DV8000 Series - Keyboard problems. Anyone else?

Dylan and IslandBoy, Since the keyboard problem is intermittent you can't tell if the bios update fixed it right away. Several people thought they fixed the problem only to have it return days or weeks later. I've gone through a week with the keyboard working perfect and then all of a sudden it is horrible with no predictable pattern. No one I know of who has done any of the bios updates has reported it to be successful. The plague always comes back. Do a lot of typing and please report back how it all works out.

 

I read a couple posts saying 'luckily they've fixed the keyboard issues for the DV9000' series. I have a 2-month old DV9000 series, and I've been having these keyboard problems for about 2 weeks now. Heck, I found this forum while searching for stuck HP laptop keys. (And I got this computer free as a replacement for my last HP laptop because of the Best Buy extended warranty - lemon law plan. THAT laptop, however, never had a problem like this.)

On mine, the Alt keys and keys near them get stuck. Sometimes it's as if the Alt key and one other key are stuck at the same time, although that other key seems to be random. The problem is quite intermittent. Getting keys 'unstuck' can take anywhere from seconds to minutes, and can happen throughout the day or for a short time in a day. The only thing that's mostly constant is whenever I turn on the laptop or restart it, it's almost guaranteed one of the Alt keys will be stuck.

What to do? I can't believe I already have to start the whole 'repair the HP laptop' process again. Although I am looking forward to working with the lovely Geek Squad group at Best Buy, while they roll their eyes at me and accuse me of trying to get a free laptop.

I don't want a new laptop, I just want a working laptop. Is there a fix for the DV9000 series that anyone knows of, or am I in the same boat as everyone else?

 

I've been reading through this thread and Googling as well. I made a post about Filter Keys. I could duplicate the shift key problem very easily and I'm inclined to believe that Filter Keys is the problem.. It's too coincidental that the whole shift key sticking is part of the problems other people (other brands of laptops, even desktops) are having.

This doesn't excuse the below-average feel of the HP keyboard as far as people dropping letters when typing fast. My keyboard is decent but my Sony's is definitely better..

 

This is the first I've heard of the dv9000 having the keyboard problems. It just seems like it will be endless with HP and it is better to get them out of your life. I just got a private message from someone who hooked up an external keyboard to their dv8000 and the keyboard problem got worse. I also tried an external keyboard and still had the same exact issues. Have you tried an external keyboard on your dv9000?
Islandboy, it does not matter if you type fast, slow, or at a medium pace the keys don't register. I turned off the filter keys so will let you know if that accomplished anything.

 

See that's weird. I never have had keyboard problems with an external keyboard. Most of the time I use my laptop is with an external keyboard and I never had any keyboard problems at all during those times. It's only when I was typing on the laptop's keyboard that I had dropped keys or stuck shift/ctrl/alt keys.

It's been almost a week since I updated my BIOS to F.22 and still no more keyboard problems. (ubatz, you wanted an update.)

 

Do you have a link for that bios update?

 

Hope this works for you. Frankly, before I installed it, I was pretty skeptical that it would work for me.

 

Interesting. I'm curious to see how my DV5000 will be in the next 180 days - and beyond that, I have a 3-year extended warranty. I'm not going to even take into account the HP warranty since it seems like they do more harm than good.

For good measure, turn off Stick Keys as well. It seems that the accessbility options in WinXP are just really buggy to begin with. I'm starting to think I should have picked up a MacBook as a second laptop instead of yet another Windows machine. Ah well.

 

Thanks for the link. I've got a dv8000 and the update is for the dv8000t. Are you doing a lot of typing? Did you have the missing keystrokes and spacebar problem?

 

One more vote for "I've got the problem and thought it was just because I'm a lousy typer". I just finished doing Sledgehammer70's procedure for accessing the ribbon connectors and... the jury's still out. I suspect, though, the problem has only been reduced (fewer errors), not eliminated.

I have a dv8330us and there are some differences between the unit shown in the "remove these screws" list and the screws on the dv8330us. There are five extra screws compared to the dv8000t (one silver screw for the middle of the snap-out bezel, two for the keyboard [they have keyboard icons next to them], and three that seem to need to come out of the under-side of the mother board but maybe don't).

My wife's ancient T21 is literally fading out (bad power supply or lamp for the backlight - I replaced one on another laptop and won't do it again) and in reviewing the options, we discussed my upgrading out of the dv8000 and giving her this one. With keyboard problem as bad as it is, I don't see that happening. And I don't see buying another HP laptop, based on all I've read here. HP's managed to shoot big holes in both feet with this fiasco and the poor support response.

