hp probook 4430 s problems

Our institution has purchased about 125 of this model computer. to date we have been experiencing random problems. These problems include:

- CD rom tray popping our randomly
- Control key disabling, which disables the entire keyboard
- computer shutting down randomly.

WE are running windows 7 professional, 64bit on a custom configuration.

Randomness includes shutting down at work but never at home. One user has had three different computers which work fine for the person before or after. I can never get them to shut down in my office even though if leave it running for days.

We suspect static electricity but have not devised a test for it.

Anybody else have these issues.

 

we had a similar problem in a lab which had a lot of the previous gen probooks, and that was an issue to do with the 3 phase power setup that the room had, apparently was to do with grounding. it was also causing soft power spikes on the ethernet cables which would shut the machines down at random. (the ethernet cables were run next to the power cables, hence the issue).

They got the electrician in who did something, and the issue went away, but i never did get to find out the root cause. but it could be to do with your power setup, as you suggest.

Sio

 

I have been having exactly the same problems that you describe over the past three weeks that I have owned my Probook 4430s. Admittedly, I am a very static-y person, but my probook has now instantly shut down about 10 times, all clearly static electricity related because I could feel the shock about 50% of the time. I have also experienced the DVD tray popping open, and just yesterday had the ctrl key "stuck" down (not really, but that's what the computer thought) and disabling the keyboard.

My Probook is also running Windows 7 Ultimate and is a 64-bit processor. The problem seems to happen the most when I'm at my desk in my home office, which is my primary place of work since I telecommute.

My husband has a work-provided HP Elitebook with the similar metal case and has not had any of these problems when working at home.

I have tried discharging the static before I touch the computer to no avail. I'm now looking into an ESD bracelet and possibly a humidifier. But I'm also going to call HP and see what they say, since it is still under warranty at under 3 weeks old.

 

I work for the tech department in a school district, and I am having these sorts of problems with the 4430s as well. Things I've tried to fix issue...

Swap Battery
Swap Charger (possible ground pin issue)
Bios Update
Applying new thermal compound to the CPU
Reimaging

It's definately hardware related, but since there are no startup errors along with it, (event viewer shows nothing) it's kinda like throwing pies at a wall and waiting for one to stick...