore the system and wrote off the additional time and some of the expended costs.
I have used HP (now ‘Agilent’) test equipment since 1960 and own a good bit of it still.
It has never needed any extraordinary service and the down time I have suffered was minimal.
HP computer related stuff however, I will never again accept for service of any kind.
They told me that I owed them $750.00 because they found some internal problems. They said I needed a new mother board, processor, keyboard, and RAM. They weren’t going to send it back to me until I paid them.
After arguing with them for about an hour, they relented and sent my computer home. It hasn’t worked since.
I’m with you – I will never buy another HP.
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