 

A couple of follow-on comments. First, when I pulled the ribbon cables, I cleaned the contacts with alcohol "just 'cause". To my surprise, the contacts on the white ribbon had some sort of crud on them that showed up on the pads I used to apply the alcohol. Thinking I'd accidentally removed some labeling from the cable, I gave it a close look and... nope. All the lettering was still on the ribbon. The other cable (brown) was cleaner, although there was signs of a very light deposit on the cleaning pad.

Reading further through the 76+ pages of notes on this topic, I decided to follow up on the BIOS update, particularly as the "latest and greatest" is F.22A and I had F.13. So I installed it and...

...so far, so good. Typing this post has been much easier than any typing I've done up to this point. I've done a couple of posts elsewhere and, so far, no caps lock-ups, etc.

It seems then, ribbon cleaning helps somewhat. A BIOS update finishes the job. For my DV8330us. YMMV.

 

I was on my DV5000 all night and I did have a few instances of double characters but I think it was due to my sloppy typing.. I couldn't reproduce it in Word after going through the entire alphabet and all the numbers a couple times. I was also Googling and found out that the DV5000 keyboard is what was used on the ZE series - seems like the DV8000 keyboard is the only model to ever use it. I can't imagine the DV5000 and DV8000 keyboards being *that* different though.

Anyway.. I really like my DV5000 and I hope it will serve me well. I'm about to send out for my Vista Home Premium upgrade.

 

I hope it works out for IB and RB but I must say I'm not hopeful. You always think it is your own fault that a key or the spacebar missed and just when you think it is fixed, you feel relieved, it comes back a day, week or even 2 weeks later to bite you.

 

Unfortunately.. You're probably right. It just goes to show how much I liked the laptop! I'm on my Sony now and man can I type fast on this with very little error. Anyway.. I'm packing the HP up for sure now. I was listening to some music while doing my work and it kept skipping. Doesn't matter if I'm using WMP or iTunes - I also updated the WLAN driver and audio drivers. It's got 1GB of RAM and it has over 650MB free when it's skipping. I did a search and it appears to be a problem others have had as well.

I'm pissed off at HP for ruining such a great machine. I bought two DV5000; the second one is still sealed. Unfortunately both will be going back..and they were only $499 each! What a bargain. Though I must say.. The original Turion is rather pokey. My Pentium-M is much faster - though battery life isn't as good as it should be for a CPU with speed stepping..I'm sure it's because everything is small and fast (5400RPM SATA HDD, DDR2 RAM, nVidia Go vid card w/ dedicated mem).

I'm going to write HP a letter describing my problems and let them know that they've lost a customer. Shame on them.. I'm going to save for a MacBook and that will be my secondary machine.

 

Sorry IB, we all loved the laptop but the keyboard makes it a total bust. Last night I had to write a letter, missing keystrokes and spacebar started on the 3rd word, miserable. Your lucky you paid so little for your dv5000 lemon and you can return it. I've learned a lot from this experience and will buy my next notebook at a place that has a return policy that is longer than 30 days like Costco. I will also make sure I read the notebook's warranty and do more research on their customer service. HP has a warranty but they choose not to honor it.

 

^ Rarely have I ever paid attention to the warranty on any computer I bought. And in this case, it wouldn't matter either since HP should have supposedly been able to fix it. It does pay to read up here on NR to make sure you know what you're getting. I'm thinking my next laptop will be a MacBook and in a year or two when I need a new primary machine, those small 12" Toshibas are looking pretty good.

Good luck to you guys. I feel for ya.. I really do.

 

Hewlett-Packard Company
A certified class action lawsuit has been filed against the computer company regarding certain Pavilion models of notebook computers. The class action claims the computers contain defective inverters. An inverter is the component that regulates voltage to light the display screen. When an inverter fails, the screen becomes extremely dim or flickers, rendering the computer useless. An inverter costs less than $20, but Hewlett-Packard allegedly quoted consumers $650 to fix the problem. The lawsuit also claims Hewlett-Packard knew about the defect before it sold the computers to the public.

Register your Defective HP Complaint
If you have suffered damages in this defective HP case, you may qualify for damages or remedies that may be awarded in a possible class action or lawsuit. Please click the link below to submit your complaint to a lawyer for a free evaluation, or call 1-866-220-0411 toll free.

