Costco Refurb DV7-1273cl BSoD Please Help!!!

Ok, this is a real PITA. I purchased an HP DV7-1273cl from Costco about a month ago. I did only, and I mean only, the windows updates and the updates listed for my model on hp.com. After those updates, I got a couple errors that automatically did a restart and boot to "No bootable device found, please insert disc and press any key" which I wasn't able to get around until I pulled out the battery. Called Costco Concierge which led to a call to HP. Long story short, this time, I ran a comprehensive hdd test which passed and HP sent me recovery discs to rule out bad recovery partition. It didn't work. i then had to send the laptop to HP service. Apparently they replaced the motherboard and scratched the living $h!t out of the top of the lid. I called Cost Con to complain about the scratches and as soon as I hung up, BSoD. I'm pissed at this point.

So, I buy another refurb to see if I have better luck. Just my luck. After doing a factory recovery via the discs just to be safe, the 2nd Laptop is doing the same thing, just not as frequent. I got the "No bootable device found, please insert disc and press any key" once. It BSoD'd a couple times since Friday night. One of the BSoD said something about a Kernel Stack Page Error. At this point in my journey, I set the laptop to not automatically reboot after a BSoD. Again, the only updates I've done are the Windows updates and HP.com updates which include: BIOS update, Wireless adapter, NIC update, NVidia update (via Nvidia.com), Intel Chipset update, Webcam Software, DVD Software, MediaSmart Menu Software, Bluetooth, Essential System Updates for Windows Vista SP1. Full list of updates is at link.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=2100&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3860658

A buddy told me to try a different hdd.

Please someone help me. I'm farely computer savy but please let me know if I need to include more info. I'd really like to keep this laptop

thanks, Tom

 

No idea. But just return the laptop, get a new one, update windows but not HP bios.

 

Update: So I leave the computer on over night (from ~1am-7:30) and when I go to use the computer, the hdd is non-responsive. It's not making any noise and the hdd light is not flashing at all. The desktop loaded (from RAM?) and I could move the mouse, but nothing would load and I had the Vista loading circle next to the mouse arrow.

Is this of any help?

 

Return it man. Get another HP model or another company and don't get refurb?

 

HAHA, I'm such a cheap a$$ and that is why I'm putting myself through hell. Oh well, thx for the help. It will be interesting walking into Costco with 2 POS HP laptops for return.

 

Have you ever heard of the expression "time is money?". Well it is, especially if you work at home like I do. I wasted 2 days on computer issues. I can make $1000 a day. So if you think about it, I've wasted $2000 to fix issues. If I were not so cheap and bought a new laptop, I would have saved $2000.

Yeah times are tough. I know you wanted to save money and didn't know that a refurb computer would cause so much issues.

 

^ I totally agree. As a last restort. I called costco/hp and pissed and moaned a little more, so they are sending my a replacement hard drive. I'm not going to hold my breath. Now I'm 3 laptops down. My ol' faithfull little hp laptop hdd took a dump the other day. Luckily the hdd in the freezer trick allowed me to get some important files off.

 

Well, a bit of an update. I received the replacement hdd on wed and had it up and running that night. They sent a WD 500gig to replace a Seagate. There is a Seagate in the other refurb I have. I'm curious if this was a widespread issue with these drives. Anyway, so far so good. It's been roughly 48hrs and no BSod or problems waking up from sleep modes. The only bummer is that I'm pretty sure the MoBo has been replaced. When I took the cover off to install the main Hdd, there were fingerprints and a large solder residue looking glob. Oh well. I'm surely not going to hold my breath.

 

Seagate HDD had major lock up problems. I trust WD more. I don't know if refurbs are affected but you can return within 90 days at Costco. I love to tinkler but 3 times and it's out.