A couple problems with my DV2310us...

I have a DV2310US and I decided to give Windows 7 a try to see if it ran better than Vista as everybody seems to claim. Doing this has created a couple problems for me that I could use some help with.

1. Within Windows 7 everything seemed to run great but I was never able to get my wireless to work correctly. I downloaded the vista drivers and attempted to install them but it would never work. I even tried to install after going into the properties for the installer and selecting install in Windows Vista compatibility mode. I was able to get the bluetooth to be recognized but not the wifi. The switch on the front always rebooted in orange but when I flipped it off then back on it would turn blue and the bluetooth would be recognized but not the wifi.

If I could get the wifi to work I would be happy with Windows 7 but not having wifi has forced me to go back to Vista. This has created my second problem.

2. It took some monkeying around but I was finally able to get through the recovery manager process and it said it completed successfully. When it reboots after the recovery process it comes to a Windows Boot Manager black screen and says windows failed to start. I tried to put in a windows vista install disc and do the startup repair but it says that it is unable to repair the problem. I have done this and had the same results a few times now. I have even gone all the way through installing vista from the other disc and recovered from vista so it isn't recovering from windows 7. Nothing I have done has gotten me any further.

I appreciate any help that can be offered with either of these problems. Thank you in advance!

 

Wifi works perfectly for me. Which version of Windows 7 did you try to install? If it's not the RTM, try that. 64-bit please.

As for the second problem, why don't you do a clean install of Vista.

 

I think that I was using windows 7 build 7100 (64-bit). What is the neweset one?

A clean install of vista will work fine from a seperate install disc but I wanted to be able to use the recovery manager to use the product key I got when I bought my PC. I may end up scrapping the recovery partition all together though if I can't get this to work. I have done many bcdedit commands that I have found on other sites and nothing is allowing windows to boot.

 

I just installed what I believe to be the newest release of Windows 7 and my wireless still is not working. What drivers did you use to get yours working properly. This is what shows up in device manager for me. Also, after rebooting the PC the wireless light is orange and the bluetooth is not found. I have cycle the switch back and forth and then the bluetooth is recognized.

 

Googling around for your computer shows that it has an AMD Turion with the GeForce 6150. Sorry for the bad news, but it's highly likely your nVidia chipset is failing. nVidia made a large number of defective chips, which were prone to heat damage. This may result in anything from no wireless to no display image at all.

If you're lucky, your laptop will be covered, though HP managed to omit a large number of affected models.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=&product=3259108

The dv23xx series is listed, so hopefully you're in the time frame.

If you're the tinkerer type, you can google solder reflowing.

 

Thank you for the investigating. At first I was thinking that there was no way that my chipset was going bad but now I am thinking that you must be right. It is just very odd that it chose now to start going bad, right when I am messin around with the OS. I installed Vista and it recognized the wireless adapter but then it disappeared after I got it installed correctly.

I am going to contact HP tomorrow. I guess this is as good a time as any since my computer is all wiped out and clean.

Thanks again for all the help.

I never did figure out the boot issue but I guess that they will just restore the laptop to factory settings when they get it and send it back. I wish they could restore the screen to factory settings and get rid of that f-ed up line that the keyboard makes on the screen of every dv model I have seen used.

 

I contacted HP today and was not happy with the results. The following letter than I have sent to various outlets should explain my situation.

I am writing to you to share an issue that I am having with Hewlett-Packard with a laptop that I need repaired. I purchased an HP laptop brand new and it has been fairly good to me over the years. It never had many real problems and seemed to be a good value for what I paid for it (over $700). I have purchased official Hewlett-Packard accessories over the years, spending over $300 at least for new batteries, charging cables, etc. In the past 6 months to a year I started having some problems with the wireless internet capability. I figured the issue was with my router and not with my laptop so I replaced the router and the problem seemed to go away.
After a bit of a small break the problem resurfaced and seemed to get worse. The new symptoms of the problem are that the wireless adapter in the laptop computer doesn't even show up. I am pretty technologically savvy so I did my best to diagnose the problem on my own. I did factory resets, installed new drivers and did everything else I thought to do. I posted my issue on a few forums and did some Goggle searching and found that my laptop had been part of an enhanced warranty program (not a recall) because there was a known problem with the chipset on the laptops motherboard that caused the wireless to fail.

Reading this was relief to me since it looked as if it would be covered fully by the warranty. Being a full time student at Portland State I surely don't have the money to buy a new laptop or even a wireless adapter in all honesty. I called the number that Hewlett-Packard provided for the warranty service and got through to somebody that seemed to be working at a call center overseas. After a long process of giving my information and being cut off during the phone call I was finally given my solution. I was informed that my laptop was covered by the enhanced warranty program but it had expired July 2009. At this time for them to repair my laptop it would cost me $359. I told him that I did not have the money to pay for that repair and he told me he would be able to offer me a discount since it had been covered by the enhancement program and they would be able to do the service for $299. I still informed him that I did not have the money to pay for that repair and that it was insane that something that would have cost me nothing less than two months ago now would cost me almost as much as a new laptop would. He simply gave me my "ticket number" and told me that I could call back and pay for the repair at any time.

I find it very unfortunate that a company would put an expiration date on fixing a problem that they knew existed. The symptoms began within the time period mentioned but it took beyond the ending date to find out about that the warranty enhancement program existed. How would any customer be able to take advantage of a warranty program when they do not know it is available? I don't know if this is a common business tactic in today's day and age but I am left with a very bad taste in my mouth over it. One of the main reasons I bought my laptop computer from Hewlett-Packard is because of the strong Northwest presence the company has had (being a native Oregonian). I have purchased two computers from the company and since I am the tech savvy guy in the family I have advised my family members to buy the same way and this has resulted in over a dozen Hewlett-Packard computer sales. I know that this may seem like small potatoes with a company that large but I can assure you that if they are unable to help me out with this problem, which was their fault to start out with, then those will be the last purchases toward Hewlett-Packard from myself or my friends and family.

I don't know what I anticipate coming from writing this but I felt like this experience needed to be shared.

Has anybody else has similar experiences with HP?

 

Like I've said before, I have. If you have a heatgun, you can try the reflow technique, in which you surround everything but the nVidia chip with foil. From the otherside of the board, you heat the region for about 5 minutes, chip side down. It's risky, but it can yield results. It worked shortly for my sister's tx1000.

Check out http://hplies.com/ for more info.

 

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/hurd/index.html

best direction I can point you in. I know it kind seems like a bad joke but this goes to corporate. Can't guarantee what results you get but nothing lost in trying.

 

HEAVY42: I found that link yesterday after I got off the phone. I sent my letter through it so I am just waiting for somebody to read it ... I hope.

MGS2392: I did look into the solder reflowing a little bit after your last message but at that point I was still hopeful that it would be covered by the warranty enhancement. I don't think that I will go to that stage yet since the laptop is still functional and I can use a usb wifi stick if I need to, just isn't how it should be working. From reading around it sounds like eventually I will end up having more problems.

Thank you for directing me to that website. I didn't realize that it was such a wide spread issue. I think that I will probably stay away from HP in the future. I plan on reading through that site and seeing if anybody that has been at this longer than I have has gotten anywhere.

Thanks again for the help.