Click here to submit your complaint through a secure form
to Green Welling - Jenelle Welling
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/hp-pavilion.html?ref=newsletter_bca_hp-pavilion

I haven't forgot Ubatz--Just faxed my dispute on the second Pav to my CC Co. 23 pages--not including their forms. How is this not getting to lawyers. , yet the flicker does.

 

Go figure Payless. Maybe someone who has a lawyer in the family. Tis law firm does have an online complaint from and when I have time I'll give it a go. Thanks for the tip.

 

Well I have good news. I chatted with HP online last weekend and the tech and I both came to the conclusion that they keyboard was indeed a hardware problem and the tech said that I would receive a call within 36-48 hours. Well I finally got a phone call yesterday from a case manager and they said they had decided to give me a replacement laptop. The specs are above what I currently have and it should be a good laptop, we'll see when it gets here in a few weeks. I thought I would share the avenue that I took trying to get my laptop fixed.

1. BE POLITE - everyone I talked to was much more pleasant than if i tried to push
2. Get a few youtube videos - I think the fact that I had 2 videos, one before repairs and one after really helped.
3. Have a little luck

Good luck to everyone and I still check this thread daily for anyone's success/horror stories.

Matt

 

Good for you, I think the youtube video does the trick. Did they ask you to take the video down?

 

Ubatz and every affected party:

I already submitted a complaint thought the exact same site I posted above. I just submitted another. If everyone submits a complaint, the lawyers will notice. 1 or 2 complaints will probably be ignored. The more people who file a complaint, the better chance the law firm will respond. It only takes 3-5 minutes, if that. Please help out folks. We know lawyers will get a lot of money, and we may never yet get an equitable remedy, but at least we know HP was sued for this egregious conduct.

PLEASE, EVERYONE, IF YOU HAVE A DEFECTIVE HP KEYBOARD, PLEASE FILE THE COMPLAINT. IT TAKES LESS THAN 5 MINUTES.

https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/submit_form.html?label=hp-pavilion&forward=1379

 

I got a follow-up email from the legal site. It's more of a call screener for lawyers. Once they think it's appropriate to call an interested ATTY, they will, and they get some cash for the third party effort. They wanted to know, as I originally thought, if it was only the 17 inch screens with KB problems. I'm pretty certain the DV5000s are 15 inch screens, not totally sure. Any ways, it would make sense that a new 17 in desktop replacement may have a totally new designed KB, thus, wasn't tested well enough prior to release. Essentially we may have been hardware "beta testers" for HP.
Please, if anyone could just confirm they have problems with 15 inch displays too, this can expedite getting it to an ATTY.

Thanks a bunch.

 

Searching on the internet it says the dv5000 has a 15.4 inch screen but I believe the 5000 and 8000 have the same keyboards.

 

All the dv5000s I've seen have a centered touch pad and no separate Num Pad.
It couldn't possibly be the same KB. My 17 in has a separate NUM PAD and the touch pad is over to the left. I still need to take it apart, the keyboard may be made up of components, ie, I have a separate num pad and separate touch pad. Doubt it tho. There goes that theory. I was hoping it only was bad on the 17 inchers. You never know what HP did tho.

 

Looks like the same crappy keyboard with a numbers pad added on to it.

 

Hello All:
I just voted for big problem with the keyboard. I type fast but have tried to slow down. It appears that most of my problems are with Outlook Express the keys just jump all over the place. Now I have noticed that while typing in this forum nothing jumping at all. Have not experienced any sticking or Caps problems. I really like this machine, but wanted to warn folks thinking of buying to be sure to get (oops, it just jumped) a return policy. I called HP today and told them I was having trouble, they said to call a certain # for an upgrade machine. Is it possible to sue HP in claims court for money back?

 

You could try the Better Business Bureau too.

Add to HP's almost 3000 complaints in the past 36 months.

 

Janet,
If they have offered you an upgraded replacement why to you want to sue them? Only 3 people we know of have gotten replacements. What is the phone number they gave you.

 

This message is from an attorney and may constitute an ADVERTISEMENT or SOLICITATION concerning a potential class action against HP concerning defective keyboards on certain laptop computers.

I am an attorney that handles class action cases on behalf of consumers. I am currently investigating the keyboard defect with the hp "dv8000" series computers and other “dv” series models in connection with a potential class action against HP.

I am interested in speaking with owners of HP "dv" series laptops in connection with a case I may pursue against HP.

My contact information is set forth below and my professional profile can be found in the Martindale-Hubbell directory at www.martindale.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Daniel E. Sobelsohn, Esq.
The Sobelsohn Law Firm
1901 Avenue of the Stars
2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90067

direct dial: (310) 461-1333
facsimile: (310) 861-5205
email: [email protected]

 

I have found a source for a DV9000 keyboard for $101 including shipping. I will update here after I receive it and see if I can adapt it to my DV8000.

 

Please let us know how it goes Touch becuase I still don't know of any success stories with any fixes. Where did you find the keyboard? Good luck. Anyone know anything about this attorney that just made a post here?

 

DV9000 Keyboard is coming from notebookparts(dot)com. I've got several ideas about how to adapt it, but I'll have to actually get my hands on it first to see if any of them will work. BTW, I noticed someone else's post about the touchpad jumping being related to static electricity. I think this may be true since I noticed that the jumping was much worse when the heater was on a lot with lots of static in the air. This may mean that the touchpad is not properly grounded in the case.

About the lawyer: He may be perfectly legitimate, but one thing I know about lawyers is that they are usually the only ones who win in a lawsuit. No matter what happens, I doubt that the majority would get more than $100 or so while the lawyer gets thousands or more. HP has the resources to drag this out for years and in the mean time our computers will become obsolete, rendering any victory meaningless. On the other hand, should HP be allowed to do this to us and get away scot free? I'd love to hear other opinions.

 

The thing with the jumping cursor is that whenever you are typing an email the cursor will zoom away and the email window will disappear, email gone, happens everytime, like you said especially when I've typed a long email.
That's pretty much common knowledge about class-action suits but the computer lemon law and federal warranty law are different and provide that the company being sued has to pay for all legal fees incurred separately and in addition reimburse the consumer for the product. We talked about it earlier in the post. We really would have nothing to loose in joining a suit like that and wouldn't have to relinquish our much needed computers while it was going on. I don't really care about the money and have moved on. I would like to see the shoddy way HP does business exposed so other consumers are aware of their non-existent customer service and that if you do buy from HP your warranty will not be honored. People don't believe me when I tell them that HP simply turned their backs on their warranty obligations.
I'm very curious to hear about the outcome of your keyboard swap because I also have a dv9000. The dv9000 has the jumping cursor problem also. I use an external mouse on both computers and it still jumps even with the touch pad covered so I'm not accidentally brushing up against it while typing. I bought the dv8000 because I have vision problems, I need a larger screen, but the screen resolution is so poor on the dv9000 I can't read text on it. I'll wait and see how it goes with your swap. It it is too advanced for me to perform myself. The keyboard on my dv9000 is bowed in the center, doesn't sit level in the case at all. It will be interesting to see how it comes to you and if it is the keyboard itself that is warped. Also my dv9000 came with 2 broken keys out of the box on the numbers pad, the delete and enter keys were twisted and overlapping, neither work. Probably carelessness when it was assembled and no quality control. I really hope this works out for you.

 

hey all im new to the forum (and i admit i have only read through the first few pages of this thread) but i wanted to report the problem im having with the dv8000. right now the certain keys are pressing multiple keys at the same time i.e. when i press backspace its registering backspace and \ at the same time.

has anyone found a fix, or is HP doing anything about this???

 

Well, I got the DV9000 keyboard, but it was too dissimilar to do anything. The frame was somewhat smaller than the DV8000 so the mountings could not be adapted. The ribbon cable was offset by about an inch from where the DV8000 was positioned although it appears that the ribbon cable itself had the same width and number of contacts. The keys themselves are an integral part of the metal layer on the bottom of the keyboard, so they could not be adapted either. Notebookparts(dot)com would not take the keyboard back even though it has not been used so I guess I'm a loser all around. If anyone wants to buy a DV9000 keyboard, I'll be listing it on ebay.

 

Well I have an update on my DV5000 problem. HP ended up giving me a new DV6000z laptop. It came complete with a Turion X2 TL-52 proc and 1GB of ram and of course Vista Home Premium. I think as I posted before the real way to get this problem fixed correctly is to take some videos of the problem and post them on youtube. As always be nice to the people helping you out, it is NOT directly their fault your laptop is messed up and if you are polite they are more willing to help you. If you have any other questions on how to go about getting your keyboard fixed by all means PM me and I will try to explain more about what I did. I am pleased by the method HP took to fix my problem. As always if you have any question by all means ask.

 

I'm happy to report that I've not had a single missed keystroke since updating the BIOS a few weeks ago. It seems that have resolved the issue on my end.

 

daedal, can you post a link to that please?

 

This message is from an attorney and may constitute an ADVERTISEMENT or SOLICITATION concerning a potential class action against HP concerning defective keyboards on certain laptop computers.

I am an attorney that handles class action cases on behalf of consumers. I am currently investigating the keyboard defect with the hp "dv8000" series computers and other “dv” series models in connection with a potential class action against HP.

I am interested in speaking with owners of HP "dv" series laptops in connection with a case I may pursue against HP.

My contact information is set forth below. Please feel free to contact my office anytime by phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Daniel E. Sobelsohn, Esq.
The Sobelsohn Law Firm
1901 Avenue of the Stars
2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90067

direct dial: (310) 461-1333
facsimile: (310) 861-5205
email: [email protected]

 

This message is from an attorney and may constitute an ADVERTISEMENT or SOLICITATION concerning a potential class action against HP concerning defective keyboards on certain laptop computers.

I am an attorney that handles class action cases on behalf of consumers. I am currently investigating the keyboard defect with the hp "dv8000" series computers and other “dv” series models in connection with a potential class action against HP.

I am interested in speaking with owners of HP "dv" series laptops in connection with a case I may pursue against HP.

My contact information is set forth below. Please feel free to contact my office anytime by phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Daniel E. Sobelsohn, Esq.
The Sobelsohn Law Firm
1901 Avenue of the Stars
2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90067

direct dial: (310) 461-1333
facsimile: (310) 861-5205
email: [email protected]

 

Daniel, we heard you twice the first time

 

A final update on my DV5000 saga, sorry it has taken so long but I have been swamped with school lately. I did receive a new DV6000z replacement computer the specs are as follows. Turion X2 TL-52, 1GB ram, 80 GB HD, Go 7200, lightscribe, and a few other small bells and whistles. Overall very happy with the new laptop as it is much quicker than my old one. Best of luck to anyone else that has problems and I still check this forum daily and will offer any help I can to everyone else with this problem.

Matt

 

Good for you idahoaki, you're one of the chosen people. If you put a video on youtube you will get a replacement. It's interesting that HP Total Care has responded to a post on the notebookreview forum but is still pretending the dv8000 keyboard problems don't exist and ignoring the largest post about one of their laptops on the boards. I'm so soured on HP and the miserable way they treated us that I don't want anything to do with them or their shoddy products.

 

Daedal, I updated my DV5130ca to the latest BIOS and it now works perfectly too. Finally.

 

New owner of a refurb'd dv8339us. Keyboard works beautifully. The only thing I could say is that the left shift key sometimes gives a little "pop" if I strike it in the upper left corner.

 

I don't want to cross-post, so here's a link to what I did to solve the problem on my machine:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=112364

Tony

 

BINGO

From Sledgehammer70's Fix:

6.) The slots that hold the cables do not pull up use a small flat head screw driver and push the 2 brown/black brackets on each side forward. This will release the cables and allow you to remove the Keyboard from the laptop.

I thank you much sir.

I will post some pics of how terribly designed this locking mechanism is. As soon as I took a look, there it was, cable not seated properly. In fact, I don't see how it could ever be seated properly. During shipping, it most likely came loose. Meaning, HP may have very well had your laptop working fine when they shipped it back, but the locking device just isn't sufficient to withstand shipping. Have you seen Fedex drivers? Any ways, it works fine now. This is after HP told me warranty was voided due to spillage.

I bought a barebones keyboard off eBay, not the entire assembly, so it was quite a chore seeing as how I have only common sense on my side. No techie skills.

I'll bet those that had problems moved their DV8000 around a lot, and that's enough to loosen the cable. Blowing on your laptop is enough to loosen the cable. I'll video tape it. I have no doubt techies will agree. I've never seen anything like it. Then again, I only took apart one notebook before, a Toshiba Satellite, and I do now know the difference between quality and garbage, even though I never got the Toshiba back together.

More to come..

 

Everybody is happy I guess then. I'll just carry on my lawsuit and evidence without your help. <pout> <pout>

 

If anybody knows why this discussion stopped, or was moved please let me know. If HP sent a letter to th webmaster to scare off folks, I need to know that..and I understand your frustration. Email me at [email protected]. If that gets deleted, please PM me.

 

I'm up for a class action suit against HP for these problems. We should not have to resort to posting youtube videos to get them to listen to us. I just won a class action suit against Toshiba laptops last year; it is possible. I realize that it's possible we may only get a few hundred dollars back, but it should send a message to HP that we won't just roll over and take it.

I just emailed several lawyers who helped me in the past.